Peter Capstick...who knows the truth?

[Ontario Hunter]

... Never had that many girls to date - amazing what unlimited Free Drinks can do.

 

[Firebird]

It is annoying when people don’t read the previous posts and just respond to the most recent ones.
I’m currently looking through my Jeff Rann books for his stories-oh wait, there are NONE. No books, no stories. I loved him on tv decades ago but apparently he has no remaining stories. . . Good thing old PHC wrote lots of adventures down and good thing he owned a bar in Botswana which would make him a bartender!
He got the shakes when approaching a hippo-so what! Ive been a firefighter for 20 years and I still get the shakes when I can see a plume of smoke rising across town-hell I shake when I might get a shot at a cow elk and I have killed a a LOT of cow elk. Besides that he had a serious alcohol problem and probably was shaking anytime he couldn’t get a drink for a couple hours.
blame his editors/proofreaders and move on and excuse me while I do some video research-yes video

Apologies to Jeff Rann I really enjoyed his stuff but he is powerful short on bestselling books. More digging would likely reveal some stories of his-

 

[86thecat]

If anyone wants to go down the rabbit hole, there was an in depth discussion about PHC about ten years ago over on **NOT**PERMITTED**. IIRC, there was an image of his professional hunters license posted and evidence of partnership in a outfitting/hunting operation.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

It is annoying when people don’t read the previous posts and just respond to the most recent ones.
I’m currently looking through my Jeff Rann books for his stories-oh wait, there are NONE. No books, no stories. I loved him on tv decades ago but apparently he has no remaining stories. . . Good thing old PHC wrote lots of adventures down and good thing he owned a bar in Botswana which would make him a bartender!
He got the shakes when approaching a hippo-so what! Ive been a firefighter for 20 years and I still get the shakes when I can see a plume of smoke rising across town-hell I shake when I might get a shot at a cow elk and I have killed a a LOT of cow elk. Besides that he had a serious alcohol problem and probably was shaking anytime he couldn’t get a drink for a couple hours.
blame his editors/proofreaders and move on and excuse me while I do some video research-yes videoView attachment 568702
Apologies to Jeff Rann I really enjoyed his stuff but he is powerful short on bestselling books. More digging would likely reveal some stories of his-

Was Jeff Rann also a bartender ... or a janitor? Now you can take a cranky pill.

 

[Ruraldoc]

I have guided here in Alabama for 25 years.

I have at one time or another used a Beretta Over Under, a Winchester Model 12 and a Winchester 1200.

Plus many others as well as multiple rifles.

If I tried to write down exactly which gun was where, I’d probably get a few mixed up.

When I tell stories about some of the more dangerous moments involving boars and big Gators experienced by my friends and I, I try to entertain people.

None of this makes me a liar or fraud.

It doesn’t make PHC one either.

He was however a wonderful writer who inspired me to go to Africa, as well as own several good rifles in African cartridges.

For this I am grateful

 

[Hunter-Habib]

In the series of videos Hunter Habib mentions filmed by sportsman on film with Ken Wilson, Peter shot only one animal and only fired Two rounds, a Cape buffalo that he fired the first shot and then his insurance shot. He wasn’t the main hunter on the videos, ken Wilson was. So what are “all the other animals” Jeff Rann had to shoot for the film?

Jeff replied. I'm trying to inbox you the screenshots but your profile doesn't have the "Conversation" option. Could you please start a conversation with me ?

I'd post it publicly, but there are some personal topics in our correspondence as well.

 

[Aaron N]

Was there not an old time PH and outfitter here who had employed him at one point and time?

 

[John Wasmuth]

Jeff replied. I'm trying to inbox you the screenshots but your profile doesn't have the "Conversation" option. Could you please start a conversation with me ?

I'd post it publicly, but there are some personal topics in our correspondence as well.

Next time I go to town I’ll pay a visit to Ken Wilson and see what he can validate in regards to who shot what during the making of the videos.

 

[Firebird]

Geoff Broom “A Life on Safari” mentions that PHC hunted under him at one point and mentions where he went to start off on his own. Forgive me for not looking it up and giving the reference

 

[Wheels]

We are blessed to have Ian Manning post occasionally on AH. Capstick worked for Manning on his first PH job in Africa. While not all encompassing, Manning gives us a glimpse of Capstick in post 53 and 63 of the following thread, which includes the quote, "The Peter Capstick I knew was honest and true."

Is Capstick real or fake?

Have read most of his work. Some more than once. Same with Selous, Bell, Hemingway, Everett and others. Actually Sands of Silence was one of my favorites. To each their own I guess. Seemed to be more of an attempt at a compendium of a journal to yield an insight into life in the Kalahari of...

www.africahunting.com

 

[DLSJR]

Longbow, Peter Capstick was a PH, indeed. When I was hunting Botswana in 1989, the 2 PH’s in camp, Cecil Riggs (my PH) and Terry Palmer, talked about him a bit one night around the fire. They talked about some of the safaris he guided and of him working in several countries as a PH. They’re both also gone now, it seems the lifestyle they all lived with lots of smoking and drinking wasn’t too conducive to longevity.

 

[Zambezi]

I've hunted a thousand times less than Peter Capstick. I've hunted a thousand times less than many here on this forum. I'm sure I've told the tale of taking and Oribi with No.4 out of a semi auto shotgun just outside Chisamba, just north of Lusaka. If George, the owner of the shotgun, told me that he never stocked No4 then I'd be wrong in that detail, doesn't make the story untrue.

I remember, without a shadow of doubt, taking a tsesebe on Debshan ranch where my uncle was the manager with a .308... apparently it the .308 was only obtained a few years later. Still remember a great neck shot for worker's rations.

That is all with my limited experience. Can you imagine decades of hunting? If he said at one time he took a certain animal with a 30.06 but at another time he said it was a .308...

The man was a legend and certainly did 99% of what he claimed. It's not like he was regaling someone of the one and only time he want hunting.

To add to the point I have only one or two photos somewhere on a hard drive of any animal i have even taken. Some people note everything from temperature, humidity, shoe size, rifle, ammo, jock preference, nasal density, brand of boot etc... BUT when you do it for a living it's just Tuesday or Sunday or the day after that big unseasonal August rain.

 

[Hunt anything]

Was there not an old time PH and outfitter here who had employed him at one point and time?

Geoff Broom of Matetsi safaris.

 

[Hunt anything]

Jeff replied. I'm trying to inbox you the screenshots but your profile doesn't have the "Conversation" option. Could you please start a conversation with me ?

I'd post it publicly, but there are some personal topics in our correspondence as well.

Any way you could summon? Many would like to hear what he had to say.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Any way you could summon? Many would like to hear what he had to say.

I am inboxing it to you in a minute, @Hunt anything

 

[TKessel]

Geoff Broom of Matetsi safaris.

Geoff and Russ are true legends back in the day. Fortunate to meet both of them, 30 years ago

 

[Aaron N]

Geoff Broom of Matetsi safaris.

No, as @Wheels posted above I was thinking of Ian Manning.

 

[Hunt anything]

No, as @Wheels posted above I was thinking of Ian Manning.

Didn’t read “here”, I was referring to Geoff’s book “A Life on Safari” in which he includes a short chapter about the time Capstick worked for him. It was short and not extremely detailed but somewhat informative.

 

[Wheels]

Perhaps someone can confirm this but didn't Capstick work for Gordon Cundhill at one time in Botswana.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Found the time to sit down this evening with my entire Peter Hathaway Capstick collection and start giving them a re-read.

I know that the general consensus on this forum is that it probably doesn’t matter. But nevertheless, I’m still putting my findings out there. This is one of the inconsistencies I was talking about.

From “Death In The Dark Continent” (1983)

From “The Last Safari” (1984) (Just one year after the previous book was published, so it’s not like a massive amount of time passed between the two books)

If my memory serves me correctly, there are other inconsistencies. I’ll note them down as I go forward with my reading.

Please let it be known (once again) that this in no way detracts from my respect for the man. I’m just lending my insight to the original poster’s question.