Wild Sports in the Far West

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 sparsely 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.