I csn remember reading Hunter by Hunter some time around 1964 or 1965 maybe a bit earlier, as well as all the other books about Africa that were in our school library. Around that time there was Barry Brooks in Memphis, who hunted Africa and the local papaer would write articles about the hunts. The Pink Palace Museum had many of his trophies on exhibit. It was this exphibit that was always my first stop when we visited the muesum.

There was a sporting goods store in down town Memphis called "York Arms". One of the owners Cordra York, had many of his trophies displayed. Sometime in the 80's I hunted dove in S.A. with Cordra.

About 8 or 10 years ago I attended a gathering where a booking agent was trying to interest some of us in booking a hunt in S. Africa. That really renewed my iterest in Africa. Somewhere along the way I met Capstick and quite honestly I found him to be rather stuck on himself. I have only spoken to Col. Bottington once I found him to be most cordial and accomodating. As someone else has said his video and books are really a great go to resource on how to hunt Africa today.

Wow. I really feel old, which I am.

Years ago, I was the first to write that Peter Capstick would be compared with Hemingway and Ruark. I also wrote that there would come a day when young hunters would stumble across Craig Boddington's stuff and view him as I did Bell, Hunter, O'Connor and others while I was growing up in the late 1940s and 1950s.

Craig deserves every bit of praise (and more) that he's received on this thread. He not only is a great guy, but he's also the hardest-working outdoor writer I know, a true professional at his craft.

Bill Quimby

My fire was started by stories of my dad's leopards & tigers in India. That was about 1961. I read Jim Corbet for the first time around 1967-68 and JA Hunter a couple of years later. The fire has been simmering but I never rally thought it was realistic to hunt Africa until about 3 or 4 years ago....I have been greatly stimulated by Brian Herne's book.

Yes CB is a top writer and I really like his articles but I have not read his books.

Now I am totally obsessed with all the hunt reports on AR & desperately want to hunt Africa for the first time!

It started for me when my wife and I decided to vacation in Spain. Seems we couldn't do the tours we wanted on only six months notice and we didn't want to settle. So I looked around and found some African photo safaris in Kenya and Tanzania. We booked and went with 35mm and VHS cameras. We had an exceptional experience and I told her before the conclusion that I would be returning to Africa with my rifles.

I came home and joined SCI, ordered a .375H&H and began looking into a safari in Zimbabwe. We attended a local SCI chapter auction where I bought a PG hunt in RSA. I started reading PHC and Boddington. I booked the RSA and Zim safaris back to back and went on two 10 day safaris or one 21 day safari yearly from then on. I learned a great deal on those first two safaris and more each year. I read voraciously about Africa and its animals. I set goals to help direct my safari efforts, taking a wide variety of species, and soon was being encouraged to begin acting as a booking agent based upon my knowledge of the industry. I demurred for many years but was finally convinced that I could help both hunters and outfitters. I began booking for outfitters in four countries, all of whom I have hunted with. My next safari will be with a well known Elephant hunter.

I have never faultered in my ongoing love affair with Africa.

Still haven't been to Spain.

quote:

Now I am totally obsessed with all the hunt reports on AR & desperately want to hunt Africa for the first time!

Talk about "lighting the fire", just wait until you get home from your first trip. It WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Books can not compete with having your feet in the African sand. They are just like this forum: medicine for the withdrawal.

When I was 8 or 9 years old, I picked up a tattered copy of J.A. Hunter's Hunter for $1 at the community library's used book sale. Shortly thereafter, I started reading Capstick's books. Frankly, Hunter's true (or largely true) stories were much more outlandish than Capstick's (apparently) borrowed/embellished tales, but both seemed like fantasy stuff to me for many years. Because a proper African safari didn't feel like a realistic goal at the time, I put the books down for a while but returned to them during high school, and again during college and after graduate school. Even if they're just fantasies, they are still very good ones. Once I was out of school and started working and making my own money, I began taking bigger and more exotic hunting and fishing trips each year. Now that I am almost 34 years old and am able to afford such things, I'm finally getting ready for my first African safari, a trip I've been planning for close to a year and half. And a large part of the planning and preparation has been through reading Boddington's books. I think the casual, conversational style and honest approach of his writing, as well as the modern context, make it much more useful for planning and preparing for a trip. Hunter, Ruark, and Capstick are all great for getting excited about the hunt and escaping from the daily grind, but Boddington is the one who makes going on safari seem a realistic option, and he actually gives some explanation of how to do it and what to expect. As others have said in this thread, he's more of a "nuts and bolts" kind of writer. But many of his stories are plenty exciting, too, and partly because he makes them seem like situations the ordinary reader might find themselves in.

I'm 30 years older than you, Aaron, so Ruark and Hemingway influenced me initially. Later, reading Capstick also helped.

But I credit Boddington for my knowledge of buffalo anatomy that has resulted in two fatal shots on two buffalo from the information I gleaned from his book and video on Cape buff, and I sent him a PM and thanked him and received a very cordial reply.

Hemingway was a novelist. Among many other fine works, he wrote a novel about hunting Africa. I have read most of his other stuff and he didn't win that Nobel prize for nothing. He wrote the cleanest, most concise prose in the English language.

Ruark was a sports writer and a novelest as well and I have read most of his stuff, also. For practical informatoin on hunting,though, if you disregard the commercials embedded in the videos, Boddington is the go-to guy on how to hunt dangerous game.

Aaron,

I started my African reading/African passion in the mid 1990s. Capstick got me started. Then it was Ruark and then Hemingway. After a considerable amount of African reading I started with Boddington videos and articles. More for informational/referencer reasons than entertainment. After my first hunt I started reading all his books. Comparing Craig's writing style or mastery of liturature to Capstick's, Ruark's or Hemingway's is grossly unfair. Craig has every bit or more the influence on African hunting today as Ruark or Hemingway did in their day or today for that matter. I'd hate to wager a guess as to who has the most influence between Craig and Capstick today, but I think Craig may finally be edging Capstick out. However Ruark was a wonderful and whitty writer. His writing style was much different. Comparing Craig and Hemingway is EXTREMELY unfair. Hemingway had a command of the English language that few have ever or will ever possess. He could write people and dialogues like no one else! Craig is suppremely informative and relevant to today. Capstick was pure entertainment and had a way with words to say the least. Ruark was whitty, a keen reconounter of tales, and was passionate about Africa. Hemighway had a passion for Africa, a masterful command of the English language, and (no offence to the others) could write circles around Craig, Capstick, or Ruark. While the other three writers have masterpieces that cap their carriers/work Craig in my oppinion doesn't have a masterpiece. Craig does however have a body of work that stands up to most anyone. I feel Craig's body of work as a whole will be remembered rather than Capstick's Death in the Long Grass, Ruark's Horn of the Hunter, or Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa. I don't mean to seem overly critical as I admire Craig and think he does consistent and fantastic work. More than anything I appreciate TAA and his videos.

Brett

I am 56. My first influence came via the old "American sportsman show" with Kirk and Ted.
At 19 I read "Death in the tall grass" in one sitting. The spark was not very strong, but it hit the tender and smoldered so to speak.
I did not have much of a interest in deer hunting,but was doing a lot of rifle completions.
I had not had

JD

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:
I'm 30 years older than you, Aaron, so Ruark and Hemingway influenced me initially. Later, reading Capstick also helped.

But I credit Boddington for my knowledge of buffalo anatomy that has resulted in two fatal shots on two buffalo from the information I gleaned from his book and video on Cape buff, and I sent him a PM and thanked him and received a very cordial reply.

Hemingway was a novelist. Among many other fine works, he wrote a novel about hunting Africa. I have read most of his other stuff and he didn't win that Nobel prize for nothing. He wrote the cleanest, most concise prose in the English language.

Ruark was a sports writer and a novelest as well and I have read most of his stuff, also. For practical informatoin on hunting,though, if you disregard the commercials embedded in the videos, Boddington is the go-to guy on how to hunt dangerous game.

Hemingway was once asked to define good writing. His answer: "It can't be edited."

Wow. Great answer. CB may not be Hemingway, but who is these days? And does it matter? If I want good writing, I read Vanity Fair.

Jon Sundra is a great writer, but you would never know it reading his shooting stuff. Just the way it is.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett Adam Barringer:
Aaron,

I started my African reading/African passion in the mid 1990s. Capstick got me started. Then it was Ruark and then Hemingway.
Brett

Brett - You & I are about the same age I reckon? We both ended up in the same place, but came about it in different ways.

quote:

If I want good writing, I read Vanity Fair.

I love it when people point to magazines such as this and New Yorker as where they go for great writing. It presupposes that great writing isn't, nor is it expected to be, in sporting magazines. It also carries a faint air of erudition that is nauseating. Everything in VF isn't great writing and everything in Gray's or Sporting Classics is, but there is enough all both to be considered great.


""I'd hate to wager a guess as to who has the most influence between Craig and Capstick today, but I think Craig may finally be edging Capstick out."

Let's keep a very important fact in mind when it comes to influence. Are we talking influence of a non-hunting public to start, or an already hunting public to expand their interests?

When it comes to the previous, Ruark probably still holds the title, followed by Capstick very closely. For the second group, Capstick tops them. Hemingway in my opinion has influenced very few people to either start or to expand their hunting interests and that is largely because Hemingway's books, even the ones that have backgrounds in hunting, are not about hunting.

Once people decide to hunt Africa, they immediately look to the 'how to' books and that's where Boddington comes in.

Hemingway is the romanticist
Ruark is the court jester
Capstick is the raconteur
Boddington is the practical answer man

Also, keep a very important thing in mind too...Hem, Ruark and Capstick all were published by major publishing houses, Capstick of course being the last straight hunting guy to be published by a major. (If there is someone later than Capstick let me know). This in and of itself pushed the scope of influence far wider than any single-or specialty subject publisher. It is also something we will likely never again to see in our lifetimes.

It was Jack O'Connor who sparked my interest in hunting when I was in my "formative" years. Then in June of 1973 he wrote an article for Outdoor Life titled "BIG KUDU IN SOUTH WEST".
When ISA out of Chicago started marketing those 1 week to 10 day mini safaris in the late 70's
(Rhodesia, South Africa, and Namibia) I jumped right on that Namibia offer and found myself hunting with the same PH who had been with the O'Connors. Man was I hooked form then on. To me, Craig pretty much picked up where Jack left off and that's high praise.
RIch Elliott

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:

quote:

If I want good writing, I read Vanity Fair.

I love it when people point to magazines such as this and New Yorker as where they go for great writing. It presupposes that great writing isn't, nor is it expected to be, in sporting magazines. It also carries a faint air of erudition that is nauseating. Everything in VF isn't great writing and everything in Gray's or Sporting Classics is, but there is enough all both to be considered great.


""I'd hate to wager a guess as to who has the most influence between Craig and Capstick today, but I think Craig may finally be edging Capstick out."

Let's keep a very important fact in mind when it comes to influence. Are we talking influence of a non-hunting public to start, or an already hunting public to expand their interests?

When it comes to the previous, Ruark probably still holds the title, followed by Capstick very closely. For the second group, Capstick tops them. Hemingway in my opinion has influenced very few people to either start or to expand their hunting interests and that is largely because Hemingway's books, even the ones that have backgrounds in hunting, are not about hunting.

Once people decide to hunt Africa, they immediately look to the 'how to' books and that's where Boddington comes in.

Hemingway is the romanticist
Ruark is the court jester
Capstick is the raconteur
Boddington is the practical answer man

Also, keep a very important thing in mind too...Hem, Ruark and Capstick all were published by major publishing houses, Capstick of course being the last straight hunting guy to be published by a major. (If there is someone later than Capstick let me know). This in and of itself pushed the scope of influence far wider than any single-or specialty subject publisher. It is also something we will likely never again to see in our lifetimes.

Baxter: I have written for Sporting Classics and I get the mag today. The photography is great, but I can't say the writing is better than other outdoor pubs, including what I wrote. There are exceptions, but I don't think the magazine is that much different than others. For the most part they have a stable of writers that are fairly predictable. One thing they do offer is Cushing's fiction piece, but they are all starting to sound the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by Brett Adam Barringer:
Aaron,

I started my African reading/African passion in the mid 1990s. Capstick got me started. Then it was Ruark and then Hemingway.
Brett

Brett - You & I are about the same age I reckon? We both ended up in the same place, but came about it in different ways.

You wish!!! I'm still in my late 20's. Ah to be young with disposable income, no wife, and no kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More guns and more hunting please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by Brett Adam

You wish!!! I'm still in my late 20's. Ah to be young with disposable income, no wife, and no kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More guns and more hunting please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brett

Ani't that the truth!!!

I'll concede to your thoughts on SC after further consideration. You are correct as of late the magazine is predictable. I skip right over Parker Jameson's "Here's more shit that the outdoor industry overcharges you for" pieces...

One thing is sorely lacking in outdoor writing and that is insight. That, to me, is a result of far too much focus on end results and not what it took to get there in the context of the human experience.

Roughly the same age as Aaron, and the writer I've read the most of is Boddington. Until the book "Tracks Across Africa" came out, I hadn't read anything of his that wasn't instructional in nature.

I enjoyed it, but it didn't really have the same effect that Ruark or Capstick did. On the other hand, I would have made better grades all the way through my 20 yrs of schooling if textbooks read as interesting as his "how-to" books do.

Being of that generation makes a lot of sense as to who would have most likely influenced you the most. Eventhough most of the other authors were sitll very active in the African hunting literature, the fact that Craig wrote in a hunting magazine made him more available to a young reader.

I'm not of that generation, and infact, was enamored with Africa long before Craig Boddington was born. It wasn't any writer who inflamed my soul for Africa, but an old hunter who lived in the little ranch town where my gradfather traded, who had hunted Africa back in the roaring twenties, and in fact was the owner of the first double rifle I ever held in my hands addicting me to another thing double rifles along with Africa hunting.

Having said all that, Craig Boddington is one of my all time favorite hunting writers, and one of the nicest people I have had the pleasure to meet as well. I would say that Craig Boddington is the most experienced client hunter of Africa, living today, and it is my opinion that his experience will not be surpassed in my livetime. I find his writings to be some of the most knowledgable in the field today.

Certainly some disagree with many of Craig's take on some subjects, and like any writer he will get critical comments on his writing, but I personally find far less to disagree with in his writings than most today! He is, as someone already said the least "LOOK AT ME" writer I've read to date!

Living in the liberal utopia of California my question who will be the writer/hero to inspire the latest generation? Hunting is increasingly demonized as if hunters were poachers trading in endangered species. We need a spokesman who can combat the lies and inspire people to live the dream and virtues of hunting or we will continue be looked at as neanderthals of a bygone era.

To all, thanks for the kind words. Aaron, I will never forget that great day we had shooting geese...did you remember to mention that it was in your back yard???? As someone else stated, you do indeed have (considerably!) more African experience than I did at your age, and definitely more on cats. Brett, I think your summation is spot-on, except that how my work might be regarded in the future is unknown. I definitely do not have a "masterpiece," and I think it's questionable whether I will ever have the talent and imagination to create one! But (upon reading some of my older stuff with great embarrassment) I do think my books are getting better rather than worse, and I still enjoy writing, so who knows?
Meantime, I still enjoy writing, so I'm very fortunate to be able to do something I like doing...and even more fortunate to be writing about things I love doing. The prime safari months are upon us, and I know many of you are preparing to head over. Me, too. The television work I'm doing with Tim Danklef, Dave Fulson, and Ivan Carter has greatly accelerated the African pace for me, although a lot of the time I'm spending over there now I'm not actually hunting. But who cares? There's still nothing like Africa! This year we have a tremendously aggressive schedule that, hopefully, will result in some good tv and maybe a few new things to write about.

In a couple of weeks I'm starting in the Eastern Cape with my buddy Russell Lovemore. Amazingly, there are still a couple of animals there that I haven't had the chance to hunt! Then to the Zambezi Valley with Chifuti, then Uganda with Christian Weth. I'm excited about Uganda, a place I haven't been yet. I'll go back again in September, filming first to Tanzania and then in Mozambique. And if things work out I'm going to finish this year's African season in Tunisia, where they do driven hunts for Barbary wild boar, another place I've never been. It's already been a busy year, and clearly it's going to get busier...but I really do like what I do, and I very much appreciate you guys reading and watching the results. Here's wishing you all great hunting and straight shooting!
Regards, Craig

Craig... Are you still living in California?
If you are back from Africa June 26th it would be great to have you at the West Coast Double Rifle Shooting Society/Big Bore Association shoot in Paso Robles. Would be great to meet you and get people to buy your books.

Bret made a very good comparison of the noted African writers, and right on the money. I have enjoyed all those previous works immensely and if any of us had the least interest in Africa it just had to light us up. Why else would anyone of us read it anyway?

Craig is our modern "go to guy" for all things safari. He writes a good story, but not a great romantic page turner kind of story. I would hope that Craig doesn't take that as an insult. I have read and reread most of his work. What goes on in Africa today is more importand than what Hunter or Selous or Capstick put pen to paper on.

BTW Craig, if you're online or catching up with this thread, I for one am really glad to hear about your upcoming schedule in Africa. Man, that's where you need to be. No offense to Argentina or Trijicon, but you're a fish out a water down there. What's with this classical music in the background? You need to in cadence with the bush telegraph drums!!!

Y'all have this all wrong.

It ain't just ex-wives that are expensive. I have a current model, non-ex wife that costs me a fortune.

Aaron: 37 years of age + 24 safaris = Damn! Keep it up.

Also, Craig's great on TV and in print.

quote:

Originally posted by safari-lawyer:
Y'all have this all wrong.

It ain't just ex-wives that are expensive. I have a current model, non-ex wife that costs me a fortune.

Ditto.

quote:

Originally posted by craig boddington:
Brett, I think your summation is spot-on, except that how my work might be regarded in the future is unknown.

Thank you. I'm not sure that Keith or O'Connor had a "masterpiece" as well, but I seem to think there are at least a couple people alive and kicking that seem to remember them and their work! I'm looking forward to seeing the Uganda and Tunisia hunts. Good hunting.

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by craig boddington:
To all, thanks for the kind words. Aaron, I will never forget that great day we had shooting geese...did you remember to mention that it was in your back yard????

Craig - Ya, I guess I forgot to mention the backyard part of the story, oops!!!

I am 40 years old and have to say that it was Capstick and Jack O'Connor whom I first read that planted the idea of Africa in my mind.

On my first flight across the pond I read the Green Hills of Africa and was mesmerized reading it around the fire at night in Africa. I discovered Ruark upon my return and have become a huge fan of all his work.

As I look to book my 6th trip over for the 2011 season, I always tell my friends that Africa is addictive as any drug and twice as expensive.

I'm 37 and have only been hunting for about 10 years. What started out as Missouri whitetail became Colorado elk and Texas pigs. This fall will be taking me to Alaska for moose. "Tracks Across Africa" was what first got me thinking about a safari and it will be will be next after I recover financially from the moose hunt.
Last winter I started reading Capstick. Lots of people claim that his books are works of fiction, but he is one hell of a storyteller.
Boddington being a lefty also causes me to hold him in high regard.

If Aaron Neilson is not careful, he will be the next influence on Africa. This past week I have seen him on the Outdoor Channel twice. You are starting to get some street cred on hunting Africa. That can’t be a bad thing.

I think for me, I am 35, Jack O'connor was my biggest influence. But without a doubt, Mr. Boddington is my sons biggest influence. He know ever sponsor and which sponsors are different from Tracks Across Africa to Hornady's Africa. We were at the zoo and he told me there were 23 species of Aligators. I asked how he knew that he said Craig Boddington said it.

Daron

Not in the least. Boddington, Schmodington.

My desire to go outdoors, with a compass and a canteen, camera or gun, to walk quietly through the woods, to approach as closely as I can to game, to sleep on the ground, by the fire, to do so alone, or with people who look and speak differently than I, in places with names I can't pronounce, comes from a place I can't explain. It's just there. Always has been.

I have never understood celebrity adulation or the need to seek validation from others.

Go ahead guys, bring it on. I know some of you will.

If watching MR. Boddington helps my son love hunting, care about being a good steward, and learn about different game, I am all for it.

Thank You Mr. Boddington. I hope we cross paths one day!


DDJ

quote:

feel Craig's body of work as a whole will be remembered rather than Capstick's Death in the Long Grass, Ruark's Horn of the Hunter, or Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa.

Couldn't disagree more.

Something of Value, Uhuru and primarily, The Green Hills of Africa are literature, not just fodder for Africa buffs.

As I said, Boddington's the current go to guy on hunting Africa.

But they won't be teaching him in American lit classes in universities anytime soon.

I'd also bet he won't be the subject of a long series of biographies that are still coming out fifty years after his death.

Hemingway stands head and shoulders above any other writer mentioned here, and for good reason.

He created his own style of writing that has yet to be eclipsed by anyone writing in American English, and I don't think anyone will ever surpass him in his concise, allegorical prose. Not in my lifetime, anyway.

TWL,

it's okay to admit you don't have a decent job and the income to go hunt Africa or anywhere else and do anything of note.

Just don't try and elevate your miserable life upwards to mediocre status by hoping to drag others who HAVE done all the things you dream of down to your lowlife level.

It's okay, make it great to have heroes these days. In terms of African Hunting and the ability/desire to share that experience with the rest of us, Craig Boddington is to be admired. Not envied, just admired. He's also done a fantastic job of nudging a lot of us off the wannabe to donethat list.

Robert Ruark got me to Africa to hunt Cape Buffalo with that "Cape Buffalo; they simply look at you as if you owe them money...", half a century ago.
Craig Boddington's stories of Kudu and Gemsbuck got me back a month ago.

We all follow in the footsteps of those who went before...

Rich
DRSS

Lets not let the romanticism of Africa cloud the reality either.

The Safari business is a monumental industry that survives on the scale it does on the input of the US greenback.

Boddington is a very recogniseable part of the marketing used by that industry to promote and generate business. Sales.

At the end of the day we get just as much of a buzz out of it as a downhill snow skiier gets from the latest bindings and skis.

We all still have to pay for it and Boddington is doing a good job of increasing sales (hunts) and selling equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:

quote:

feel Craig's body of work as a whole will be remembered rather than Capstick's Death in the Long Grass, Ruark's Horn of the Hunter, or Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa.

Couldn't disagree more.

I'm not sure what we disagree on??? They are very different writers however I do feel "Death in the Long Grass", "Green Hills of Africa", and "Horn of the Hunter were African Hunting books that where so well done they became famous pieces of literature. They are masterpieces. My point is Boddington doesn't have a masterpiece. Thus far his todal body of work is his masterpiece. Would you agree? If not what do you think is his masterpiece?

Brett

It is really hard to compare Boddington to Ruark, PHC, or Hemingway. They have a completely different writing style. Hemingway is a novelist, PHC never wrote a novel, but told me it is the one thing he wanted to do in his lifetime, however, I don't think he ever did; Ruark did do several novels, good ones by my opinion, he was probably the closer to Hemingway than the others. As some one said, Boddington is a go-to guy, tells you how to hunt and where to hunt. When I read Capstick, Ruark, and Boddington, I want to go hunting in Africa; when I read Hemingway, I want to go have a rum drink in Key West. Can you imagine "Old Man and the Sea" as "Hemingway on Marlin"?

Not to sleight anyone but my trip to RSA was borne of the desire and mystic of Africa being portrayed on the various shows, articles, etc., plus the innate desire to hunt somewhere that wasn't in the U.S. I can't say that Mr. Boddington pushed me over the edge to finally make the first trip (last Sept.). It really all came down to the practicality of deciding whether to spend $10-15K on a guided elk hunt domestically or take a walk on the wild side and head across the pond. After obtaining 7 plains game trophies (to me they're trophies and that is what counts), the decision is clear. I can't wait to head back to Africa again.

I once told Peter Capstick that he was the main reason that I decided to hunt in Africa; he almost chocked on his scotch when I told him that!