Wild Sports in the Far West

by Frederick Gerstaecker

Overview

"Even that mighty hunter, Gordon Cumming himself, must own himself completely surpassed by this young German, Gerstaecker." -"The" Illustrated London News, 1854
"One of the first men to come hunting in Arkansas." -Bass, For the Trees (1981)
"Frederick Gerstaecker, the German hunter, tramped all over the State from 1839 to 1842." -Shinn, Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas, 1908

Called "The White Bear" by Indians, because of his reputation as a great hunter, Frederick Gerstaecker (1816–1872) hunted bears, panthers, and wolves in the sparcely populated wilderness of Arkansas during the years 1839 to 1842.

In 1859, Gerstaecker published a narrative of his life as a backwoodsman in Arkansas titled "Wild Sports in the Far West." The book contains entertaining accounts of close scrapes with bears, panthers, and wolves as well as rough hard-drinking frontiersmen and pioneers.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160947259
Publisher:	Far West Travel Adventure
Publication date:	04/18/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Friedrich Gerstäcker (May 10, 1816 in Hamburg – May 31, 1872 in Braunschweig) was a German traveler and author. He was the son of Friedrich Gerstäcker (1790–1825), a celebrated opera singer. After being apprenticed to a commercial house, he learned farming in Saxony. In 1837, however, just younger than 21 and having imbibed from Robinson Crusoe a taste for adventure, he went to America and wandered over a large part of the United States, supporting himself by whatever work came to hand. He became fireman on a steamboat, deck hand, farmer, silversmith, and merchant. After wandering through most of the United States, spending some time as a hunter and trapper in the Indian territory, and in 1842 keeping a hotel at Point Coupée, Louisiana, he returned to Germany six adventurous years later in 1843.

Editorial Reviews

"Even that mighty hunter, Gordon Cumming himself, must own himself completely surpassed by this young German, Gerstaecker."

The Illustrated London News, 1854 - N/A