quote:

Why do people think he was a fraud? Which bits is he supposed to have embellished? I don't really get all the accusations, whichout any specifics

quote:

Originally posted by Heym 450/400:

quote:

Why do people think he was a fraud? Which bits is he supposed to have embellished? I don't really get all the accusations, whichout any specifics

They went to Africa and their PH told them that he knew another PH that had apprenticed under another PH that had a client in camp and that clients cousins hunted with a PH that hunted with Capstick and he knows for sure that Capstick was a fraud.

quote:

Originally posted by Carlsen Highway:
His first book was a collection of articles. Karamojo Safari was much better.
But I see you a big bore fan. So your opinion of him is understandable, as was his opinion of big bore fans.

___________


Ok, I have read this thread more than once over the years, and there have been others as well I think, and finally, I really have to ask:

Why do people think he was a fraud? Which bits is he supposed to have embellished? I don't really get all the accusations, whichout any specifics.

I don't even see what the catalyst has been for someone to start a thread and entitle it "Capstick was a Fraud". What made someone bother themselves with enough concern to start a discussion based on that premise, as if there was a discussion there. Nobody has started a thread about JA Hunter saying he was a fraud. Noone has started a thread about Walter Bell saying he was a fraud, and expected there to be something worth talking about.

I don't even get the disdainful wave of the hand, with the comment, he was a good writer, but you know, writers embellish...

Which bit did he embellish? Which bit stands as being fiction?

I understand that he wrote colourfully, that he wrote vividly, that he made animal encounters dramatic. But this is not fraud. This is not embellishing.
You guys make it sound like he invented incidents, and passed off fiction as real events, but no one has said which chapter. Which event?

I have read most of his books. I have read Death in the Long Grass, his other ones on African hunting history, on historical hunting figures, and collected articles.

I see a magazine writer who often told stories of other peoples hunts as well as his own. But whats the big deal with that? Reporters do it every day.
Where is the fraud supposed to lie?

I mean, someone needs to be more specific for me to understand what going on here, there's twelve pages of it here and no one has mentioned which bit is at issue.

I can hear an accomplished writer with a grand turn of phrase telling a story, but the fictions I can't hear in it, if you guys can.

Which is the bit that this trial is all about?

quote:

Originally posted by Heym 450/400:

quote:

Why do people think he was a fraud? Which bits is he supposed to have embellished? I don't really get all the accusations, whichout any specifics

They went to Africa and their PH told them that he knew another PH that had apprenticed under another PH that had a client in camp and that clients cousins hunted with a PH that hunted with Capstick and he knows for sure that Capstick was a fraud.

....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1
DRSS Charter member
"If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982

Hands of Old Elmer Keith

quote:

Originally posted by SquirrelNut:
I've read his books, they're a good read.

I found this on another forum. This guy claims to have worked for the same outfit at the same time as Capstick. Interesting perspective.


Re: Peter Hathaway Capstick [Re: atkinsonhunting]
toltecgriz Offline
Campfire Kahuna

Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 18,339
Were you there when we had to go find him in the middle of the night because he got lost.?
Were you there when we found his high-centered Land Rover that the elephants never touched?
Were you there when we loaned him our best tracker and the first thing he did was load the little guy down with a bandolier of 75 .375 cartridges that he had to carry every day?
Were you there when they moved him out of his area because his clients had wounded thirteen lions and he wouldn't follow any of them up?
Don't get me started.

He was a good storyteller, however.



Re: Peter Hathaway Capstick [Re: atkinsonhunting]
toltecgriz Offline
Campfire Kahuna

Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 18,339
I am out of town and have very slow dial-up. I will address this matter when I get back unless I have a lot of time on my hands.

Ray
It's clear you could be hit in the face with the truth and still believe what you want. It's not frivolous if what he presented as fact was in fact substantially fiction, insofar as Death in the Long Grass was concerned. Paul Harvey might call it the rest of the story, rather than just calling it gossip because you don't care. Since you weren't there, you should consider keeping your uninformed opinions to yourself.

Hatari
I hunted with Luangwa Safaris which was Capstick's first job in Africa. Other PHs around were Tony Sanchez, Joe Joubert and Paul Nielsen.

I have no interest in recounting the whole thing, but may eventually. I'm going to have to look at the book again to refresh my memory of what Capstick said. What got my dander up is someone implying I don't know what I'm talking about when in fact I was in the middle of the events which occurred. Someone else can decide about Capstick's later reputation. I'm just talking about what I know and if someone is interested in the basis for his first book, well, that's what is called background.



This post from Allen Day was on the same thread.

Re: Peter Hathaway Capstick [Re: Timberline]
allenday Offline
Campfire Guide

Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,052
Yamhill Co., OR
In 1995, when I first hunted in Tanzania, we had a Emmy Award winning video cameraman with us. He was hired him for the full season to film hunts, and as it turns out, this man was also one of the video photographers who filmed Peter Capstick's African hunting series of videos.

In a nutshell, he told me, under no uncertain terms, that Capstick was a physical wreck and a chronic alcoholic who had the DTs so bad that they had to prop him up with beer or two at the start of every morning, and that Capstick fumbled around in the bush, and did not demonstrate anything that would even remotely demonstrate familiarity, expertise or competence.

AD

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:
Capstick and other like him may well be dead but their BS lives on.

quote:

He made a living with a pen/typewriter.

quote:

In the end NONE of you were there.

You enjoyed his books.

He enjoyed his life.

Respect it.

Let it go.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Rumor is that he was a helluva a tipper in his time.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Rumor is that he was a helluva a tipper in his time.

quote:

Originally posted by SquirrelNut:

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Rumor is that he was a helluva a tipper in his time.

He must not have been an Indian living in New Zealand.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Does anyone have any idea of the volume of Capstick books sold?

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Does anyone have any idea of the volume of Capstick books sold?

I have no idea on the exact number sold or how many editions his two publishers printed, but to remain in print for as long as the Capstick books have is quite an accomplishment in any genre, but especially for this limited market.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Rumor is that he was a helluva a tipper in his time.

quote:

but to remain in print for as long as the Capstick books have is quite an accomplishment in any genre, but especially for this limited market.

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

but to remain in print for as long as the Capstick books have is quite an accomplishment in any genre, but especially for this limited market.

It is actually quite surprising to know that there are still many naive and gullible people out there on whom publishers continue to milk.

Adding spice to a story is one thing but some of the stuff thrown in is ... well .... a little too far-fetched.

BTW its not "pissing on anyone's grave" as there's quite a few such characters who are alive and well yet being pissed upon.