Thoughts of a Modern-Day Mountain Man:A Field Guide to Leadership in the Great Outdoors Chapter 13

This is the thirteenth of a weekly blog series that will focus on leadership in the outdoors and how to get the most from the least. Even though the title is called, “Thoughts of a Modern-Day Mountain Man”, it will hopefully cover topics that are useful to everyone.

Chapter 13: Know a fat cow from a poor bull.

“The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.” -John F. Kennedy

The expression to know a fat cow from a poor bull was used by the mountain men of yesteryear to represent having a profound knowledge about something in particular. This consisted of knowing the difference between something that was merely adequate versus what was considered very good. Charles Larpenteur used a very similar sentiment in his personal narrative, Forty Years a Fur Trapper on the Upper Missouri. He references traveling across the Great Plains and having to subsist on very tough and substandard buffalo (bison) meat derived from less than ideal feeding conditions, which had rendered the meat incredibly tough and almost inedible. He expresses anticipation to his fellow mountain man that is along on this particular trapping and trading adventure, by saying something along the lines of “wait and see, it will get much better when we start to see the fattened buffalo (bison) ahead on our journey. Only then will he know the difference between good enough and great.”

Knowledge of as many things as possible in man’s lifetime is something the modern-day mountain man should always seek to acquire. Only then can we know the difference between good and great, true and false, right and wrong and factual and misleading. The proverbial fat cow from a poor bull. It could be something as utilitarian as learning to tie as many different knots and hitches as possible, to being as complex as being able to read and interpret scripture or being able to evaluate moral law and teach against subjectivism in a given circumstance. The lack of knowledge has certainly been a stumbling block for me many times, and I have often found a lack of confidence when teaching or leading others due to my belief that I don’t have a good grasp of the knowledge required to teach that particular topic. This is a driving force for me as a leader. The next time the opportunity arises to teach on the previous topic, I would have prepared myself as much as possible given the resources available to deliver a more complete and quality lesson or program. In the many years in which I have worked at camps or education centers I have run into students or programs that were operating with less than full knowledge. Far too often we have only been taught one side of a story, or we fully believe only one viewpoint because it is the only information we have been presented with. This is the antithesis of education. In order to prevent this calamity of education, the modern-day mountain man must learn as much as possible about as many subjects as possible given the amount of time and resources at his disposal. This is a true liberal arts education. The modern-day mountain man must strive to become a jack-of-all-trades. I have heard many people state their belief that a liberal arts education is somehow tied to the subjective moral reasoning of one side of a given political party. This is incorrect. Liberal arts, and any true education, is about being better than the person you were yesterday. Learning for the sake of the love of learning is what separates a leader from someone who is content with just learning enough to get by. Education is what is at the core of being a dedicated observer and learner. Sometimes this education comes from our life experiences, which cannot be faked or simulated, sometimes it comes from reading the written word and comprehending the meaning, and sometimes it comes from learning from those that came before us and the lessons they can teach. The consummate modern-day mountain man strives for as much information as can be obtained. None of the famed naturalists of yesteryear observed, recorded or wrote about their adventures in the wild to gain fame or fortune, rather they did it to enhance their own knowledge and teach others about it.

It has become commonplace in our modern world to only hear about or read one side of the story or only learn about history from a revisionists viewpoint. It is important to remember that the victor, or the one currently in power, gets to write most of history’s records. It has happened many times in the classes I have taught. I have had students who could eloquently quote or state a perceived historical fact that was, in all reality, a half-truth, or outright false. Truthful and factual education is the only way to get mankind to a place of love, compassion and respect for his fellow man. Using a portion of Darwinian evolution theory as an example, I would like to illustrate how half-truths and lack of willingness to learn more can be very dangerous. If nothing else, Charles Darwin was a very astute observer of the natural world around him. Many of his observations were quite profound at the time and laid a foundation for many great naturalists to come. He used the most complete information he had at hand and developed a theory based on his observations, experiences and interactions with the natural world. There is no possible way he could have predicted or foresaw mankind’s ability to map, read and interpret human DNA. This of course leads us to the knowledge we have acquired in just the last few years that there is, in fact, only one race on earth, the human race. In order for Darwin and the other scientists to follow over the last 150 years to be able to rationalize the very idea or notion of human evolution it was necessary to find and explain that there were possibly many different races, with the white race being the farthest along the evolutionary chain, thus superior to the other races in Darwin’s view. In order for this to even be a possibility in their minds, great spans of time would also become essential to this narrative. Even today, both sides of the story are not being told, with the Darwinian theory taking precedence and importance in most public schools and universities around the world. Darwinian teaching would be the example of the poor bull, adequate for a time, with some overall value being offered. But, all-in-all, it leaves a very bad taste in the mouth and is tough to swallow. In a positive light for Darwin, his ability to notice small changes inherent in animals that made small adaptations to their created environment was a great example of the types of things a field naturalists should be looking for. The fat cow in this example would be to take the new information and teach it to students in a way that could open doors and enlighten people worldwide to the greatness of God’s creation. Imagine a world where no one race thought themselves superior to another after learning about factual scientific evidence that God only created one race and intended the world to exist that way. It has nothing to do with perceived superiority based on the lightness of a person’s skin color due to their adaptations from living for a historical time period in high latitudes.

Feasting on a fat cow.

As much as I dislike the idea of accreditation or standardization in camps and outdoor programs, one such organization that gets some of the big picture correct is the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA). Instead of teaching their students one “right” way to do things, they teach many different skills and options to do a job. They get as much information and education to their students as possible. When the need arises, the new guide can make a decision on which skill or ability to use based on knowledge and experience. Great teaching organizations work to fill your mental toolbox with the best information available, information that is dynamic, always changing and being improved to make the man better than his prior self.

If the modern-day mountain man has the desire and the ability to become a leader amongst his or her peers, they must have the knowledge of knowing the difference between a fat cow and a poor bull so they can teach others what they need to know in the best way possible.