
The MeatEater Podcast Ep. 777: So You Want to Be a Hide Hunter
Oct 13, 2025
In this intriguing discussion, historian Randall Williams dives into the world of hide hunting from 1865 to 1883. He explores the fascinating dynamics of frontier market hunters, their ties to post-Civil War America, and the environment. The conversation touches on the economic motivations pushing individuals like veterans and freedmen into the hide trade. Williams also highlights why these hunters remain unheroic, the rise of conservation, and vivid anecdotes from the harsh realities they faced. Tune in for a captivating journey through a pivotal yet overlooked period in history!
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Frontier Market-Hunting Eras
- The podcast frames long hunters, mountain men, and hide hunters as frontier market-hunting eras driven by profit and wider national shifts.
- Randall Williams highlights how each era aligned with political and economic changes that enabled large-scale wildlife harvesting.
Why Buffalo Hunters Have No Heroes
- Hide hunters uniquely lack heroic myth because their slaughter of bison is widely condemned as destructive and criminal.
- Steven Rinella argues this moral judgment erased any later romanticization of their figures.
A Hunter Who Lived To 104
- Frank Mayer, a former drummer boy at Gettysburg, lived to 104 and saw modern America like Burger King and Playboy.
- His life illustrates how hide hunters experienced abrupt cultural shifts across a single lifetime.







