Maybe "worship" wasnt the right word, but the enduring influence is fascinating.
Hunting/ shooting evokes a lot of passion...
Look at the amount of ink spilled and bandwidth used by people trying to understand and learn it today.....then let's go back to the 1940's through the 1970's (when I guess he was most active as a writer),and recall that there was no internet....no printed medium except for the gun mags, and the Big 3 outdoor magazines.
You learned from people within your sphere of influence,or by reading and then trying, or by doing it by yourself and making all the goofy mistakes.
JOC's appeal was that he clarified a lot for a lot of people. He kept it simple and wove the shooting/hunting lessons into the stories.He was educated, articulate,and could write...rare in one package.
Plus his information and experience were first-hand, not gleaned from others. He spent his early years as a working stiff, largely broke,hunting the Southwest and Mexico on DIY hunts. He did not hunt out of the Southwest on his outfitted hunts until he was in his 40's.Most of the international stuff much later, when he was at his peak in popularity.
Both he and Warren Page had vastly more hunting experience in more places,and on more types of game,and with more cartridges than Keith ever did. I suspect that the magazines they wrote for had bigger circulation and bigger budgets.
Today, even people who don't know, or won't admit it,have been influenced by him. Just look at the number of lightweight(7-8 pound), mild recoiling rifles in use today....they are the result of his ideas and promotions o what a BG rifle should be. He is know for using a 270, but he also had the Big Bore experience as well,so he knew what he was talking about.People sensed this.
