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MeatEater's American History: The Hide Hunters
From the creators of the New York Times bestselling audio series Campfire Stories and MeatEater's American History comes a new audiobook original that immerses listeners into the brutal and unforgiving world of the professional buffalo hunters who drove America's most iconic wildlife species to the brink of extinction.
Steven Rinella (The MeatEater Podcast) takes you deep into the blood-soaked world of the hide hunters who invaded the western frontier in the aftermath of the Civil War, killing and skinning millions of buffalo to supply a resource-hungry nation with an untapped source of leather. From the scorching plains of Texas to the frozen prairie of northern Montana, they lived a nomadic, hardscrabble existence punctuated by raging blizzards, desperate shootouts, agonizing thirst, stampeding herds, freakish accidents, and backbreaking labor. Little more than a decade after the slaughter began, the hide hunters had transformed the once-teeming buffalo range into a boneyard.
These forgotten marksmen weren't mythologized frontiersmen or celebrated explorers—they were displaced veterans, farmers' sons, and wanted outlaws, chasing adventure and opportunity in a world turned upside down by violence and financial insecurity. Their ruthless efficiency stemmed from industrial conditions unique to late-nineteenth century transcontinental railroads that connected the Western frontier to eastern cities, revolutionary innovations in long-range rifles, and an insatiable demand for factory belting–made from the skin of buffalo–at the dawn of the machine age. The Hide Hunters is more than a cautionary tale about overexploitation of the natural world. It is an essential chapter of our nation’s story—part survival epic, part ecological tragedy—that left an indelible mark on the American West.
Steven Rinella (The MeatEater Podcast) takes you deep into the blood-soaked world of the hide hunters who invaded the western frontier in the aftermath of the Civil War, killing and skinning millions of buffalo to supply a resource-hungry nation with an untapped source of leather. From the scorching plains of Texas to the frozen prairie of northern Montana, they lived a nomadic, hardscrabble existence punctuated by raging blizzards, desperate shootouts, agonizing thirst, stampeding herds, freakish accidents, and backbreaking labor. Little more than a decade after the slaughter began, the hide hunters had transformed the once-teeming buffalo range into a boneyard.
These forgotten marksmen weren't mythologized frontiersmen or celebrated explorers—they were displaced veterans, farmers' sons, and wanted outlaws, chasing adventure and opportunity in a world turned upside down by violence and financial insecurity. Their ruthless efficiency stemmed from industrial conditions unique to late-nineteenth century transcontinental railroads that connected the Western frontier to eastern cities, revolutionary innovations in long-range rifles, and an insatiable demand for factory belting–made from the skin of buffalo–at the dawn of the machine age. The Hide Hunters is more than a cautionary tale about overexploitation of the natural world. It is an essential chapter of our nation’s story—part survival epic, part ecological tragedy—that left an indelible mark on the American West.
Audible Audio
Published October 14, 2025
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About the author
Steven Rinella
47 books980 followersSteven Rinella is the host of the Netflix Original series MeatEater and The MeatEater Podcast. He's also the author of six books dealing with wildlife, hunting, fishing and wild game cooking, including the bestselling MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook: Recipes and Techniques for Every Hunter and Angler.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
November 17, 2025
Steve’s venture into the fabled and deeply saddening era of the buffalo hunt is one of his most arresting works. It is clear that the buffalo, or the “buff,” or the bison, holds a special place in his heart. Their charisma, their tragedy, and the mythic weight they carry on the North American landscape flow through every chapter.
The Hide Hunters follows the lives of the men who rode onto the plains in pursuit of hides. Some were celebrated and others were hated, yet all were shaped by the brutal circumstances of their time. It is easy to cast these hunters purely as villains for the devastation that followed. Rinella instead presents a more complicated truth. Most were products of the era, driven by money, limited in their understanding, and pulled into a convergence of historical forces that were larger than they were. Drought, the spread of railways, and the rapid conversion of prairie into farmland all combined with human greed. The result was the collapse of one of the greatest single biomasses the planet has ever seen.
The story becomes more than a chronicle of destruction. It is also a reflection on what remains and what may still return. The bison will never again thunder across the continent in numbers that once stretched to every horizon, when the prairie seemed alive with an endless sea of animals. That “inexhaustible” resource vanished almost overnight. Some hide hunters lived long enough to witness the detonation of the first atomic bomb, which reminds us how recent this loss truly was.
Despite that sobering reality, the book offers a sense of optimism. Modern recovery efforts, reintroduction programs, and expanding protected ranges show that the future of the buffalo, while forever changed, is not without hope. Rinella captures this blend of awe and mourning and delivers a memorable account of an animal that shaped a continent and a people who never understood the scale of what they were destroying.
The Hide Hunters follows the lives of the men who rode onto the plains in pursuit of hides. Some were celebrated and others were hated, yet all were shaped by the brutal circumstances of their time. It is easy to cast these hunters purely as villains for the devastation that followed. Rinella instead presents a more complicated truth. Most were products of the era, driven by money, limited in their understanding, and pulled into a convergence of historical forces that were larger than they were. Drought, the spread of railways, and the rapid conversion of prairie into farmland all combined with human greed. The result was the collapse of one of the greatest single biomasses the planet has ever seen.
The story becomes more than a chronicle of destruction. It is also a reflection on what remains and what may still return. The bison will never again thunder across the continent in numbers that once stretched to every horizon, when the prairie seemed alive with an endless sea of animals. That “inexhaustible” resource vanished almost overnight. Some hide hunters lived long enough to witness the detonation of the first atomic bomb, which reminds us how recent this loss truly was.
Despite that sobering reality, the book offers a sense of optimism. Modern recovery efforts, reintroduction programs, and expanding protected ranges show that the future of the buffalo, while forever changed, is not without hope. Rinella captures this blend of awe and mourning and delivers a memorable account of an animal that shaped a continent and a people who never understood the scale of what they were destroying.
January 30, 2026
I've listened to all three of their history audiobooks. And this one I think is probably my second favorite so far. The Mountain Men 1806-1840 is still my favorite. But this was still very interesting. It is amazing to hear how the different Hide Hunters felt towards what they did. From not caring at all to feeling terrible. And to learn how many of them ended with completely different jobs after their hunting days. One them eventually became a lawyer which is wild. On top of that, some of these men lived to see motorized travel. It is worth a listen. If you like history, then give this one a go
November 7, 2025
I love this series from Meateater/Steven Rinella. This is an audiobook series, I do wonder if they’ll release a print book once the series is complete
December 26, 2025
Thank you PRH for the gifted audiobook.
This has been the most fascinating of this series! Be it the familiar settings…the ability to visualize the various animals and vast plains…or just a seemingly more action packed time, I found myself intrigued throughout. It is hard to imagine the lands teeming with herds of buffalo now. It would have been quite the sight to see!
This audiobook is read by the author. He is easily understood at faster speeds. The author’s ability as a storyteller makes American History come alive! I will definitely add this one to my recommendations for audiobook lovers!
This has been the most fascinating of this series! Be it the familiar settings…the ability to visualize the various animals and vast plains…or just a seemingly more action packed time, I found myself intrigued throughout. It is hard to imagine the lands teeming with herds of buffalo now. It would have been quite the sight to see!
This audiobook is read by the author. He is easily understood at faster speeds. The author’s ability as a storyteller makes American History come alive! I will definitely add this one to my recommendations for audiobook lovers!
February 2, 2026
Not what I expected, but I learned a lot
October 28, 2025
Steven Rinella and my brother in law are two clever guys. Had this being the first book of the series, my opinion of if might have been different, or I might have not wanted to get it, even if it was through a gift card. But by the time it came, I was already too into Meat Eaters American History to skip it, or even to wait until my brother in law decided to get it.
It was the right choice.
I have said before that probably because I am no real hunter and I did not grow up at this side of the ocean, many of the names in the previous books were not familiar to me. I wasn’t sure I had heard of deer hunting in Kentucky, or of beaver hunting anywhere—at least in their specific historical context. But I had heard of buffalo hunting in the plains. Everyone has, and I bet this is regardless of where they are from. Everyone knows Buffalo Bill and Pat Garret, at the very least if they are of a certain generation—again, probably regardless of what they are from. My point here is that unlike previous volumes, Hide Hunters deals with something we all think we know something about it.
As it turns out, it wasn’t much what I knew. “The truth is something more nuanced and interesting” is something I hear and say enough, and Rinella says it, I believe, at least a couple of times in this book. Now, I cannot say whether what I just listened to is “the truth” but I guarantee you is both nuanced—maybe not as much as some would like—and interesting. That he is not likely to be a tree hugging lefty makes the narrative all the better. I say this because although he might take shots at those who“overvalue” the ecological importance of the buffalo, and seems to support the idea there was no US conspiracy to get rid of the animal as means to starve the native population—two things I, in retrospect, cannot argue for or against but I bet many people disagree with—clearly mourns the loss of the animal. The fact there are market forces and not policies what almost extinguished the buffalo makes it all the more tragic.
Again, I am sure out there are more scholarly books on the subject that are nevertheless perfectly accessible. But Rinella is a fantastic storyteller with a talent for bringing together the very personal stories, the detailed description of hunting and work, and the broader economic History. You cannot ask for more.
It was the right choice.
I have said before that probably because I am no real hunter and I did not grow up at this side of the ocean, many of the names in the previous books were not familiar to me. I wasn’t sure I had heard of deer hunting in Kentucky, or of beaver hunting anywhere—at least in their specific historical context. But I had heard of buffalo hunting in the plains. Everyone has, and I bet this is regardless of where they are from. Everyone knows Buffalo Bill and Pat Garret, at the very least if they are of a certain generation—again, probably regardless of what they are from. My point here is that unlike previous volumes, Hide Hunters deals with something we all think we know something about it.
As it turns out, it wasn’t much what I knew. “The truth is something more nuanced and interesting” is something I hear and say enough, and Rinella says it, I believe, at least a couple of times in this book. Now, I cannot say whether what I just listened to is “the truth” but I guarantee you is both nuanced—maybe not as much as some would like—and interesting. That he is not likely to be a tree hugging lefty makes the narrative all the better. I say this because although he might take shots at those who“overvalue” the ecological importance of the buffalo, and seems to support the idea there was no US conspiracy to get rid of the animal as means to starve the native population—two things I, in retrospect, cannot argue for or against but I bet many people disagree with—clearly mourns the loss of the animal. The fact there are market forces and not policies what almost extinguished the buffalo makes it all the more tragic.
Again, I am sure out there are more scholarly books on the subject that are nevertheless perfectly accessible. But Rinella is a fantastic storyteller with a talent for bringing together the very personal stories, the detailed description of hunting and work, and the broader economic History. You cannot ask for more.
November 13, 2025
Hide Hunters was an unsettling listen! I had no idea this episode of history existed, and it feels like one of the darkest stains on the American story. Rinella paints a vivid picture of how a perfect storm of opportunity, technology, and national expansion led to the industrial destruction of 30 to 60 million buffalo.
Once the railroad was completed and the Civil War had ended, the Great Plains opened for business. Jobs were abundant and goods could finally move quickly across the country. But in only about 15 years, hide hunters harvesting nothing but skins and leaving mountains of meat to rot nearly wiped out the largest land mammal in North America.
“The ranks of the skin hunters and meat hunters are a most unlovely race of beings. The sooner they vanish the better.”
Theodore Roosevelt
Once the railroad was completed and the Civil War had ended, the Great Plains opened for business. Jobs were abundant and goods could finally move quickly across the country. But in only about 15 years, hide hunters harvesting nothing but skins and leaving mountains of meat to rot nearly wiped out the largest land mammal in North America.
“The ranks of the skin hunters and meat hunters are a most unlovely race of beings. The sooner they vanish the better.”
Theodore Roosevelt
December 6, 2025
I'm a little disappointed this book didn't touch on American tribes hardly at all. I feel its an injustice to not even touch base on their reaction and the impact of the murder of the Buffalo. it briefly talked about native Americans throughout the book, and I find it impossible not to. just left a sour taste on my tongue how it all felt like an afterthought.
if you also wanted a follow-up about conservation since and how the Buffalo are doing today, this isn't the book for you. this book is straight up about how they killed, hunted, and did business in different parts of the states. it was an interesting read, sure, just not entirely satisfying.
if you also wanted a follow-up about conservation since and how the Buffalo are doing today, this isn't the book for you. this book is straight up about how they killed, hunted, and did business in different parts of the states. it was an interesting read, sure, just not entirely satisfying.
December 17, 2025
Interesting read.
The plains indians valued life, finding use for every part of the animal, turning hides into teepee covers, robes, clothing, blankets, shields, saddles, moccasins. Bones for weapons, utensils, and needles; sinew as bowstrings and thread; dung (chips) for fuel.
Many of the buffalo these hunters killed weren’t even tracked down to be used, as they had killed so many at one time.
The book captures a time when the evolution of the rifle was advancing quickly, becoming breach-loading, sometimes with telescopic sights, which allowed this over hunting.
A reminder to slow down and use less and value life.
The plains indians valued life, finding use for every part of the animal, turning hides into teepee covers, robes, clothing, blankets, shields, saddles, moccasins. Bones for weapons, utensils, and needles; sinew as bowstrings and thread; dung (chips) for fuel.
Many of the buffalo these hunters killed weren’t even tracked down to be used, as they had killed so many at one time.
The book captures a time when the evolution of the rifle was advancing quickly, becoming breach-loading, sometimes with telescopic sights, which allowed this over hunting.
A reminder to slow down and use less and value life.
January 1, 2026
Everyone dismisses American history as boring, uneventful, but the speed at which this continent changed is astounding.
Even just a look at the USA and its fast growing and fast moving culture shows us how quickly things can be changed, especially for the worse. The quickness at which millions of exceedingly large animals met their ends for the sake of industrialization and because every man needs a buck to feed his family was an astounding tale.
Steven has been a huge part of me being able to understand the changes we pushed on the land.
Even just a look at the USA and its fast growing and fast moving culture shows us how quickly things can be changed, especially for the worse. The quickness at which millions of exceedingly large animals met their ends for the sake of industrialization and because every man needs a buck to feed his family was an astounding tale.
Steven has been a huge part of me being able to understand the changes we pushed on the land.
January 8, 2026
I was very weary about reading this book after it came out because I figured it would really just make me mad. I hated the hide hunters for obliterating the last great herds of American bison, poisoning their carcasses to kill off wolves and other scavenging/ predatory species. However, this book shows it was the political- industrial powers of Europe and the eastern USA that took advantage of young men scarred by the horrors of the civil war to do their bidding. Outstanding work of nonfiction.
January 22, 2026
Good, especially the last two chapters. Rinella paints a fair picture of the hide hunters in context by using their own words and stories, neither demonizing nor forgiving them. Like all of the books in this series (and all of frontier history) there is a tension between the epic and the tragic and a sense both of a diminished world that is handed down to us by those before, yet also a more knowledgeable and hopeful world than the one that came before. The Buffalo is both lost and revived.
Highlights: Steve narrating it himself and all the stories first hand from the hunters
Highlights: Steve narrating it himself and all the stories first hand from the hunters
January 3, 2026
I have always wanted more info on the buffalo. This books gives a pretty balanced account of feeding, clothing and economy of the new America, but at what expense? Would we do it all again for cash? Probably.
It must have been something to see - millions of buffalo roaming the plains! Wow! Trains stopped for days to wait for a crossing. The effects on the native people was devastating and sad.
Visit Yellowstone to see a small fraction of buffalo in ‘the wild.’ They are something!
It must have been something to see - millions of buffalo roaming the plains! Wow! Trains stopped for days to wait for a crossing. The effects on the native people was devastating and sad.
Visit Yellowstone to see a small fraction of buffalo in ‘the wild.’ They are something!
December 20, 2025
So, this is a book that’s probably not for everyone, but it’s still very interesting. “Hide Hunters” covers a short time period in the American West where the buffalo were hunted almost to extinction.
I like how the author didn’t try to justify the killing, but also put historical context on it. He also reinforced how in such a short time period (under 20 years) this all took place. You almost wouldn’t have been able to have a conversation and response before the results were known.
I liked it enough to probably try another of his books. 4/5
I like how the author didn’t try to justify the killing, but also put historical context on it. He also reinforced how in such a short time period (under 20 years) this all took place. You almost wouldn’t have been able to have a conversation and response before the results were known.
I liked it enough to probably try another of his books. 4/5
December 19, 2025
Squarely falls into the bucket of not really even a book, just the strange almagamous blend of content creation meets long-form podcasting meets actual literary production and research. Yet, like so much of Rinella's output, it punches way above it's presupposed weight and branding limitations. The vanguard of industrial capitalism on the Western plains!
December 29, 2025
The third book in the series felt like a departure from the series. The first two books were primarily about the men -- the long-hunters and the mountain men. This book seemed like a book about bison, with brief biological sketches of the men that participated in the hide hunt. I think Rinella's fascination with buffalo kept pulling him away from the premise of the series.
January 5, 2026
Interesting read about the history of the buffalo hunters. A topic I’ve been interested in recently has been the massacre of these poor creatures. Was interesting to hear these stories, it makes it much more real and less fiction feeling.
October 19, 2025
Steve is so interesting. He's well-researched and always tells a great story.
Read
November 8, 2025Listened with my husband on a long road trip
November 10, 2025
fantastic listen, was a joy to learn about a small yet incredibly impactful part of American history
November 13, 2025
This had some interesting parts but was repetitive and I felt like he kept proving his thesis wrong and then just said but remember these we just normal men.
November 14, 2025
Fascinating history. I plan on watching Ken Burns documentary "The American Buffalo".
November 23, 2025
Yet another great installment. looking forward to the next one.
December 8, 2025
Steven Rinella is an exceptional voice for American hunting and conservation. These American history series have been terrific and have included some amazing insights and research.
December 12, 2025
This book was incredibly well researched and entertaining.
It's a great addition to his American history series, but an even better follow-up to his first book American Buffalo.
It's a great addition to his American history series, but an even better follow-up to his first book American Buffalo.
January 2, 2026
Really interesting facts and story but the writing was a little more casual than I enjoy.
January 22, 2026
the story bummed me out, but well done!
November 25, 2025
4.1 stars
My favorite of the American history series. Same faults I had with the others of bouncing around too much, would have preferred he went more narrative at moments. The conclusion was 10/10
My favorite of the American history series. Same faults I had with the others of bouncing around too much, would have preferred he went more narrative at moments. The conclusion was 10/10
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews