Thirty Years A Hunter - Book Review

Pioneer Life or, Thirty Years a Hunter by Philip Tome

Speaking of the Big Woods Summit; I've said before and I'll say it again. My favorite hunting narratives are the ones that can also stand on their own as fine literature. Originally published in 1854, Philip Tome's tale of frontier life in Potter, Tioga and Lycoming Counties certainly lives up to that standard. Born in 1782 near Harrisburg, Pa. his was the first white family to "prove up" at the mouth of Slate Run in the Pine Creek Valley. Tome and his dogs hunted the virgin forests on foot and the rivers by canoe. Told in a powerful and rugged style befitting his own character, his story is replete with the wild and exciting scenes faced by the first settlers bearing up under fatigue and exposure in what was then Pennsylvania's wilderness frontier; Panthers prowling settlement rooftops & chicken coops, vast herds of elk along with bears, wolves and rattlesnakes filled the forest and an eye opening look at the almost incomprehensible hardships that faced the first white settlers in what is now modern day Potter County.

"I have found the favorite haunt of the bear to be in Lycoming County, above Pine Creek on the headwaters of Larry's Creek, and on the first fork of Pine Creek. I have also found them near the head of Kettle Creek, Cedar Run and Young Woman's Creek. In the month of August they were to be found traveling west, and crossing Pine Creek, 24 miles from the mouth (near present day Black Walnut Bottom - ed. WR), where they had beaten a path that might be followed for 15 or 20 miles...I have noticed that generally about every 7th year the bears travel west in August and return about the middle of October....and when started they went in a straight line not stopping for mountains, rivers or any other obstructions."

"In the fall of 1809 Mr. Lyman came into the country (Potter County - ed. WR) and erected a rude cabin.......there being not a bushel of grain, nor pound of potatoes, nor pound of meat, except wild, to be had in this country.........we lived on leeks, cow cabbage and milk....among other vexations were the gnats, a very minute but poisonous insect that annoyed us far more than mosquitoes, or even than hunger and cold; in the summer we could not work without raising a smoke around us.....We had to pack our provisions 80 miles from Jersey Shore. Sixty miles of the road was without a house; and in the winter, when deep snows came on and caught us on the road without a fire we should have perished.....My courage almost failed and I almost turned back but when I thought of my children crying for bread I took new courage......The want of leather, after our first shoes wore out was severely felt. Neither tanner nor shoemaker lived in the country so I was obliged to work and travel in the woods barefoot."

And so on it goes. A rare and insightful glimpse into the relatively recent past in Pennsylvania's Big Woods Country. Might I be so bold as to suggest that Mr. Tome's limited edition book deserves a prized spot in any Pro Staffer's hunting library. Happy reading!

Be the first one on your block to get your very own copy right here:
Wennawoods Publishing