The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-06-03
DEFIED THE WILDERNESS
Browning Hunted Without Canned
Goods or Press Agents.

Goods or Press Agents.
In the days of Meshach Browning
there was far more danger to a hunter
from wild beasts in the the unsettled
country stretching about the mountain
Gus regions about the present towns of
Cumberland and Oakland than there is
today for the hunter upon the private
shooting grounds of President Roose-
velt's hosts.
Moreover, the hunter then sailed
forth with just few companions. or
more often alone. He travelled over
great stretches of country on foot. He
had the instincts for following game of
the Indians, and would tramp some
times in his chase Is or 20 or more
miles.
When nights came on-winter nights
and summer nights, but usually the for
mer-he would have his choice of tramp
ing home on foot, or else of camping
where the chase had carried him.
This early hunter would sometimes
build fire on the hillside, in the very
midst of the wilds, with only his two or
three faithful dogs to guard him against
surprises from wild beasts. He would
sleep frequently in the open, or shelter
ed beneath a fallen tree while the
ground about him was covered with
snow.
When his means of making a light
did not fail him, he could have little
campfire near by, although he was often
denied this privilege. And he made
practice of the feeding to large ex-
tent upon the game which had fallen,
but a short while before, a prey to his
prowess as hunter.
This early hunter-this man who did
not hunt as a means of recreation, but
made it his protest. n, for sheer love of
the sport, was of more use to society
than any dandy sportsman eyer has
been. He blazed the trail for more
timid-hearted to follow, and he cleared
the wild country westward of the great
est obstacles to the country's growth
the wild beasts that DESTROYED the set
tiers stock and endangered their lives.
Of his adventures in the woods of
Western Maryland, of his life as hun
ter and that of his family and of his
luck with the rifle, Browning left book
that has for nearly 80 years been one of
of the chief, if not the chief, volume in
the library of most residents of the
western part of the State. But in the
East his book with its tales of adven-
lures is not well known.
The purpose of this introduction is
simply to give brief preface to a col
lection of excerpts from Browning's
"Forty -four Years of the Life of a
Hunter " These excerpts in themselves
are dramatic enough to be interesting
even to those who find no particular at
traction in reading OF hunting.
They are of interest because they re-
veal how great a revolution has been
worked in the world within the years
since Browning's death, for today the
widest parts of Africa present no dan
gers to the hunter at all comparable to
those which existed in Maryland in the
period from 1895 to 1889.
An acquaintance of Browning, in pre-
pairing few words of preface for his
book said: ct is impossible to state
with accuracy how many of the denizens
of the forest have fallen victims to his
unerring rifle and deadly hunting knife;
for he hunted regularly A years, and
thus the greater portion of that time
supplied his family, besides occasion
ally selling large quantities of venison
and bear meat.
"He stated to me that, from the best
estimate he could make, and from data
considered reliable. he had killed from
eighteen hundred to two thousand deer,
from three to four hundred bears, about
80 panthers and catamounts (quIte as
ferOciOus, and not much less in size
than the panther), with scores of wolves
and wildcats"
And Browning speaking of his hunt
ing himself said:
Having made it a study for many
years, it gave me an accurate knowledge
of the disposition, habits, feeding
grounds, ETC., of bears, and also of the
hours of the day when they did feed; all
of which it is necessary for a success
full hunter, of either Gears or deer to
know.
81 began to hunt in 1875, and pursued
the chase every fall till l839-a period
of "A years-and in country where
game was exceedingly plenty. During
this time, think found out as much