Throwback Thursday by Lee Schanz, Jr.
Shoulda Been a Cowboy
When Toby Keith's chart topping single came out thirty-three years ago, it launched his career and became the most listened to country song of the 1990's. I think I know why. When I grew up in the 1970's, John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart were still alive. Along with other actors from Hollywood's golden age, they fed me a steady diet of western movies full of adventure. The image of a bunch of cowboys huddled over a campfire and sharing a meal after a hard day's work resonated with me. If they were bringing justice to their homestead or small dusty town, all the better. Hopefully, they were in search of gold or some other valuable commodity. They had Colt single actions strapped to their hips and Winchester leverguns laced in their scabbards. That was my favorite part and still is. I'm an unashamed, degenerate gun guy!
By the time I was 5, I was bustin' caps on imaginary critters with my look alike Colt .45s! My first BB gun was made to look like a Winchester and taught me early lessons in shooting and accuracy. While we're on the subject, I was never tempted to commit a crime while I was carrying one. There were rules in our home and a present father who made sure they were followed.
As I got older, I realized the opportunities to be a cowboy in my native Maine were not just limited, they were non-existent. Having said that, I found an occupation that was very similar. I was using a 4x4 instead of a horse. I was hauling deer, bear, and moose to the butcher instead of driving cattle to market, but I was sharing the outdoors with a bunch of men not afraid of hard work and adventure. Becoming a Master Maine Guide was as close to a cowboy as I was gonna get, and I have no regrets.
The tradition of Maine Guides goes back at least 150 years with lots of famous characters participating along the way. There was John Danforth, who built a cabin on a huge cedar raft and guided where Maine, New Hampshire, and Canada all come together. He would end up founding a set of sporting camps that would become the Parmachenee Club, before building a steamship and steaming to Florida. Eventually, he would travel to Idaho in search of mining riches.
Then there was William Wingate "Bill" Sewall. He was a lumberman and guide from Island Falls, who in 1878 took a frail kid from New York on adventures that would transform him into a lifelong outdoorsman. This New Yorker had such respect for the Maine Guide that he asked him to travel west and help manage a ranch in the Dakotas. When Theodore Roosevelt ended up in the White House, he would still seek counsel from Bill Sewall.
There was Fanny "Fly Rod" Crosby, the famous female guide, who became Maine's first "Registered" Guide in 1897. Legend!
Lastly, one of my favorite guides from Maine history was V.E. Lynch. I learned about his adventures through old "Fur, Fish, and Game" magazines and in books written by and about him. He might be hunting deer and black bear on a beechnut ridge or running bobcats with his pack of hounds. Whatever the hunt, he took you for a ride.
When I got older, I met famous Maine woodsmen who I hold in high regard. My dad trapped when I was a kid, and this is how I met Oscar Cronk. My mother was friends with Nancy Copp, and this is how I came to spend a week at the home of famous Maine bear hunter, Phil Copp. He had some stories! When I got on the "Guides Board" twenty years ago, I became acquainted with the next generation of guides that would include Wayne Bosowicz, Donny Helstrom, Matt Libby, and Don Dudley. All men I hold in high esteem. Space doesn't allow me to share all of my heroes that I've become friends with, but the state of Maine is well represented with its current crop of "cowboys". When I hear Toby Keith's popular anthem, I no longer think I shoulda been a cowboy. I think, I'm just what I was meant to be.

Space doesn't allow me to share all of my heroes that I've become friends with

Hey, Hey, I have not held you back from sharing your heroes. LOL
Nice buck .

The bad thing about being an actually cowboy is in the word. COW. Miserable things. Taste good though.