Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Russell Annabel .....opinions?

been thoroughly searching fleabay and other auction sights for books lately cause ive been reading alot....picking up hunting and rifle books that looked interesting and most of all cheap given how fast ive been going through them.....one of the recent purchases was Russell Annabel's Adventure is in my Blood.....first time i ran across the author(prolly cause im a youngin given how much ive discovered he has written since getting the book)....i decided my library was light on Alaskan hunting whichis what lead me to pick it up....

anyways im half way through the book and rather disappointed i hadnt run across him years ago....he seems to be a hell of a story teller, actually one of the better ones ive come across in my library....course now that ive discovered him ive also discovered most his books are more than i usually spend.....any chance someone wants to swap some of his books for some JOC's books on the shelf i havent read in years

Annabel was thoroughly entertaining and a good read....a great storyteller,something lacking in many writers today,as many readers are uncomfortable unless they are getting large quantities of techno-babble.

Worth the effort and minimal expense.

Keep the JOC stuff.....later in life,you may want to absorb some simpler stuff after prolonged exposure to too much internet drivel,in order to retain your sanity

actually there are alot of guys i would rather read than JOCour own Mule Deer and Finn Aagard being just two of them.....not sure why but JOC just never did much for me....ive got books of his on the shelf that i havent looked at since high school and i generally re-read stuff regularly....

Suit yourself!

I have my favorites,too, having read about all of them

im working through guys i havent read as i come across books for a good price.....picked up one of Townsend Whelen's books at auction this weekend....read about him but have not read anything by him....also have Teddy Roosevelt's sons' book on their trip to the Himalayas to collect sheep and such for one of the museums in the states aswell this weekend.....i bought their book on collecting the giant panda awhile back....

rattler grab anything by Jim Corbett....Maneaters of Kumaon; Maneating Leopards of Rudraprayag.

Exciting....exotic,adventure!

+1 on Corbett. But I like Annabels moose hunt stories.

ive got 3 different Corbett books on the shelves now someone brought up another maneater hunter awhile back, Anderson IIRC....looking for one of his books on the cheap now aswell....just finished a J.A. Hunter book before starting Annabel...The Rifle: Its Development for Big Game Hunting by S R Truesdell is a good read aswell....informed me just how many book i have yet to get

These aren't cheap but either of Elgin Gates books are GREAT for me. Page and One Mans Wilderness.

and The Temple Tiger

Picked up a whole set of Annabel's books, plus a biography. While his stories are entertaining, apparently some are heavily embellished. That is not not necessarily a criticism, as he definitely had been there and done that, but as with most good stories, some of the details may be enhanced.

alot of the same has been said of Peter Capstick....he is still one of my favorite story tellers....

Fabulous!

Love Annabel, embellished or not. Also enjoyed these:
A Rifleman Went to War - McBride
The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia -- Baker
Footprints Along the Yellowstone - Randall
Meet Mr. Grizzly -- Stevens
Hunting Grizzleys, Black Blear and Lions Big Time on the Old Ranches - Evans
Wolves in Russia - Graves
Slash Ranch Hounds - Evans
American Buffalo - Rinella
White Hunter- Hunter
Hunter's Tracks - Hunter
Tales of the African Frontier - Junter
Strange Tales from the African Bush - Wessels
A Thousand Trails Through Africa -- de Quintanilla
The Book of the Lion -- Pease

if someone happens to have Elgin Gates Trophy Hunter in Asia book ild like to read it, even just as a loan type basis....or even swap for something in my library for you to read while i read your book...

Annabel used to be a regular contributor to Sports Afield. I enjoyed his short stories when I was a kid.

Don't forget Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa! I read that one at least once/yr.

I LOVE Annabel too. Never bothered me that its fictional... London embellished too. I think you can get his stuff at reasonable prices through amazon. Check out safaripress, too.

I read a good one a few years back... Ralph somebody from Wa State Education of a Bearhunter was a professional hunter who worked for the lumber companies but who maintained the utmost respect & appreciation for his prey.

I used to read Russell Anabell in Outdoor Life years ago. I really enjoyed his writing and stories. By the way, Jack O'connor is my all time favorite. Any more, Outdoor life, Field and Stream and other magazines are how to magazines, no hunting stories and great writers. Sure wish they'd go back to the old style, they were a lot better back then, in my opinion.

I have an early 1938 Derrydale Press copy of Annabel's Tales of a Big Game Guide that I found when I was 12 years old in my grandfather's Canadian cabin. It is number 626 out of 950 copies published. I believe Derrydale Press often published 'vanity' books and this may have been one of them.

Anyway, I have read parts of this book over and over again for 50 years now and enjoyed each reading immensely. The edition has many quite primitive photos in it of Annabel's Alaskan adventures that enhanced it's value to me as a kid.

Annabel is great. If he's "fake," he sure knows a lot about the Alaska wilderness, its wildlife, and happenings there in the 1920s.

Another very good book I just read was "Heat, Thirst, and ivory," by Fred Everett. It's about a kid who dropped out of high school in Rhodesia during the 1930s and became an elephant poacher. By the way it's true.