Thread: Must have Classic hunting books.

A few to add to the list.
Ross Curtis, Max Curtis
Newton McConochie
Temple Sutherland
Ray Tinsley
Ken Tustin for a good read on Moose in NZ.
I'm not big on trophy hunting but stories of old are always a good read.

Originally Posted by Stocky

Awesome keep em coming. I've inherited the complete Banwell NZDA collection from a mate. And have pack and rifle, hunter for hire, hunting in NZ, stalking the seasons around, and amuri hunter. Got through a fair few but thought i may as well start a bit of a collection as i love the history of it all.

They sure put in the yards, In one of Ross Curtis's books he wrote of a walk he did in two days carrying green deer hides, I have done almost the same walk in 5 and I thought I had done well. Nope.

Originally Posted by johnd

@Stocky I have some of these, they were given to me by an older shooter, with the intention i should read then sell them on his behalf. Any funds would go direct to this retired gent, and help him get a new pair of spectacles. ( he really needs cataract surgery but I dont think he will get the funding for that.)

Hunting the hard way .... by Howard Hill

Big Game hunting in New Zealand.... By Gary Joll

Straight Shooting ....... by Jack Pollard

The Straight Shooter ......By Matt and Bruce Grant

The Book of Shooting for Sport and Skill

I can post up a photo of any you want to show their condition, all but hunting the hard way still have dust jackets.
I have no idea as to their value but put a price on it and anyone else can cry bullshit if it should go for more.

As a bow hunter I am interested in Hunting the hard way, not sure about the price though. Please let me know and how can i pay you. Need to be shipped to Palmerstone north.

-Inder

Originally Posted by Ranger 888

There are probably 3 main groups of NZ hunting books: ones from about the 1960s and earlier tell of huge deer and pig numbers before commercial helicopter and foot hunting, eg. "Hunting in New Zealand" by R. Forrester and N. Illingworth- THE classic!; "Two Dogs and a Rifle" and "Pighunting in New Zealand" by K. Cuthbertson; "The Venison Hunters" by M. Bennett; "Deer on my Doorstep" by C. Davey.
The second group is of "instructional" books, eg. "Red Deer in NZ" and "Stalking the Seasons Round" both by Lentle and Saxton.
The third group is of recent hunting tales- these are being churned out all the time and vary in quality, but some of the better ones are: "The Boar and the Pigdog" by R. Carr; "Game Trails" and "Classic NZ Mountain Hunts" both by D. McClunie, and "Tracks of a Hunter" by J. Royle.

I am very discriminating over the books that I buy, yet my NZ hunting book collection totals 126.

Does anyone have a copy of "Stalking the Seasons Round" available for sale?

https://thehunter.nz/recommended-hunting-books/

Originally Posted by muzza

you can amass a fair collection of older NZ hunting books for not a lot of money. Just check the prices on Trade Me to see how we undervalue our written hunting heritage

Managed to amass my collection when the old man passed away, I’ve just put down Hunting in New Zealand, Dad bought it when it first came out in 1967.

Funny reading some of the stuff - like the idea that due to rabbit boards and poison ‘wallabies were on their way out’!

Surely Newton McConachies 'You'll no harm from the Hills' should be compulsory reading in schools ?
Great from a historical point about early settler life in the bush and not just for the interesting accounts of hunting

@Stocky if you are going to start collecting May I suggest you try and get first editions with out any writing (To Dad, happy birthday etc) in them or Library stamps etc, if possible Get ones signed by the author. My good mate is an avid collector of NZ hunting books and has pretty much all of them including a lot of self published ones, some of the older classic ones are worth good money. There are some great reads out there. I recently was given four books by Max Curtis and am throughly enjoying them, Man they were fit and tough as nails!

In addition to the ones already listed above by others,

An Era gone by Dave Radcliffe
Aerial Hunter by Dick Deaker

I enjoyed Peter Ryan's books for a different perspective. Very good writer.

Originally Posted by DBL

Does anyone have a copy of "Stalking the Seasons Round" available for sale?

I gave up trying to buy a copy. Turns out the library is useful for something.

@Inder how does $25 sound?

Originally Posted by johnd

@Inder how does $25 sound?

Hi @johnd, frankly i have no idea but anything for a fellow shooter. Please let me know how can I pay you. Wife does have a NZ bank account so (I think) she can transfer online. Not sure if you lot there use Paypal. That will be really easy for me. You will get it in 5 mins after you give me the account details.

Please let me know.

-Inder

Just confirmed, Wife can transfer online so please send me your details via PM and I will send you the address.

Thanks

-Inder

Fiordland memories by john anderson is my favourite but A good keen man by Crump, an Of mountains men an deer by Brian Burdon, Mr wapiti by Jack Mackenzie, an stags galore by Jim Griffen would have to be my picks

Originally Posted by outdoorlad

@Stocky if you are going to start collecting May I suggest you try and get first editions with out any writing (To Dad, happy birthday etc) in them or Library stamps etc, if possible Get ones signed by the author. My good mate is an avid collector of NZ hunting books and has pretty much all of them including a lot of self published ones, some of the older classic ones are worth good money. There are some great reads out there. I recently was given four books by Max Curtis and am throughly enjoying them, Man they were fit and tough as nails!

In addition to the ones already listed above by others,

An Era gone by Dave Radcliffe
Aerial Hunter by Dick Deaker

I'll second that - Really enjoyed An Era Gone by Dave Ratcliffe!!