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The MeatEater Podcast

Ep. 661: So You Want To Be A Mountain Man

The MeatEater Podcast

MeatEater

Sports, Wilderness

4.937.5K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2025

⏱️ 145 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Steven Rinella talks with Randall Williams.

Topics discussed: Order MeatEater's American History: The Mountain Men (1806-1840); Colter and astounding feats; the importance of canoes; politics and power struggles;t aking a meticulous journal; between the British in the north and no more beavers in the south; how you become a mountain man; market hunters today as a bad deal for wildlife; the greasiest, most louse-ridden group; and more. 

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, American History Buffs. Hunting History Buffs, listen up. We're back at it with another volume

0:05.1

of our Meat Eaters American History series. In this edition titled The Mountain Men, 1806 to 1840,

0:13.6

we tackle the Rocky Mountain Beaver trade and dive into the lives and legends of fellows like

0:19.9

Jim Bridger, Jed Smith, and John Coulter.

0:23.6

This small but legendary fraternity of Backwoodsmen helped define an era when the West represented not just unmapped territory,

0:31.4

but untapped opportunity for those willing to endure some heinous and at times violent conditions.

0:38.3

We explain what started the Mountain Man era and what ended it.

0:42.5

We tell you everything you'd ever want to know about what the Mountain Men ate,

0:46.0

how they hunted and trapped, what gear they carried, what clothes they wore,

0:49.7

how they interacted with Native Americans,

0:52.1

how 10% of them died violent deaths, and even detailed

0:56.4

descriptions of how they performed amputations on the fly. It's as dark and bloody and good as

1:03.7

our previous volume about the white-tailed deer skin trade, which is titled The Long Hunters,

1:09.8

1761 to 1775.

1:13.2

So again, this new Mountain Man edition about the beaver skin trade is available for pre-order now wherever audio books are sold.

1:21.8

It's called Meat Eaters American History, The Mountain Men, 1806 to 1840, by me, Stephen Rinella.

1:35.6

This is the Meat Eater podcast coming at you, shirtless, severely bug-bitten, and in my case, underwearless.

1:46.7

We hunt.

1:47.4

The Meat Eater podcast.

1:49.4

You can't predict anything.

1:50.9

The Meat Eater podcast is brought to you by First Light.

1:54.2

Whether you're checking trail cams, hanging deer stands, or scouting for elk,

...

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