IMHO, these are the five best writers we've got today (in no particular order). I know the Nuge is a little out there at times, but it's hard to deny the man's passion. Besides, I generally agree with what he has to say. Anyhow, I was just curious to see how they rank with other forum members.Craig BoddingtonRick JamisonLayne SimpsonJeff CooperTed Nugent

The only problem with Craig is that He only speaks of a product that works well if he is getting something for free. Some of his articles are out there also. I do like Rick and Layne though. I built a 7STW when he wrote the article after developing that cartridge. The funny thing about that is how the load data available now has the power level decreased quite a bit from what it was when I had one built. Then you were ok driving a 140gr. at 3500 fps out of a 26" bbl but now the data states 3300fps for safe loads. Were the loads overstated to get the cartridge popularity moving? Hell, even factory loads from A-Square were at that power level. Jeff is good too.

I refuse to vote on any of those choices or on the other hand to knock them.

I admire, respect and have great affection for Jeff Cooper, and have all his books, but I consider him more of a gun writer than an "outdoor" writer. Boddington is too commercial. What about guys like Steve Comus, Stan Skinner, Jim Carmichael, Wayne Van Zwoll,
Larry Weishuhn, Jon Sundra, and others.......this list is far too small to be worth voting on.

Bill:

I would call Carmichel and Sundra "gun writers," not "outdoor writers". Boddington may have his faults (who doesn't?) but there is no contemporary guns and hunting writer who has written about (and hunted) such a varied range of big game animals on six continents.

As for the original list, calling Ted Nugent a "writer" is an insult to the trade.

Bill Quimby

I tried reading Craig Boddington's book "Safari Rifles" but was unable to finish it. The reason is he used the word "wonderful" as an adjective so often that every time I saw it, it was like an electric shock. Eventually I could not concentrate on the text. As I fanned the pages I just kept scanning for the word "wonderful."

It actually could be used as the basis for a contest. AR readers could guess how many times Craig uses the word "wonderful" in the book "Safari Rifles."

And for the winners;

Ist prize - A green garbage bag full of used pocket lint.

2nd prize - A week long hunt at Elk Song Ranch personally guided by Ross Seyfried.

3rd prize - A two week hunt at Elk Song Ranch personally guided by Ross Seyfried.


VBR,


Ted Gorsline

Ted:

Have you thought about writing a book? As I remember it from my days at Safari Magazine you wrote well. You certainly must have the material after your time in Burkino Faso and Tanzania.

Bill

Dear Bill,

I have written two. One I had with an agent in New York for years but it was rejected about 50 times and is now dated.

Safari Press offered me a contract for another but I didn't like the contract nor the book so I decided to rewrite it. And it too is now dated.

I have not written anything about Africa except the stuff I did for you, one lion story for the American Hunter, and a maneating lion story for Jagen Weltweit here in Germany that was so heavily edited as to be not worth printing.

I update them as I have time. Problem is time. I ought not to be playing on the AR forum at all. My wife is already complaining. But its more fun than writing articles because you get immediate feedback.

I like writing but I don't like most outdoor editors. They usually come from the advertsing end of things or concentrate on "Where to Go" and "How to do it Stuff" instead of stories. The tip off that you are not going to enjoy meeting with them is all the free fishing lures on their desks.

George Haas was an exception. The guy was really bright and had no fishing lures on his desk. He and Ben East did really good black bear stuff for decades that was labled as sensational at the time but now, long after they are both dead, it has all turned out to be true.



VBR,


Ted Gorsline

Come on Ted, don't make Bill beg. I am willing to bet you write as well as Ted Nugent. You may even play the guitar as well.

Dear Wink,

I really like outdoor writing. I did it full time for 11 years. At the end of that time I had $1,500 dollars in my pocket, $3,000 on my credit card, and was sleeping in my car so I had to give myself a shake and rethink my priorities. The Canadin market was very small.

I went to New York to meet the editors of the big three and found that in those days they were paying about $1,000 for a feature story.

I met Duncan Barnes. I met George Haas, Don Causey who was at Outdoor Life then and Clare Conoley and the editor of Sports Afield whose name I forget.

But there is alot of competition out there for the few free lance stores up for grabs so unless you are on staff the mathematics don't add up.

I quickly noted that anyone with brains who had been an outdoor writer, such as Tom Oprey and Jerome Knap, soon saw the writing on the wall and went into the booking business and so I jumped ship too.

I am sure I write better than Ted Nugent but when it come to musical instruments I am pretty much limited to a tape deck.

I enjoy blogging with Bill because he knows the business.


VBR,


Ted Gorsline

Ted, I've got a personal interest in what you may write or may have written about Burkina Faso because my time there was important in my life. I arrived just before Sankara's coup d'état, met my future wife (stuck in Upper Volta as the borders were closed just following the coup), got married there (reception was at Ambassador Leonardo Nehr's residence and probably the first European wedding in Ouaga in years), became friends with a whole host of local characters including Georges Bachour (Toufik Hanna's cousin, Georges died of a heart attack trying to run away from a buffalo he had wounded), Fadoul, Teddy Lugros,etc. etc. If you've got any Burkina stories in your archives I would love to read them.

Dear Wink,

I have some Burkina Faso stuff in a cardboard box somewhere on my back trail. I know I don't have it here in Germany because I have looked for it. But when I find it, and I will eventually, I will send along whatever I have.

VBR,


Ted Gorsline

Dear Bill,

We can't all be lion tamers.


VBR,


Ted

Hey Brother Bill, I'm up for adoption.

As others have said Craig has some problems (excess commercialization), but he gets my vote from this list. I can't stand Teg Nuget, Cooper is fine and so is Simpson.

But what of Mike McIntosh? He'd get my vote!

The one Outdoor Writer I read.Whenever I see
his article is Phil Shoemaker.He writes well,
and his choice of topics is always interesting.
He also posts here,as well.

I read everything I see by Phil Shoemaker and Ross Seyfried.

I ignore everything I see from Boddington and Sundra. They both seem like paid shills to me.

I always enjoyed Ross Seyfried.I felt he was the best writer "Handloader" had on board.Anyone know why he does'nt write for them anymore?

Nobody puts more useful data into an article then Van Zwoll. He must work like a Trojan! Nice guy, too. He lives here in Washington State.

I know Wayne van Zwoll and you are 100% correct. A more sincere, hard-working, genuine gentleman would be hard to find.

Jack O'Conner said Ted Trueblood was the best. It seems to me I read that Hemingway said the only outdoor writer who could string a sentence together was Russel Annabel.

VBR,

Ted Gorsline

Trueblood was literate, to be sure. My problem with Annabel was that he definitely was guilty of the things some people today accuse Capstick of being.

Every time I've tried to get into anything Annabel wrote -- and he wrote quite a lot about my part of the world -- I'd throw it down in disgust. The hype was just too much for me.

Incidentally, there is a big difference (in my mind, at least) between a gun writer and an outdoor writer. Some outdoor writers are gun writers, but few gun writers are outdoor writers.

Bill Quimby

On the whole gun writing is a pigeon hole profession but O'Connor was a gun writer and if he had wanted he could have written well about anything.

VBR,

Ted Gorsline

"On the whole gun writing is a pigeon hole profession but O'Connor was a gun writer and if he had wanted he could have written well about anything."

Ted:

It seems we agree. O'Connor was a gun writer when he produced his columns and articles in Outdoor Life and Petersen's Hunting, but his versatility shows in his books on the natural history of big game, as well as his novels and his autobiographical "Horse and Buggy West."

"Pigeon hole profession" is an apt description. I sometimes am mildly irked when I come across gun articles that neglect to talk about the animal and the hunt the writer experienced while "testing" one caliber or another. An animal to me is more than a chunk of meat to use to determine bullet expansion and penetration.

I find myself in the same corner with the extremely experienced hunters I've written books about and for: A gun is a gun is a tool. All of my subjects used only two or three calibers throughout their entire hunting careers. All understood the basics of ballistics, but they could care less if one caliber was 200 fps faster than another. If something worked, they found no need to change it.

Bill

Dear Bill,

I find that when I am in Germany my interest in rifles goes up. I work on them. That kind of thing. They help the hunting fantasy to grow.

Before I ever went to Africa I bought a 458 and stuck it in the closet. I would practise cycling it and take it to the range but it was too much for the local woodchucks. But having a piece of African kit that connected me to the dark continent helped get me over there eventually. I shot my first buffalo with that closet 458.

But I find that when I am in Africa I forget about the rifle completely other than to make sure it functions properly. Its just another pipe wrench.

If you read the old hunter's books you sometimes have great difficulty finding out what rifles they were shooting.

Modern gunwriting has little natural history in it. I guess this is because the purpose of the stories is to sell guns.

O'Conner did both well. His "Game Animals of North America" is a fantastic book.

VBR,


Ted Gorsline

Hi Ted:

Like you, I also play with guns. Years ago I even built a couple of muzzleloaders from barrels and locks from Dixie Gun Works and stocked them and two bolt-action rifles with walnut I cut on a friend's Texs ranch. I've never counted them but I must have accumulated at least 50 shotguns and centerfire rifles over the past 70 years.

However, when I go hunting I use just four: a .22-250, a 7 mm Remington Magnum, a .375 H&H Magnum, and 20 gauge shotgun, depending upon what I'm after. They work. Other guns I own also will do what I ask of them, but these four are old friends.

All this said, I seldom read gun magazines. I appreciate photos of firearms decorated with handsome engraving just as I would any other art, but I am bored silly when authors talk about the caliber, action type, and other details of the firearm.

Yes, O'Connor's "Game Animals of North America" is a great book. (I bought a pristine first edition on ebay the other day to upgrade my collection.) He had precisely the right combination of me-and-Joe, natural history, hunting tips, gun info, and easy-reading style in that one.

Bill Quimby

While not an American writer, I favor J.A. Hunter's work. Smooth style and to the point!

His books were enjoyable to read and they helped make many of us want to experience Africa ourselves.