Before McAllister gets carried away with the inadequate modern male he had best brush up on Darwins theories on natural selection.
I go to the gym four days a week, so does my son and grandson. We are in better shape and eat better than my father or grandfather and data indicates we will live longer.
A Neanderthal would have a hard time getting a date today, let alone dodge traffic. Don't know of a Union in the world that requires 30,000 rowers as members. Hollywood uses few legions these days, but who knows, what goes around comes around.

I would love to be able to hunt with a spear, I do practice throwing makeshift spears that my brothers and I have carved. Will I ever hunt with a spear now a days?...nope, but I like to think about it.

Hunting with a spear. Now that really levels the playing field.

I've been traditional hunting with my stickbow this season. Hunting only from the ground in natural cover. Everyday that goes by I feel my forehead getting bigger, my knuckles swinging closer to the ground and an extreme distaste to Geico Insurance. I think the trend is reversing.

I dare say if modern man was forced to go without their.....cholesterol, anti-inflammatorys, acid reflux, antidepressants and blood pressure meds, we wouldn't last a month in any environment.

I doubt that any neaderthals were much stronger than todays modern offensive linemen in the NFL. I do think that people of them days possesed more skills with spears and other primitive weapons. It was what they used on a daily basis. I doubt they would be very good at shooting a gun on their first try and probably would think it was a magic stick or something. On the other hand I carry three five gallon buckets of corn at a time feeding our calves after we wean. When we get up to the most we feed, I carry about fifty bucket fulls a day, and run to try and keep up with them. I also pitch all their hay up to a feed rack with a pitch fork three times a day. I guess my point is that not every one in this world has a desk job and sits behind a computer every day for their job. Some people still use hand tools instead of machines. I wish we had a feed wagon to feed our calves with because it would be hardly any work at all, but then I would probably be in worse shape than I already am in.
My theory on why aboriginals could throw so far with their spears and people could do things better back then was because they did it everyday instead of once in awhile like now days. Just like if most people tried to carry the buckets of corn like I do it would be awkward for them compared to me because I do it for half the winter every year since I was old enough to do it. If we had to live like we did back then, we would slowly get the hang of it and be as good in a few generations.

Subject: Conservatives/Liberals and who’s the true Modern Hunters Wimps?

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer.

These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1. Liberals; and
2. Conservatives

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women.
The rest became known as girlie-men.

Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that onservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.

Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, Polymer Science PhDs, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, Physicists, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, Marines, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They
crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history: It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it. A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be
forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to piss them off.

So here’s the proof, if you’re a Liberal then the answer is yes, you’re a Modern Hunting Wimp!

@Clay,
That was funny the first time I read it years ago and gets better as time marches on. This article reminded me of the series of novels"The Clan of the Cave Bear" Where the exception is made the rule. As said above(Mike?) accident, disease,Predators and just bad luck ruined a fella before they hit 30, so it would be hard pressed to find the "Olympian standard" in these ancient folks. What I am more fascinated by is their ability to make tools, the time and dedication it took made us possible.

Oh...and yes, modern hunters are complete wimps. A study done in PA a while back showed that most hunters stay well within a mile of a road, and a majority of the hunters that were going into the woods farther than 1 mile were 50+ years old! It's funny how so much can change in so few generations.

what is this article gauged on personal account or stories passes down from generation to generation... Lets be honest we all have a good exaggerated fish story and a lot of this sounds like just that. As far as the science goes that explains it is being interpreted to show such results. We adapted for a reason and still there is a reason homo Siepiens survived and Neanderthals didn't. In that time the men where men and so where the women.

Really, one doesn't have to go as far back in time to see that the "modern man" lacks a bit in the overall strength & fitness category but I don't think it really makes us less manly. If one looks at what blacksmiths, vinters, teamsters, and soldiers had to struggle with during the medieval periods; or look at what our own frontiersman had to contend with and handle its obvious that those men and women had both exemplary psychological and physical fortitude.

Today we have it easier. We don't have to plow 40+ acres by hand; we don't have to lift 300+ lbs of barrel or sack onto the back of a wagon; we don't have to serve as supports for draft horses when shoeing them; and we don't have to wear 150 lbs of steel armor while walking our post for our lord liege. Most of us work indoors in some capacity; have modern equipment to help us with the load; and don't have to struggle as much to live. To compare then and now is the ultimate in hyperbole and just plain nonsense.

True, most of us can't hoist a 250lb. steel ingot on our own but then again most of us will live past the age of 50. Back then, whenever "back then" is, everyday life was a struggle and every person that made it earned it the hard way. (I seem to recall a story about a mountain man mauled by a bear, left for dead, waking up and crawling 200 or so miles to the nearest fort then hunting down the party members that left him for dead. If that doesn't say "manly man" I don't know what does.) Not so much today. Here's the crux of it though, I'm alive and they're dead so I'm gonna let them have their glory and keep my health and longevity.

I suspect a Neanderthal would be more than a match for me. Regarding the PA hunter study, I'm a highway engineer in our fine Commonwealth as well as a hunter. I recall another statistic that it is impossible in the state to be more than a mile from the nearest road. Having backpacked and hunted some of the more remote corners of PA, I'd agree with that. I walked about a mile and a half out of camp last year to the spot where a buck decided to cut me a break. I could have continued maybe another 3/4 of a mile before I hit a river. However, less than a mile to my left or right there were roads paralleling my course. I've backpacked places like the West Rim Trail in PA where there are miles of trail with no road crossings, but again, at any time had I cut away from the creek and bushwacked a bit, within a thousand yards I'd have been on a roadway. At that, you'd see 2 to 6 people on a 30 mile hike. My point is statistics are just a snapshot of trivia. I've met plenty of lazy hunters, but even in PA's game lands, state parks, and national forests, escaping asphalt isn't easy. There's little traffic on a lot of the roads, but they're there.

Anyone want to hazard a guess at whether the Neanderthals would have used a rifle or sneared at it and declared "That's not sporting."

The one thing I never see in any of these studies is motivation. How fast could modern rowers go if they had a slave master with a whip providing them with encouragement? How fast could the modern runner run if he was running for his life. I suspect the prehistoric hunter was more efficient because those who weren't starved. Like Jerry A's post above that mentioned 30-06 recoil, I suspect Huns or Japs provided motivation...

A hunter is a hunter, no matter what period of history he lived.

Imagine if the modern hunter were to accidentally meet Neaderthal man, face-to-face, in the field. They, being hunters, would immediately begin to compare weapons and techniques.

There's not a doubt in my military mind, that the modern hunter could learn stealth and hunting techniques from the caveman. Conversely, Neaderthal man would immediately recognize the merit and ability of the rifle and adopt that technology for himself.

Its been proven throughout the ages. Rocks-spears-atlatl-bow-firearm. The goal is to put meat on the table, anything that can help increase the odds of doing that, will be readily accepted by the hunter.

Apart from all that I do think that alot of the hunting has gone out of hunting. Sure, we're all in less good shape than we collectively were 100 years ago. Desk jobs. Many of us try to make up for it with exercise but some can't.

But to ME the real cop-out in hunting are the number of people I see on quads or just road hunting from trucks. Oh sure, they'll say they're not "road hunting" because most of them aren't stupid enough to load or shoot from their vehicle, but they're cruising at 8 mph along "roads," some of them created in virgin grassland by axxwholes on quads, ready to stop, leap and shoot. To me it's the hallmark of a real wuss who spends their hunt mostly riding a vehicle. Stand shooting over bait or food plots or fields isn't hunting either, but it doesn't bother me the way the quads do. After all, the deer are going to go to the corn fields, soy fields, apple orchards and all that, so there's no reason not to shoot them there. And the meat's good.

But quads... FIE! I'd just as soon see quads banned from public land where I live.

WA MNT HUNTER.

Nope, my wife didn't kick me out. I was just determined to get the buck that I passed on last year and was willing to stay out all night to do it... Slept a little bit under my plastic survival blanket but spent most of the night just keeping warm. The buck did not up and surrender in spite of my heroic efforts to out smart and ambush him...

The coyotes were out in great numbers feasting on marmots and maybe deer. I was surprised to hear what sounded like a major war between the coyotes and a cat. It was really loud and about 200 yards away. I would guess it was a bobcat as it sounded like the coyotes were the winners. Nevertheless, a hunter told me he fired an "adrenaline shot" at a cougar in that area that showed up a few feet from him. His wild shot missed, so maybe it was the cougar trying to keep his dinner from the dog pack...

All:

When I was about 14 years old and living on a farm in California, my stepfather, who knew the wilds of Oregon and Idaho as well as anyone, was hired as a pathfinder on a fishing expedition deep into the Idaho wilderness. The fisherman in question was a pilot who owned the quintessential bush plane, a Piper Cub. The plan was to fly the airplane to a very remote Forest Service emergency gravel strip and from there backpack about a day to some fishing spots my stepfather had discovered in earlier adventures. They were supposed to be gone for ten days.

The ten days passed. There was no phone call from anyone, and back then cell phones didn't exist. My mother began to worry. On day eleven she called people she knew in Idaho. People at the airport reported that the plane had not returned. It was, if I recall correctly, late October in about 1976. The terrain my stepfather and his client were in was mountainous and anywhere between 5k to 9k or 10k in elevation or even higher. Night temperatures would drop down to freezing or below. The first snows were already hitting the mountains.

About ten days after my stepfather should have returned, he called home. I remember how we all gathered around the phone, and how completely stressed out my mother was. My stepfather told us that the Piper Cub had suffered an engine failure; they were forced to make an emergency landing in a meadow. The plane was damaged during the landing, and he and the pilot-client had suffered significant bumps and bruises and may have bled a little bit, but there were no life-threatening injuries. Despite this, the pilot seemed shaky and in shock, so my stepfather quickly set up a camp tent, built a fire, made some hot food, and got his client stabilized. Unfortunately, when the engine failed, the plane was in a valley surrounded by mountains. Whatever Mayday radio calls the pilot made were never heard by anyone, but the client and my stepfather did not realize this for a day or two.

Because the Piper Cub is a small airplane that has a very limited payload capability, and because the client had packed the airplane with untold amounts of fishing gear and assorted crap, my stepfather was only able to pack a limited amount of food, one pistol with a limited ammo of ammo, some camp gear, limited clothing, and that's about it. No big game rifle. No rimfire rifle. And no real severe cold weather clothing or gear either. None of this was by my stepfather's choice, but it wasn't his airplane.

After two days the pilot-client still seemed shaky and in shock. By this time my stepfather knew that help was not coming and that they were on their own. He took apart the cabin and interior of the airplane, scoured the terrain and environment around him, and made weapons, including a rather elegant and powerful slingshot (which I kept for many years), and a long bow complete with half a dozen arrows made, if I remember correctly, from a willow tree. He removed the magnetic wet compass. He studied their navigation chart and plotted a course from their position--my stepfather always knew his position and the direction he was heading in any terrain, any weather, and in any environment I ever saw him in; the man never ever got lost--to a Forest Service Fire Observation Tower some vast distance away, through rough terrain, including a mountain pass. The Observation Tower was the closest location that was likely to have a radio and supplies, and maybe even people, too.

Over the next couple of days, my stepfather talked to his client and discussed their situation. He killed grouse and pheasants--he said it was easy because the birds had never seen a human before--and caught trout by the dozens from a nearby stream. Food and water was not a problem, nor was firewood. The nights were tolerable. The client, however, disintegrated further into shock and dispair, and became useless. Meanwhile, the days were getting shorter, the nights were getting longer, the weather was getting colder, and my stepfather knew the client would not survive the first real winter storm.

So my stepfather gathered enough food together for the client to eat for several days, left him with water and the pistol, and departed their camp to march for several days and nights through the Idaho wilderness, sleeping only a few hours each day, until he unerringly navigated directly to the Forest Service Tower. He climbed the tower, broke in, activated the radio, called for help, and gave his position and the position of his client. Soon thereafter a helicopter flew in and picked him up. My stepfather guided the helo to the crash site of the Piper Cub--he later told me the flight from the tower to the crash site took about 40 minutes, which gives one a rough idea of just how far his march had been. My stepfather physically put his semi-deranged client in the helo, threw in a few souvenirs from their camp, jumped in, and together they all flew back to civilization.

When my stepfather pulled up in the driveway of our CA farm and stepped out of his truck, he looked like had lost maybe 10 lbs. (which didn't hurt him one way or the other) but had gained a magnificent tan and an even more magnificent beard. He looked perfectly happy, healthy, relaxed, completely nonchalant. He had just accomplished a feat of wilderness survival that very few people could ever hope to achieve--I've often wondered if I could do even half as well in the same circumstances-- and had made it look as easy, simple and carefree as a Sunday afternoon stroll on a pretty day in a very civilized city park.

Our celebration meal upon my stepfather's return? My mother prepared trout for dinner. My stepfather, who had just eaten trout for many days on end, didn't wince, didn't complain, and ate every bite. He even smiled, kissed my mother, and told her the dinner was wonderful.

He never ate trout again.

you cant compare apples to oranges without them being at the same place and same time.in africa, when a tribesman shot an animal he had to track it for days until the animal bled out or until a poison tiped arrow took affect which usually for days before the animal expired. shoot one with moden long bows and the animal expired in a few hours.(same type of bow as back then).you just can compare the two without them being together.i bet the people of past cant change a tire on a truck.

I teach my kids that the only reason that man is on top of the food chain is not because of our muscles or anything else but because of our brain and intelligent use thereof. Of course this excludes those who damage themselves when NOT using their brains, as an example, hunters falling off of a tree stand after falling asleep. I know that others have examples, as well.