No question this is the best book on recreating the American Longhunter. It has what they were, how they come about, how they lived, and how they hunted. In the 1700's there was a glut of deer in North American because of the "Great Dying" in 1616-1619 when up to 90% of the native American population died form measles, flu, small pox, and other European diseases to which they had no immunity.
Settlers learned early on how to tan deer hide and used it widely because it was soft, comfortable and durable. In the 1700's Longhunters came about because there was huge demand for deerhide in England. They would venture out to hunt spending weeks and sometimes months in the frontier hunting deer. They would half cure the hides basically turning them into a stiff rawhide state and tying them together in bales. They would then sell the bales of hides which were exported to England. They also used them as trade items. "how much for that?" "That would be 3-bucks. (buckskins)"
This trade was so prolific that buckskins were the second largest export from Virginia behind tobacco, which was the largest export.
What made these men so successful was not only the large populations of deer but the use of the American Longrifle. The Longrifle had about 5-times the range that a smoothbore fowler or musket did. They could reliably take deer at 250-yards with a rifle whereas 50 to 65-yards was about the reliable range for fowlers.
And of course rifles cost 3 to 4 times as much as a fowler or musket. But with a rifle the longhunter could pay for his rifle in the first year and still make 3 times as much as a hunter using a smoothbore. That is why the rifle corps in the Rev War had such an amazing reputation for marksmanship. They would spend 6 to 9 months a year hunting and taking deer out to 250-yards.
This small book goes into how they came to prominence and where they came to prominence as well as their accoutrements, their attire, and their habits. It really is a must have if you are trying to reenact a longhunter.
Joseph Ruckman, by the way, was one of the founding members of the Rev List, which is no longer in existence. That used to be the forum that dealt with anything and everything to do with the Rev War, the lead up to it, and the results of it.
