Great book /autobiography by Meshach Browning, c. 1780-1860,
He tells of his life as a hunter in the early pioneer days of Maryland and West Virginia, when truly game was aplenty in the oak and chestnut forests of the east. He made a living as a farmer, miller, but seasonally a hunter (always for family, but he was also a market hunter). He frequently took four bear in a day and who knows how many deer, along with panthers, turkey,etc. in what must have seemed an endless source of supply, using steel traps and wooden cage traps, rifle, dogs, spotlighting (candles with a birchbark reflector), etc. Today it seems wanton, but considering the time when each bear was considered a farm maurader and a panther (mtn lion, but I think he considered bobcat and lynx the same) a competitor for deer. He marketed not just the meat of bears and deer, but also the hide for the everyday garments worn by the men/boys in the country setting.
Unfortnately he makes almost no mention at all of any description of his firearms used or details of his equipment. He usually travelled very light..literally the clothes on his back and his dog, happily overnighting wherever he was in whatever weather, although as he got older (and the area probably more settled) he overnighted with others more frequently.
Many times he refers to cutting out the spent slug from an animal to "hammer back into shape" and reload. He does mention being given a horn of the new "Dupont" powder, that was so much more powerful it kicked him back!
Soo, jest' for what its worth, if you intend to keep a written record of your lifes events...write down the details! Whoh knows who down the road will want to know the finer things we take for granted.
He tells of his life as a hunter in the early pioneer days of Maryland and West Virginia, when truly game was aplenty in the oak and chestnut forests of the east. He made a living as a farmer, miller, but seasonally a hunter (always for family, but he was also a market hunter). He frequently took four bear in a day and who knows how many deer, along with panthers, turkey,etc. in what must have seemed an endless source of supply, using steel traps and wooden cage traps, rifle, dogs, spotlighting (candles with a birchbark reflector), etc. Today it seems wanton, but considering the time when each bear was considered a farm maurader and a panther (mtn lion, but I think he considered bobcat and lynx the same) a competitor for deer. He marketed not just the meat of bears and deer, but also the hide for the everyday garments worn by the men/boys in the country setting.
Unfortnately he makes almost no mention at all of any description of his firearms used or details of his equipment. He usually travelled very light..literally the clothes on his back and his dog, happily overnighting wherever he was in whatever weather, although as he got older (and the area probably more settled) he overnighted with others more frequently.
Many times he refers to cutting out the spent slug from an animal to "hammer back into shape" and reload. He does mention being given a horn of the new "Dupont" powder, that was so much more powerful it kicked him back!
Soo, jest' for what its worth, if you intend to keep a written record of your lifes events...write down the details! Whoh knows who down the road will want to know the finer things we take for granted.