I know there are many Jon Sundra fans on the Campfire, who might be interested to know he just published his first book--with a title that's obviously a play on Elmer Keith's autobiography. It was published by Safari Press, and includes a good-sized section of color photos from 50 years ago to the present.

Jon and I have been friends for quite a while, but he's been in the gun-writing business far longer, since he decided that's what he wanted to do in his 20's, while I kind of stumbled into it in my 40's. Subtitled "Fifty Years a Gunwriter," the book takes you from breaking into the business to his hunting trips all over the world.

While the book is all very interestng, among the most fascinating parts to me were his encounters and adventures with other writers of the era. One section contains entire chapters on various gun-writers. The first is Elmer Keith, andits very interesting that Jon and Elmer got along great, despite having very different upbringings, with Elmer growing up in a rural family as a meat-hunter, while Jon's family didn't hunt, and he prefers fine cuisine (which he's very good at cooking) to Elmer's basic subsistence hunting. But they were kindred spirits in other ways.

There are also chapters on Jack O'Connor (who Jon didn't get along with as well as Elmer, but once sent Jon a nice note on his writing, reproduced in the book), Charles Askins, Bob Milek and Bill Jordan, along with personal encounters with various oter writers of a previous era. They're all interesting to those of us who grew up reading gun/hunting magazines in those days.

Then there are the hunting stories. Jon's gone on more than 100 hunts in other countries around the world, including taking all of the African Big Five with, as I recall, single-shot rifles. He's been on so many hunts in the U.S. he can't count 'em, and long been an avid wildcatter--and sports car nut, a combination not unknown in the business. He's the only gun writer I know who drives a Lamborghini....actually, several Lamborghinis.

“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck