Death in a Lonely Land: More Hunting, Fishing, and Shooting on Five Continents

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Macmillan, Jan 15, 1990 - Biography & Autobiography - 284 pages
Following the smashing success of Last Horizons (SMP, 1989), Peter Capstick now presents a second volume of pieces culled from such magazines as Outdoor Life, NRA's American Hunter, Guns & Ammo, and Petersen's Hunting. The articles showcase a literary style that prompted Kirkus Reviews to say of Last Horizons, "No one since Hemingway (with the possible exception of Ruark) has written on these subjects with such literary gusto."

The stockbroker-turned-outdoorsman recalls his days as an African pro hunter in "The Killer Baboons of Vlackfontein." "Four Fangs in a Treetop" records a foray into British Honduras for the jaguar, "a gold-dappled teardrop of motion." Capstick narrowly escapes the Yellow Beard, Central America's deadly tree-climbing snake, and cows "The Black Death (Cape buffalo) in the kind of article that makes this author "the guru of American hunting fans" (New York Newsday). On Brazil's forsaken Marajo Island, he bags the pugnacious red buffalo, which has the "temperament of a constipated Sumo wrestler and the tenacity of an IRS man."

The author discusses 12- and 20-gauge shotgun loads; recalls the pleasures of "biltong" (African beef jerky); describes the irresistible homemade lures of snook fishing expert John Gorbatch; and kills a genteel take of Atlantic salmon with the brilliantly simple tube fly.

Over thirty gorgeous drawings by famous wildlife artist Dino Paravano make this volume yet another collector's item by a writer who "keeps the tradition of great safari adventure alive in each of his books" (African Expedition Gazette).

Peter Capstick's eight prior titles include The Last Ivory Hunter (SMP, 1988); Peter Capstick's Africa (SMP, 1987); and Death in the Long Grass (SMP, 1978).
 

Contents

The MiniMenacer
9
The Killer Baboons of Vlackfontein
21
Goofs that Cost Game
41
Fill That Tag
51
Four Fangs in a Treetop
59
Pigsticking Made Personal
79
Southern Fried Buffalo
97
Midnight Date with a Black Jaguar
115
Airboating for Florida Quackers
179
Oldies Are Goodies
189
A Lapful of Leopard
199
Arthur Neumanns Overdose of Elephant
209
Berry Brooks Americas Greatest Big Game Hunter
217
The Black Death
237
Return of the ManEaters
245
Biltong
259

The Happy Snooker
133
The Deadly New Tube Fly
143
Anything the 20Gauge Can Do the 12 Can Do Better
153
Shotgun Pellets Is Bigger Better?
165
Videos in the Long Grass
267
Gunpowder Cocktails?
277
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About the author (1990)

Peter Hathaway Capstick (1940-1996), a former Wall Street stockbroker turned professional adventurer, was critically acclaimed as the successor to Hemingway and Ruark in African hunting literature. After giving up his career, the New Jersey native hunted in Central and South America before going to Africa in 1968, where he held professional hunting licenses in Ethiopia, Zambia, Botswana, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Capstick also served in that most perilous of trades—Elephant and Buffalo Cropping Officer. In addition to writing about hunting, he was also featured in an award-winning safari video and audio tapes. Captstick settled in Pretoria, South Africa with his wife Fiona until his death at age 56.

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