“Hell, I’m Still Here! – Fifty Years a Gunwriter” by Jon R. Sundra



I bought this book on a whim as part of the Safari Press summer sale – it arrived Wednesday and I finished it over the course of three evenings. Based on the caricature on the cover and the title being a funny riff on Elmer Keith’s autobiography title, I was expecting it to be very light, jokey reading but I was pleasantly surprised. The book is humorous, but it is also a very well-written account of the author’s life as a gun writer focusing on hunting rifles. It includes quite a few hunting stories taking place in Africa and elsewhere around the world –taking the last legal but non-importable jaguar in Mexico, ibex in Kyrgyzstan and rusa stag in New Caledonia. A number of the early chapters cover some of the famous gun writers - O’Connor, Keith, Askins, Milek, Jordan.

I also found the account of his career, interspersed throughout the book, to be quite interesting – how he got started and built up his career, how the industry worked with industry-sponsored hunts, and how he ended up as a gun company PR consultant. His career spanned what was likely the golden age of gun/hunting magazines – that is during and after the rise of specialty magazines and before social media. I’m sure that world has completely changed now!

In any case, I found it an enjoyable read and recommend it.