I still like Elmer keith most of all.My favorite living author is still Craig Boddington.He will get better if he stays on the path he's on now.I am a big bore guy though and will never change.I grew up on Elmer Keith and will stay with my big guns.I have a ton of my books for sale in classifeds .I just cant take them all with me.I have Africa books,Alaska,North america and gunbooks.

My favorite new author is Stephen Hunter.
Point of Impact was the first one I read and that got me hooked.You can pick one up at a used paperback store.
You won't be sorry. Stepen Hunter , back in his young and dumb days, used to be an antiguns moron.
Now he has got the bug as bad as us.
His books hold true to firearm names,calibers,'smithing and reloading.

Keith is a great author-here's a few of my favorites.

Archery- The late great Jay Massey (Tied with Hal Waugh as my favorite author)

Wild Sheep- Tony Russ, Jack O'Connor and Duncan Gilchrist

Brown Bear- Hal Waugh and John Eddy

Alaska Hunting/Exploration- Charles Sheldon and G.O. Young

On .22 cal. Hunting/Shooting- C.S. Landis

Rifles/Cartridges- Keith, O'Connor and Boddington

-Ron

I'm a little disappointed that this forum isn't as popular as the others. Don't get me wrong, but I feel if more shooters read books we would not have some of the questions that appear in some of the other forums. I read everything from the Sierra reloading catalouge to Capstick to O'Connor to Boddington to Chris Ryan to Andy McNabb to Windows for Dummies. I even read the front of my yearly diary to learn how to change grains to grams and ounces to kilos. I always get a chuckle out of the way Capstick writes ( or should it be "wrote" ) Boddington tells it how it is, and Elmer Keith tells it how he wanted it to be.
Try some of the New Zealand authors on hunting and you won't want to put the book down.
Malcolm56

Favorites:

D. Lyell
C H Stigand
PHC
S. Kip Farrington
James Sutherland
Sasha Siemel
W R Foran
Brian Marsh
John Batten
T V Bulpin
Anthony Dyer
John Taylor
Tony Sanchez



Many, Many More...

Least Favorite:

Bunny Allen


DGR416, you have a PM

Minkman

My least favorites are Jack Oconner Jack Oconner and Jack Oconner.I saw his traveling show at gun show and showed them letters in Gun Notes Two by Elmer Keith.I can hardly get rid of Jack Oconner books they make good targets though.I like Ruark for Africa and bird hunting best.Russell Annabel has best Alaska books.Teddy Roosevelt books are awesome too.I like Capsick books and John Taylor books on Africa also.

dgr416,

Have you read Annabel's Alaskan Tales?
I have only seen it on online auctions (too pricey for me-$400) and in one of the descriptions it was described as an childrens book. Is it indeed a childrens book?

-Ron

HELLO THE CAMPFIRE:
I have enjoyed Ruark since I found him in the old Shooting Times. I have read all ofhis Books and wish I stil had them The oly one that I could not get into was The Honey Badger I also had several of the Gene Hill Tailfeathers books. I loaned these to my mother who loved Bird dogs and shotguns, and when she went hunting in the place of the endless quail season, With Rowdy and Big Red, and Rojo and Dog, and the other great Dogs who went first, the boks disapeared. Ruedge, Babcock, these were the books of my youth. I still feel the same as Babcock, "I Don't Want To Shoot an Elephant". WE as shooters and hunters need our heros, just as America needs heros.
Cheers
Judge Sharpe, a poor Widows son

Shooting literature is extremely important to stimulate us and teach us. I enjoyed all of the readings from the 50's and 60's and then got away from it as much of it seemed too general.

At first of course I need to learn and Hatcher, Whelan, Page, Van Dyke, Ackley, Donaldson, Ruark, Keith, Sheldon, Hunter, Taylor, Money, Hagel, Sharpe, Landis, Brown and O'Connor were some of the authors.

With this information I began to find my own ways. The thing is that not much new happened in the last 50 years hunting or firearms wise.

Then I discovered the internet and I am right in there with the latest.

Today I have begun to disagree with O'Connor on some things and he was so general anyway but a superb writer.

There are some authors who I never liked at all but I will not mention them. If I left someone off the list above it just may mean that I forgot about them that's all.

It's easier sometimes to read a book on line or get it free from your library. Just use bibliomation or ebooks. They are free with your library card.

All that you have to do is find your librarys site and log on. They will show all the books in the bibliomation system. For instance almost every book by Ruark is available free to you. If your library does not have it they will get it free from another library and call you when it comes in. Same with ebooks online. All free.

Here is my list.

Favorite outdoor writer, hands down: Jack O'Connor

Favorite story tellers...Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton

Favorite wildlife adventurers...Charles Sheldon and Russel Annabel

Favorite hunter/writer: Col. Townsend Whelen and Warren Page

Favorite handgun writers: Dick Metcalf and Bill Jordan

Favorite ballastics experts: Ken Waters and Bob Hagel

Favorite Books: Face The Wind, A.L. Karras - North to Cree Lake, A.L. Karras - From the Peace to the Fraser Prentis L. Gray - Alaskan Yukon Trophys Won and Lost, G.O. Young and The Wilderness of Dehali, Charles Sheldon

Jack oconner was a good writter he rewrote the same articles 50 times so they would be good.He was not a friendly person and charges to sign his books.Its funny I can hardly give away oconner books.I dont this any of Elmer keiths books ever went down just up.Elmer answered people by phone and letters and was always friendly.Jack oconner peppered him on a winchester goose hunt and he never liked him after that.You should read the Keith Oconner letters in Gunnotes by Keith.Keith invented many thingsl e such as the 44mag,41 mag,Keith bullets and helped design the winchester model 70,the ruger black hawk,and the Ruger #1.The only thing oconner invented was his ego and that the 270 was good for everything.I am a big bore fan and dont take varmit guns big game hunting.I hold all of elmers facts true.Oconner was a good writer his books are all good fiction.

Aw come on, dgr416, give Jack O a little credit. Afterall, he was hailed as Dean of Outdoor Writers by the writers of his day. And those guys, weren't in the habit of getting "snowed" by someone who didn't have their facts togoether... no, not by a long shot. The "letters" are a must read and tell a great deal about each man. If your were scoring it, I'd call it a draw. I truly believe Jack had the hightest respect for Elmer and he told him so and others as well. Other than the big/small caliber disagreement they pretty much saw things the same. We would be a sight better off if we had more like them today.

I'd have to agree with Minkman about how badly Bunny Allen sux. For plain, old fashioned adventure travel, Roy Andrews is hard to beat. For additional happenings loosely connected with RCA, Morden's "Across Asia's snows and deserts" is a fine tale.

I find myself rereading WDM Bell fairly regularly, especially when I get tired of hearing about the worthlessness of sub-.40 calibers.

For North American small game, Ted Trueblood penned a few fine tales.

And when I'm looking to set myself in a reflective mood, a healthy dose of Ruark's Old Man or some of Gene Hill will do it.

Boddington isn't always a bore, but I don't think he'll wear well with passing years.

I alway like Warren Page and Bob Milek. The thing I have against most writers today is that they lack the passion for the sport that these two had.

dean grennel and skeeter skelton are my favorites.

I have both of Sketters books for sale if you give me your email address I could send you book list mike I grew up reading him in shooting times

Dgr416: Not only is Jack O'Connor a more respected and better writer/author than the diminutive small man with the large ego elmer keith! Jack O'Connor actually went on the hunts he depicted in his artciles and books. Not only that Mr. O'Connors novels are very entertaining reading also1
You attempts at besmirchment of Mr. O'Connor and the wonderful 270 Winchester cartrdige says a lot about you! And none of it good!
I have been buying and selling Mr. O'Connors books for going on 40 years now! Your statements regarding his books being difficult to sell are absolutely wrong!
Nothing could be further from the truth than what you are attempting to pass off in this regard.
As I write this I am looking at a very complete selection of Mr. O'Connors books in my shelves here.
My prized book is copy #238 of 950 of Mr. O'Connors wonderful book "Game in the Desert". I have in the past turned down $750.00 for this Derrydal Press signed copy!
Me thinks you are way off base!!!
Or worse?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I talked to the guy who was the friend of Jack Oconner at that traveling Oconner show.He was a very good friend of Oconner and said himself that oconner was not a friendly person and was quite a snob and a gipeass.Yes he hunted alot of places and animals.Elmer Keith Guided for aroiund 30 years or so and was friendly to all and answered questions by mail and phone.I do like Craig Boddington who is very friendly .I met him year before last at Safari show and chatted with him on the outdoors best web site.My most valued Elmer Keith books are all the signed ones I have.I have some of his letters that are awesome.I sell more robert ruark then elmer Keith and Russell Annabel and Peter Capstick.Oconner books are about as boring as it gets at least alk the ones I read.Elmer lived the stories of his books.He grew up with Civil War vertens and old Buffalo hunters that taught him alot about big bores.He was very down to earth but one of the greatest gun writers ever.

O'Connor was nothing but a glorified varmint shooter with a decidedly smallbore mind. He was paid by Winchester to promote the girlish .270 for everytrhing, including grizzly bear. He probably got a few hunters killed because of that. He certainly shot up a lot of animals with his little .270 and 30-06. Left blood and gut trails all over two continents because he couldn't handle a big enough gun. There is not a sngle useful word in all of his schoolmarmish ravings of any value whatsoever for a hunter of dangerous game.

Keith, on the other hand, contributed more to firearms development and knowledge than any other gunwriter I can think of.

Elmer had some worthwhile things to say, but I never have been able to stomach his writing style. He wasn't a newcomer to the language, but the way he butchered it, just made him hard to read. I suspect that's part of the reason that Jack O'C is more widely read - he was a better writer.

As far as reality goes, it sits somewhere between Keith and O'Connor.

Hey Interboat, take a deep breath.

Ever hear of Karmojo Bell? Elephant not a dangerous game animal? 6.5MM Bullet? Just think how glad Bell would have been if he had had Jack's 270 Win stoked with 130 grain Silvertips or heaven forbid, 160 grain Partitions, instead of his puny 6.5X55 for Elephant duty. I like Elmer too but I haven't seen/heard a 270 or 30-06 bullet bounce off anything covered by hide.

Pick up a copy of The Best of Jack O'Connor and enjoy what only the Dean of Gunwriter's could articulate. You'll be glad you did.

Jefats,

Bell was a master of the brain shot, which only requires straight-line penetration. The fact is the 6.5 and 7mm he used are both far better straight-line penetrators, primarily because of the long high-sectional-density bullets they're designed for, than the .270. A rapidly expanding partition and especially a 130-grain Silvertip out of a .270 would likely not even reach the brain of an elephant even if the shooter were as good a marksman as Bell. "Dean of American Gunwriters" is a marketing slogan made up by Winchester's PR agency. O'Connor was, however, a dyed-in-the-wool academic, which fact alone should make you doubt anything he might have to say about anything.

I just finished several of Jim Corbett's books on India and tigers and such. He is a good one and I like his style very much. Boddington comes in second.

C. Boddington and P. Flack are my definitive favourites on Africa.
Corbett, Jack O`Connor, Capstick are all very good...

I have just discovered Sarkis Atamian´s The Bears of Manley (THANK YOU, N.C. !!)

I found that book just terrific ... very enlightened ideas we all feel, but perhaps not many of us could speak in a concious and knowledged way about them ... "those answers that have to do with the human soul and true hunting spirit that is so difficult to know, and even more difficult to reveal" as Mr Atamian says is the preface of this book...

I highly reccomend it, a new version of Meditations on Hunting, by the great Ortega y Gasset ...

i like capstick,ruark,bodington,wilbur smith,hemingway,taylor etc im reanding now tactical tracking of scott donelan a lot of histories about war in africa thanks martin.juan

quote:

Originally posted by juanpozzi:
i like capstick,ruark,bodington,wilbur smith,hemingway,taylor etc im reanding now tactical tracking of scott donelan a lot of histories about war in africa thanks martin.juan

My pleasure !!

Enjoy it, my friend !!

I have my books listed on classified.If you want a list if you email me at muskox1@excite.com I will send it to you.I moved and cant bring all my books with me only about a 100 or so.The rest have to go thanks Mike

I recommend two classics for deer season: The Deer Hunter's Guide, by Francis Sell, and Shots at Whitetails, by Larry Koller.

Tony Sanchez Arino ,Jim Corbett,Herbert McBride ,Hugo Seia,Peter Stiff ,just some more juan

Grizzly1, QAnnabel's books about Alaska are not children's books and are great classic reads. He roamed around Alaska in the 30"s and his stories are great. I highly recomend them.

KWard,

I know most of his books are not childrens, I have Hunting and Fishin in Alaska and 4 other books that are a compilation of his articles (Safari Press)....if you read my post again I was asking about "Alaskan Tales" specifically. A book dealer had desribed it as a book with stories for children. It is a scarce and very expensive (up to $600) book with no reprints. Have you read this book? Is it a childrens book? Simple question!

-Ron

I had our liberary send Alaskan Tales to me from Fairbanks.It is a small book and yes it sells from $400 to $800.I copied it so I could have a copy of it.Its not a kids book it just looks like one.Its hunting stories.I have all of Russell Annabels books except Alaskan Tales.I have one 1938 copy of Tales of a Big Game Guide signed.I know people who knew Russell Annabel during the 1950s.He stayed at a friends parents hotel .I have also found the remains of two of his old cabins.I wish someoine would do something with them before they are gone.Alaskas Wolf Man is an awesome books also.I hunt where it was written about near the old Black Rapids Lodge.

Let's see, Hunting, guns and exploration,
1. Sir Richard Burton.
2. Sir Samuel Baker
3. J.A. Hunter
4. Hemingway
5. Tim Severin
6. W.D.M. Bell
7. Gene Hill
8. Jim Corbett
9. Jeff Cooper
10. R. Churchill

If we include authors of other than hunting books

Nicholas Monsarrat
Barrett Tillman
Robert Heinlein
Joe Haldeman
A.B. Facey
James Cobb
And many, many more.

The most profound?

Kipling
Plato
Robert Ardery
Solzhenitsyn
Herzog
Socrates
Locke
Blake
D.H. Lawrence
Dave Grossman
Xenophon
Homer
Epicurus
Seneca
Cicero
Pliny
Montaigne
Schopenhauer
Nietzsche
De Botton
Hobbes
Whitman
T. Roosevelt
And many, many more.

I'm going to have to get another room added to the house to expand the library, again!
She who must be obeyed, has decreed that no more of my books are to go into 'her' office/study.

Ah well,

Cheers, Dave.

Dave you didnt like African Game Trails by Teddy Roosevelt that was one of my favorite African books.I got on the internet in May of 1998.That got me into more trouble than anything.I found thousands of old good hunting books.My two favorite book stores stopped handling hunting books after I moved.I bet I bought $10,000 from those two.Also my favorite book sale closed down .I had so many books in one room once it started to pull the walls apart from each other.Books can be very heavy and dusty.I backed out of a book store once when a guy brought in a wooden hudge book from the 1600.It had algee growing in it and no telling what else.I am putting only about 100 books in my new house.I dont want it getting out of hand like before its easy to do.

Well, thanks for the reply and answer to my original question.....even if it took you 10 months...wow!

Whenever I feel like a quick read I grab an Annabel book.....he was a great short story author and I enjoy his tales to no end.

-Ron

quote:

Originally posted by dgr416:
Dave you didnt like African Game Trails by Teddy Roosevelt that was one of my favorite African books.I got on the internet in May of 1998.That got me into more trouble than anything.I found thousands of old good hunting books.My two favorite book stores stopped handling hunting books after I moved.I bet I bought $10,000 from those two.Also my favorite book sale closed down .I had so many books in one room once it started to pull the walls apart from each other.Books can be very heavy and dusty.I backed out of a book store once when a guy brought in a wooden hudge book from the 1600.It had algee growing in it and no telling what else.I am putting only about 100 books in my new house.I dont want it getting out of hand like before its easy to do.

I put TR in the profound section as I have read some of his political stuff, but have yet to find a copy of African Game Trails. Maybe the list will change when I do!

Cheers, Dave.