Got an email from Jonas Brothers that included a brief note on James Mellon visiting and picking up some trophies.

I had thought he had given up hunting, but apparently not.

Mellon on the right. No longer the youngster who hunted all of Africa in the '60s and '70s, but still looking healthy and active.

Man, if I could have traded places with him as a youth... I guess I'd have written a book too!

A real "been there-hunted that" kind of guy. I would love to meet him and would consider doing so an honor. A rich youngster? Without a doubt, but he hunted hard, smart, and braved some brutal conditions along the way. I have heaps of respect for this guy.

Mike thanks for posting the pic of a walking legend.

Mike

Michael,

Thanks for posting the photo. I would love to see him do the Convention circuit, Dallas,SCI, he would probably fill the rooms to overflow capacity with his stories and slides from the past. Even if one of the African TV shows conducted an interview with him would be great.

I always thought the quote by him about there are only two African game animals worth repeatedly hunting, the bongo and mountain nyala was pretty cool.

Thanks again for letting us know he is doing well.

Definitely a living legend! I enjoy picking up my original copy of African Hunter and going through it occasionally.

Jay Mellon wrote the foreword to "Royal Quest," my biography about his friend Prince Abdorreza of Iran, and I got to meet him when the Prince and I signed those books at the 2004 SCI convention. The photo indicates he has lost a lot of weight in the seven years since then. I hope he's in good health.

Bill Quimby

Thanks for posting that, Mike. That gent seemed to have completely dropped off the radar. He did a magazine interview a few years back (Sports Afield, I think?) in which he described the single-minded consuming passion for hunting that gripped him in his youth. In it he did indeed state that he had pretty much given up the hunt, with the exception of some small game hunting near his home.

I remember wondering how anyone could possibly tire of hunting, regardless of the amount that they did. Good for him if he has returned to the fold.

John

Mike,
Thanks for posting. One summer years ago I had an internship that required a long daily commute. I rented African Hunter from Books On Tape. Wow, that "book" made the commute so much more tolerable. It made such a positive impression on me that when one of Safari Press' sales came along, I picked up a copy of the book.

I too remember a fairly recent article where he stated he only hunts small game now.
What was he at Jonas Brothers picking up?
Squirrels fighting over nuts? Ground hog standing guard over his burrow? Cotton-tail in full leap? Raccoon / crayfish battling?
An older trophy getting refurbished?

Again thanks for sharing,
Lou

quote:

Originally posted by jwm:
he described the single-minded consuming passion for hunting that gripped him in his youth. In it he did indeed state that he had pretty much given up the hunt, with the exception of some small game hunting near his home.

I remember wondering how anyone could possibly tire of hunting, regardless of the amount that they did.

You can over-do anything. Fred Bear tired of hunting do to the fact that he had to kill something each time he filmed a show.

Allen Day(RIP) was a hunting fool, but he once said that he did 8 weeks of major hunts one year and found it to be a grind towards the end.

Any time you take something you love and create a situation where you do it because you have to, you are asking for trouble.

I love hunting, and used to do it avery free day I had when younger, and every free day through college....... then after college, I took off to go to canada and I hunted (mainly birds) all down the continent, started september one in saskatchewan and was supposed to end december 23 close to Mexico city.........

To be honest I only made it to december 1st and cut the trip short by about 3 weeks.
3 months of hunting everyday, a few weeks of it alone, living out of a bag, sometimes nothing but my dog for companionship, eating road food, driving endless hours, etc will really wear you down....
Then my dog died after christmas.... I really didnt want to hunt, and was not sure If I would go again, skipped the last two months of the season....

Luckily there was an offseason and by the following season, I had picked up a new dog and was ready to go hunting again, I was actually worried there for a while.....

ps loosing that dog was what almost did me in.....

Mellon spent an hour in our booth at that 2004 convention talking about the good old days in Ethiopia. A rare treat.
Rich Elliott

LouM, I had no idea African Hunter was available on books on tape. That sounds like a great aid to a long drive or flight. Hard to beat some of the photos in that book though. Some of the greatest on the hoof shots of African trophies ever.

Volume one and two are required reading/viewing IMO. I pull them off the shelf often.

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:

quote:

Originally posted by jwm:
he described the single-minded consuming passion for hunting that gripped him in his youth. In it he did indeed state that he had pretty much given up the hunt, with the exception of some small game hunting near his home.

I remember wondering how anyone could possibly tire of hunting, regardless of the amount that they did.

You can over-do anything. Fred Bear tired of hunting do to the fact that he had to kill something each time he filmed a show.

Allen Day(RIP) was a hunting fool, but he once said that he did 8 weeks of major hunts one year and found it to be a grind towards the end.

Any time you take something you love and create a situation where you do it because you have
to, you are asking for trouble.

Yes, I fully agree with that last statement. For Fred Bear, hunting had become a business, and that would certainly take some of the shine off it. I often wonder about Craig Boddington. I admire him greatly, and I hope that at least a portion of the time he spends hunting is still as enjoyable for him as it appears to be.

But I don't believe that James Mellon HAD to hunt for any reason other than simply because he wanted to...the best reason of all, naturally. It just seems strange to me to suffer that kind of "burn-out" when it isn't a job or a business.

Nice problem to have!

John

Grafton,
It was on Books On Tape in the early 90's. It must be out there somewhere. It wasn't until I purchased the book that I found how rich in illustrations it is. In retrospect not a surprise. I didn't have any notion as to who James Mellon was either. I rented it on brief description alone.
Lou

JWM
I agree regarding Boddington. I admire him and I would hate to see him tire of hunting. Anyone who has read his early writing would have to wonder if his packed schedule caused the hunt to lose some of its luster.

quote:

Originally posted by jwm:

But I don't believe that James Mellon HAD to hunt for any reason other than simply because he wanted to...the best reason of all, naturally. It just seems strange to me to suffer that kind of "burn-out" when it isn't a job or a business.

Nice problem to have!

I guess I should have mentioned "obsession", as that is what I was thinking of regarding Mellon's burnout.

I know of obsession triggered burn-out first hand. Trust me, it is not a nice problem to have. Truth is, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.