Recommended Books on African hunting

[Aussie Chris]

Hi all, happy new year to everyone, I wish everyone the best of health and prosperity.

I was just after a short list of perhaps 5 or so books that you guys would recommend to the "want to be African big game hunter"
Are there some famous 'must read books' that everyone on here has read?
Id like to learn some of the history of the classic English double rifles/calibres as well as some books written by well respected PH's from the late 1800's and early 1900's as well as some contemporary PH's where the newer calibres might be covered.
Thanks guys

 

[sestoppelman]

That's going to take in a lot more than 5 or so books pard. Look for some of the Classics reprints from the Peter Hathaway Capstick collection, and his own writings, the best of which is Death in the Long Grass. Jay Mellons African Hunter is the ultimate modern classic. Craig Boddington has written a number of excellent books on African hunting as well as the rifles. Google Safari Rifles by him. John Taylor was one of the great elephant hunters and there are many others. W.D.M. Bell being the most famous. You can spend a lot of time and money looking for these great books but most are available. I just recently sold a number of books from my collection to members here in the states. But I kept many of those mentioned. The last book I would ever sell would be Mellons book. It is in my opinion THE book on safari, though is now somewhat dated having been written over 40 years ago. Boddington did African Hunter II and its also great and is much more current. Have fun!!

 

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks mate, I appreciate it.
I'll look into those.

 

[stug]

Horn of the hunter by Ruark
Green Hills of Africa by Hemmingway

 

[sierraone]

"Safari, A Chronicle of Adventure" by Bartle Bull. This is a large book originally published in 1988, still available new on Amazon I believe. It covers the history of safaris from India in the 1830s or so until modern times in Africa. I read it around 1992. It covers all the famous hunters and some you have probably never heard of. A great book of safari history!

 

[sierraone]

Gun and Rifle specific....look up Terry Wieland, Cal Pappas and many others. There is a 3 book titled British Gun Makers, by Nigel Brown. Vol 1 London, Vol 2 Birmingham and Vol 3 Scotland, I believe. I have the one on London and it is a true reference book in addition to some gorgeous photos. These books are priced at about $100 each if new.

 

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks a lot guys, very helpful!
This is such a great forum.

 

[spike.t]

hi i dont know if you have had a look on here but you will be able to check out plenty of books , and they also have a dept that sells older books going back to the late 1800`s. https://www.safaripress.com/

 

[vinnymbogo]

You cannot forget the quintessential book by probably the most famous African hunter ever, Frederick Courteney Selous: "A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa"!

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Good day members
I strongly would suggest the books written by Richard Harland. My opinion is that Richard Harland is the hunter/game ranger that shot the most elephants and buffaloes than any other hunter before him, due to his work as a game ranger that did the elephant/ buffalo control in the tsetse corridors in the previous Rhodesia , now Zimbabwe.
He wrote the following books:
The Hunting Imperative
Ndlovu-The Art of hunting Elephant.
African, Epic: Paul Grobelaar Epic life of Richard Harldand`s mentor
Richard Harland is still alive and if ever you get to meet him you will see how great person he is, extremely humble and kind , always ready to listen to you. He is the only person I know of who had a specific technique to cull a whole herd by shooting the herd leader , ran in between the elephants and kill them as fast as possible...when watching the video of Bass Charlton , he mentioned this technique Richard used to cull large elephant herds...
I am sure you will agree that this person is an enigma ...a legend still alive and great person to interact with....when you have read his books....

A link to a site where you can purchase his books:

https://www.rowlandward.co.za/content/default.aspx?
pid=76&MainPage=1&Search=Richard%20Harland

 

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks Gert, sounds like very good reading.
Sounds like he is quite an authority on the subject.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Good day to you Chris.
I can assure you his books are top ranked when it comes to tutorial/advise/knowledge of hunting elephant and how he had done it..the beauty about this book is that every place he have hunted /cull/shot elephants/dangerous game is still in Zimbabwe , every stream he crossed , tree he stood under is still there..so it is a living report of where he applied his trade....

Enjoy his books it is one of a kind...

Regards

Gert

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

"Dangerous game rifles" -Terry Wieland
"Green Hills of Africa" - Ernest Hemingway
"Horn of the hunter" - Robert Ruark
Witold

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

You cannot forget the quintessential book by probably the most famous African hunter ever, Frederick Courteney Selous: "A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa"!

Just read Selous' book.............it's okay but not great IMHO. Reads like a diary.

Capstick's Death in the Long grass was great, but his book on Namibia, Sands of Silence was terrible.

A very useful book for planning a safari is "Ask the Namibian Outfitters" by Dianna Rupp.

Agree with Witold on Terry Wieland's Dangerous Game Rifles as being a very good book with great color photos of many beautiful rifles. A new, updated second edition just came out a year or so ago.

 

[brandondd24]

I enjoyed african game trails, by teddy Roosevelt

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Just read Selous' book.............it's okay but not great IMHO. Reads like a diary.

Capstick's Death in the Long grass was great, but his book on Namibia, Sands of Silence was terrible.

A very useful book for planning a safari is "Ask the Namibian Outfitters" by Dianna Rupp.

Agree with Witold on Terry Wieland's Dangerous Game Rifles as being a very good book with great color photos of many beautiful rifles. A new, updated second edition just came out a year or so ago.

I have a second edition 375 Ruger Fan. This is great book.
Witold

 

[CDorroh]

I second reading Horn of the Hunter by Robert Ruark. Excellent book.

Green Hills of Africa by Hemingway starts out slow, IMO, but gets a lot better and is worth the read.

I actually liked Capstick's Death in the Dark Continent better than Death in the Long Grass, but that's just me. Death in the Silent Places has concise, entertaining summaries about Patterson, Corbett, and Bell. He does the same for Selous in The African Adventurers: A Return to the Silent Places.

 

[charleslabounty]

Some oldies:
Five Years of a Hunters Life in the Far Interior by Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming
The Man- Eaters of Tsavo by Patterson
The Adventures of an Elephant Hunter by Sutherland
In Closed Territory by Bronson

And for great reading The Courtney Family series by Wilbur Smith (historical fiction)
I read on Kindle as it is much cheaper than buying hardcovers - photos not so good on Kindle.

 

[African Sporting Creations]

Over the years we've compiled some of our favorite resources for hunting Africa on our web site. We also have Boddington's DVD's, shot placement guides and targets for sale as well.
Check them out here

 

[lcq]

I just registered here and have received the benefit of many real world years of experience from members who took the time to show me the ropes.

worked for me