Use enough gun

If you have not read Robert Ruark's "Horn Of The Hunter", you must do so without delay. On onto Amazon or Safari Press and order a copy.

It really is the book that launched a 1000 safaris. Fantastic read.

I think the phrase "Use Enough Gun" was quoted by Harry Selby who was Ruark's PH on his hunts in the 1950's. Selby is still alive and well and turned up recently posting on AR, which was great for a sad Ruark grouppie like me.....
 
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I agree with Claret Dabler, Horn of the Hunter is a great read. Other books on or by Ruark are, I did'nt know it was loaded, One for the road, Something of value, The old man and the boy, The old mans boy grows older, Robert Ruarks Africa, Uhura, Women, Pay no more, Someone of value, Something of value, The Honey Badger, The Lost Classics, A View from a Tall Hill, Grenadines Spawn, Ruark Remembered and Poor no more.

Use enough Gun was also wrote by Ruark but I am unable to confirm if they were quotes he used from Harry Selby. I have not read this one as yet.

Steve
 
Another recommendation for Horn of the Hunter - wonderful stuff!

Use Enough Gun is an anthology of Ruark's works dating back to 1952. It was published posthumously a year after his death in 1965, and contains a mixture of magazine pieces and extracts from his two Africa novels.

Ruark covered Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising and the novels, Something of Value (about Mau Mau) and Uhuru (about the new nationalist Kenya immediately afterwards) were shocking for their time but considered a fair portrayal of both sides by many. They read like a rather more factual kind of Wilbur Smith and are well worth a look. Sadly, as they were fair to all sides, the new political classes in Kenya took exception and his hunting days out there were over.

Ruark was unfairly described as the 'Poor Man's Hemingway'. If you've not read him you might be in for a treat. The 'Old Man & the Boy' books are collections of his articles for Field & Stream, the US hunting and fishing magazine and are great reading. So are the 3 books mentioned above. His other novels are a bit samey as they are quite autobiographical, but The Honey Badger is by far the best of them.

I wouldn't bother bother with I Didn't Know It Was Loaded (a collection of very dated newspaper stuff from his early career which despite the title has very little to do with shooting), or the Grenadine novels.

I think that he got the 'use enough gun' phrase from Harry Selby, who he idolised as his PH of choice. I think he has one of his Africa novel characters use it, but can't be bothered to trail through my copies looking for it. A View From a Tall Hill is a biography of Ruark published in 2000. It's a bit disappointing as the author was unable to get much out of Harry Selby, who probably knew more about Ruark as a hunter than anyone.

As you might have guessed, Claret Dabbler and PC are not alone as Ruark fans! Give him a try. You'll find most of his titles on Amazon but may have to have some shipped from the States. Good reading :D

Mole
 
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I must admit I enjoyed all the books I have read on or by Robert Ruark and am also a fan but I personally prefer and highly recommend Jim Corbett as an author who told it as it was and unlike many others did not trawl the bars and add lots of fantasy to spice up their stories like Capstick for one. Peter Capstick is an excellent writter but pinched scenes for his books poached from other hunters who told their tales in the many bars he frequented.

I totally agree with "The Mole" on his comments above.

Regards

Steve.
 
With you on Corbett - a real sportman whose love of India and its people really shines through.
And also on Capstick! Good stuff, but nees to be read with a huge pinch of salt:rolleyes::

'The man who was about to die padded softly along the narrow trail..........'
 
With you on Corbett - a real sportman whose love of India and its people really shines through.

Thanks for that reminder - I last read one of his books from the library many moons ago and can remember being capivated by his descriptions of sitting up waiting for leopard under the moon, only to find the roles reversed and the cat stalking him! :scared: You've prompted me to get something else by him and I've found that Amazon are doing two omnibus editions containing most of his books for under £20 with free p&p - some enjoyable reading ahead. :thumb:
 
have most of the capstick books ,and find them a great read.robert rouarks horn of the hunter is a must read if you have any interest in african hunting
 
I have heard that it was Taylor who first used this line and Ruark took it up. I don't know where the information comes from tho.~Muir
 
Harry Selby: Bit of a legend!

I must read Ruark's work, sounds interesting. I really like Corbett's stuff too, still a very large tiger reserve that bears his name.

Scrummy
 
Karamojo Bell (another great Scot by the way) was famous for,amongst other things,using small calibres like the 7 x 57 Mauser to shoot elephants
Bell made what I think is a great reply to a journalist who was interviewing him. The journalist asked Bell if he was aware that a lot of hunters were being killed by the elephants they were trying to shoot with the calibre he recommended (7 x 57). He thought for a moment and then said, "well,I use it,but I've never recommended it".
People who follow the experts should take note :).

fraser
 
Harry Selby is still around, retired and living in Maun. He is and always was a perfect gentleman of the old school and would no more tell stories about people than he would walk on water. Come to think of it the walking on water was rather more likely than gossiping.

David.
 
UHURU! was banned in Kenya - I bought a very battered hardback copy in a second hand shop in Dar.

But yes - he writes a very 'straight' book clearly the result of having walked the walk - I'm sure Capstick did too but his writing does'nt read like it and does nothing for me - perhaps not someone you'd like to 'share your whisky with'?
 
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