author
E. N. (Eldred Nathaniel) Woodcock
1846–1917
A Pennsylvania hunter and trapper turned a lifetime in the woods into vivid first-person storytelling. His best-known work offers a direct, practical look at outdoor life in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Potter County, Pennsylvania, in 1846, he became known for his long experience as a hunter and trapper in the region sometimes called the Black Forest. He wrote in a plain, firsthand style that focused on camp life, tracking, trapping, fishing, and the day-to-day realities of living close to the land.
Many of his recollections first appeared in Hunter-Trader-Trapper magazine between 1903 and 1913. Those pieces were later gathered into Fifty Years a Hunter and Trapper, the book most closely associated with his name.
He died in 1917. Today, his writing remains of interest not just as adventure memoir, but also as a window into rural Pennsylvania and the outdoor culture of his era.