Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Peter Hathaway Capstick

Jorge,
The contract lists 2 Wildebeest,1 Hartebeest,1 Impala,1 Zebra,and 1Warthog.
The air charter is included in the package.

That's great! go for it, you won't regret it! jorge

Jorge,
To paraphrase a popular bumpersticker,even a bad day on Safari is likely to beat the bejabbers out of anything else.
So far this is shaping up to be a series of very good days.
Credit where credit is due,MoccasinJoe set most of this up.
So far he seems to have gotten everything right.

steve
Do everything you can to make sure you do everyting you can while you are there. You never know.

I hope you have a great time. jorge

Thank you one and all.

Now to get back to the original thread.Where we are going is essentially the same area Ruark hunted in Horn of The Hunter.Which of Capstick's books,and which of Ruark's would you take to read on the plane/layover in the airports.....or would you take something else?Which ones,and why ?

Capstick:

Death in the Long Grass
Death in the Dark Continent
Safari
Last Horizons

Ruark:
Horn of the Hunter (Never gets old)
Old Man and the Boy + Grows Older
Something of Value

John Burger:
Horned Death

John Kingsley-Heath
Hunting the dangerous Game of Africa

I've got others once you finish those!

Steve - have you read "Someone of Value?" It's a good look at Ruark. Best, John

I liked Ruark's "The Honey Badger," but I may be the only one.

The early Wilber Smiths read well. I think that's the correct name. They were pretty popular with the PHs who read at the time.

Hunter by J.A. Hunter

Terry Wieland's "A View From a Tall Hill" is a fascinating bio of Ruark along with pretty good literary and political history of those parts of Africa touched by Bob. Very interesting.

SOS

Teddy Rooseveldt's AFRICAN GAME TRAILS is good and interesting too. A little different style but based on this three month safari with his son circa 1918 after his presidency. It cost ~90k at the time. Can you imagine now?

He got a lot of mileage out of the 'ol '06 and the 405

George

I've read many of these suggested books,though most quite awhile ago.Somewhere,still packed after I moved to my present house ,are copies of all of both Capstick's and Ruark's books.
I'm rereading The Horn of The Hunter right now.Your suggestions are all good,and sooner or later I hope to visit or revisit all of them.
Right now ,I'm looking for that one special book to really get my juices flowing (like they're not already) and perhaps either give me some new info.,or remind me of useful things that have slipped to the inner recesses of my so called mind.There are few experiences in life more annoying than coming up with the wrong solution to a problem,then afterward having that little neon light going off in the darkness flashing "I knew that !!!!".
Mostly,I suppose,I'm looking for all of the above in a package that will keep me entertained during the long flight and plane change,possible (probable ?)delays etc. on the trip out.

PHC was the absolute best hunting storyteller ever IMHO.

All this talk about African hunting literature has forced me to order Ruark's "The Horn of the Hunter" and Hemingway's "The Green Hills of Africa". "Hemingway on Hunting" has numerous excerpts from the book but thought it was time to buy the complete work. I've read plenty of Capstick and enjoy it immensely.

I envy you your first read of Horn of the Hunter! Best, John

On someones recommendation here I found a pristine copy online for about $35. HIGHLY recommended from me. A really good look behind the curtain. Pretty depressing too the way he self destructed early.

I cannot pass up the oppurtunity to pay tribute to Peter Capstick. As a boy, I read every article he contributed to Peterson's Hunting magazine. I Remember his articles in that magazine about the African Crocodiles, leopard and lions. His statistics on how many people were killed by them each year that the various African government's didn't want anyone to know about. His ability to explain the non-sense of the Anti-hunting
crowd, well it was eloquince. He put into words there what we all thought.
Even my mother (who hated hunting) became hooked on his articles when as a boy I got her to read one. If I brought her one of his articles from then on she would read it.

Today, as a grown man I now own a number of his books and have always dreamed of hunting in Africa, due to a large part from his writing. Of course, various writers such as J.A. Hunter, Evan Marshall,Hemingway and Rourke had a lot to do with that too. May they all rest in peace.

Finally, For those of you who can afford the costs of an African hunt, my hats off to you. Good Hunting Gentlemen!

Slide-

Well put. My wife who is a non-hunter and the only thing she knows about guns & rifles is I have 'em became enamored too.

George

I think Peter revived a dieing Africa with his books, The Safari business was on its last legs when he came on the scene, and the Safari business exploded.

As someone said his bonifide has often been questioned, but you will find that true of anyone who has had a modicom of success, and Peter is no exception to that rule. A jealous public filled with wannabes is the "unbonifider" of most famous people, most gunwritters and many fine PHs have suffered this delima..much the shame.

Were you there when we had to go find him in the middle of the night because he got lost.?
Were you there when we found his high-centered Land Rover that the elephants never touched?
Were you there when we loaned him our best tracker and the first thing he did was load the little guy down with a bandolier of 75 .375 cartridges that he had to carry every day?
Were you there when they moved him out of his area because his clients had wounded thirteen lions and he wouldn't follow any of them up?
Don't get me started.

He was a good storyteller, however.