KINGS of the WILD FRONTIER

Originally Published the Week of January 17, 2018 in Western Outdoor Publications

“Freedom is being able to do what you want…

…Happiness is enjoying what you do!”

 

We’re in the vast cavernous bowels of the Denver Convention Center setting up our Tailhunter Sportfishing booth for what will be our 23^rd year running trips in La Paz.  It’s my 20^th continuous year on the show circuit.  Maybe my 40^th year doing shows.  I can’t remember!

 

Three months we leave Baja and spend it in the U.S.

 

We do 12-14 shows that usually run 3-5 days each.  In the booth talking, shaking hands and socializing with friends, clients and the public.  “Meet-and Greet” time.

 

Each show has hundreds of other vendors from around the world exhibiting hunting, fishing, camping, boating and all manners of associated gear.  There’s barkers and hawkers and seminars and it’s basically our “outdoor version” of the circus-come-to-town.

 

This week Denver.  Then Sacramento.  Followed by Portland…Salt Lake City…Bakersfield and Boise…Long Beach and Phoenix…and…

 

Well, I get confused after that!  I have a small brain. I’ve been doing this a long time.

 

And we look forward to the carnival and being on the road and seeing all our old friends and clients.  It’s a good time to catch-up.  I good time to relive great adventures!

 

But, as we set up our booth for the first time this year, I look around at the other vendors setting up.  I especially look forward to seeing them.

 

It’s been a year since the last show season ended.

 

How’d YOUR season go? Did the salmon show up in numbers? Did those snowstorms hit you? Look at the rack on that elk!  Dang, that was a huge halibut! An avalanche trapped you in the pass for a week?  You broke your foot when a water buffalo charged you?  And the client trampled you? Congratulations on the new lodge you built!

 

After several decades, it’s good to know who’s still standing…who’s retired…who’s trying to retire…who’s got their kids now running the operation now…and who sadly “finally got pulled down by the wolves.”

 

Anyone worth their salt in the outdoor business will tell you it’s not easy being a survivor and thriver.

 

Your livelihood is dependent on the capriciousness of Mother Nature; the seeming illogic of politics, economy and regulations; the ever-changing tastes of the public;  the encroachment of “civilization.”

 

And just plain luck.

 

Yup, they put a dam on our river.

A hurricane hit us the busiest week of the year when we were sold out.

The snowpack never pushed the herds of game down the mountain.

The new regulations cut the limits in half and the season cut by a month.

Gas prices went up another 20 cents.

Those lands are now closed to public hunting.

They just jacked up the tourist tax by 10%.

Some rich guy bought up that whole side of the mountain…and fenced it off.

CNN just reported that 10 more people got sick at that resort.

Two of the three airlines that fly to us just up-and- quit flying to us.

There’s a new mega-resort being built on that pristine beach.

 

But, I look around.

 

And there’s Joe and Mary.  Forty years of trophy hunting.  They operate a pack train in Alberta, Canada.  Up a mountain.  They say it gets -30 in the winter and they don’t/ can’t leave their cabin.  Completely off the grid.  She can skin a deer.  He can still chop trees.  With an axe. He can spot game with his eyes that you can only see looking through your high-powered scope.

 

Ralph, Paul and Cole are up there somewhere near the Arctic Circle.  Built themselves a lodge with their own hands and native help.  Fly in.  Fly out.  No phones.  But 200 miles of empty river and shore to fish and hunt.  Need something?  Bring it in or do without.  Build it yourself or improvise.

 

Sammy is somewhere in the South American jungles.

 

Found an isolated village of natives along a river straight out’ve Jurassic Park. Built a rustic fishing resort for fishing peacock bass and 400-pound arapaima that lurk in those tea-colored waters.

 

In the meantime, Sam also built a school, medical facility and several industries so his locals would have regular jobs.  He’s working on a small lumber mill too.

 

And there’s Joey.  He’s like a modern-day Daniel Boone or Jeremiah Johnson.   If you saw, Leo de Caprio in the “Revanant,” that’s Joe.

 

He’s a bush pilot; airplane mechanic; tractor-operator; river guide; naturalist; eco-guide and during the season, big game hunter.  Specialty is giant Kodiak grizzly bears.  GIANT bears that can stand 10’ tall; weigh almost 1 ton with a 24-inch paw.

 

Spends weeks in the bush climbing mountains; crossing frozen streams and trekking over glaciers with a 150-pound pack and rifle with his clients.  He’s the guy standing BEHIND his client with an BIGGER rifle in case his client misses. He makes sure an even bigger bear doesn’t come up from behind!

 

Oh…then he carries the meat on his back DOWN the darned mountain for you too. And, our course, you want the hide and head for a trophy!

 

And, it’s good to see Louie over there setting up HIS booth. He’s 70 now, but has the swimmer’s physique of a 30-year-old.  He’s from South Africa.  He’ll take you to freedive with “Mr. Grinner” the great white shark.  No cage.  No tanks.  You hold your breath.  And your heart!

 

I’ve seen Louie hold his breath for almost 5 minutes underwater!

 

Just you, a mask a snorkel and a wetsuit that makes you look just like a tasty sealion.  Lovely.

 

South Africa is where “Shark Week” gets all it’s great footage to boost their ratings.  I once asked him what do you do when a great white swims overhead and you’re on the bottom?

 

“You keep very still and hold your breath as long as you can!” He laughed back.

 

But what if you can’t hold your breath that long?  “You’d be amazed how a 20’ great white can keep you from breathing!”

 

And on-and-on.  There’s several hundred of these incredible spirits exhibiting at these hunting and fishing shows.  But with each year, they dwindle.  Just like the outdoors they inhabit.

 

It does my heart good to know there’s folks like this still out there. And to call them my friends.

 

And there’s still places to go to find people like this.  And you and I can still go there.  Hope you come to visit!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

______________

Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004.  Along with his wife and fishing buddy, Jilly, they own and run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico  www.tailhunter-international.com.  They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront.  If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is: jonathan@tailhunter.com

Or drop by the restaurant to say hi.  It’s right on the La Paz waterfront!

_____________