Petzal definitely hit a home run with his byline. I would again state that the proof is in the pudding with my comparison to JB. John does what a lot of very good writers, the favorites(JOC, EK, FA, PS, CB and even TW) do and it is the stuff of the hot stove league that drives home what I like about good gun writing. He has very concrete details(I take a hit and say that EK was a bit more about the story) but does something that I don't get out of Petzal. I know JBs guns. I know that he likes his NULA 30/06 and that he owns a 270 JOC that I like too. He has sold some of his guns but he is into drillings and european doubles now. He could and probably still does travel the world but he has been there and done that and concentrates on the finer elements of life in Montana before the Californios(Liberal expats that are invading Bozman and Butte) muck up the country. Hell, I know a lot of the guns that his wife Eileen uses. He takes you along on the trip. Craig and Donna do too. I not only know about Phil's guns but I know what his kids use. I have no clue what Petzal uses and it seems that he has no favorites. I know that Ron Spomer loves his lightweights. Petzal, as I have said, knows a lot more about guns than I do and is probably a nice guy, but I get a glimmer or glint of Russell Annabelle who was a fantastic story teller until you find out that he appropriated stories like Peter Capstick from bars and taverns throughout the north.
I have what used to be good friend(prior to his present wife) who was a fantastic writer(still is but continue following) who could have been one of the best outdoor writers of all time. I say that with an understanding of what is good and what is trash. He still has four or five books and probably 300 or 400 articles that are all very popular. He hunted throughout the arctic and even in other countries and you knew about his 243 sako mannlicher that he used to great effect. He wrote about handloading and he even developed loads for his rifle with his audience along. He wrote very well for about 10 years and then out of his solitary bachelor life, he married a liberal. He is now the freaking torch bearer for wolfsong and is a complete bunnyhugger. This guy who I went on winter sheep hunts and fall caribou hunts is as green as a girl scout. He still writes a monthly byline but the energy and the personal voice of his writing is gone. His present wife took his balls and he lives like a house cat in southern Florida writing about his halcyon days in the North. That is what I get from Petzal. He is one of those guys who believes unequivocally that he is right and is the expert. He has quit learning. Right now, it is the golden days of outdoor writing, tons of new hunters have entered the woods. I believe that we will squander this time. That is why I was a bit pessimistic. I probably would like Petzal a lot but he comes off as a know-it-all.
