Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters JB: Why did Gary Sitton disappear from Handloader in 1999?

To prove the link works now:
Title Annotation: Backtracking
Author: Miller, Payton
Publication: Petersen's Hunting
Date: Feb 1, 2006
Words: 769


Gary Sitton: 1944-2005.

Link/Page Citation
Page URL: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Gary+Sitton%3a+1944-2005.-a0141170872


Open-mindedness is vastly overrated. Arriving at old age with a completely open mind may not be much of a character reference; it might mean you never cared very strongly about anything that ever happened to you.--Gary Sitton

On October 8, 2005, the shooting and hunting community lost a guy who did care strongly about things.

Gary Sitton passed away at age 61 in Tucson, Arizona, of pancreatic cancer. In the opinion of most gunwriters I've ever been associated with, he was the best in the business.

I worked--and hunted--with Gary in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he was the editor of Petersen's Hunting.

He was legendary for acerbic, irreverent one-liners; insightful opinions pertaining to guns, gear and hunting; and wry, well-crafted prose. He was also one of the "most fun to be around" guys I've ever known. And he could shoot.

I hunted whitetail in South Texas with him in 1980 and, after watching him make a fantastic shot with a borrowed Ruger No. 1 in .243 on a big buck running fiat-out at just over 200 yards, I congratulated him effusively.

"Hell," he replied, "making the shot isn't the hard thing. The tough part comes afterward, when you've gotta act like you make those kinds of shots all the time."

After Gary left the L.A. area for Arizona, I managed to keep in touch with him over the years, mainly by phone and by bumping into him at various trade Shows. And no matter how long it'd been since I'd seen him last, he always had me convulsing with laughter within seconds after shaking hands.

Now it's time for me to get off the stage and turn things over to some long-time friends of Gary's.

"Despite his attempts to be a grumpy old gun writer, Gary was kind in the extreme to women, children and guys who were not up to his speed but nevertheless aspiring men of the gun. If, on the other hand, he counted you among his peers, you could expect no mercy from his dry wit.

"One particular December morning several years ago on the Baggett Ranch, Penn Baggett arrived at the hunters' camp wearing short pants, only to have Sitton announce to the group that 'Normally, you would have to go to a nursing home to see legs like that.'--Ashley Emerson

"I knew and worked with Gary Sitton for a number of years and always felt he was one of the best, most literate and knowledgeable gun writers in the business. He had the capacity for drawing the reader into the subject matter and never talked down to his audience. We also spent a number of leisure hours together, and Gary was always affable and pleasant to be with.

"Like all of us, he had a few demons to deal with, but he always handled them with style. Though his output in recent years had been limited, there is no doubt in my mind that he will go down as one of the greats. He'll be sorely missed on a personal and professional level."--Garry James

"As an editor he was the worst procrastinator I ever knew, but as a writer he was the greatest talent this business has ever seen. He would almost never write his editorial until the absolute-last minute. Then, after a martini-fortified lunch, he'd lock himself in his office for a couple of hours and come out with something consistently brilliant.

"I think Gary was almost too good, certainly for our business. He agonized over every word, fought his demons and was periodically plagued by writer's block and the worst story he ever wrote was vastly better than anything I have ever done or ever will do."--Craig Boddington

"From the time G. 'Bear' Sitton first came to the ranch to hunt in the fall of '94, we became close and then closer. I enjoyed Sitton's writing, especially his gift for saying much with few words. We hunted together many times after that, and although he said little, he was never verbally disadvantaged in camp, even around such world-class storytellers as John Wootters, Bill Jordan, Jim Wilson, John Taffin and Bart Skelton. Sitton usually got the last word. I admired his giant intellect and kind heart, and we shared some common frailties.

"His wit was quick, sharp and smooth, even to the end. A few days before he died, his pain medication had been increased substantially. When I asked him how it was working, he said, 'Wonderfully--I think I'm beginning to feel like a Democrat.' My world is poorer for his passing."--Penn Baggett


COPYRIGHT 2006 InterMedia Outdoors, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2006 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Demons ! Pancreatic cancer is a bad one.

Posted - 10/08/2005 : 13:59:05
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

from Penn Baggett:

Gary Sitton passed away this morning at 9:35 AM. He was home with his wife Susan, Stepdaughter Lisa, myself, and a hospice nurse. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August, and prayerfully elected hospice care over extreme medical alternatives with poor prognosis.

Penn

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace - Luke 11:21



From Mrs. Sitton, a year after Gary's passing:

Gary Sitton Obituary

Remembering You Gary "Bear" Sitton Oct 25, 1944 - Oct 8, 2005 I can't believe a year has passed since you went home to be with the Lord. I miss you so much, sweetheart. Thank you for sharing your life and your death with me. Thank you for loving me like nobody else ever could. Thank you for the incredible strength and faith you showed me and everyone you knew. Thank you for influencing your son, Josh, my brother Bob and his wife to accept the Lord. Thank you for blessing so many people with your gift of writing. Thank you for wonderful memories, your quick wit, brilliant mind and a love that will endure in my heart forever. I am at peace knowing you are in heaven and I will see you again. Your loving wife, Susan



https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/tucson/name/gary-sitton-obituary?id=25925592

Payton Miller changed his telling of the Gary Sitton story with the borrowed Ruger No. 1 .234.
This time it was a borrowed Husqvarna .243, but much more richly detailed otherwise:

https://gunsmagazine.com/guns-insider-2/better-lucky-than-good/

When it comes to those “lifetime” shots, I’ll admit to doing more witnessing than actual trigger pulling. But if you’re lucky enough to have an audience when your moment of glory arrives, be aware there’s a certain etiquette involved. And it gets perilously close to “humblebrag” territory.

The technique was best demonstrated to me many years ago by the late, great gunwriter Gary Sitton. He’d just made a fantastic 225-yard running shot—using a borrowed Husqvarna .243—on a nice whitetail buck running flat out in a dry South Texas creekbed with only his top half exposed. One offhand whack, one big dusty cartwheel and it was a done deal.

The outfitter and I—after we finished whooping and hollering—were struck by Gary’s apparent nonchalance as he ambled casually down the hill toward the creekbed, even stopping to rummage around in a coat pocket for his smokes. But as he ’fessed up to me later back in Del Rio, “It shocked the hell out of me too. But the real hard part came right after,” he said. “I mean, being able to act as if you make those kinda shots all the time.”

Great Rabbit Hole. One of the reasons the Fire has been such an informative place to visit since way too long ago. Thanks to those that added detail to this thread. If a works book is not likely at least a thread of remembrances adds to the short obituary.
Good writing is hard. It’s a shame that some of the best is in magazines that as a storage medium seem to have less longevity than books.

“Never repeat what your eyes did not see nor your ears hear.”
Phil Robertson

I really, really enjoyed Gary Sitton’s writing and I read his work in any publication I could find. The height of his writing corresponded with, and to an extent he was a part of, a large caliber, heavy bullet trend for hunting. It was a period in which SD was king and if your bullet’s SD was much less than .3, you were doing it wrong. .30-06s were min for deer and if you didn’t have a .338 WM, you prob couldn’t kill an elk, though a .35 Whelen with 250s was ok if you were in the woods. I digress. In one of my publications I read an article from a writer I wasn’t familiar with named John Barsness who had written an article that was sort of a call to “stop the SD madness”. I enjoyed Gary Sitton’s work until he passed and have enjoyed John Barsness’ work since that article back in the ‘90s.

Expat

Thanks!

Since rereading this entire thread this morning, and noticing how many people missed Gary's work, I remembered having a collection of Petersen's Hunting magazines from that era--because I was also a staff writer for PH in the 1990s, after Craig Boddington hired me to write it's first optics column in 1990--but also do some feature articles. Gary started writing the back page during that era, and also feature articles.

I just did some looking in our basement--which is full of too much stuff, due to moving into this house over 25 years ago, and like a many couples we've lived in increasingly larger houses since getting married 40 years ago.If anybody's interested in the G. Sitton/Jacob Bowers Petersen's Huntings I'd be willing to send 'em for the cost of "media mail" shipping, which is relatively inexpensive.

We're consciously starting to "downsize" before we get too old to deal with all our stuff and somebody else has to. One of the bad habits of writers who started back in the days before computers and the Internet is keeping published copies of everything they wrote....

I just did some looking in our basement--which is full of too much stuff, due to moving into this house over 25 years ago, and like a many couples we've lived in increasingly larger houses since getting married 40 years ago.If anybody's interested in the G. Sitton/Jacob Bowers Petersen's Huntings I'd be willing to send 'em for the cost of "media mail" shipping, which is relatively inexpensive.

PM sent

I just read through this thread, and it was time well spent. I have to confess, though I have been reading outdoor articles for at least 65 years, I honestly paid little attention as to who wrote them. How strange is that? If I enjoyed the story or was interested in the subject, I read it. Occasionally, writing style got in the way. Sometimes, the writer's personality shone through and rubbed me the wrong way; in this case I would be more likely to take note of who wrote it. Charles Askins, for instance, annoyed me considerably, and I would avoid his articles unless the subject matter overrode my aversion.
MD's comment on the reduced popularity of hunting stories, as opposed to technical articles, hits the mark, as I think about it. It almost seems the readers are reading as consumers rather than as hunters. I do know, the best hunting stories I have heard, or read, were enthralling enough that no mention of the equipment used was necessary. I like stories like this. This is not to say I don't like technical articles at all; I do, and the writer who can mix a little technical information in with a good adventure story will have my attention.
For those who are still writing, I'll try to pay more attention to your names, even if I like your writing! GD 

Regarding Stuff.........
I also kept printed copies of published work as well as anything else I came across and liked, but fortunately for me, had a basement flood and a lot of it was damaged, badly.

The solution was to retain the undamaged in those large plastic containers and not catalogue it, that way I'll never know what I lost. My sons can go through it one day and read about hunts, many including family members now also gone.

I enjoyed reading Mr Sitton's writings very much. I remember the article of the borrowed "Ruger #1, .243" that he used on those white tails in S. Texas. I also liked his review of Hawk Bullets, which influenced me to try them in several rifles. he directly influenced my use/love of "Medium" bores, heavy for caliber bullets, i.e. his article on the 35 Whelan Ackley Improved especially, for elk. I miss his writing, of course, and all the old writers too. As mentioned, Col Askins WAS "different", lol, but I admire and enjoy strong, opinionated people. I understand them. I learn from them "despite" the "real person, or rough personality".

But for the grace of God, there go I....