To Preserve the Heritage of the Fur Trade Era

New Mexico Mountain Men

Wolf Trapper Memorial Rendezvous 2004

A little ways south of Corona and a shade east of Ancho lays a territory known as the Lincoln National Forest. Dry country. Known to get a little breezy from time to time. Yup, rendezvous country for sure; and sure enough, "Timber" (duly elected booshway for Frosty Gatherings 2004) made tracks for Hoe Cradle Canyon, threw down his lodge, and declared “Rendezvous, h’yar!”
Well, there just happens to be enough crazy buckskinners in this part of the world to ‘a’ hear the summons and ‘b’ respond; and sure enough, about 20-25 folks of outstanding character and fortitude made their way to the sight and dug in for the weekend (I believe I made mention of breezes earlier). Waits to Shoot, Sleeping Bear, Lazy Horse, Pack Mule, Tatonka Sue, Many Scars, Long Tongue, Does It All, Scratch, Stands on a Rope, Oso, Flaming Canvas, and a host of others comprised the company. Darn good folks to rendezvous with, too. For example. A certain pilgrim forgot his bedroll. Don’t ask. Timber and Does It All happened to have a spare elk hide along. Pilgrim never slept any warmer. Pilgrim was having a bad weekend. Lodge pole snapped in two Friday morning (tight canvas coupled with a little wind shear). Joe T. suggested splicing and how to do so. Pilgrim applied the ‘Joe T. Splice’ to his ‘Tidmore Pole’ and rested easy for the balance of the rendezvous. Waugh!
	Played pretty hard Friday and Saturday. Timber kept folks a might busy with 4 separate trailwalks, a pistol duel, smoothbore aggregate, mountain man run, long shot, and hawk and knife. Brad, Paul and David put together an archery one-tie-all-tie; and, of course, Many Scars presided over any throwing done on the premises. You might ask him the next time you see him about his new throwing knife. With hardly a moment of hesitation, "Waits to Shoot" conjured up a twisted, aerobic, heart-pumping mountain man run. Teams of two threw, ran to set traps, ran some more to set up targets, ran a little more to knock down ½ of those targets, ran a little ways to spring the traps, knocked down the rest of the targets, and yes, ran back to the hawk log to stop the clock. Whew!
You’ve probably heard of the Sword in the Stone - foreign concept, witchcraft, etc. Well, how about ‘Hawk in a Rock’? Hawk and knife trailwalk target #2 was challenging. Notice how "Stands on a Rope" applies just enough umph to stick, but not diminish the edge on his hawk.
Several folks were recognized at Wolf Trapper for advancement in NMMM skills. The following members were awarded their Beaver — — Eloise Van Voorhis, John B., Joe T., "Flaming Canvas", and Don W. The Beaver is the first step along the achievement trail. To receive it, one must be a member and be able to dress for the period. A good start along the trail to Patron. The premier event at this year’s Wolf Trapper Memorial Rendezvous just had to be the Long Shot One-Tie-All-Tie. "Timber" prized the event with a Lyman Great Plains 0.54 cal. rifle he had put together himself. Pretty finish on the stock, nice brown job on all of the steel, the name of the rendezvous engraved in the stock, and a little of "Timber" stuffed inside. Most all of the camp turned out. The booshway stepped off 150 paces and the shooting began. Two hits and everyone backed up another 10 paces to shoot through until 2 hits were again recorded. A ding from the steel target announced a hit. Many of the contestants consistently hit the X at each distance they shot from. At 340 paces, Don W. hit first and he wasn’t tied until the last remaining shooter stepped up. Now at 350 paces, Don W. and I stood by as the rest of the company stepped up and let fly. No hits. Next to last shooter, Don stepped up and missed. Last shooter. If I missed, we would simply shoot through the group again; but I didn’t!!! The old blind squirrel found another acorn! Ha! Thankee "Timber"! She’s going to be a shooter!! Council fire was good Saturday evening. Plenty of great plunder spread around pretty evenly. This was a pretty tough bunch to compete with. Prior to council fire, Pack Mule and Many Scars presented Timber with a Bomboy knife in recognition of his work not only putting on this rendezvous, but years of work as the NMMM’s segundo. No big ceremony, just friends thanking friends. Before wrapping things up, I have to mention evening campfires. It’s at the small rendezvous’ like Wolf Trapper and Calabasas that some of the finest time I’ve ever known around a campfire has occurred. This year John B. sat himself down at Pack Mule’s camp and shared with those present the beginnings for several greybeards we have all come to know and cherish. One rarely has the opportunity to hear such stories told with the passion that John exuded. Thanks John. (Did you make it back to camp okay?) Thank you "Timber" for putting on a season finale worthy of its namesake. Ol’ Wolf Trapper had to have been grinning and tipping a few right along with the rest of us. Thank you Linda for the photos. Longshot
For those that like all of the details, here’s how the events placed.
Mountain Man Run First — Don W. & Flaming Canvas Second — Sleeping Bear & Tatonka Third — Lazy Horse & Brad Paul
Rifle Trailwalk First — Don W. 2nd — Pack Mule 3rd — Stands on a Rope	Pistol Trailwalk First — Don W. 2nd Pack Mule 3rd Sleeping Bear
Fusil Shoot First — Joe T. Second — John B. Third — Lazy Horse	Long Shot First — Longshot
Pistol Duel First — Waits to Shoot Second — Pack Mule Third — Long Shot	Bow One-Tie-All-Tie First — Long Tongue Second — Stands on a Rope Third — Brad Paul
Men’s Hawk & Knife Throw First — "Many Scars"	Women’s Hawk & Knife Throw First — Does It All Second — Mary T. Third — Tatonka
Men’s Hawk & Knife Walk First — Waits to Shoot Second — Strawstalker Third — Pack Mule	Women’s Hawk & Knife Walk First — Does It All Second — Eloise Third — Tatonka

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