I was a teen in the 80's and my appetite for all things firearm was growing to meet my appetite for all things fishing. Through a buddy whose dad was a subscriber to several outdoor magazines, I learned about Outdoor Life and asked for a subscription as a birthday gift. I received it for several years, and I still remember walking to the mailbox with crossed fingers, hoping that it had been a month already, and that my next copy would be inside, waiting for me. It almost never was.
Carmichel's column was one of my favorites, even though so much of the information was over my head. I suspect it was as much his skill as a writer that kept me reading articles that I didn't fully understand as the content itself. At least 3 Carmichel stories still occupy space in my cluttered brain - "Killing" a crocodile in Africa with a borrowed .243 is one of them. I believe this was a featured story and not one of his column submissions.
Another is his tale if being snowed in on a hunt in Iran(?). He was hunting with his custom .280 Remington and, suffering from a case of cabin fever, sent a "particularly ornery looking" crow off to the crow afterlife from a few hundred yards away. This story had teenaged me babbling for months about how I was going to own a .280 one day. This did not come to pass, but I do own a 7-08.
The third Carmichel story I recall well is his description of the development of the .22 CHeetah, (the capital C and H standing for the 2 main collaborators, Carmichel himself and Fred Huntington).
For enjoyment of reading well put together writing while also imparting knowledge, he was my favorite gun writer of my youth and is probably partially responsible for my being a bit if a gun nerd, and that's something that I have no regrets about.
