Sorry for the late response, I've been on the road for a few days. I would say that Jack O'Connor was my idol as an outdoor writer, and influenced my shooting, selection of rifles and cartridges, and hunting in general greatly. However, as important as he was all other aspects of my outdoor experiences, I can't say that he actually influenced my writing all that much. I enjoyed reading Elmer's stuff and I actually spent about an hour with him enjoying his comments. However, as has already been mentioned, his experiences had been greatly influenced by the bullet selection that was available to him, and likewise influenced his recommendations. My experience, using the much better bullet choices available to me, was much more in line with O'Connor's writings than Keith's. One of my favorite writers of that era was John Jobson, and I suppose he influenced me somewhat. My mentor in the writing business was John T. Amber, and he had a huge influence on me in building my career. He introduced me to those in the industry that he felt I needed to know, and warned me to avoid those he felt were detrimental to a new writer's budding career. Knowing guys like John, Steve and Phil, along with many others in the business, all rubbed off on me. After more than four decades doing this, I think that I might finally be getting it right.
