Mountain Man Skills: Hunting, Trapping, Woodwork, and More

by Stephen Brennan

Overview

Crafts and Skills of the Mountain Man is a fascinating, practical guide to the skills that have made the mountain men famous worldwide as outdoorsmen and craftsmen. Readers can replicate outdoor living by trying a hand at making rafts and canoes, constructing tools, and living off the land.

Learn key skills like:

Building a strong fire.
Learning to hunt and butcher your meals.
Creating a safe and solid shelter.
And much more!

Whether you’re an avid outdoorsman or a novice hiker, Crafts and Skills of the Mountain Man is your handbook to not only surviving outdoors, but flourishing. The style of the mountain man is unique and popular, especially among young people, historians, and those with a special interest in living off the land. The mountain man has been successful outdoors for ages, and now you can too with the skills, tips, and tricks included in this handy manual.

Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for hunters and firearms enthusiasts. We publish books about shotguns, rifles, handguns, target shooting, gun collecting, self-defense, archery, ammunition, knives, gunsmithing, gun repair, and wilderness survival. We publish books on deer hunting, big game hunting, small game hunting, wing shooting, turkey hunting, deer stands, duck blinds, bowhunting, wing shooting, hunting dogs, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628737097
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	07/21/2015
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	622,403
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Stephen Brennan is the coauthor of The Adventurous Boy's Handbook and The Adventurous Girl's Handbook, and editor of The Best Pirate Stories Ever Told and The Best Sailing Stories Ever Told. He has worked as a circus clown, teacher, cabaret artist, actor, director, shepherd, and playwright.

Table of Contents

The Trappers W. F. Wagner 14

Transport 22

Bateau 22

Keelboat 24

Whalcboat 25

Pirogue 26

Flatboat 27

Dugout Canoe 28

Building a Birch-Bark Canoe 30

Bull Boat 34

Building a Bull Boat 34

A Trapper's Raft 36

Horse and Mule Packing 37

Crossing a River or Stream 44

Travois 46

Snowshoes 47

An Indian Toboggan 55

Building an Indian Toboggan 56

Shelter 60

Forts and Trading Posts 60

Stockade Building 62

Lean-to, Tents, and Tepees 63

Caches 66

Underground Caches 66

Splitting Logs 68

Building a Trapper's Log Cabin 69

The Cabin Roof 71

Log Rolling 73

Building a Stone Chimney 74

Sod House Construction 76

Knots and Rope Work 78

Camp Cookery 88

Fire Building 89

Fuel 89

Starting a Fire by the Bow Drill Method 91

Flint and Steel as a Fire Starter 93

The Lens Method 93

Brunswick Stew 94

How to Make the Burgoo 95

Roast Beaver Tail 96

Beaver Tail Soup 96

Lumberman's Baked Beans 97

How to Barbecue Venison or Sheep 98

How to Cook Venison 99

Sourdough's Joy 99

Doughgod 100

How to Dry Corn 101

Sweet Corn 101

Parched Field Corn 102

Ash Cakes 102

Pone 102

Pulled Firebread or Twist 103

Johnny-cake 103

Flapjacks 104

Camp Corn Bread and Corn Dodgers 104

Camp Biscuit 105

Boiled Potatoes 106

Roast Potatoes 107

Bean Hole 107

Pork and Beans 108

Baked Beans 109

Brown Bread 109

Camp Soup 110

Mountain Man Stew 111

Fried Squirrel 111

Venison Steak 112

Jerking Meat 112

How to Dress Small Animals 113

Roast Porcupine 114

Camp Coffee and Tea 116

Tea 116

Tools of the Mountain Man 117

Knives 117

A Trapper's Ax 121

How to Fell a Tree with an Ax 122

Tomahawks and Hatchets 125

Broadax and Adz and Other Tools 127

Sawpits and Trestles 129

Firearms of the Mountain Man 130

Swivel Guns 130

Flintlock Rifles of the Mountain Man 132

Trade Guns 133

The "Plains" Rifle 134

The Pistol 135

Black Powder 135

How to Make a Powder Horn 136

Hunting Big Game 137

The Bison or American Buffalo by Mayne Reid 137

Mule Deer Hunting 141

Deer Hunting Tips 141

Big Horn Sheep 143

Hunting the Big Horn 145

Grizzly Bear 146

Old Pinto Allan Kelly 146

Trapping 155

Snares 155

The Common Snare 156

The Ground Snare 157

Steel Traps of the Mountain Men 159

Notes on the Steel Trap 159

Transportation op Steel Traps 160

The String Pole 161

The Sliding Pole 162

Fur-Bearing Animals 164

Beaver 164

Mink 171

Weasel 174

Marten 175

Otter 179

Wolverine 185

Muskrat 188

Raccoon 190

Badger 193

Fox 195

Bear 203

Skinning and Processing of Pelts Reading Trail and Tracks 207

Reading Trail and Tracks 213

Trailing Indian Sagacity by Randolph Marcy 213

Finding Your Way-the Sun by Elmer Harry Kreps 218

How to Use Your Watch as a Compass 219

Tracks, for the Trapper 221

Tracks, for the Hunter 224

Today's Mountain Man 226

Reendezvous 227