Professional Hunting History Books

Professional hunting history books includes general biographical information on the early, great African professional hunters, the countries in which they worked and the professional hunting scene at the time.

Colin Allison

African Trails: Big Game Safari Adventure In South Africa by Col Allison (2010). This is a large and copiously illustrated history of big game hunting in Southern Africa from the earliest days of European settlement. The author brings us up to date with accounts of his own experiences in the region hunting antelope, lion, Cape buffalo, rhino, elephant and leopard and others. A racy account by a well-known Australian sporting writer and journalist.

The Trophy Hunters: Action-Packed Tales Of Hunting Big Game Trophies Around The World - 1860 To Today by Col Allison (1979) is an anthology of articles from Kinloch, Selous and Baker to Gates, Weatherby, Swinehart, Dyer and more.

The Australian Hunter: A Comprehensive Guide To Game, Equipment, Hunting And Photography by Col Allison (1969) is a detailed guide to Australia game covering quarry of all kinds, including deer, buffalo, crocodile, kangaroo, wild pig, wild goat, fox, eagle, game birds, as well as many other trophy-winners. As well as descriptions of a wide variety of hunting methods, there is extensive coverage of hunting equipment - shotguns, rifles, the hunting bow, clothing, camping equipment and a special section on 'hunting' with a camera.

The Hunter's Manual Of Australia And New Zealand (Where, When And How To Find Game) by Col Allison (1980). This volume on "where, when and how to find game" in both countries is a valuable aid to the hunter's equipment. In addition to information on firearms and other equipment, advice on hunting methods, the main feature is the maps which show the distribution of various game animals and birds. Eleven species are listed in the general game catogory, from buffalo to wallaby, two in mountain game, 10 deer species and eight game bird types.

Edgar N Barclay

Big Game Shooting Records: Together With Biographical Notes And Anecdotes On The Most Prominent Big Game Hunters Of Ancient And Modern Times by Edgar N Barclay (1932) is an excellent work detailing big game shooting in Africa, India and North America with chapters on elephants, lions, tigers, bison, buffalo, elk and more. The big game hunters that are mentioned, as well as some photographed, include Arthur H Neumann, Petrus Jacobs, William Finaughty, Roualeyn Gordon Cumming, Sir Samuel Baker, Charles John Andersson, William Cotton Oswell, Capt. Cornwallis Harris, F C Selous, W D M Bell, Count Samuel Teleki, Jim Fey, Sir Alfred Pease, Maharajah of Cooch Behar, R P Cobbold, Lt Col. John Champion Faunthorpe, Lt Col. A E Ward, Col. H G C Swayne, Sir Bindon Blood, H A Bryden, J G Millais, W C Baldwin, Lt Col. Reginald Heber Percy, Count Potocki, HRH Duke Ernest II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, W A Baillie-Grohman, J G Sutherland, St. George Littledale, Abel Chapman, Clive Phillips-Wolley, Sir Henry Seton-Karr, General Wade Hampton, W T Hornaday, G J van Heek and still many others. Free eBook

Molly Buchanan

Safari: The Romance And The Reality by Molly Buchanan (2004) chronicles the history of the great African adventure, from the exploits of Teddy Roosevelt and other privileged hunters to the innovative efforts of modern-day conservationists.

Alan Cattrick

Spoor Of Blood by Alan Cattrick (1959) is the story of the destruction of the herds that once roamed Africa and the early hunters and naturalists that sought them. Burchell, Harris, Gordon Cumming, Petrus Jacobs, Selous, Pretorius. Also told is the story of Stevenson-Hamilton who created the Kruger National Park.

David Chandler

Legends Of The African Frontier - The Life And Times Of Africa's Most Unforgettable Characters 1800-1945 by David Chandler (2008) are 1200 biographies on the most prominent hunters, explorers and adventurers of Africa. Chandler says "I've focused to a large extent on those who made their living 'off their guns' - the ivory hunters, the hide hunters and the many others who made their livelihood with a rifle." Each entry has a biographical sketch as well as the subject's hunting accomplishments and literary achievements. The inevitable controversies and contradictions in the historical record are dealt with and all of the different versions and views are fully explored.

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Brooke Chilvers-Lubin

Campfires by Brooke Chilvers-Lubin (2003) is a book about the International Professional Hunters Association with contributions by a who's who of then international professional hunters. Edited by Brooke Chilvers-Lubin and with an overview on professional hunters by Craig Boddington. Recent Addition

Anthony Dyer

The East African Hunters: The History Of The East African Professional Hunters' Association by Anthony Dyer (1979). Anthony Dyer had served as the president of East African Hunters' Association for several years, himself a professional hunter who guided so many big names like Robert Ruark, Charles Askins, George Parker, Russell Aitken, Warren Page, Stacey Keach and befriended most if not all professional hunters in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, from J A Hunter to Bunny Allen; Robert Foran to Sanchez Arino, and Andrew Holmburg to Brian Nicholson. This book is loaded with biographies and photographs of professional hunters who worked in East Africa.

Men For All Seasons And Legendary Ladies by Anthony Dyer (2008) is an account of East African hunting and the personalities who made the area so famous.

Men For All Seasons: A Book Of Professional Hunters And Pioneers Of East Africa by Anthony Dyer (1996) is a giant revised edition of author's previously published 'East African Hunters'.

Classic African Animals: The Big Five by Anthony Dyer (1973) features Africa's Big Five (elephant, lion, buffalo, rhino and leopard) from a sportsman's point of view and much on their natural history and habitat. A well-written and skillfully executed volume with illustrations.

W Robert Foran

Legends Of The Field: Famous Early Hunters In Africa by Robert Foran (1957) is his book on the early hunters in Africa including Willian Cotton Oswell, Selous, James H Sutherland and more. It was re-published on behalf of the EAPHA in 1997.

More W Robert Foran Books

Mary Gillett

Tribute To Pioneers by Mary Gillett (1986). The biographies of many of the early pioneers to East Africa (before 1912), by such a pioneer herself.

Jan Hemsing

Jan Hemsing was born in England in 1917 and lived in East Africa since the end of World War II. She has walked and driven across many miles of Kenya and Tanganyika (as it was then), has been writing books published in Kenya (and one in America) since 1974, many of them the histories of Kenya's hotels.

Ker & Downey Safaris: The Inside Story by Jan Hemsing (1989) is the story of East Africa's biggest safari outfitting company established by two professional hunters named Donald Ker and Sidney Downey. Profusely illustrated with vintage photographs of many well known hunters, some of them have also contributed hilarious campfire stories to this volume.

Encounters With Lions by Jan Hemsing (1994) are stories of what happens when man and lion meet drawn from the writings of some of the most famous lion hunters - Selous, Grogan, Bror and Karen Blixen, Dyer, Sutton, Ker, Downey, Seth-Smith and others.

Then and Now - Nairobi's Norfolk Hotel by Jan Hemsing (1975) is not just the story of a hotel whose name is known worldwide, but a fascinating read about Nairobi and those who contributed towards making it a capital city.

The Beauty Of Amboseli by Jan Hemsing (1993)

The Nyali Beach Hotel Story: Happiness Through Heartbreak by Jan Hemsing (1975)

Old Nairobi and the New Stanley Hotel by Jan Hemsing (1974)

Naivasha and the Lake Hotel by Jan Hemsing (1987)

Treetops Outspan Paxtu by Jan Hemsing (1974) is a guidebook to a hotel in Kenya, in the township of Nyeri, facing Mount Kenya.

Brian Herne

Brian Herne was the youngest professional hunter ever licensed in East Africa and had a career spanning thirty years. He is one of only seventeen individuals awarded the Shaw and Hunter Trophy.

White Hunters: The Golden Age Of African Safaris by Brian Herne (2001) is the story of seventy years of African adventure, danger and romance. It re-creates the legendary big-game safaris led by Selous and Bell and the daring ventures of early hunters into unexplored territories and brings to life such romantic figures as Cape-to-Cairo Grogan, who walked 4,000 miles and Dinesen's dashing lover, Denys Finch Hattan.

Uganda Safaris by Brian Herne (1979) tells of hunting Uganda as it was before the rise of Amin. By Brian Herne, the professional hunter who knows East Africa well. Read Review

Desert Safaris by Brian Herne(1984) retraces Count Teleki's expedition, mounted on camels, into the unknown a hundred years earlier. Hunting and fishing for crocodile, dik-dik, cheetah, nile perch, gerenuk, Grant's gazelle, lion, elephant, greater and lesser kudu.

Tanzania Safaris by Brian Herne(1981) is a great title on hunting in Tanzania - a country that is still a popular and productive big game hunting destination.

Emily Host

Bwana Bunduki: A History Of Early East African Professional Hunters by Emily Host (2007) is an excellent collection of biographical sketches on the most prominent early hunters in East Africa. Men such as Charles Cottar, F C Selous, Walter Bell, Phillip Percival, John Hunter and many more are included. Ben and Emily Host compiled this list in the 1940s and interviewed those who were still alive and those who knew those who had already died.

H G Hutchinson

Horace Gordon Hutchinson (1859 - 1932) was a British journalist and author of over 50 books ranging from golf, cricket, fishing, tennis and natural history to mysticism.

Big Game Shooting by H G Hutchinson (1905) is a comprehensive two volume treatise edited by Hutchinson. Authors include Abel Chapman, Seton-Karr, C Phillipps-Wolley, C E Radclyffe, H A Bryden and C S Cumberland. Free eBook Vol II

John Seerey-Lester

Legends Of The Hunt by John Seerey-Lester (2010) is a collection of more than 80 stories and 120 paintings by renowned wildlife artist John Seerey-Lester. It covers the from 1850 to 1935 - the 'Golden Age' of hunting and exploration on three continents. Each exciting chapter relives the fascinating and often life-threatening exploits of Theodore Roosevelt, Jim Corbett, Charles Sheldon, Carl Akeley, Bror Blixen, John Henry Patterson and many others as they pursue dangerous game in the wildest and most remote parts of the world.

Edward I Steinhart

Black Poachers, White Hunters: A Social History Of Hunting In Colonial Kenya by Edward I Steinhart (2005) traces the history of hunting there in the colonial era, describing the British attempt to impose the practices and values of nineteenth-century European aristocratic hunts. This both created and enforced an image of African inferiority and subordination. Ultimately conservationists came to claim sovereignty over African wildlife, completing the transformation of indigenous hunters into criminal poachers and seeking to eliminate them altogether from the "sportsman's paradise" of Kenya.