Literature of American Big-Game Hunting 



Throughout the pioneer stages of American his- 

 tory, big-game hunting was not merely a pleasure, 

 but a business, and often a very important and in 

 fact vital business. At different times many of the 

 men who rose to great distinction in our after his- 

 tory took part in it as such : men like Andrew 

 Jackson and Sam Houston, for instance. Moreover, 

 aside from these pioneers who afterward won dis- 

 tinction purely as statesmen or soldiers, there were 

 other members of the class of professional hunters — 

 men who never became eminent in the complex 

 life of the old civilized regions, who always re- 

 mained hunters, and gloried in the title — who, 

 nevertheless, through and because of their life 

 in the wilderness, rose to national fame and left 

 their mark on our history. The three most famous 

 instances of this class are Daniel Boone, David 

 Crockett, and Kit Carson : men who were renowned 

 in every quarter of the Union for their skill as game- 

 hunters, Indian-fighters, and wilderness explorers, 

 and whose deeds are still stock themes in the float- 

 319 



