A timeline is a great mirror in which we can rediscover how truly marvelous our journey has been.
Time is the protoplasm of destiny, the stay of our years as indefinite as the flesh of our bones, and within its meager allotment each man strives for immortality. Casting himself against the preponderant events of his era, and advancing upon the often eccentric aspirations of his dreams.
So is written the progressive history of the world, and beneath it flows the ever fascinating signature of mankind at large.
The great timeline of our sporting heritage is etched more vastly and vividly across the millennia than all other of human endeavors. From the dawn of our being roughly two million years ago, there was the necessity of survival, the need to hunt and gather, and from that lodges a spiritual longing that has ever remained unbroken.
Much of sporting legend was drawn in the dust, lost to wind and rain eons ago; some of it survives in the ancient language of cave depictions; fragments persist in ageless stories passed across untold fireside generations, but even the portion captured more perpetually by the recorded word crosses many colorful thousands of years.
A timeline is a great mirror, into which we may gaze and rediscover ourselves, to be astounded again and again by how far we have come, by how we were able to get here, and of how frequently marvelous the journey has been.
It’s the chronological story of faith and perseverance, pride and fall, immeasurable individual courage and determination, grand entrepreneurial adventure, wondrous ingenuity, exemplary ethics and sportsmanship, landmark conservation and stewardship, and profound inspirational triumph in art and literature.
Here, then, is our story.
Through it, we are reminded both piece-and-parcel of how very deep and rich is the outdoor spiritual culture each of us has come so greatly to cherish.
PEOPLE & EVENTS
40,000 BC – Hunting for subsistence and spiritualism in the Ice Age
15,000 BC – Wolf is domesticated as man’s earliest hunting partner
13,000 BC – Hunters cross the Bering Strait to America
9000 BC – Bison hunted on Great Plains of North America
2000 BC – Falconry first practiced in Asia
1000 – Leif Ericson sails from Greenland to North America
1492 – Christopher Columbus sails to North America from Europe
1593 – Frenchman Samuel de Champlain explores Canada
1608 – Quebec, Canada’s oldest city, founded
1652 – Cape Town in South Africa chartered by the Dutch East India Company
1670 – Hudson Bay Company chartered
1733 – Last of 13 original colonies, Georgia, is founded
1768 – Scotsman James Bruce explores Ethiopia in Africa
1775 – Revolutionary War begins
1776 – Declaration of Independence signed
1776 – First federal game law prohibiting hunting for deer
1782 – Bald Eagle becomes national symbol
1785 – John J. Audubon born
1786 – Davy Crockett born
1787 – U.S. Constitution drafted; 2nd Amendment guarantees right to bear arms
1804 – Lewis & Clark Expedition begins
1836 – The Alamo
1856 – Charles F. Orvis founds a fishing tackle company, now the oldest mail-order business in America
1858 – Theodore Roosevelt born
1862 – Homestead Act gives 160 acres of land to western settlers
1866 – Field trials for sporting dogs begin in Great Britain
1871 – NRA founded
1872 – Yellowstone National Park established
1874 – First field trial for sporting dogs in America, Greenslaw Plantation, west Tennessee
1878 – First bag limit law on birds, Iowa; laws establish game departments in New Hampshire and California
1881 – First successful stock of pheasants in the U.S. in Oregon by O.N. Denny
1887 – Boone & Crockett Club established
1890 – Brown trout first stocked in U.S.
1900 – Whitetail deer and wild turkey populations dangerously decimated; Lacey Act prohibits market hunting
1902 – Fred Bear born
1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach North Pole; Teddy Roosevelt & son Kermit embark on grand 11-month safari to Africa
1914 – Last passenger pigeon dies at Cincinnati Zoo
1918 – Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act sets seasons and limits on migratory birds
1919 – Death of Theodore Roosevelt
1926 – Game of skeet invented by William Harden Foster and Charles & Henry Davies
1931 – First retriever field trial in U.S. held near Chester, New York
1934 – First Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp, aka, Duck Stamp, artwork by Ding Darling. Cost $1
1936 – National Wildlife Federation founded
1937 – Ducks Unlimited founded
1937 – Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act distributes taxes from sporting arms and ammo sales to state game agencies for conservation programs.
1939 – International Game Fish Association established
1941 – Pearl Harbor
1945 – Atomic bomb dropped on Japan, WW II ends
1950 – Howard Hill becomes first white man to kill an elephant with a bow and arrow
1954 – The Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Ernest Hemingway
1961 – National Shooting Sports Foundation incorporated; Pope & Young Club founded
1964 – Wilderness Act sets aside 9.1 million acres; today, more than 104 million acres
1967 – Ray Scott organizes first professional bass tournament in Alabama, founds Bass Anglers Sportsman Society
1969 – Neil Armstrong walks on moon
1971 – Safari Club International established
1973 – National Wild Turkey Federation established
1981 – Sporting Classics magazine launched
1984 – Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation chartered
1985 – Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) established, returns millions of acres to wildlife habitat
1985 – Organized anti-hunting litigation escalates
1987 – Clean Water Act
1990 – Clean Air Act
2010 – White-tailed deer numbers top 30 million; wild turkeys 7 million strong
2011 – Upland birds in trouble: bobwhite quail down across entire range, woodcock numbers declining, ruffed grouse numbers down across original eastern range. Global human population nears 7 billion; U.S. population approaches 311 million; hundreds of thousands of acres of farms, forests and grasslands being lost annually; global warming and greenhouse gases increasingly threatening.
GEAR & TECHNOLOGY
40,000 BC – Spears used for hunting in the Ice Age
13,000 BC – Spear-throwers improvised
10,000 BC – Bow & arrow invented
400 – Use of iron spreads across Europe
1000 – Gunpowder perfected by Chinese
1000 – Native Americans first use waterfowl decoys
1200 – English-style longbow developed in Wales
1350 – First hand cannon
1411 – Matchlock is invented
1505 – Wheellock invented
1530 – Beretta becomes the world’s first gunmaker
1542 – Grooves (rifling) to stabilize a bullet devised
1547 – Flintlock invented
1651 – Charles Kirby invents the Kirby metal- hardened fishhook
1718 – James Puckle of London devises the handgun
1750 – Opening of Golden Age of the Kentucky Rifle (until 1830)
1810 – Kentucky watchmaker George Snyder develops first multiplying bait-casting reel
1815 – Jacob Hawken opens rifle shop in St. Louis
1812 – Westley Richards founded; Boss & Co. founded
1814 – Purdey established
1816 – Eliphalet Remington begins making guns
1820 – Plains rifle becomes primary weapon on the American frontier (thru 1865)
1832 – Watchmaker Johnathon Meek refines and manufactures “Kentucky” bait-casting reels
1832 – Mustad Company begins making fishhooks in Norway
1835 – Holland & Holland founded
1837 – English engineer John Chapman invents the telescopic sight
1846 – Samuel Phillipe builds first split-bamboo fly rod
1848 – Hiram Leonard crafts first six-strip hexagon bamboo fly rod; Christian Sharps patents Sharps breech-loading rifle.
1852 – First English hammerless breechloaders
1855 – First center-primed shotshell
1857 – Smith & Weston develops .22 rimfire
1862 – Development of “shoots all week” Henry rifle
1863 – Christian Sharps develops the perfect buffalo gun, .50 caliber
1864 – Smokeless powder invented
1866 – Winchester Repeating Arms Company founded
1868 – Parker Brothers founded, Meriden, Connecticut
1872 – Hardy Brothers founded in Alnwick, England, begins making reels
1874 – Charles Orvis patents first ventilated spool fly reel
1875 – Anson & Deeley boxlock action developed
1877 – L.C. Smith founded
1883 – Ithaca Gun Company founded
1884 – Lefever Arms Company established
1887 – Holland & Holland action system invented
1894 – Winchester introduces Model 94 lever-action
1897 – C.C. Filson opens Alaska Clothing & Blanket Mfgs.
1898 – Conrad Hubert devises the portable electric generator
1901 – James Heddon begins making fishing plugs for public
1902 – Browning brings out the Auto-5
1905 – A.H. Fox Gun Company founded, Philadelphia
1906 – Springfield Armory develops the .30-06
1908 – Ford Auto founded in Detroit
1910 – Ole Evinrude invents the outboard motor
1912 – L.L. Bean goes into business with his “Maine hunting shoe”
1912 – Winchester markets the Model 12 pump gun
1921 – Abu Garcia founded, Swedish fishing gear
1922 – Federal Cartridge founded
1923 – Griffin & Howe founded
1926 – John Browning introduces the Superposed; Ithaca markets New Ithaca Double
1930 – Browning Arms founded
1930 – Lee Wulff develops the “fly-fishing vest”
1931 – Winchester brings out Model 21 side-by-side
1935 – Luxor spinning reel introduced to U.S.
1937 – Winchester introduces the Model 70 bolt rifle; Bo Randall begins making custom knives
1938 – Mepps spinner invented in France
1938 – Development of monofilament fishing line by Dow Corning
1946 – Shakespeare makes “Wonderods,” first tubular fiberglass fishing rods
1946 – Mitchell 300 spinning reel introduced to U.S. market; Orvis introduces first resin-impregnated bamboo fly rod
1948 – Fiberglass cloth developed for making fishing rods; development of “No-bird’s Nest” spinning reel (Zebco) by Zero Hour Bomb Company (R.D. Hull)
1948 – Bo Whoop lost, initiating the greatest mystery legend in firearms history
1950 – Remington markets the Model 870
1953 – Abu Garcia Ambassadeur bait-casting reels appear on U.S. market
1953 – Cortland Line Company introduces 333, the first plastic-coated fly line
1957 – Carl Lowrance introduces “depth finder” to fishing
1957 – Berkley perfects nylon monofilament fishing lines
1958 – Roy Weatherby begins building rifles
1960 – Remington introduces plastic shotshell case
1961 – Hughes Aircraft devises first hand-held version of the laser rangefinder
1962 – Remington brings out the Model 700
1963 – Remington announces Model 1100 shotgun
1966 – Wilbur Allen invents the compound bow
1969 – Robert Gore discovers polytetraflouroethylene, aka Gore-Tex; the Baker Co. patents the first commercial climbing tree stand
1970 – Jerry Gonda at Tri-Tronics markets the first electronic dog-training collar; Honda markets the U.S. 90, the first recreational ATV
1973 – First graphite fly rods, casting and spinning rods follow
1973 – Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola invents the hand-held cell phone
1979 – Kenny Jarrett begins making beanfield rifles full time
1981 – Maiden Mills invents fleece fabric
1986 – The Schawbel Corp. develops ThermaCell technology
1989 – Magellan introduces first hand-held GPS
1992 – Connecticut Shotgun revives the A.H. Fox shotgun
1999 – Ithaca Classic Doubles brings back the NID
2002 – Hornady develops the .17 rimfire
2005 – Bo Whoop shotgun found after six decades
2006 – Winchester discontinues the Model 94; Garmin markets the first GPS-enabled tracking system for sporting dogs
2009 – Bo Whoop brings $201,250 at James Julia & Sons auction; donated to DU Museum
2009 – Remington celebrates the 10 millionth Model 870
2010 – James Julia auctions Roosevelt Fox shotgun for $862,500, an all-time world record sale for a firearm
2011 – “Superior genetic farming” for white-tailed deer accelerating as a major eco-tech industry in the U.S.
LITERATURE
400 BC – Xenophon, Greek historian, writes the first book on hunting, Cynegeticus (On Hunting)
105 – Paper invented in China
1406 – Edward, Duke of York, writes first English book on hunting, Master of Game
1438 – Gutenberg invents typecasting
1653 – Izaak Walton writes The Compleat Angler
1855 – Attorney George Graham Vest orates “A Tribute to a Dog” as an argument in a civil case
1876 – The Chicago Field, journal of American field trials, is placed into circulation by Dr. Rowe. It becomes The American Field in 1881.
1881 – Frederick Courteney Selous publishes A Hunter’s Wanderings in Africa; James Henshall publishes The Book of the Black Bass
1892 – Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game first published
1900 – Arthur Robert Harding publishes Hunter, Trader, Trapper, which leads to Fur, Fish, Game, aka Harding’s Magazine, in 1925
1902 – Recreation magazine publishes first Zane Grey fishing story, “A Day on the Delaware”
1907 – Archibald Rutledge writes Old Plantation Days, publishes it privately in 1913
1910 – Scribners publishes African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt
1916 – Recreation magazine publishes De Shootin’est Gentl’man, which becomes the signature piece for a young writer named Nash Buckingham
1924 – John Taintor Foote publishes A Wedding Gift 1927 – Eugene Connett creates The Derrydale Press
1929 – Derrydale Press publishes The Travel Diary of an Angler by Henry Van Dyke
1930 – Derrydale publishes Upland Game Bird Shooting in America by Eugene Connett
1935 – Burton L. Spiller’s Grouse Feathers published by Derrydale; MacKinley Kantor publishes The Voice of Bugle Ann
1936 – The Snows of Kilamanjaro by Ernest Hemingway; Harold Sheldon writes Tranquility, first of the trilogy.
1937 – Gunner’s Dawn by Roland Clark
1939 – Jack O’Connor becomes gun editor of Outdoor Life
1942 – The U.S. Military publishes Brag Dog by Vereen Bell for distribution to troops during WWII
1945 – Jim Kjelgaard publishes Big Red
1947 – University of South Carolina Press publishes Havilah Babcock’s fifth and final book, My Health Is Better In November
1949 – Sand Country Almanac by Aldo Leopold published posthumously
1950 – Shotgun News debuts on newsstands
1951 – Roland Pertwee first publishes The River God in book form
1953 – Howard Hill writes Hunting the Hard Way; Robert Ruark publishes Horn of the Hunter
1957 – The Old Man and the Boy, Robert Ruark, arguably the most beloved outdoor book of all-time
1961 – Parker: America’s Finest Shotgun, published by Peter H. Johnson; Wilson Rawls publishes Where The Red Fern Grows
1961 – Ernest Hemingway commits suicide at age 61
1962 – Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring; Corey Ford publishes Minutes of the Lower Forty
1965 – Robert Ruark dies in London at age 49
1967 – Stories of Old Duck Hunters & Other Drivel by Gordon MacQuarrie
1968 – First volume of The American Sportsman, inspired by the ABC television series
1969 – Field & Stream publishes “The Road to Tinkhamtown” by Corey Ford (posthumously)
1971 – Nash Buckingham dies at 90; George Bird Evans publishes The Upland Shooting Life
1973 – Archibald Rutledge dies at 89
1976 – A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
1977 – Death In the Long Grass, Peter Hathaway Capstick; “Hill Country” column by Gene Hill debuts in Field & Stream
1990– English physicist Tim Berners-Lee perfects HTTP data sharing and creates the World Wide Web
1992 – A.H. Fox: Finest Gun In The World by Michael McIntosh
1997 – Gene Hill dies at 69
2009 – Sporting Classics publishes The Lost Classics of Jack O’Connor
2011 – Handheld electronic book libraries increasingly popular with readers; hundreds of thousands of books and periodicals available, including many sporting volumes
Note: The author wishes to acknowledge with respect and appreciation the significant, earlier work of our late publisher, Art Carter, in the construction of this feature.