I am very sorry to hear that Ross Seyfried will no longer write for the Wolfe magazines as my major reason for buying a three yr. subscription some time ago was his presence. He is not as skilled or polished a writer as JB or Phil Shoemaker and doesn't have the same level of real North American wilderness experience as Phil does, but, he is a unique, knowledgable and gifted man and I always read his writing first in any journal he is published in.
Ross has an real appreciation of animals, nature and what hunting is all about; he also is both respectful and laudatory toward the giants of our sport such as Elmer Keith, Ken Waters, Morris Talifson and Jim Corbett. He has absolutely exquisite taste in guns and even when he is wrong, he is well worth re-reading and he ain't wrong too often.
I have great respect for Phil Shoemaker whose prose is as supple and sure as his bushcraft is real and John Barsness will, a generation from now, be the J'OC of his time and this is not an idle compliment, but, I think that they are making a grave mistake letting Ross go.
Brian Pearce has always struck me as a nice guy whose taste in rifles is much like my own, but, he has always seemed to be an imitation of Seyfried. I think that he well deserves the popularity that JB mentions, but, his material does not have the authenticity that Ross's did--maybe it's an age thing as Ross and I are about the same age.
I know serious and capable shooters here who have met Ross and told me that he can be very opinionated and seems a bit arrogant---well, almost every good bushman I have ever met was like that and the "reclusivness" alluded to also gives one an idea of the idealism-perfectionism and underlying shyness that this behaviour frequently masks; this is very common among bush people.
So, I am going to reconsider my subscription when it comes to re-newal time as Ross was important to me as an enjoyable "companion", just as Bob Hagel and Elmer were for many years.
