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Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter: Being Reminiscences of Meshach Browning, a Maryland Hunter, Roughly Written Down by himself (Classics of American Sport) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Meshach Browning, E. Stabler
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $12.17
You Save: $7.78 (39%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 526686
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.5
ISBN: 0811732819
Dewey Decimal Number: 799.2975297
EAN: 9780811732819
ASIN: 0811732819
Publication Date: February 10, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! Revised. 2006 Paperback.
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Product Description
First published in 1859, Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter records life in early America, hunting in the wilderness, and descriptions of game and plants of the time. Part backwoods history, part heroic adventure story, the book recounts Meshach Browning's hunts for white-tailed deer through the Appalachian wilderness of Maryland and West Virginia.
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| Customer Reviews:
Fourty-Four Years in the Life of a Hunter April 5, 2008
Forty Years of the life of A Hunter, is the hunting autobiography of Meshach Browning and was written in 1859. Browning was an incredible frontiersman and hunter. He had built a reputation as the best hunter in the northwestern section of Maryland. His hunts sometimes took him across borders into Virginia (now West Virginia) and Pennsylvania. A well-known writer of his day, urged him to write his hunting biography.
Born in Montgomery County, Maryland in 1781, Browning eked out a living for himself and his family of twelve in the Maryland wilds. Whitetails provided him with meat for food and hides for clothing. His hunting shirts were always of buckskin and, in fact, he was usually referred to as "Buckskin" Browning.
The deer also served as a source of income. In his day, venison sold for 12 cents a pound and, what he did not use for his family, he sold. The money earned from the deer and bear allowed him to build a small farm at Bear Creek Glades and to later establish a gristmill. Deer hunting was Meshach's favorite pastime and his income as well.
His woodland exploits were, by modern standards, phenomenal. The sheer numbers of bear, deer and turkeys that he harvested for food and income are almost unbelievable. However, Browning had many witnesses to his exploits in the forests. He was described by those who lived near him as "entirely free from vice; honest and direct as any man could be and greatly respected."
He was especially fond of bear meat and killing bears was almost a duty to him. He had to carry everything on his back for his hunting forays. He reduced his load to the barest essentials: salt, bread, rifle, powder horn, bullet pouch, hunting knife, punk, flint and steel for fire-making and a tomahawk. It is remarkable that, in a lifetime spent in the wilds wrestling with bears and huge antlered deer, he never suffered an accident. But he was clawed several times by bears as he wrestled them with only a knife. And he relates two instances where he wrestled with huge antlered deer - once getting gored terribly.
Browning tracked white-tailed bucks for days and days as he traveled the great virgin forests of hemlock and white pine. In that respect, he is reminiscent of Philip Tome in his pursuit of elk in north central PA. He spent many a night in the woods under the worst weather conditions, rising to continue his hunt the next day.
To understand just how good Meschach Browning was, I quote from a foreword written by his great-grandson: "Approaching upwind, he generally succeeded in getting close enough for an effective shot with his flintlock rifle, the accuracy and penetration of which were so uncertain that he was obliged to get close to the game and deal a fatal first shot, if possible. If he failed, his specially bred and carefully trained dogs took over the battle and when necessary, he settled it with a thrust of his knife rather than risk another shot which, in the confusion of the fight, might kill a dog.... His dogs were exceedingly courageous, active and powerful."
Aside from Native Americans who MAY have used the spring mating season of turkeys to take some of the male gobblers, Browning was the very first man to call in tom turkeys during the spring.
And brook trout were so abundant that he barely mentions fishing. He and his children could catch foot-long brookies by the hundreds and preserve them for future use. The trout were so many - and so easy to hook - that he sounds bored with the whole process of fishing.
Again, his years of hunting are almost beyond belief. During his hunting career he shot 1,800 to 2,000 deer, 400 bears, 50 panthers and scores of wolves and wildcats. The wolf, panther and wildcat scalps were turned in to local officials for their bounty. The deer and bear he used to supply his family and then take the excess to market.
If you wish to go back to the 1790's to the early 1800's in America's wilderness to get a real look at what life was like on the frontier - if you relish hunting stories - I can highly recommend Browning's book, Forty-Four Years Of the Life of a Hunter.
Hunting as it used to be. March 6, 2008
I was told about this book from a guy I worked with who was a decendent of Meshach Browning. The book inspires how hard times were back then and how honest people used to be. It is an amazing piece of hunting history that every hunter (and non-hunter) should read.
 Fourty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter January 8, 2008
Outstanding look at life in early 1800 western Maryland. Meshach's memoirs are compelling and makes one marvel at what the difference between our 21st century life and that of our early pioneers. Great read for a look back into the lives of our ancestors.
Forty-Four years of the life of a hunter December 23, 2007
One of the best first hand accounts of early frontier life as seen from the eyes of an honest man that I have read. No poetic license taken, or glorification. Great Read.
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