Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Writers that influenced you the most.

Being a young Marine E5 in the 80's I thought I knew everything about shooting.
That is until I stumbled upon the writings of Jeff Cooper and realized I knew absolutely zero.

Bob [load that sombitch balls to the wall] Hagel and Layne [3600 fps or bust] Simpson.

Ruark, Twain, and Herriot

Oh, forgot one, PO [blow a primer pocket] Ackley.

John Barsness, Gary Sitton, Jack O'Connor, Bob Milek, Bob Hagel, Jim Carmichel, Layne Simpson, PO Ackley and Ken Waters.

Layne Simpson
Larry Weishuhn
Rick Jamison

Hagel, Seyfried, Barness, and Ruark. Oh, and Aagard, also.

I grew up reading O'Connor for rifles and hunting, Page for reloading, and later Skelton for handguns.

The shooting instructors at Camp Pinnacle in Lyme, NH, Bill Baudendistel and Fred Streeter, weren't writers, but they were the guys who taught me how to consistently shoot small groups.

Clay Harvey.

There I said it. I'm not saying it was a good choice. I'm not trying to argue he was a particularly good, or wise or ethical.

The plain simple truth is that when I really started thinking about rifles. I had a copy of "The Hunting Rifle" at hand, and it influenced me a lot in the years prior to my joining this august forum.

In retrospect, there was a lot of truth in what he wrote. I have not seen a whole lot of contradictions of fact from people I trust. The fact a lot of what he wrote was apocryphal and his ethics seem have been questioned heavily do not change that.

Now, having gotten that off my chest, I will also say that I read a lot of O'Connor when I was growing up and I picked up a copy of Jim Carmichael's books a few years ago. What surprised me was how much of the latter had already filtered into my head.

I also want to make mention of Bradford Angier, Ray Bergman, and especially Jim Corbett. I was gifted a book of the latter's when I was about 6 and it was an epiphany.

You're an honest, brave, and slightly eccentric man.

I'd share a campfire with you anytime!

Who's Your Favorite Outdoorsman/Writer? - 2007

My post from '07:

Kutenay had posted a list of gunwriters he held in high regard as true outdoorsmen:

"Guys like John Barsness, Finn Aagaard, Ken Waters, Bob Hagel, Elmer Keith, "Spud" Sell, Townsend Whelen, Phil Shoemaker and even the younger ones like Brian Pearce".-Kutenay

This may have been hashed over before, but I'd like to know which gunwriter(s) or outdoorsman/writer(s) you like and please share why.

I'll go by saying I enjoy reading the written words of both G. Fred Asbell and Phil Shoemaker.

(Asbell) -I share a common joy with Asbell in using basic archery tackle to hunt game animals from the ground and from blinds. His written words ring true to me in a very down to earth no frills fashion. I find his writing style to reflect fatherly wisdom and inspiration.

(Shoemaker) -When I think of Phil Shoemaker, I think of Alaska and Big Bears. Shoemaker, Alaska and Bears are almost synonymous. Like Asbell, I find Shoemaker's written word to be very straightforward and down to earth. When Mr. Shoemaker speaks, I listen as he comes across to me as someone who has an awareness of things as they really are. His six pillars of character appear second to none.

I invite you all to please share your thoughts on your favorites.

Ten years ago, and I guess to be fair, he may be more of a professional outdoorsman who writes, than a professional writer with a pen for the outdoors. But I still favor his style, and beholden to no one, honesty in his written words.

In order of influence:

#1 O'Connor
#2 Aagaard
#3 Barsness

Ironically, those are also in date/time order too. And further, those three are also my favorite (as opposed to influential) gunwriters. I think our own John B. would have had a greater influence on me were I a younger man who came to shooting/gun-nuttery later than I did.

Larry Koller gets an honorable mention too.

Thank you. I'm not proud of the fact.

At a formative time in my outdoor career, I had access to a well-stocked used bookstore. For about 10 years I grabbed every interesting book off their outdoor section. Many were $.50 or a dollar. There was a lot of good stuff in there. There was also a lot of real glop, but I did not know it at the time. It really wrecked my early hunting experiences with all that compost rolling around in my head. The worst offender was the Outdoor Life Cyclopedia circa 1939. It was comprehensive, authoritative, and completely fallacious. I have three copies. I plan on inflicting them on people I despise some day.

The Clay Harvey book came from an ill-fated membership in the North American Hunting Club. I didn't realize it was a scam until the books started arriving. I wasn't asking for them. They just kept showing, along with stupid medallions and equally stupid outdoor gadgets. I was a good guy and sent the first few back, and wrote nice letters saying I didn't want anymore. The stuff kept coming. I finally figured out the best thing to do was ignore them and let them pile up. Eventually the pay-up-or-die notices stopped coming.

I ended up with a stack of brown letherette-bound tomes. Harvey's book was the thickest. Somewhere in the mid-90's I picked it up and read it. It stayed by my bedside until the early 2000's. About that time, I met a fellow who had a similar stack of NAHC books, and he gifted them to me, so a lot of that goo has 2 copies represented on my shelf.

Bob Milek
Craig Boddington
John Wooters
Layne Simpson
Ross Seyfried

Clay Harvey penned a couple articles on the 6.5 Swedish Mauser cartridge in the 1980s and those articles had some influence on me obtaining a 6.5 Mauser that I prize to this day. I guess that counts as influence.

Though the articles were probably based more on lies instead of experience and likely stolen rifles, I have to admit giving credit to his influence too.

I love to read so all of the authors listed above have influenced me. I would also add in John Jobson and Archibald Rutledge

I was mostly influenced by an uncle who hunted with a 300 savage. I remember him dropping moose and elk both in there tracks on many occasions. I was also influenced somewhat by my uncles wife who dropped a moose in its tracks with the 243 that she used pretty much exclusively for hunting her entire life. At that time I was around 6 years of age and I remember my aunt smiling and saying.....I keep telling your uncle he's overgunned but he won't listen. She had a long history of success with the 243 and in fact had more one shot drop in there tracks than my uncle had with his 300 savage. She never failed to point that out either.

Lately as far as actual gunwriters go I have in fact learned some of my most useful information from John Barness! Not just by reading his literature but in fact mostly through posts here on the campfire.





Trystan

Hagel, Keith, Ormond and Skeeter..

Charles Waterman authored a book "The Hunters World" that had a lot of positive influence on me. I got it for Christmas in my mid teens, at a time when a little guidance was needed!
For shooting/hunting O'Connor, Francis Sell and John Wooters certainly had lots of influence on my "progression" as a kid/young man.

Bob Hagel, Finn Aagard, Bob Milek, Wayne Van Zwoll, Ross Seyfried. Those fellas always seemed to write about hunting AND cartridges. I liked how they usually got into the field with the concepts and cartridges they were writing about.