Book: The Hunting Game by Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas

Book: The Hunting Game by Kevin Thomas

Chapter 25: Crawford Fletcher ‘Chimpongani’ Jamieson - a Rhodesian Hunting Legend
In 1929, at age 24 he decided to embark on a professional hunting career, and after working in the construction field as a plasterer, he soon earned enough money to set himself up. It’s probably as well to mention here, that a ‘professional hunter’ of that era earned a living by hunting elephant for himself. Unlike a professional hunter of today, who guides paying safari clients to shoot trophy animals. With his hard-earned construction money Fletcher bought two heavy doubles. A .500/.450 Holland & Holland Royal, which became his favourite. And a Manton .577 to use as back up in the Zambezi Valley jesse thickets.
Thereafter, and throughout his professional hunting career Jamieson kept meticulous daily journals. Unfortunately, for those seeking an exciting read, there’s little reference to narrow escapes and charges! Rather, there are numerous references to one-shot kills, which certainly indicate he must have been a proficient and controlled hunter, not given to panic when near elephant. One such entry partially reads, ‘We halted, and suddenly, without warning, a large bull broke cover about six paces from me. A hasty but well-placed shot at that short range brought him down. The herd stampeded, but I managed to get in another two shots, bringing down two more elephants’. It’s possible too, that like Taylor, Fletch didn’t record too many close shaves with wounded game – feeling perhaps, that wounding game rather than killing it cleanly was a mark of inefficiency. In Taylor and Jamieson’s minds, something no proficient hunter should allow to happen.

Chapter 25: Photo Caption: Fletcher Jamieson sitting at rear, with his .500 Jeffery Rimless, and closer to the camera, his brother Norman.
Wow. That would've been a hell of a time to be alive. Awesome, thank you for sharing this
 

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