To RIP and many others,

I thought I would let the group know that Bob Hagel passed away December 20th. I have attached the kind words from the Salmon, ID newspaper.

He will be greatly missed............BigRx

Yet another great icon of the shooting world gone...

Sad news. Thank you for the report.

Greg

I always enjoyed Bob's articles. He will be missed.

I too always enjoyed reading Bobs stuff.

BigRX - I thank you for posting this. Mr. Hagel was very special. He taught me as much as anyone I can think of. In the words of Jack O'Connor: "Bob is a real nuts & bolts rifleman."
GUNS for GIANT BEAR

He was one of the ones you could read and trust. There aren't many like him out there today. He'll be missed in the shooting fraternity. My sincere condlences to the Hagel family. Kudude

By all outward appearances at least, he had a great life. One worth celebrating rather than mourning.

He will be missed, but his works will live on for a long time. Gone but not forgotten as they say. I certainly enjoyed everything of his that I can recall reading. He was one of the real good ones for sure. I am sure he is now alongside some good company in the happy hunting grounds.

Hopefully he will not be offended when I lift a glass in his honor tonite!

Cheers,
Canuck

Hagel was one of my favorites. I would rate him in the top three.

Whelan, Hagel and Aagaard for me. Many other good ones too.

Well put Canuck and I will raise a glass to the man tonight myself. I've enjoyed his writings and stories also. Definately a life worth celebrating.
Take good care and Happy New Year
Dave

His book Game Loads and Practical Ballistics for the American Hunter is a masterpiece. I've read mine cover to cover 100 times and given it as gifts to most of my hunter cohorts. JT

Thanks, BigRx, and for the eulogies from everyone else too.

Bob was like a kind uncle, showing me the way back in the 70's and 80's, since I first took up with him, buying and reading all his books that I know of, and clipping and filing (like Nickudu) any of his journal articles I came across.

Though Bob really liked the .340 Wby for varmints and such, remember that Alaska-Yukon moose that took so long to realize Bob's .378 Wby had killed it?

Bob was the Magnum's Magnum of gun scribes.

I am sure that Elmer, Jack, and Finn have welcomed him to The Happy Hunting Ground. RIP.

Rip!
Thanks for posting the notice of Bobs passing. I was lucky enough to live in Salmon for 10 years from 71 to 81. Got to know him and Elmer quite well. I always thought bobs book was one of the most useful of all rifle books. I used his 375 H&H loads with H-4350 to take moose, elk, 13 Cape buffalo and numerous plains game. I owe him! My hats off to a great ex forest service ranger!


465H&H

465H&H,
Big Rx gets the thanks. He recalled my appreciation of Bob Hagel, much like yours, and all the others posting here.

Thanks again to Nick for that nice photo of Uncle Bob.

... He was one of my favorits...

Many blessings may come to him from the LORD jesus. Amen! He will be missed by many..

sincerly jens

Rest in peace Bob. He really was a great writer!

Sorry to hear to news of the passing of Uncle Bob one the the last good old boys,thats been there-done that, sure Jack,Elmer+ Bob will be sitting around the campfire tipping back a few tall cold ones.

To have seen what he had seen, to have felt what he must have felt, I imagine he too swam a few rivers and laughed with his soul. May the happy hunting ground be fertile as his mind was.
Thanks for the fine stories Mr Hagel.

quote:

remember that Alaska-Yukon moose that took so long to realize Bob's .378 Wby had killed it?

IIRC, he said the exit was the "size of a derby hat"

Who will we mourn the passing of, 30 years from now? I guess each generation has it's icons. Hagel was certainly one for me.

Tim

I have read them all for some fifty years, but, seldom read any gunwriting today,except Shoemaker, especially on bears where he is superior to anybody EVER and John Barsness, because he is a genuinely nice guy and I like his whole approach to handloading. I have the highest respect for Elmer, Finn, Ken Waters and Francis Sell as truely knowledgeable men.

However, Bob Hagel has been my all time favourite gun writer for nearly thirty years. He was thirty years almost to the day older than I am and I cherish his wisdom, knowledge and practical advice. I am sorry that he is gone, God bless him and his family; he sure provided a lot of real enjoyment to me...and still does.

My regard's to a wonderful writer , Hagel offer's some of the best if not the best clear and concise explanations to the shooting world . He was always a pleasant to read , My hope is to pass his insight for an eternity .

Reading Hagel's articles as a teenager in the early 80's, turned me into a 338 caliber nut. For this, I am grateful. This is the finest caliber for elk/moose/bear that has ever been developed.

Bob Hagel gave me amoung other things a love for the 340 Wby.

I remember laying awake many a night dreaming of shooting my first elk with my very own mighty 340 Weatherby Magnum. The shot would be a long (250 yard) "raking" shot at a 400 class bull.

Several years passed before I got my my mighty new 340: It was 40 yards away at a skinny four pointer, but the shot WAS a raking shot and (as I had visualized and practiced many times before) my shot placement was perfect.
The 250 Nosler did what Bob said it would and an elk never tasted so good.

Bob should have written more about flinching and how to close up nasty scope cuts though!

Mr Hagel never knew the profound effect he had on me. These days I wish my son had such things to read.

Farewell Mr. Hagel, I still save a spot for you as I fall asleep.

Found at another site, some did not like the following info.

"I knew Bob well, of course, including a good bit about his personality, history, abilities, problems, etc. He was one of my staff writers, and I've visited him in his earlier home, on US 93 north of Salmon, Idaho. In addition to being a very able man, he was also a very tragic figure. He had the habit of needlessly alienating many better men who thought very highly of him and bent over backward to help him in all his endeavors.

Elmer Keith pretty much adopted the young Bob and gave him freer access to his guns, loading gear, etc, than he ever granted anyone else, before or since. He mentored Bob closely for quite a number of years, which resulted in an envy that split them up (but not as far as Elmer was concerned — he never spoke ill of Bob in my presence, and it was clear that he still loved Bob like a son and grieved at the estrangement). Bob set-out to out-rival Elmer, and with Elmer's tutelage under his belt, he was well equipped and did very well indeed — though, of course, he never really topped Elmer's renown.

Part of his intense personal problem — in later years, when I knew him — was severe, incessant headaches. One of the last times I talked with him, he told me that the cause of his headaches had just been diagnosed — an allergy — to plastics. He'd just bought a new pickup, and the interior — you know how they all are, these days — was all plastic. I never did learn what he did about that.

Since our last talk, I've heard that his son committed suicide. I have none of the details, but I heard that Bob was devastated by the loss.

He knew little or no peace and a lot of pain."

Very sad news. I really enjoyed his articles and he will be sorely missed.

Again, I also thank you for posting. Bob was one of my favorites also.