I recently read that Peter Hathaway Capstick, the African PH and author died. Does anyone know when or how he died?

I found this on the web. I believe it is correct:

"Peter Hathaway Capstick passed away on 13 March, 1996 in Pretoria, South Africa from complications following surgery. His ashes were scattered over the Chobe River in Botswana."

-Bob F.

Thanks Bob. I did a search on Google and couldn't find anything regarding his death. I sure have enjoyed his books over the years. He must have been fairly young when he died. Thanks again for the info.

His books have helped me cure cabin fever many times.
I will miss him.
GWN

Yep, and made me want to go to Africa even more than before. He and Ruark make a dangerous combination on snowy New England weekends...



Ditto.

I miss him as well. I watched a video called 'Capsticks last Safari' He was obviously suffering from health problems then, looked like COPD. I find his writings the most graphic and entertaining of any.

I have a good story/tribute that was written by Tink Nathan(Tinks 69 buck lure) after PHC's death. If anyone would like a copy, just PM me your emaill address and I'll send it out.

BOWHUNR

I took a copy of PHC's book Safari to Reno and the SCI Convention that year to have him sign it. He was a keynote speaker, but he collapsed the night before I got there.

He went back to his home in Pretoria, South Africa, and died soon after reportedly from congestive heart failure. His wife Fiona scattered his ashes as per his request.

Tink's eulogy is worth reading if you have not.

jim

Agreed on the eulogy. BOWHUNR was kind enough to send it to me, and it's a fine piece about a fine man.

I'd forgotten that he was a UVa grad (heck, I'll even forgive him for that), and that he hunted here in VA as well. I'll surely remember that next year as I chase groundhogs that may well be descendents and relatives of those that he pursued 'round these hills years ago. As close as I'll ever come to having hunted with him, and to have done so would have been a distinct pleasure.

His writings have kept me up late at night many times dreaming of hunting the dark continent. He could hunt, shoot and write like few people. He will be missed. Flinch

Him, Rourke, ..........Mbogo,........as catalyst.......


Good chemistry in wordsmithing,

GTC

Capstick was truly one of the greatest storytellers in the history of hunting literature and his passing will forever leave an empty place in the hearts and minds of those who enjoy the tales of the hunt.

I think I'll dig out my old dog-earred copy of
Death in the Long Grass and enjoy it again this weekend.

Good Shooting,
HBB

fwiw,
I remain a great fan of PHC... I can remember talking to more erudite "experts" who held one thing or another against him for god only knows what reason. I listened and searched out their recommendations only to find them nearly as interesting as algebra seemed to be back in fourth grade...

I'd take Peter Capstick's work to anything else I've yet perused. God Rest in Peace, Sir. You are greatly missed...

Regards, Matt.

I think the main reason so many had problems with Peter, was that Peter could write and write dam well, that's the croch of it. Good lord, he's been gone almost 10 years now, my how time goes by. I'm sure that his heaven has plenty of game and accurate rifles.

He has been discussed on the 'fire before and the fact that he had a tendancy to embellish was put forth. Nevertheless, I have all his books and even my wife found one of his books - the only hunting book she has read or probably will - too compelling to put down.
If the embellishment thing is at all true, I can give him that; he is/was one of the most entertaining writers I have ever read.

I have several of his books and the ones I don't my nephew does. Not a better hunting writer to be found in my opinion. One line in a his magazine article got me hooked on his writing 20-25 years ago & I still am. Seems that he was shooting mice or something and that his wife came outside too call him for dinner and he mad the comment about her "..admiring bullet placement as she had learned that she damned well better." Forgive me if it's not an exact quote but that is the way I remember it. He is missed.

Dave.

Dave - if I remember it correctly he was shooting rats at night in his Florida backyard. I am not so sure that he wasn't spotlighting them as well as shooting over bait. Can't say for certain, but it kind of runs in my mind like he had a loaded chamber before sighting game. Might just have taken a look through his scope to verify things as well, but that would be purely speculation on my part - might run across that article some day when sorting through things. Will get back to you if I ever do. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Best, John

Careful 5sdad, that might get you on the favorite troll list.

Capstick was one of the best, I was looking at my copy of "Warrior" just this afternoon.

The article about spotting and shooting rats in his back yard which he amusingly framed as a dangerous game hunt (IIRC) also mentioned that he was using one of the more upscale air rifles.

Peter Capstick graduated from the University of Virginia and was a successful Wall Street Stock broker when he decided to chunk it all and become a professional hunter. He began writing short stories for Hunting magazines to provide additional income and then wrote "Death in the Long Grass". TEhat classic, which for weeks topped the best seller lists, did more to rejuvenate African Safaris than anything since Teddy Roosevelt. Capstick published many additional stories and best sellers until his untimely demise at only around 56. No one including Hemingway and Ruark has written about African hunting like he did. Recently some people have tried to say Craig Boddington is his successor, but Boddington can't even get on the same page with Capstick. Consequently, his books continue to be read and reread and will be classics for a long, long time. There were two main criticisms of Capstick-he hit the bottle too hard and supposedly borrowed many tales from other PHs. As to the former--he was only following in the tracks of many great writers such as Faulkner As to the latter so what!!! I doubt there will ever be another quite like him.

5sdad, if you ever do run across it I'd give my sons right nut for a copy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

Dave.

Elwood1, I agree. I admit that I haven't read Hemingway and very litte of Ruark but can't imagine either of them could almost make me feel the bite of a teetse the way Capstick can. Boddington, altough a fine writer, cannot.

Dave.

There was a big discussion about Capstick sometime on the gunwriters forum I believe. Any way you slice it Pete Capstick is an original and will be missed by all who read his work. If everything he reported didn't happen exactly as written it should have. Writers of his caliber are extremely rare.

Nothing against any of the others, but when Hemingway describes riding back to camp in the car, mixing whiskey and water in a canteen cup, you can smell the night and taste the steel cup. Not now, because it's October, but maybe three months hence, you really should get acquainted with Papa.

Start with "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" and finish with "The Old Man and the Sea", and read the war stories in between. A man who can win the Novel Prize for literature with a story about a fishing trip ("The Old Man and the Sea") can put the sentences together.

Carlos,
That was also a great movie with exciting scenes of shooting at charging lions while double rifles were being tossed back and forth between the gunbearer and shooter.

What PHC did was resurrect the African safari industry with the interest in going there and doing it generated by his books. That was unique.

jim

5sdad - I remember this story well. Capstick had an affinity for BB guns. He was hunting by moonlight, but over bait. As I recall the bait was the remains of double Whooper extra cheese hold the onion. I recently corresponded with Ken Wilson of Sportsmen on Film who remarked that his widow Fiona may be working on Peter�s autobiography.

If I remember correctly PHC wrote briefly for G&A,the last page kind of thing.The one that started me as a fan was also an "air gun" article.The backdrop was in his Florida home.The "weapon" involved was one of those BB machine guns that was powered by a freon gas cylinder.They were widely adsvertised at the time.They were fairly inexpensive,and so were freon cannisters .This was before the environmental hazards of freon were known.The quarry was dragonflys.It was so well written I never failed to read anything I came accross written by him again.Have bought and treasure all his books.
For 17 years I lived in the town next to the one he grew up in,have often tramped and hunted the same woods he did, although long after he had left.In my opinion , it's not just that his excellent writing helped revive interest in African hunting among the likes of us that was his most important contribution,but that he made the readers feel so good about it.I invagled a couple of non hunting friends to read some of his work.No question about it,they didn't become hunters,but they had a changed opinion of hunting and hunters afterward.
As did Ruark before him, he had a way of conveying the "rightness" of it.....something most non hunters never really understand.

Steve: If you have all his books, that specific story is in one of them, I believe it in 'Death in a Lonely Land." BTW, there are little if any hazards associated with Freon, especially that GUFF about the ozone and global warming. jorge