.jpg)
Welcome to the brand new Primitive Pathways website! Due to the requests of fans and customers I've expanded my website to include lots of new and unique products. Every primitive item you see on this website is handmade by me, although I will sell products made by other artists if their quality meets or exceeds my strict expectations. Browse the galleries, shop for all kinds of primitive items or just enjoy a little primitive eye candy. You can click on all the photos for a larger image. Be sure to stop by often, as I'll be adding new items on a regular basis.
This website is the result of my passion for the outdoors and the forgotten lives of our prehistoric ancestors. My dad was as an avid hunter and he introduced me to the wilderness at a young age. One of those trips would forever change my life. While hunting in Virginia on my grandparent’s farm I found a broken quartz spear point and was immediately captivated by it. Questions flooded my mind: Who made it? What was he like? How did he survive in a world without all the amenities we enjoy today? Unfortunately his culture had essentially vanished and the broken stone tool in my hand was all that was left to signify that his people even existed. I was 10-years-old at the time, an age when most kids would be given a .22 rifle and taught to hunt by first pursuing squirrels. Instead I reversed gears and delved deep into the past to learn about the forgotten skills of our Stone Age ancestors. Not only did I want to learn how they lived, I wanted to master the same skills they needed to survive. And so began the quest…..
After reading several obscure books I gained enough information to begin the slow process of practicing the skills needed to recreate the tools, weapons, and clothing essential for primitive peoples' survival. At the time there was no Internet and the material I did read was often vague, incomplete, or in some cases completely incorrect. It took years to learn what worked and what didn’t. The occasional successes fed an unrelenting desire to continue until I had mastered them all.
After mastering numerous primitive skills, the real challenge was putting them to the test by actually using them, most notably the primitive bow and arrow in the hunt. I immediately recognized the enormous skill needed to get close enough to kill wary animals with a wooden bow and stone tipped arrows. After three months of hard hunting I finally made my first primitive kill: a perfect head shot on a small grey squirrel. The euphoria of that kill was unlike anything I've ever experienced. My view of modern weapons suddenly changed...they were lifeless, alien pieces of machinery made by technology I couldn't understand and surely couldn't reproduce. Walking through the woods with a weapon I made with my own hands, from natural materials I collected myself gave me a sense of connection to the natural world that nothing else could match. I abandoned modern weapons altogether and completely embraced the Stone Age. I became a die-hard primitive bowhunter who would never hunt with a modern bow or centerfire rifle. And God willing, I never will.
Over the years I’ve since been successful bringing down numerous game animals with my primitive bow. I've penned dozens of articles for various bowhunting magazines on the subject of primitive archery and primitive bowhunting. My YouTube channel has over 17 million views and continues to grow. My videos are a delight to the growing number of outdoor enthusiasts who've grown weary with the over-commercialized state of modern hunting TV shows. To my surprise, my YouTube videos caught the attention of Discovery Channel talent searchers in early 2011. They were looking for expert survivalists to participate in a social experiment to determine if 10 modern people could live like our Stone Age ancestors did. They flew me to L.A. to interview with producers and shortly after returning home I received news that I made the show. Discovery Channel’s I, Caveman, aired on October 2, 2011. The show was a hit and couldn't have been a more perfect match for me. I must have made an impression because I was again contacted in early 2013 for another, even more hardcore survival show. After numerous interviews I was selected to be part of the groundbreaking survival show Naked and Afraid. My episode, "Beware the Bayou", aired on July 28th, 2013.
I've combined my professional videography experience with my primitive hunting skills to produce Primitive Instinct, Vol. 1, the world’s first full length bowhunting DVD showing animals being taken with my handmade primitive bow and stone tipped arrows. Taking 4 1/2 years to film and produce, this project was filmed, edited, and narrated by me. Primitive Instinct, Vol. 1 was released in March, 2012. I've received DVD orders from customers all over the world and it has received rave reviews.
So what’s on the horizon? I'm currently working on several DVD's including Primitive Instinct Volume 2, Making the California Bow and Arrows, Making Primitive Arrows, Basic Flintknapping, and Making the Primitive Bow. Don't want to wait for the next DVD release? Then follow my adventures on YouTube by clicking here.