A mountain man's life was not easy. He sometimes had to walk into deep, cold water to get a trapped beaver. He then had to remove the hide with the fur (the pelt). The mountain man kept these beaver pelts for many months. He then sold them in St. Louis, Missouri, or at a mountain man "rendezvous". With the money he collected, he bought fish hooks, flour, tobacco, and the other things he needed for life in the mountains.