Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters O'Connor's The Hunting Rifle book, and another good read

I don't know if the bowhunter O'Connor alluded to was Fred Bear or not, or whether he talked about it in "The Hunting Rifle" (I don't have my copy handy). What I do know is that O'Connor discussed some less-than-complimentary shenanigans regarding "a famous bowhunter" in a 1975 or 1977 Gun Digest article called "Hanky Panky in the Boondocks".

While O'Connor's "The Last Book" does dish out some dirt on the gunwriting business, it is short on naming names, probably to avoid lawsuits. It's not too hard to figure out who Jack was talking about in most cases, though.

My impression of the O'Connor-Keith relationship was that it started off cordially enough (they apparently had not actually met until a Winchester promo in 1960) , but deteriorated considerably over time.

My copy of The Hunting Rifle definitely included a well known bowhunter who was shooting animals with a gun and sticking arrows in them after the fact. Fred Bear at that time was head and shoulders above any other bow hunter in popularity and if Jack didn't mean him it would've been incumbent upon Jack to come right out and say he didn't mean Fred Bear. Because that was instantly the conclusion everyone else came to. There was really only one Rockstar bowhunter in the 60's

You missed my comment on "lawsuits". And Fred wasn't the only notable bowhunter back then. The guy who did the shooting in Errol Flynn's Robin Hood movie was writing bowhunting articles 20 years before Fred Bear got started.

Howard Hill was a few decades before Fred Bear. In the decade leading up to O'Connors Hunting Rifle book there was no one in Fred Bears stratosphere

moosemike,

Do you have that copy of The Hunting Rifle still?

As I alluded to, am wondering if the comment was deleted in the second edition, which is what I have.

I wish I did. I sold it on here a few years ago

I have a copy, copyright 1970, no edition noted. Just reread "Picking Your Expert." No mention of Fred Bear or any bowhunter that I can find.

Interesting. I started a thread some years ago about the "Picking Your Expert" part of the book and asked who he was talking about. BobinNH rattled off every one even naming Fred Bear as the bowhunter in question

It sounds like some editions had the bowhunter reference and some did not.

I am guessing that the "bowhunter" comment instead appeared where Hanky Panky mentions in his post: "What I do know is that O'Connor discussed some less-than-complimentary shenanigans regarding 'a famous bowhunter' in a 1975 or 1977 Gun Digest article called "Hanky Panky in the Boondocks."

I remember that article, and have a not-quite-complete collection of Gun Digest annuals going back the first 1944 issue. Will see if I can find it.

The books (I believe there were three) Jack mentions by Ben East are very good books. East could really write and reading the ‘it happened to me’ stories in ‘Narrow Escapes’, ‘Danger!’ And ‘Survival’ were a real treat. Another writer that I respect a lot (and have mentioned in other threads) is Ted Trueblood. Both men were incredibly gifted writers that did a lot to promote the outdoors lifestyle.

"Hanky-Panky in the Boondocks" is on page 65 of the 1977 Gun Digest. The actual description of the bowhunter is: "A famous American hunter does his stuff with a bow and arrow."

If anybody's interested in the rest of the story they can probably find it on the Internet.

I think you're probably right and my memory is failing me on this one

That happens as we get older!

Now what was I looking for in this room?.....

😆

I enjoyed this Jack O book. Especially his disdain for "dinky little 6-48 screws inherited from receiver sights". He was referring to the rubbish that holds scope bases to rifles.

Tried to sell the book here on campfire, it wouldn't sell. I simply lumped it into a package deal with other reloading goodies.

Then my Elmer Keith "Hell I was There" book sold for $200.

Thanks MD, the wife has all three headed our way for my birthday next month.