Peter Capstick, bartender

[JHT]

Can someone refer me to the Sundra article that alleges Mr. Capstick was merely a bartender? I have heard of the article but have been unable to find. Thank you.

 

[jacques smith]

My thinking has always been that he was a successful stock trader who simply chose to recreate himself as an outfitter-guide. That profession includes bar tending

 

[Red Leg]

I am unaware of the Sundra article, but many of the now old timers (most of whom are getting to be really old ) in the business - one who is a pretty good acquaintance of mine and actually worked with Capstick back in the day - have always found the purely autobiographical nature of many of his adventures amusing. He did PH in Africa and he did often manage the camp bar. He heard a lot of great stories, experienced some, and of course, embellished others. He is hardly the first writer to do so, and will not be the last. What he also could do was write in an extremely readable and entertaining style. I, for one, could care less about the forensic analysis of the veracity of every line in each of his tales. I recommend his early work (i.e. "Death in the Long Grass" and "Death in the Silent Places") to anyone remotely interested in someday hunting Africa. From an enjoyment perspective, I would rather reread either of them than anything by Sundra or Boddington.

 

[Velo Dog]

A few years back, I had met Bryan Smith who told me he had at some point been Capstick’s employer, in Zambia.
Smith said that, “Paita was a good PH, but did stretch the truth a bit and Paita also did enjoy the cocktail hour very much”.
Smith spoke highly of Capstick and seemed tickled by Capstick’s tendency to fib now and then.

 

[John Wasmuth]

He was a genuinely good person and wrote some great stories and he was the first person to tell us that “this didn’t happen to me but...”. Most here that foul mouth him don’t rate to carry his shoes.

 

[sestoppelman]

Capstick got his hunting feet wet hunting cats in South America, dont recall for how long, probably not very. He was certainly more than a bartender, as above that goes with the job to an extent. He was a licensed PH in two or three countries at least, and not without experience.
Many like to paint him as just a total phony, but I have never bought into that notion. It smacks of jealousy.

 

[C.W. Richter]

I am unaware of the Sundra article, but many of the now old timers (most of whom are getting to be really old ) in the business - one who is a pretty good acquaintance of mine and actually worked with Capstick back in the day - have always found the purely autobiographical nature of many of his adventures amusing. He did PH in Africa and he did often manage the camp bar. He heard a lot of great stories, experienced some, and of course, embellished others. He is hardly the first writer to do so, and will not be the last. What he also could do was write in an extremely readable and entertaining style. I, for one, could care less about the forensic analysis of the veracity of every line in each of his tales. I recommend his early work (i.e. "Death in the Long Grass" and "Death in the Silent Places") to anyone remotely interested in someday hunting Africa. From an enjoyment perspective, I would rather reread either of them than anything by Sundra or Boddington.

Yes, I think the term "bartender" was somewhat of a play...He enjoyed a good drink(s) after hunting, was an entertaining host, and one quite apt to serve drinks to the group (while en route to helping himself!) 'Have all of his books and videos-quite a character. I believe his mother may have been related to TR. He was known to drink-a LOT, thus the nickname "Bartender." He could've lived quite a bit longer...He learned quite a bit about DG while serving as an elephant "cropping officer" in Zambia. What a job for someone like him! He bailed on the corporate world and I can't blame him.

 

[C.W. Richter]

In his DG video series, he hunts with the best of the best in the '80s (Ronnie Blackbeard, Volker Grellham, Gordon Cundhill, Jeff Rann, etc. etc.) and he interviewed them and many of the earlier greats (Wally Johnson, et. al.) for his books. In one video, sitting around the fire having drinks, Gordon is explaining how to do DG hunting right, but he also ribs Capstick by stating he'd have no career if not (for embellishing upon in books) things that go wrong! LOL i.e. "Click, click-Nothing" <double rifle old cartridges misfire-during charge> lol All good fun! He was a Promoter.

 

[Muskox]

He made going to Africa a thing. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have ever gone.

 

[Laniarius]

I agree with what seems to be the aggregate, median opinion, that he was in fact a PH but excelled as a storyteller.

Here's something I'm really curious about: a few years ago I found a forum discussion where someone claimed to have known him well, and that Capstick served in Vietnam. I've looked again recently and didn't find the thread. Anyway, the question is what did Capstick actually experience in the army? He says he was in the US Army for a time (sorry, I don't remember which book(s)). And this is kind of relevant to this discussion because if he did in fact see combat, he was very understated about it, which suggests a certain modesty or reticence. He also mentions somewhere else that he had seen "various wars" or something like that. He in no way plays himself up as a soldier. It could just be what he saw on the edge of things as a civilian in Rhodesia.

The culture was different back then, where there wasn't much of a market for veterans writing their stories until Soldier of Fortune magazine provided that outlet. Who knows? The assertion I saw on that thread could be mistaken or fabricated. But I could also just barely believe a story where Capstick actually was in Vietnam and just didn't want to write about it because of bad memories or something else. Very roughly, it might work out based on his age. He would've been 20 in 1960. He never finished college, and only worked a few years on Wall St. I don't know if he was in the army before or after college. If before, it's unlikely that he went to Vietnam because he was too young and in the early days I think they were mostly sending more experienced soldiers. If was in just after college, it's possible that he served a few years, say around '62-'65, before he went to Wall St., then got into international hunting around 1966 before he went to Africa in 1968.

 

[Happy Myles]

Peter was a great writer of Africa safari. Several old time PHs from different parts of Africa have told me his writings did more for the safari business than any other modern writer. I had spent a 100 days on the ground hunting Zambia over time he was supposed to have been there and never ran into him. I asked an old time Zambian PH where Peter had been and his response was he only knew him when he was managing a non hunting lodge on the Luangwa River. Apparently PHs hung out there hustling birdwatchers between safaris And Peter tended bar in the evening and listened to adventure stories. I am sure he was a great bartender. My friend, the PH, felt at some point Peter was a professional hunter somewhere. I ran into Peter in Africa a couple times after he was famous and liked him very much. We also occasionally had a drink at SCI. He was much better at that than I. He was a great writer and if he did stretch the truth he did it better than most writers and other hunters. Cheers for Peter, we are better having had him, nobody did it better.

 

[Jfet]

J. Frank Dobie a literature professor at Texas University who collected many tales of life on the frontier of Texas and the Southwest was known to tell his students, “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.”

 

[JHT]

Certainly he could turn ink to gold, inspired thousands to hunt Africa, hunted there himself, and like any good hunter or fisherman, embellished “his” exploits; but what I’m asking about is the John R. Sundra article that paints him a bartender only. Even with investigative prowess I have, thus far, been unable to find such article. Surely it exists as it is so often quoted by Mr. Capstick’s critics or is it more like what I heard about Kordell Stewart?

 

[baxterb]

The only PH I know of who put in writing anything about Capstick was John Northcote. This excepting Tink Nathan who spoke more as a friend than a peer.

I have always liked Capstick and can’t help but think a lot of safari operators secretly thank him for having kept the dream alive in the late-ish 20th century. Smirk they may, but no other person infused people with the adventure of safari in our lifetimes.

consider this..Death in the Long Grass has never been out of print and is STILL published by a major publisher, ST. Martins. No other (primarily) Africa writer can claim that.

 

[Happy Myles]

I was born a few months before Peter Capstick. As a young man, if someone offered me the job as a bartender in a swanky lodge located on the banks of the stunning Luangwa river in Zambia, loaded with non hunting women on exotic vacation tours, while I looked for a job as a professional hunter. I may have jumped at the chance. There may have been a score of others begging for the job. We will never know.

 

[Velo Dog]

While I was an Anchorage Police Officer, he came to Anchorage and spoke at a banquet, in the Captain Cook Hotel here.
Unfortunately, I had to work that evening, babysitting our local assholes and violent retards.
I wish I had met Peter Capstick instead.

 

[npm352]

In the writing world it is called poetic license. Probably only he knows to what extent he used it.

To me it doesn't matter. I have great respect for him as a writer and hunter. We talk about "influencers" in social media today. Those clowns are only as good as their last picture and will fade into obscurity one by one right behind the next person who kills bigger stuff and sticks it on Instagram.

Capstick was one of (if not the most influential) of the primary "influencers" for African hunting ever and will remain so. His books will always be around. He immortalized the African experience in a way that puts you right there next to him, or holding the rifle. His writing was clear and readable and he traded bravado (Hemingway) for very humorous self-depreciation at times in such a way that made him seem relatable and approachable, and he always showed a respect and reverence for the game he hunted.

Many of us would not be on this website not for Peter Capstick.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Art Alphin would not have developed the 470 capstick for nothing....

 

[Cervus elaphus]

I agree with what seems to be the aggregate, median opinion, that he was in fact a PH but excelled as a storyteller.

Here's something I'm really curious about: a few years ago I found a forum discussion where someone claimed to have known him well, and that Capstick served in Vietnam. I've looked again recently and didn't find the thread. Anyway, the question is what did Capstick actually experience in the army? He says he was in the US Army for a time (sorry, I don't remember which book(s)). And this is kind of relevant to this discussion because if he did in fact see combat, he was very understated about it, which suggests a certain modesty or reticence. He also mentions somewhere else that he had seen "various wars" or something like that. He in no way plays himself up as a soldier. It could just be what he saw on the edge of things as a civilian in Rhodesia.

The culture was different back then, where there wasn't much of a market for veterans writing their stories until Soldier of Fortune magazine provided that outlet. Who knows? The assertion I saw on that thread could be mistaken or fabricated. But I could also just barely believe a story where Capstick actually was in Vietnam and just didn't want to write about it because of bad memories or something else. Very roughly, it might work out based on his age. He would've been 20 in 1960. He never finished college, and only worked a few years on Wall St. I don't know if he was in the army before or after college. If before, it's unlikely that he went to Vietnam because he was too young and in the early days I think they were mostly sending more experienced soldiers. If was in just after college, it's possible that he served a few years, say around '62-'65, before he went to Wall St., then got into international hunting around 1966 before he went to Africa in 1968.

I was in Vietnam 1959-60 and didn't see any conscripts around then. There were some mean looking Frenchmen in Saigon, probably stay-ons from Dien Bien Phu. Charlie was around though.

 

[C.W. Richter]

While I was an Anchorage Police Officer, he came to Anchorage and spoke at a banquet, in the Captain Cook Hotel here.
Unfortunately, I had to work that evening, babysitting our local assholes and violent retards.
I wish I had met Peter Capstick instead.

'Son is considering taking his 1st dentist job in AK (as they are in-demand, the pay is high and he can hunt as a resident,) but he/we are concerned about the high crime rate. He wants us to take a trip and check out each major city....They don't make 'em like him anymore, but I am still worried about the whole deal.