The book reflects a 50-year-old history of travels and adventures written from the memory of the author, Eldred Nathaniel Woodcock. He covers the incidents in camping, hunting, trapping, and fishing in the wilderness of Northern Pennsylvania and several other states from 1855–1905. Many of the wild places described in this book are now State Parks and Forests. The book is written in plain language, about deer and bear hunting; trapping bear, wild cat, fox, marten, mink and muskrat; run-ins with porcupines and skunks; mishaps that happened to himself and his partners; and the everyday occurrences of camp life.

CONTENTS. I--Autobiography of E. N. Woodcock II--Early Experiences III--My First Real Trapping Experience IV--Some Early Experiences V--Some Early Experiences (Concluded) VI--A Hunt on the Kinzua VII--My Last Hunt on the Kinzua VIII--Fred and the Old Trapper IX--Bears in 1870, Today--Other Notes X--Incidents Connected with Bear Trapping XI--Pacific Coast Trip XII--Some Michigan Trips XIII--Hunting and Trapping in Cameron Co., Pa., in 1869 XIV--Hunting and Trapping in Cameron Co. XV--Trapping and Bee Hunting XVI--Hits and Misses on the Trail XVII--Lost in the Woods XVIII--Traps and Other Hints for Trappers XIX--Camps and Camping XX--Deer Hunt Turned Into a Bear Hunt XXI--Dog on the Trap Line XXII--Two Cases of Buck Fever XXIII--Partner a Necessity XXIV--A Few Words on Deadfalls XXV--Advice from a Veteran XXVI--The Screech of the Panther XXVII--Handling Raw Furs and Other Notes XXVIII--The Passing of the Fur bearer XXIX--Destruction of Game and Game Birds XXX--Southern Experiences on the Trap Line XXXI--On the Trap and Trot Line in the South XXXII--Trapping in Alabama XXXIII--Some Early Experiences XXXIV--The White Deer XXXV--A Day of Luck XXXVI--A Mixed Bag At a very early age it was my greatest delight to have all the mice, squirrels and groundhogs and in later years young raccoons, young fox and every other varmint or wild animal that I could catch or could get from other sources, and at times I had quite a menagerie. I began trapping at a very early age, the same as many boys do who live out in the country where they have an opportunity. My father owned a grist mill and a sawmill. These mills were about one-half mile apart and it was about these mills and along the mill races and ponds of these mills that I set my first traps for muskrats, mink and coon. Before I was stout enough to set a trap which was strong enough to hold the varmint, it was necessary for me to get some older person to set the trap. I would take the trap to the intended place and set for the particular animals I was in quest of, whether mink, coon or rat. In those days clearings were small, woods large and full of game. Deer could be seen in bunches every morning in the fields and it was not uncommon to see a bear's track near the house that had been made during the night. Wolves were not plenty though it was a common thing to see their tracks and sometimes hear them howl on the hills.

Fifty Years a Hunter and Trapper Experiences and Observations of E. N. Woodcock "The Noted Hunter and Trapper" as written by Himself and Published in H-T-T from 1903 to 1913 EDITED BY A. R. Harding Fifty Years a Hunter and Trapper is an autobiography that contains many experiences and observations of Eldred Nathaniel Woodcock during his fifty years of hunting and trapping. I was born at Lymansville, Potter County, Pennsylvania, August 30, 1844. From early childhood, my nature led me to the Forests and Streams. I have hunted in many of the states of the Far West including the three Pacific States--California, Oregon and Washington. I killed my first panther or cougar in the mountains of Idaho on the headwaters of the Clearwater river. My first real experience in wolfing was in Southeastern Oregon. I met my greatest number of deer in Northwestern California. I have trapped of late years, in nearly all of the states east of the Mississippi river and also on the White River of Arkansas; also trapped bear and other fur bearing animals and hunted deer in Northern Michigan, also forty years ago. Another sport which I enjoyed was the "pigeon days." I have netted wild pigeons from the Adirondack Mountains in New York state to Indian Territory--now Oklahoma--trapping them in the states of Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania and New York. My nature led me to the Trail and Trap line from early childhood and I have trapped bear and hunted deer in the mountains of Pennsylvania for more than 50 years--half a century--and my picture with my two foxes on my shoulder shows me on the trap line for the season of 1912-13.

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