Carry Enough Powder
 

I’m currently reading Between Man and Beast, a historical account of Paul Du Chaillu’s 1885 expedition into Gabon Africa in search of gorillas, and ran across this interesting tidbit.

“When Captain Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke journeyed into Africa from the east coast in search of the source of the Nile....their list of provisions was staggering: 380 pounds of lead bullets; twenty thousand copper caps; .....”. They had thousands of pounds of baggage and over a hundred porters.

Unfortunately, no mention is made of the guns.

Du Chaillu, traveling light with just a few porters, packed "80 pounds of shot and bullets, twenty-five pounds of powder,...".

Again, no mention is made of the guns.

Semi,

Have you read any of Capstick's books?

BPS

I have not BPS. Need to do that one day.

I've heard it said that Capstick was not a PH. I hear tell he was a bartender or something along that line and all his books were fiction or something he over heard a real PH relate.

C'mon bronko...

I heard that the moon was made of cheese but we proved that to be wrong in 1969. Have you done any research or have anything to support that statement?

BPS

He was a hunter - lots of pictures and contemporary reports to prove that. But he was an imaginative writer and it is believed he "borrowed" some of his stories from the experiences of other professional hunters of his acquaintance.

Barry here is but one source. But there are many more.
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthr...apstick_Credib

Of course there are other sources that say he left a career on Wall Street at age 30 and moved to Africa to become a PH.

In any event his stories are really good reading. I personally liked Death in the Long Grass.

bronko,

I wouldn't call that very solid. The opinions expressed in that forum are merely that, opinions. Some are negative toward Capstick and some are positive. I guess it's left to each individual to decide how they feel about the man.

There is a well known professional hunter and guide who grew up 2/10 mi. from my house. I'm NOT going to mention his name but he's about 10 years older than me and I used to get on the school bus with him when I was a kid. Many of my buddies older brothers were best friends with him growing up so I've heard a lot of stories about him from "back in the day" when he didn't have much regard for game laws. I knew his father well and used to fish and hunt with him from time to time as I got older and he told me some stories as well.

One in particular is about one deer season in which he had over twenty deer hanging in the bottom of their barn and was still out hunting for more. His parents hid his rifle, ammo, and hunting license in an effort to make him stop.

He's had countless videos out and has appeared on numerous outdoor shows with other celebrities. He's also sponsored by a major outdoor retailer along with numerous sporting goods manufacturers.

Now he's well respected by the outdoor community and his peers. I commend him for getting out of small town America and making something of himself, but his path to the top was not always paved with respect for the law.

BPS

Well who's to know for sure. His stories seem to be stretched beyond fact. Good reading but not wholly true IMO.
There's a lot of people believe he just stole the stories. He may have been a PH but I honestly don't think he could have come up with all his stories via his own actions. He had to 'borrow' some from other PHs.

If you don't believe Capstick was what he said he was then you probably don't believe the other white hunters who wrote books or books were written about. These guys lives lives that we can only dream about. Capstick was the real deal.