Don't know if this is the right place to mention this, but here goes. . . .
My girls bought me two of his books for fathers' day. Have nearly finished reading "Death in the Long Grass." It is giving me a huge appreciation for the Professional Hunter and the awesomeness of African hunting.
All I can say is, "WOW!"
I read Death in the Long Grass in my early teens. After reading it, I quickly cut a swath through the rest of his prose like a lawnmower cutting through, well, short grass.
I loved hunting and his writing was lively. It still is.
When I was in Agricultural & Mechanical school, my dad called and asked if I wanted to meet in Dallas and go to the DSC convention. I quickly said yes.
The DSC convention was a much smaller affair then. We walked around it and wandered into a small room with high end rifles. I mean really expensive rifles. I knew nothing about double rifles but saw one that looked tasteful and appealed to me. I picked it up, then turned over the price tag that was hanging from the trigger guard. It read "$150,000" (and that was before inflation, back when $150K would buy you something more than, say, a fuqking cheesburger). I set the rifle down carefully, and I looked around the room.
Peter Capstick was one isle over with an entourage. He looked like his the press photos inside the dust cover of his books. He was tan and dressed in a "safari" shirt with built in cartridge loops, his hair was slicked back and he had on a elephant hair bracelet.
I walked over, stuck out my my hand and told him I was a fan of his writing. He seemed surprised and he was quite drunk. It was well before noon.
Maybe was "on vacation" that day.
And perhaps he had a bunch of clients in a row who really couldn't shoot. (Hey, I've worked as a guide and have seen some terrible shots.) Or maybe he wasn't a great guide and just wanted to party as toltecgriz implies; I don't know.
None of that shades his gifts as a writer. He was a fantastic story teller, but I personally doubt he was a great hunter.
Maybe he was when he was younger, before the booze took over. It's possible.
