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Forty Four Years Of the Life of a Hunter

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Daveboone

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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.
 
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 was born where I live, Damascus, Maryland. One of the curious things is that while he did roam what is today part of West Virginia, it was Virginia back then, and some of the area that he thought was Virginia was actually still in Maryland. The most western counties of Garret and Allegheny, for a long time were thought to be Virginia land, but updated surveys of the Potomac River (Potamack on old maps) showed the river started farther west than first surveyed, and so then did Maryland.

He does mention that he would dispatch the bears very often using a butcher knife, if the bear was still alive when he came up on it, after it had been shot. 😦

He mentions going to court in Baltimore after 1800, wearing a newly made hunting shirt, but drawing many stares from the populace. (City fashions had changed a lot by then)

Alas a chunk of his old hunting grounds are now beneath the surface of Deep Creek Lake, the Deep Creek having been dammed in the 20th century to create a reservoir. 🙁

LD
 
I think this is the book that a member here is kin to the author.
It has been discussed in the reenacting section on a few topics and elsewhere.
It is a good read
 
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.

The lack of detail written down by people of those times about technical matters has always been a source of puzzlement to me. I can speculate on a few reasons why that was so, but it remains speculation just the same.
 
Smoothshooter , what you share about the dearth of technical info on the guns used by our early pioneer forefathers in the Appalachian woods , is frustrating to me also. I've built 'bout 155+ copies of these early guns as seen in museums here in Pa. , I have read 20 some books of factual happenings noted by folks , who's actual testimonies are recorded , that lived the adventures , and still, no details about their guns. My conclusion to this conundrum is , the knowledge of the guns from the 18th century was thought so common place , no importance was recorded for future folks to study. Common references to the early guns used on the frontier might be like this:......If an attack was eminent , defenders were told to "put your guns into good order , so you will be ready." Women were to cast lead balls in preparation for defense of a fort. Another mention might be , the lock spring broke , when the rifle lock was cocked too violently. And another frequently mentioned difficulty was , the lock failed to fire, or missed fire. Those are some frequently mentioned items. We can only study our antique guns and wonder what actually happened. We'll never know what actuality was of frontier firearms. Oh well , it is what it is................ :dunno: ...oldwood
 
In "44 Years" it is also apparent that he went through a lot of firearms. Especially when young, his firearms seemed pretty "catch as catch can", almost tools of opportunity...frequently borrowed. There were many references to going hunting literally with very few rounds, or only the ball in the barrel, as I recall. Would a carpenter give much detail about his number one tool...a hammer?
 

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