Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The Greatest hunter,

Big, bold and impossible to be wrong.
Who living, dead otherwise served as your inspiration to learn all you can and apply this skill to hunt Big Game.
My Uncle Gabe was my lofty hero, depression raised, meticulous with his duties either while handloading and shooting or assessing an approach to a Bull Elk....and don't waste any meat! Keep the quarters clean and make sure everthing was salvaged.
I wouldn't dare disappoint this man.
Hey and our handloads with mil surp powders were generous , partially directed by a load manual. ( I still have them all)
Mostly directly by his attention to detail.
Quite a man, long gone but hammerd home in my memory.- for ever.Cheers.
What about you?
Maybe it was a writer like Jack, Elmer , or further back to Townie? Perhaps John is your man! Or maybe someone else drew you into Big Game hunting.

Fred Bear !

I still kinda go back to reading Hagel as a young kid and loving his sensibilities of the fast 7’s, 300’s and 338’s for hunting. Loved his writing. Not a poetic type but I liked the way he rolled. Ross Seyfried was my other influence on what I liked for shooting and hunting and especially the big bore revolvers. I kinda think Hagel and Seyfried were pretty similar in their BG rifle and cartridge selections since they seemed to be pretty big EK students as well.

As far as hunting, I am lucky in that my elk hunting partner is 73 years young this year and we’re attacking Wyoming and Idaho this fall again and getting after elk again. We’ve covered a lot of ground together and had some empty meat poles but by and large we typically find and kill elk.

When I was young my Grandma gave me my Great Grandfathers Wally Taber books. I became fascinated with them.

Wally Taber. That's brings back a memory. He used to come through my home town (Meadviile, PA) in the 1970s with his films and show. He was entertaining.

Little Stick right here on the fire......there’s not even a close second.

PennDog

I learned quite a lot about hunting mule deer in Colorado from a Korean War veteran named Joe Adorjon. He hunted with a well used German 7.9mm rifle that was a WWII surplus rifle. Joe rarely shot a buck beyond 100 yards. He also hunted elk and antelope with this iron sighted rifle. The original military sights had been professionally replaced with modern receiver sight and front sight featuring a white bead. Joe taught me about watching the wind direction and using the terrain to get close for a sure shot. During the war, Joe had been behind enemy lines twice and knew how to use concealment and cover. He was the greatest hunter that I've ever known.

During these hunts together, I carried a Marlin 30-30 with 4X Redfield scope which Joe admired. I killed my first elk (fat cow) with this outfit under Joe's supervision.

Sherwood

Jim Corbett

+1

Jim Corbett was a great HUNTER and I still reread all his books periodically.

But he did NOT know all that much about rifles, to the point where he often didn't fire a rifle UNTIL he went hunting. Did a recent piece on this in RIFLE LOONY NEWS (which will appear in the upcoming GUN GACK III). He trusted the British gunmakers of the time to produce rifles that were perfectly sighted-in with multi-leaf open sights to several hundred yards. And sometimes they were not, especially those sighted-in at a factory in Great Britain and then used in the Himalayas.

My nomination might be W.D.M Bell, who not only was a great hunter, but knew rifles. He tested EVERY rifle he ordered himself, and modified the sights so that rifle shot correctly.

I would also include Theodore S. Van Dyke, author of THE STILL-HUNTER, originally published in 1904. Any close-cover hunter who hasn't read this is at a disadvantage.

Of course, the definition of "still" hunting has varied over the decades, including regionally. In Van Dyke's day it meant moving slowly through the woods, with frequent stops, but now it can mean sitting in a stand--and Van Dyke's still-hunting is often called "stalking," especially in the South.

Karamojo would be my pick for greatest hunter ever but the OP was a bit ambiguous. The title says greatest hunter but his opening post implies the hunter that influenced you the most.

No personal mentors. My friend and I learned by ourselves.

Writers? Probably Bob Milek and for adventure, Jim Carmichael.

Skeeter Skelton was a favorite, a shooting writer who hunted. He could spin a good yarn, think of "Me and Joe".

Bob Hagel was a reloader who wrote common sense, but now some say his loads were hot.

Peter Hathaway Capstick entertained with stories of maneaters.

John Wooters mostly bored me with white tails, white tails and more white tails, but he sure got my attention when he wrote about crawling through the riverine bush along the Rio Grande hunting wild bulls with elephant guns.

Russell Thornberry lived in Alberta and wrote well about hunting in my province. He proved that rattling antlers worked here.

The greatest writer of my time is Craig Boddington. Great Hunter and a very nice man. I'm proud to say I've met him.

John Barsness is a very well rounded writer. Loads of common sense and writes well without talking down to his reader. I've met John and Elaine at SCI. Very nice couple.

I miss Gary Sitton. He was taken too soon.

Layne Simpson is a favorite.

I've had many influences.

Grancel Fitz

Carlos Hathcock

Chuck Mawhinney isn't bad either, and continues to hunt elk with many of the same skills he learned both before and after his military career. Got to know him some while doing an article a few years ago. An excellent hunter, who also knows a LOT about rifles.

You are absolutely right Juan. Corbett trusted his equipment a bit much and on occasion only carried 3 shells....As a hunter I think he has no equal, as a firearms guy/hunter combo...not so much...definite edge is to Bell on that one. Bell for sure had more experience on game, and as I'm sure you know, neither man was to be trifled with. Corbett taught jungle fighting tactics to soldiers in the campaign at Burma, and Bell flew in WW I. All we have is pictures but Corbett appeared to be a mild mannered unassuming man, Bell seemed to emanate the concept of "Alpha"....

Nice

Larry Benoit was probably one of the best deer hunters that ever lived. Though in the book "Big Bucks the Benoit Way" he says his oldest son Lanny had surpassed him and was probably the best deer hunter alive at that time. However, there are many truly fabulous hunters out there who you'll never hear about. I know a couple here who are unbelieveably good but are quite secretive and modest about it for one reason or another.

For pure, unmitigated hunting prowess, I will go with Corbett as well. Though, as previously mentioned, he wasn't much of a rifle loony.

Teddy Roosevelt, the original big stick.

When it comes to hunting with superb guys and sharing a campfire with wonderful folks, it would be almost impossible to beat our own Johnny B and John Haviland.

And my late brother-at-arms, Chub Eastman.

Fantastic hunters, all.

Blessings,

Steve

comerade;
Top of the morning to you sir, I trust the summer has been going well for you folks out east and that you've been getting a reprieve from the last few years of fire season as we are this summer.

As I've mentioned often here before, I grew up in a land which no longer exists in that pretty much everyone I knew was a hunter or at very least had firearms about and shot things.

My late father and long gone favorite Uncle Frank would go on an annual moose hunt into "the bush" in east central Saskatchewan every fall and the family joke is that I was conceived when Dad returned one year, albeit without a moose.

Uncle Frank used to tease him and say, "You can't say you didn't get anything that year Fred - look at Dwayne here!" and then they'd both laugh and laugh - much to the embarrassment of any of the female members of the family present.

Since I'm the youngest, my siblings tell me that as early as 3, I began to want to go along on the annual hunts with them and though my brother who is 9 years older than me did go a couple times, he's never been a hunter, though he did hunt for a few years - if that makes any sense?

So for me hunting was something that was as natural and normal as milking the cow, feeding the chickens and pigs or shoveling snow for half the year - nearly everybody in Saskatchewan did that and so did I!

As far as specific hunting mentors however, I'd have to say that a cousin of mine from Medicine Hat showed me the light on careful sighting in your arm of choice, whitetail techniques and the use of good optics.

Writers who influenced me? Goodness sir if you could see my library - and I'll note I need to build more shelves or start selling books - that's a tough one. In the spirit of full disclosure, before I typed this response I slithered back downstairs and with a pen wrote down the authors I've got entire books from which include:
- Olaus Murie
- Russell Thornberry - a Texan who I believe is still in Alberta
- Michael Crammond - a BC writer who wasn't that bad actually - if you ever get out this way I'd lend you the books - but they're hard to find hard covers that I lucked into from way back in the day.
- Peter Hathaway Capstick - I know it likely wasn't him always, but my goodness I enjoy his story telling!
- Wayne Van Zwoll - underrated in my view, with an understandable, lucid manner of conveying information
- Jack O'Connor
- Skeeter Skelton - not exactly a lot of hunting, but a great story teller all the same
- Ortega y Gasset
- Robert Ruark - my liver and kidneys ache just reading his safari book....
- Jim Zumbo
- Zane Grey - one can tell he liked to fish more than hunt, but still an interesting sound bite of the times
- Clyde Ormand
- Elmer Keith - again entertaining style, but I got the impression he wasn't easy to be around at all times.
- Lawrence Koller
- John Barsness - I believe I've got everything in print that's still available from John
- Eileen Clarke - while not exactly hunting per se, her two books "Slice of the Wild" and "Sausage Season" are what I recommend to beginning hunters more often than any other book - but that's almost another thread....

Overall I'd say for sure John's writing has had the greatest impact on how I hunt and attempt to pass that knowledge on to other hunters when I'm either teaching a Hunter Safety Course or plain old mentoring/discussing the subject with them. A big part of that for me however is that John writes in a language which I understand - he's from Montana and as you know western Canada and the western states have much in common in the way we communicate and articulate our thoughts.

That and John has been gracious enough to answer many of my queries over the years either through email or PM's here - something I have always been grateful for.

My goodness I see I've typed a whole bunch and perhaps not adequately answered your question, but I hope so somewhat at least.

Finally comerade, at my stage of life now, I'm hoping that at some point in the future if there's still hunting and forums such as this exist in whatever form, when the question comes up someone will be able to say that a little bald guy with a big mustache from OK Falls was helpful for them when they started hunting.

If that happens, then I'll have accomplished what I'm endeavoring to do, you know?

All the best to you folks for the rest of the summer sir, may the fire season miss us altogether and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

[quote=PennDog]Little Stick right here on the fire......there’s not even a close second. [quote]

Shirley, you jest !!


Jerry

My family hunted but upland game was their passion. Deer, eh, yeah, my dad would buy a tag and sometimes he'd even go.

I began chasing deer in my youth with a bow because back then you couldn't rifle deer hunt until you were 14 years old. So the books I had and read over and over as a preteen were by Fred Bear and Chuck Adams. Later I read about Larry Benoit's exploits and dreamed of tracking big bucks in the snowy woods of the north.

Herb Klein or Elgin Gates

Sealious and Sir Samuel Baker.

My brother's best friend has hunted the world over and has a very impressive collection of trophy mounts. He has the money and time to hunt the very best trophy areas every year. You might think he was a great hunter if you visited his home and saw all his trophy mounts but I have deer hunted with him here many times and he is no great shakes at all. In fact, I would be hard pressed to say he is any better than average.

Thanks, Dwayne!

W.D.M Bell then Corbett

Not shocked...I’ve had a few “Great Hunters” show up that quickly dispelled any truth to their actual skills from rifle handling, to shooting, to being in condition for the hunt ahead...Last years member-hunter who joined me not one of the above.

I did get a helluva laugh out of one hunter from Michigan who told me not to drop him off alone in the dark because the woods scared him...LMAO 😎

Well put , God Bless Dwayne.

As a contemporary of mine was also a half assed relation.My age, and at the time we were in our early 20's.
We hunted together and he managed to put together the finances for a run down guide/ outfitting business. Robert built it up to a world class outfit and most of us worked for him in these early days- some of my greatest memories.
As time went on he would travel to hunt in our off season and was killed by a Cape Buffalo.
Sad to this day but the irony in it was clear ,because he had killed many Grizzlies for clients ( took many chances)and would always say and I quote" Someday ,I'm gonna get it"
He got it by pushing his uncle out of the way of a wounded buff while hunting antelope in Africa. His Uncle lived.
He had taken his favorite uncle with him.
He was the most observant hunter I have ever seen. Quite a guy.

Frank Billum who was one of the old traditional chiefs of the Ahtna Athabaskans was one of the best hunters that I have encountered. He didn't need much and would get a big moosk every year. His 30-30 was state of the art and he would dote on it like a favorite child or pet. He kept it in a very nice beaded moose-leather case. I once got up enough courage to ask him why he put so much love into a levergun that had an effective range of 125 yards. He said it was because it was a hell of a lot better than the muzzleloader he had before or the bows and arrows that he started with.

comerade;
Thanks for the reply sir.

Interesting to know you were related to Bob - I recall very well when he was killed - my goodness though that was 2004 or so wasn't it?

I want to say it was after the Vaseaux Fire - we got evacuated for that one and were in the middle of a big house reno - anyway that was '03 and I thought Bob was killed after that, but I can't recall exactly when.

While I'd certainly heard of him and know a few folks that met him, I don't believe I did, though we might have been at a BCWF meeting together or something and not met.

Thanks again for the reply and all the best to you folks as we head into fall.

Dwayne

AGREED X2 YES Carlos Hathcock with maybe FRED BEAR 2ND ? these 2 did it without braggin .

Lots of great hunters listed. And no argument from me on any of them.

The greatest hunter I've ever known was a little female Brittany Spaniel named Mandy. Came to me fully trained because she didn't get along with toddlers and our friends, the folks who owned her, had two of them. In her eleven year career with me, she taught me more about bird hunting than I ever imagined. She had no quit and the heart of a lion. She was always ready to hunt, even when she got to where her legs wouldn't carry her for more than an hour. She'd hunt to exhaustion and do it all over again the next day if I'd let her. She'd retrieve a quail or a goose as big as her. She had no love for doves though. She'd go out and show me where they were but wouldn't pick them up. She taught me that her nose was far better than any method of perception I had and often found birds in cover so scant I'd swear no self respecting bird would ever use.

I know everyone is talking about people who influenced them, but little Mandy had as much impact on me as a hunter as any person I've ever known.

Geronimo.....

I have two uncles who taught me much about bringing home meat. Spent time hunting with them all through my childhood, and we never came home empty handed. Ducks, geese, deer, turkey, squirrels, rabbits, doves, quail, fish, and coons. Coyotes for practice and fun. One of these men was/is a commercial fisherman as well, and a fine cook to boot. Hunting is of little utility if you fail to turn the bounty into a tasty meal. My philosophy was shaped by these two men, and thus I am and have always been a meat hunter. We fished and hunted always for the table, and the one uncle fed his family and shared copiously with the rest of us for some lean financial years.

One of the best days of my life was the day everyone was at my grandmother’s house for Christmas, and she chose me to go out and get us some rabbits for the dinner. Not daring to disappoint, I took my only rifle, a Winchester 94 in 45 Colt, with a handful of my cast loads and brought back a limit of head shot rabbits in just under 2 hours. Grandpa asked what I used, and just smiled when I told him. The BBQ rabbit was delicious as always, but being seen as competent to get the meat on short notice in that family was a high honor, one that still gives me pleasure.

Growing up, Jack O'Connor is who I wanted to be as a hunter, but maybe more agreeable. Maybe because he hunted my kind of country--open, broken, wild, western. Coues in the Canelos, mule deer on the Kaibab, or jack rabbit in the Tortolitas, and he carried that same eye for the hunt around the world. It made me want to go. If he had hunted back east with his six buckets of corn and his slug gun--no thanks.

Greatest hunter is maybe an Eskimo in the Arctic winter. In no hurry, surviving with a rifle way too small. Or maybe he is a Tracker in Africa who can see sign that's not there. Maybe a fictional mountain man--hunting, trapping, trading--all the while, someone is trying to lift your hair. My thought would be Jim Corbett. His powers of observation, the physical toughness, and to get it done alone, in the dark, against the greatest hunters nature has.

You're the man.....

Just check in .I believe it was 2004. He was very active in the BC Wildlife Fed until he was registered as an outfitter. Bob was very political and very active with wildlife issues.
I miss him, his twin sister lives in town and his uncle Peewee recently passed away.
Time marches on. Take care

Silver Bullet of Oregon.

T Inman;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the summer's been a good one for you in your part of the world and that you've had enough rain to make the fire season less sporty.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it, but emphatically am still very much a work in progress on so many levels.

This spring marked my 30th year as a BC Hunter Safety instructor and someone asked me what had prompted me to start way back when. I knew/know exactly why I did/do it - it's because I love the life that hunting and hunters lead - I believe many of us are better people because we hunt.

When the day might come that someone asked me what I did to pass it along or to ensure it kept going, I wanted to be able to look them in the eye and honestly tell them I'd tried, you know?

Sorry that I can't articulate it better than that T - but I believe you get my drift? I've long felt it - hunting and it's inherent lifestyle - was something of value worth saving and passing on.

Some days it feels like I'm saddling up to tilt at a windmill, truly it does out here in BC where we're so run by the green influenced Greater Vancouver population, but then there's rays of hope that come along to make me start planning for the next session of classes.

One spring class not that long ago, there was this young fellow with a watch cap on, bearing races in his ears and a few extra chrome studs here and there along with enough ink to make a sailor take notice. Anyway he's the genuine antithesis of this 3/4 sized cowboy looking dude - but there he is in my class.

After one night he comes up to me and it telling me he's really into the "Locavore movement" and he says, "It dawned on me one day that you old time hunter guys have been doing that forever, so I was like - that's cool! I gotta do that too!!"

Anyway T, thanks again and let's hope there's always something to hunt and folks who want to hunt it.

All the best to you sir as we ease into the fall.

Dwayne

I look at the hunters who have tenacity on public land hunts without using a guide and score big.

They do their home work and pay their dues to score success.

Those are the greatest hunters.

Francis E. Sell.

roundoak;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the weekend was a good one for you and this finds you well.

Years ago I worked with a lady who had that last name and as it's not that far from here to Oregon, I asked if she had any relatives who might have been hunting or firearms writers?

She laughed and said, "Oh you mean my husband's Uncle Frank don't you?" and proceeded to tell me a few stories about him. According to her he and his wife had a huge garden up until they were unable to keep it any longer and were family favorites - just salt of the earth kinda folks.

Anyway I thought I'd share that with you tonight sir. All the best to you folks as we head closer to fall.

Dwayne

AB2506 said, “No personal mentors” and that’s true for myself per Deer hunting.

My Dad started me squirrel and quail hunting as I got old enuff. In the 60-70s there weren’t
enuff Deer around here to waste your time hunting them. Today I have deer on my place and see them at my mineral trace salt block and HAVE had their tracks in my front yard.

I was grown and married before I started seriously deer hunting. I read everything I got my hands on about hunting, deer, elk, Turkey, et al. I learned ALOT from hunting writers and the rest was trial & error based on what I read.

I have books and magazines on many many subjects. I learned about “still” hunting,
(stalking) from Mr John Wooters. He described how to do it in understandable ways and
I tried it. The VERY first time I tried, I got a big old Doe in my scope, unfortunately she was illegal, but that gave me confidence that - I - could do it.

I honestly don’t think I could name “the best or greatest” in my opinion.
Many names have been mentioned that I’ve read and learned from. I appreciate ALL
of the ‘real’ hunters.

Jerry

Same here. I read Man-Eaters of Kumaon when I was around ten years old and have reread it five or six times.

I can all but guarantee he had a greater effective range than 125 yards. I used to go 125 yards with my .44 Mag revolver. With my open sighted 30-30's I've killed past 200 yards.

I love these stories, reminds me of growing up.
I absorbed all I could, myself. I still wear wool and felt because I was told it would save my life one day.
I think I am old enough to have caught the end of many of the old ways. My Uncle Gabe, Kozy, Chiefy, Smokey.....just had to be a fly on the wall and listen....love this stuff

I'm surprised no one suggested Daniel Boone, but of the more recent contestants, I fully agree with Carlos Hathcock.

Daniel Boone - https://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/1999/12/great-american-hunters-daniel-boone/

Carlos Hathcock (stalk and kill) - https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-09-07-8603060789-story.html

Same here. 200 is no problem on deer with an open sighted .30-30. I've killed several between 200 and 250 and one at a little over 300 with mine. One shot each. Course that was 30 years ago when my eyesight was considerably better than it is today.

John Buhmiller........Gun looney and hunter

Always admired Bell's exploits.

And with Carlos it just depends on what one is hunting.

You might want to research Chuck Mawhinney as well. He had more confirmed kills than Hathcock, but not as much publicity,

He was 94 years old with failing eyes and body. He still could call a moosk with the best of them. He generally would cut a big bull's tracks and then just wait...sometimes for days... and then he would put a big 190 grain round nose where it mattered. Shooting and hunting are too different things. Frank was probably not ever headed to the 1000 yard matches but he sure could hunt for being an old man.

Then there's Charles Sheldon, the "Father of Denali."

Or Roy Chapman Andrews.

Hathcock gets my vote for best hunter of men.

WDM Bell & Corbett in that order for best hunters of 4 legged critters

Or Carl Akeley.

Or W.T. Hornaday.

W.T. Hornady is an interesting choice.
He wrote " Campfires in the Canadian Rockies" while visiting our valley in 1905. Every serious hu ter and local history buff has this book, originals sell for 800 00 or so at hunting/ wildlife fundraisers. Mount Hornady is viewed from my kitchen window and the country he explored is still largely unroaded.
I believe the group killed 3 rams( one dandy), numerous goats and a couple of Grizzlies in Sept 1905.
You can get a reprint fairly cheaply these days.
John, you are probably away ahead of the curve on this man- far beyond my knowledge...I just thought I would pass this along. Cheers

A fact that a lot of people gloss over all the time.

Ted Riggs comes to mind.

Corbett

Jim Carmichael, a fellow Tennessean.

My own Father.Wonderful woodsman and hunter. Cold fell large trees with a double bit ax quicker than most men with a chainsaw.

Could hit running deer with his 30-06 that were being chased through thick timber by hounds. Started taking me squirrel when I was barely six years old. I killed sixteen our first year with our dog brownie a border collie mix.

He was a veteran of World War Two and served in the Pacific. I was born when he was 48 years old and he poured his life into mine. He once saw an 18 year old thug armed with a butcher knife assaulting a young woman. Dad grabbed a broom and broke the handle off of it. He proceded to disarm the attacker,beat him into the ground,and hold him in a choke hold until Law Enforcement arrived.At the time he was 66 years old.

He squirrel hunted with a High Standard pistol,and he shot squirrels out of tall pines with it. He rabbit hunted with sling shot,and killed them running ahead of beagles with it.

Absolutely the best man and hunter I've ever seen.

what about hal wahl
Alaska gives out medals to their top four guides
hal held number one medal

I'm 63 and have every American Rifleman from 48 to date, just gave away 30 years of shooting times. Read every book and magazine I could get my hands on as a kid. So, all of the above have had roles in my hunting life. My Dad had a biggest influence on me as a child because he loved to hunt upland game, and living between several big farms in MD, we had lots of it. He gave me the desire to hunt, and taught me to appreciate, and manage game humanely. Bell and Corbet, or Corbet and Bell, can't pick. But, it's my shooting buddies that keep me on my toes. Most have shot one or more disciplines of target shooting. I shot High Power in Junior High in military academy. One of the first things I learned was if you shoot at a big target, you will probably hit a big target, shoot at a small target, hit a small target. Bullet placement on game is mandatory, not optional. Usually after punching holes in paper we get board and start calling out pebbles on the berm for the other guys to pluck off. Our new target of the day is a bottle cap tacked to the back board on my range. The cap isn't the target, the tack in the middle is. This may be a little off topic, but not really. As a group of friends we hold each other to a higher standard, we take a lot of game, and we do it as humanely as possible. My hunting buddies are my inspiration.

Chuck Mawhinney presented a sniper trophy to my partner and I one year. Very quiet humble gentleman.

Very cool Mackay!!!!

Mackay Sagebrush,

That's good to hear! I have never met him personally, but talked to him several times extensively on the phone while doing an article on his military career a few years ago. That's exactly how he came across.

He's also still a very avid big game hunter.

How about Clayton Mack?
He wrote a book called " White guys and Grizzly Bears". I found it entertaining and was written as he would of spoken.
It was highly entertaining, maybe stretched in places but Clayton was definitely experienced.
A fun read.

don`t forget Carlos Hathcock shot leaders,generals, majors with one shot and many times alone . as two different snipers have told me Carlos Hathcock was the best and nobody in the world will ever be that good again. one of my friends was with Carlos Hathcock in Viet Nam and i get to hear stories you will never hear about. same with my good friend who was a ranger/sniper the first time America went over there to those sand countries for Bush senior. as said by this sniper one day i was eatin good food at the Whitehouse guarding the President at the Whitehouse ,the next mourning i was in a sand pit as a sniper for 40 some days eating those horrible MRE`S. this sniper said this about Carlos Hathcock he was the best and never will there ever be another sniper in the world as good as Carlos was. he also said he had respect for Chris Kyle too,but no respect for the actor Bradley Cooper he is a liberal gun hater and if Klye was alive he would be furious with Cooper who in real life hates all us gun people.

I have a lot of respect for Carlos Hathcock, but I think if he was still with us he would say there are talented men as good, or better, who will carry on in his footsteps.

I’d agree with that. Different era as well.

Paul Schaefer from Montana . Founder of silver tip bows



Shot all his trophy animals with a recurve. No one comes close


https://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/bowhunting/paul-schafer-part-1

If we were just talking about Bear & Mountain Lion Hunters, ole Ben Lilly would be right at the top!
He probably had no equal when it came to hunting them down with a couple of dogs and dispatching them with a knife.

What about this places very own Phil Shoemaker?

I'll add Dwight Schuh and Gene Wensel to the list as being very helpful to me.

Bell and Fred bear....had to learn to hunt for myself...and reading about those guys was and inspiration for sure..

Howard Hill

Killed my first deer with a "Hills Hornet" broad head..Still got it..deer`s long gone.

Tom hoffman all 28 north american and all in pope and young I've hunted with him you would never know

Was doing a search for an older DogZapper post and stumbled on this thread. Have been reading an online scan at Internet Archive of "The Still Hunter" by the wood stove all afternoon. Not how I planned to spend the day, but well worth the read. Thanks for the tip John. Really interesting to think that it was written well before the turn of the Century and still holds up in so many ways.

The "greatest hunter" is most likely known only to God, was not a modern "sport hunter", and probably didn't carry a rifle or necessarily even a bow.

On a personal level my Uncle Jimmy. Absolutely could decipher the woods and waters better than any human I have ever seen. Literally grew up in the woods and it provided for his family when he was growing up. If he wasn’t killing deer or catching fish there was no use any of us going. His .243 had north of 500 deer to its credit in his last 20 years of his life.
GreggH

i have read many sniper books and with respect to all Carlos Hathcock shot mostly officer`s with one shot kills or some of the harder snipers to find and kill . yes he did not shoot the most enemy soldiers as one or two other sniper`s did , but they shot and killed the easy regular enemy soldiers crossing rivers .his assignments were many times by himself for one head officer and one shot in very dangerous locations. as i have been told by one of the Marine soldier`s Carlos new who help protect Carlos alot,also my good friend was a elite Army sniper for 8 years in the service both of these soldiers said there has never been or ever will be a elite Sniper as good as Carlos Hathcock ever again. >this was kinda neat: one day when i was hunting elk with this Viet Nam Marine, i asked him this > did you ever meet Carlos Hathcock ? his answer took me by surprise > yep we use too hunt together . then i said where? he said North Viet Nam.

here is a question when someone is hunting you with a rifle as you are hunting him in the jungle and you shoot him first and thru his scope the bullet goes and kills this enemy soldier how can that be top ? Carlos Hathcock did this .

I read John Hunter's book Hunter in the 7th grade and that fired me up! Later in life I read John Taylor's books and he really fanned the flames for hunting and especially hunting rifles. Most recently I like Francis Sell -- who did a lot of difficult western Oregon deer hunting with only a couple of basic rifles...

Mule Deer, my copy of The Still-Hunter says first copy was in 1882, is that correct? The newest rifle model I could find in the book was the Winchester 1876. Great read, thanks for bringing up !

Hemingway,. I feel he had a great love of the game he pursued. Include Norm Strung, and Ted Trueblood in that same category

In my opinion I think that matters more than number of heads on the wall


I'd also include our own Mule Deer, as well as Boddington

Sasha Siemel - Jaguars in the jungle with a spear...

jay,

Yes, 1882 was the first printing..

It is indeed interesting how well The Still-Hunter holds up today, especially for deer hunters. But back then he was one of the first who hunted deer across a wide area, essentially from coast to coast.

"as i have been told by one of the Marine soldier`s Carlos new who help protect Carlos"

There are NO F_cking Soldiers in the Corps!

Hard to say.... Some people wrote a lot about hunting.. some simply hunted. Would assume someone along these lines.

Wow! That's quite the room

Wow! Very impressive collection.

Derzu Uzala
Sasha Siemel & the native who taught him
And a thousand other natives and locals who fed their families and tribes but were never written about.