Dwayne,
Thanks so much for putting that list together. Ed Nixon was an amazing and talented writer and as a young man I read all his stories. His writing had such a profound affect on me I eventually moved to Montana and built a 338, Ed loved his 338.
Ed was based out of the Swan Valley and outfitted in the Bob Marshall. I have hunted in his area a bit and I always ask the locals if they knew him and so far nobody seems to recall him, I wonder if "Ed Nixon" was his writers name?
irfubar;
Good evening to you sir, I hope this finds you and yours well.
Thanks for the reply and sharing a wee bit of what the stories meant to you.
In my case, I already had a .338 when I first read "Trophies to Take With You" which is - again without looking and as I recall - the story where he outlined his building a then wildcat .338 on a BSA action. Mine was a Liberty Model Ruger 77, which I intended to take to the Kootenays more often than we ended up going.
It was however, the first time I'd read of anyone using epoxy to affix bases or ring parts to a rifle, which I promptly tried and now do on every rifle through my shop unless the owner specifies otherwise.
As well, his word pictures of the pack horses and hearing the horse bells on the alpine meadows so struck a chord within me that it was a component in our going on a pack horse trip into the Wilmore Wilderness north of Jasper National Park. Shortly thereafter, we bought an acreage which we promptly modified so we could have horses of our own.
When the horses came into our lives, I managed to train both of them to put up with gun fire, but only my Appy mare ended up being willing to pack meat.
Between Ed Nixon stories and Joe Back's book, I managed to throw a modified diamond over at least one mulie a year for a decade on the mountain up behind the house.
Honestly ir, I know I'm truly blessed to have been able to both recognize a dream and then chase it down to realize it, you know?
Anyway, it's good to know I'm not the only reader out there who heard the horse bells in the stories loud enough to experience them in person.
Thanks again and all the best to you in your hunts this fall.
Dwayne