When I was a kid Walt Disney had a
show called the Adventures of Davy Crockett. I wanted to be Davy.
I had a coonskin cap and a toy flintlock rifle. Exploring my neighborhood,
shooting imaginary bears, and even dying at the Alamo. Well, I grew
up. Leaving Davy behind I found many other things to do with my life.
Then, in the early eighties, the interest
in Davy was rekindled. I built couple of muzzle loading rifles in
my garage. Naturally I wanted to shoot them. I found a club
that shared an interest in these kind of firearms. The Palmetto
Muzzle Loaders are a group of people that shoot only these old types
of firearms. I went out to the Trailglades range one Sunday and I
was hooked!
As my skills developed in the shooting,
other aspects of the sport began to appeal to me. Some of these people
actually went to rendezvous and, at least for a time, escaped into the
past. They lived, cooked, and shot as out forefathers did.
My wife, Tammy, and I decided we wanted to do this too. We gave up
our pop-up camper and bought a tipi. She even bought a bonnet.
By engaging in this activity, I met
one of my best friends. 
Ralph
West became my mentor and friend. He had been involved with buckskinning,
as this activity is known, for over thirty years. He introduced me
to many people who had the skills to do amazing things. Over the
years I learned how to brain tan a deer hide, make indian style beadwork,
and all the other skills that our ancestors needed to know to survive in
the hostile wilderness. Ralph nominated me to the American Mountain
Men. His family and mine have camped together, cooked together, sang
together, laughed together, and shared sorrows for almost twenty years
now.
Please share some of these memories
with me as you look at the pictures and messages on the following pages.