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

by Peter Hathaway Capstick, Dino Paravano, Don Causey

From the author of Last Horizons , Peter Hathaway Capstick now presents Death in a Lonely Land , a second volume of his hunting, fishing, and shooting adventures on five continents―stories collected from such magazines as Outdoor Life , NRA’s American Hunter , Guns & Ammo , and Petersen’s Hunting .

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.

Featuring more than thirty gorgeous drawings by famous wildlife artist Dino Paravano, Death in a Lonely Land is another collector’s item by a writer who “keeps the tradition of great safari adventure alive in each of his books” ( African Expedition Gazette ).

Genres: Adventure, Nonfiction, Africa

284 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 1990

About the author

Peter Hathaway Capstick was an American hunter and author. Born in New Jersey and educated at (although did not graduate from) the University of Virginia, he walked away from a successful Wall Street career shortly before his thirtieth birthday to become a professional hunter, first in Central and South America and later (and most famously) in Africa. Capstick spent much of his life in Africa, a land he called his "source of inspiration." A chain smoker and heavy drinker, he died at age 56 from complications following heart surgery.

Reviews

[Thomas Holbrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend gave this book to me, as we have a shared interest in Tales of Adventure and of becoming one of Those Who Have Them as a Profession. I have not hunted, to any significant extent in over 30 years, the only hunting writer I have read to any appreciable extent is Patrick McManus (he is hilarious) so I was uncertain as to how well I would connect with stories of hunting big game, months long safaris and professional fishing. As it turns out, reading this book was more fun than a new bicycle on a summer day.
The late Mr. Capstick, self-described “Professional Little Boy,” was a professional hunter in an age when such were common enough to merit a professional organization. His experience as a “gun writer” for various hunting magazines offered him means and occasions to develop the skill necessary to survive hunting the most dangerous animals on the planet in places that cone be best described as “inhospitable” (deadly snakes, piranha, bugs that carry diseases yet to be named, etc.) and the skill to relate those incidents in sharp detail. His writing is clear, crisp, engaging and exciting – so much so that I felt I was present as he (we) sat in a blind next to a tributary of the Amazon hunting Jaguar. After he precisely described the experience of a deadly viper suddenly taking up space in the same blind, I was even more delighted to only have experienced the hunt separated by 40 years and the written word.
The stories vary in locations from Florida, to Brazil, to the Heart of Africa and the quarry from Big Cats, to killer Orangutan, to wounded Water Buffalo, to Dragon Flies. His writing is polished, allowing the reader to experience the intense heat and humidity of the Amazonian Jungle, the chill of sitting in a New Jersey duck blind in November and the salty air of Snooker fishing in Florida with a near physical depth. To pick one story to be the best, of the 23 gathered in this collection, is difficult. As an individual who loved his BB gun when he was a boy, the story of Mr. Capstick’s Machine BB gun has the lead for “Story Best Able to Cause Intense Envy in Male Readers.” This story details his helping to develop the first automatic BB gun, which he had mounted on the deck of his Lake Okeechobee home. As I read this, I imagine a perfect place for a mount on my second-story deck. My least favorite was “Four Fangs in a Tree Top,” the story of the author winning a bet by “bagging” a Jaguar in South America. Apart from the now endangered animal being further depleted, sitting through the tale of a Barba Amarilla (Yellow Beard), one of the deadliest snakes in that part of the world, falling into the blind, at night, in the deep jungle, is the stuff of nightmares, not hobby.
I hope to read other of Mr. Capstick’s books. According to the bibliography in the early pages of the book, he penned a small library. The book will probably not appeal to folks who do not hunt or who are uninterested in (or opposed to) firearms as tools. There are graphic descriptions of animals being killed in the telling of some of these stories. Mr. Capstick made his living hunting, as such he cared deeply that the animals he seeks are healthy, the population not hunted to total exhaustion and that those killed are dispatched swiftly and as painlessly as possible. For those who like to hunt, or read good adventure tales, one could do far worse than this writer.

[Gabriel Magill · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are expecting a bunch of dangerous hunting stories like Death in the Long Grass or biographical sketches of famous hunts like Death in the Silent Places, this book will probably be disappointing to you. This book is a collection of articles that Capstick wrote for various fun and hunting magazines. This work has a few hunting stories, but also has extended discussions of ballistics, the merits of different guns, or the best fishing lures for certain fish. If you like this kind of book, you’ll enjoy Capsticks humor and arguments, but if not this book will probably bore you.

[Forrest Yoder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Endlessly entertaining

Adventure, peril, the outdoors, guns, knives, bare hands. Hunt the world from your armchair through the writings of Peter Hathaway chapstick.

[Caleb M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite Capstick book I've read, yet. Some great diverse stories from all over the world. Particularly South and Central America. My favorites are the killer baboons and the huge Argentinian hogs. Some great stories of jaguar hunting in Brazil, as well.

[Todd Kiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another smashing book by Capstick. Great stuff. He puts you right there in the action. Love his work.

[Craig Schlossin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Capstick.

[WayBackWhen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic stuff.

[G.C. Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like stories of dangerous game hunting in Africa, then you'll love Peter Capstick. His books have probably drawn more adventurers to Africa than anyone else. Unfortunately, rumor has it that he was a drunkard and most of his stories he stole from Professional Hunters and claimed them as his own. Still, his stories are exciting, with equally sinister sounding names like Death In The Silent Places and Death In A Lonely Land.

[Jeremiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been wanting to read a safari, exotic hunt type book and this one filled the need.