After the last "AR Capstick War" I purchased from Amazon the "Capstick Collection" on DVD. I watched each and every minute of each and every DVD with an open mind as I did with each and every word in every novel he penned. I have come to the conclusion that PHC has the same amount of days as a licensed PH as do I -0-. To me he looked completely out of his element, he dressed like a complete douchebag with the damn berret with the shiney thing on it and all. His rifle carry advise I personally find to be a joke. Every single PH I have hunted with, without exception, including some of the real ol' time pro's I found completely comfortable in thier element and in thier own skin and when in the bush show a level of competence that precludes them from constantly looking for approval and dont need to try and persuade us that they belong there. PHC was in fact a stumbling fraud in the bush. Conversely, as a writer, without exception the best African lore storyteller of all time. Or there will ever be.
Chipolopolo

He was a wonderful writer and extremely entertaining but I think hopelessly full of shit. If you want to know the real story about him ask your PH after a couple of beers.

It is funny you post this. Just last night I watched Botswana Safari again and got a great laugh out of him shitting his pants when the Hippo ran for water 100 yards away. Gordan didn't even flinch! He was clearly drunk in many of the scenes as well.

I also just finished Brian Marsh's Baron in Africa and there is a story about Werner and Wally rounding up a bunch of poachers. In Brians book it was not a real big deal. In Capsticks book about Wally he made the whole incident seem like a narrow escape from the clutches of doom. The stories couldn't have been more different!

According to the senior Broom's book (I think it was his book) PHC was in fact a pretty successful PH for several seasons. In Matets as I recall the book.

But I don't think he lived for the bush.

JPK

Is the silliness in the videos because they were contrived to sell? He's beyond mature functioning, for sure, in the videos, but I would not hazard a guess on his competence earlier in his career. To write as well as he did, he had to have considerable experience somewhere.

UEG,
I was wondering is that leopard on your shoulders alive? it looks it.

Yes, the explanation about why he wears a beret was pretty lame, as well as his little talk about why he carries/wears a monocle...

One good piece of advice I took from the videos, when they are tracking a lion with the hunter, you know the 80s guy with the trucker ball cap and Barry Gibbs glasses, he does tell the hunter not to look down at the tracks, let the trackers do that, but to scan ahead for the lion...

I have seen only one or two of his videos, but read all his books.

His books are very entertaining - in fact, that is what got me thinking of going to Africa in the first place!

But, his videos I did not find interesting at all.

Regardless of the above, despite the fact that he seems not be such a great PHs, as he wished to be known, he did more for modern African hunting than anyone I can think of.

And, my friends, deserves a very big THANK YOU Peter Hathaway Capstick.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Regardless of the above, despite the fact that he seems not be such a great PHs, as he wished to be known, he did more for modern African hunting than anyone I can think of.

And, my friends, deserves a very big THANK YOU Peter Hathaway Capstick.

Darn right.....PHC is the guy that got me to Africa....and regardless of flaws deserves my sincere thanks.

chipolopolo: You decide: Saeed:

does the leopard appear cross-eyed from getting his balls squeezed?

Wouldn't you in a similar position?

quote:

does the leopard appear cross-eyed from getting his balls squeezed?

that makes me cross-eyed

UEG you the man, yikes!!!

I'm sure this is just a shit stirring joke.

quote:

Originally posted by HAY-MAN:
I'm sure this is just a shit stirring joke.

I think in many ways that's what PHC was.

Hay Man,
Bill Murray from caddy shack would be more at home in the bush than PHC, just watch the videos man, Send me your address and I'll send you the whole worthless joke of a video collection including the guy with the Bee gee glasses and the John Stockton basketball shorts.
Chipolopolo

It is my understanding (subject to correction) that PHC was employed for at least a time by Ker and Downey, not known for fielding frauds with clients.

How many here would have qualified?

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have seen only one or two of his videos, but read all his books.

His books are very entertaining - in fact, that is what got me thinking of going to Africa in the first place!

But, his videos I did not find interesting at all.

Regardless of the above, despite the fact that he seems not be such a great PHs, as he wished to be known, he did more for modern African hunting than anyone I can think of.

And, my friends, deserves a very big THANK YOU Peter Hathaway Capstick.

+1

What intestinal fortitude it must take to attack someone who is no longer around to defend themselves.
Who is next?
This is similar to the writer, cannot remember his name now, who wrote several years after Elmer Keith died that it was him, and not EK who invented the 44 Magnum. Of course S&W historian Roy Jinks, and the historian for Remington Arms rememmbered that EK was the inventor, but what the heck, EK wasn't around to dipute it so this "gentleman", and I use the term with great trepadation, got his 15 minutes of fame on the coat tails of another deceased person. How impressed he must have been with himself.

Congo,
If you wish I will send you the collection before I get Hay Mans address and you decide for yourself. Watching the videos I found it extremely hard to believe the was the same guy who wrote those wonderful stories. I just want these dvds out of my collection of Mark Sullivan videos. Your Elmer Keith point. He was for real. Go to Cabelas in Boise and have a look at the EK display. he was a true amarican sportsman

quote:

Originally posted by chipolopolo:
Hay Man,
Bill Murray from caddy shack would be more at home in the bush than PHC, just watch the videos man, Send me your address and I'll send you the whole worthless joke of a video collection including the guy with the Bee gee glasses and the John Stockton basketball shorts.
Chipolopolo

Don't forget the monocle and that nifty sling technique. Was that Barry Gibb in those videos with PHC? I didn't know he was a hunter.

quote:

Originally posted by congomike:
What intestinal fortitude it must take to attack someone who is no longer around to defend themselves.

Your question answers itself.

If PHC was such a fraud, why did Bob Langeveldt let him claim to have worked "control" with him??

Why did Ker and Downey let him claim to have worked for them??

I've never known anyone who got neck-deep in a bottle and stayed there who improved with time, but it seems to me that all the crap flung at PHC is either third-hand or references his last years. Those AR members who met him seem to have universally found him to be a gentleman.

Both Andy and I have hunted with a man(an old time PH) who knew him. he wish's to remain unnamed, I don't just say these things without some solid foundation. But all this said, agian a wonderful writer and I to flew that side mostly because of his written word. Bob Langeveldt,I can't answer. If I was Capstick I would have put photos of my licenses in the books knowing all the doubt that it created.

As Steve just mentioned we've both hunted with an old time PH who did culling with Langeveldt and also knew Capstick well. He told me personally that he (the PH) was the one who did the control work with Langeveldt and that Capstick only tagged along with them and never left the Cruiser, I have no reason to doubt him, he is a legend in the industry. The stuff about culling with the military flares at night is also complete bullshit, it never happened, it was a fantasy made up by Capstick to sell books.

BTW, his nickname in the Luangwa Valley, given to him by those who knew him, is "Crapstick".

Cheers,
Andy

Chipolopolo, PM sent with address. Look forward to watching the videos
HAY-MAN

quote:

Originally posted by chipolopolo:
Both Andy and I have hunted with a man(an old time PH) who knew him. he wish's to remain unnamed, I don't just say these things without some solid foundation. But all this said, agian a wonderful writer and I to flew that side mostly because of his written word. Bob Langeveldt,I can't answer. If I was Capstick I would have put photos of my licenses in the books knowing all the doubt that it created.

Actually, he did just that in one of his books, I remember a picture of his PH license.

Whoops!! What book was it?

Hay Man, I expect you to tell this forum I'm a stand up guy when you receive the videos.
Steve

Chipolopolo, You got it.
Scott

quote:

Originally posted by chipolopolo:
Whoops!! What book was it?

Hay Man, I expect you to tell this forum I'm a stand up guy when you receive the videos.
Steve

I would have to dig through them, probably either "Death in the Long Grass" or "Safari", seems like it was being used as a backdrop for some cartridges to show scale.

I guess my memory isn't that bad after all...

"Safari: The Last Adventure", pictures between pages 122 and 123, his Zambian license behind two .375 cartridges.

quote:

Originally posted by Jefffive:

quote:

Originally posted by chipolopolo:
Whoops!! What book was it?

Hay Man, I expect you to tell this forum I'm a stand up guy when you receive the videos.
Steve

I would have to dig through them, probably either "Death in the Long Grass" or "Safari", seems like it was being used as a backdrop for some cartridges to show scale.

It was "Safari" but you can't tell what the documents that he has on display really are. It looks like a passport with entry visa stamps to me. I've heard from a pretty reliable source in Zambia that he never held a PH's licence.

quote:

Originally posted by adrook:

quote:

Originally posted by Jefffive:

quote:

Originally posted by chipolopolo:
Whoops!! What book was it?

Hay Man, I expect you to tell this forum I'm a stand up guy when you receive the videos.
Steve

I would have to dig through them, probably either "Death in the Long Grass" or "Safari", seems like it was being used as a backdrop for some cartridges to show scale.

It was "Safari" but you can't tell what the documents that he has on display really are. It looks like a passport with entry visa stamps to me. I've heard from a pretty reliable source in Zambia that he never held a PH's licence.

On the left-hand page it's clearly an entry permit for working, and the letters "onal hunter" are clearly legible. Appears to be valid until 29/10/69.

quote:

On the left-hand page it's clearly an entry permit for working, and the letters "onal hunter" are clearly legible. Appears to be valid until 29/10/69.

Please explain the real PHs who knew him and claim that he never held a PH's license. I've also heard from PHs that he did hunt for the Brooms for a short time as an apprentice but was canned because he drank too much and couldn't tell the difference between a bull and a cow and kept having clients shoot buffalo cows.

I claim no special expertise from sources who cannot be named.

The picture in question is available to anyone with access to the cited book. Maybe Capstick knew some way to get an entry visa with a working permit as a "professional hunter" without holding a valid license, maybe he had something on Bob Langeveldt to keep him from calling him out, perhaps he even knew some dark secret about Ker and Downey that kept them from calling "bullshit" when he claimed to have guided clients for them, one of the premier safari outfits in the business for decades.

I fully agree that his proposed carry method was absolute nonsense, and always struck me as a failed attempt to have something named for him.

Outside of that, all the crap I've ever seen flung his way was third-or-fourth hand.

I personally don't care if there's video of him giving a blowjob to a bull rhino, he was one of the finest writers who ever tackled Africa, and would certainly make my top-5 list of hunters I'd love to share a campfire with.

I just wouldn't try to drink him under the table.

what does it matter? Read his books, watch his videos, or don't.