Hunting History Books

These hunting history books include titles on hunting in the ancient world, ancient hunting weapons, the impact of hunting on historical events, women big game hunters and much more.

J K Anderson

Hunting In The Ancient World by J K Anderson (1985) is a detailed look at hunting from the Bronze Age to late antiquity, focusing mainly on Greece and Rome but with some information on other cultures like Persia and Assyria.

Howard Blackmore

Hunting Weapons From The Middle Ages To The Twentieth Century by Howard Blackmore (2000) is a detailed, comprehensive account of swords, knives and bayonets, staff weapons, bows, crossbows, guns and other miscellaneous arms dating from the Middle Ages to modern times. Over 280 contemporary illustrations catalogue the spear of a Roman hunter, a medieval broad arrow, a harpoon gun fired by whalers and much else. An indispensable reference for collectors, students of weaponry, and anyone intrigued by antique hunting weapons and their use.

Kurt Bluchel

Game And Hunting by Kurt Bluchel (1997). Hunting has been a crucial element in the development of mankind. Drawing on the works of artists, hunters, historians and journalists, this text traces the role of hunting in human civilisation over centuries.

Michael Brander

The Hunting Instinct: The Development Of Field Sports Over The Ages by Michael Brander (1964) covers hunting, shooting, coursing, hawking and angling - their relation to historical events, effect on life in general and on land and society.

Perfect Victorian Hero: Life And Times Of Sir Samuel White Baker by Michael Brander (1982) is a fascinating biography of the Victorian explorer, administrator, soldier and hunter. After farming in Ceylon, exploring Abyssinia and searching for the source of the Nile, Samuel Baker returned to England with a celebrity status. He later returned to Africa with authority from the Prince of Wales to bring an end to the slave trade.

The Big Game Hunters by Michael Brander (1988). Portrays the lives and expeditions of the principal big game hunters, from the days of the muzzle loading flintlock to the modern breech-loading express rifle. Short biographies of many of the early African and Indian big-game hunters including Walter Campbell, William Cornwallis Harris, R G Gordon Cumming, William Cotton Oswell, Sir Samuel White Baker, Henry Astbury Leveson, James Forsyth, William Rice, Alexander Kinloch, Arthur Neumann, Frederick Selous, John Guille Millais, Theodore Roosevelt, C H Stigand, James Sutherland, James Dunbar, Archibald Brander and W D M Bell.

A Shooting Anthology by Michael Brander (1993) begins in the earliest days of shooting in the 1600s and includes extracts from Thornton, Hawker, Daniel, Hangar, Osbaldston, Dickens, Baker, Walsh, Speedy and Forsyth from the 19th century and many of the big-game hunter/writers of the early twentieth century.

Matt Cartmill

A View To A Death In The Morning: Hunting And Nature Through History by Matt Cartmill (1993) describes how hunting has figured in the Western imagination from the myth of Artemis to the tale of Bambi. This richly illustrated book will captivate readers on every side of the dilemma, from the most avid hunters to their most vehement opponents to those who simply wonder about the importance of hunting in human nature. Kindle Version

Jay Cassell

The Gigantic Book Of Hunting Stories by Jay Cassell (2008) has something for everyone who hunts, be they rabbit hunters in the deep South, Cape buffalo hunters in the African bush, or white-tailed deer hunters in the woods of North America. Its selections celebrate hunting for big game, small game, waterfowl, upland birds, African and Asian game and much more. Kindle Version

Harry Graham

The Complete Sportsman: Compiled From The Occassional (sic) Papers Of Reginald Drake Biffin by Harry Graham (1914) is an amusing collection of articles taking a tongue-in-cheek look at various sports - shooting, big-game hunting, angling and lesser occupations, taken from the journal of a fictitious character, 'Reginald Drake Biffin'. Free eBook

Chambless Johnston

Africa And The Hunting Tradition by Chambless Johnston (2007) discusses the history of hunting as it has been passed down through generations in Africa. This book describes animals that hunters and explorers have witnessed and hunted in Africa from the beginning of time.

Fact And Fiction: Hunting & Fishing Stories by Chambless Johnston (2010) is an anthology of short fictional and non-fictional stories about bass fishing through to big game hunting, all taken from the author's own experiences.

Robert F Jones

African Twilight: The Story Of A Hunter by Robert F Jones (1994) details, in twelve stories, the hunts, the danger and the changing face of Africa over a span of three decades. It also traces the evolution of a hunter and his relationship with the professional hunters, the native Africans, the wildlife and the land, the Africa that was and Africa as it is today.

Bob Kuhn

Remington's Portfolio of Great Game Of The World by Bob Kuhn (1969) contains 12 colour lithographs of international big game animals.

Servaas D Le Roux

Pioneers And Sportsmen Of South Africa 1760-1890 by Servaas D Le Roux (1939)

John M MacKenzie

The Empire Of Nature: Hunting, Conservation And British Imperialism by John M MacKenzie (1988) assesses the significance of the hunting cult as a major element of the imperial experience in Africa and Asia. Through a study of the game laws and the beginnings of conservation in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the author demonstrates the racial inequalities which existed between Europeans and indigenous hunters. Africans were denied access to game and the development of game reserves and national parks accelerated this process. Indigenous hunters in Africa and India were turned into "poachers" and only Europeans were permitted to hunt. In India, the hunting of animals became the chief recreation of military officers and civilian officials, a source of display and symbolic dominance of the environment. Imperial hunting fed the natural history craze of the day and many hunters collected trophies and specimens for private and public collections as well as contributing to hunting literature. Adopting a radical approach to issues of conservation, this book links the hunting cult in Africa and India to the development of conservation and consolidates widely-scattered material on the importance of hunting to the economics and nutrition of African societies.

Andrew Phillips

A Hunting Heritage: Fifty Years Of Shikar-Safari Club by Andrew Phillips (2002). The Shikar-Safari Club is the oldest international hunting club in existence in North America. Its members hail from all over the world, and it can safely be said that on a per-member basis, no other club in the world has more hunting experience than these dedicated sportsmen and women. To celebrate its 50th year, the club asked every member to contribute one big game hunting story to this book. The animals pursued range from mule deer to elephant. In between there are bighorn sheep, bongo, lion, leopard, polar bear, elk and many other of the world's most sought-after trophies from Asia, Africa and the Americas. The contributors read like a who's who of the hunting world, including some very interesting historical names, now departed, who wrote stories for the club in earlier times, as well as many current and active members: William Bond, John LaGarde, Ian Henderson, Elgin Gates, Guy Coheleach, Ricardo Medem, Harry Tennison, Butch White, Robert Lee, Rudolf Sand, Fred Huntington, Bert Klineburger, Watson Yoshimoto, Pete Papac, Basie Maartens, Sherwin Scott, Lynn Castle, and Robert Speegle, to name but a few! There are many more contributors, in all over 115 different stories.

Angela Thompsell

Hunting Africa: British Sport, African Knowledge And The Nature Of Empire by Angela Thompsell (2015) looks at the mix of imperial, interpersonal and regional relations that shaped and directed hunters’ encounters in Africa. The author evaluates the impact that imperial hunters had on the politics and people of Africa. Specifically, she analyzes negotiations between British hunters and African people and discovers that early British hunters relied on Africans to help them track the game, find water and supplies and cross the terrain.

Anthony C Tirri

Islamic And Native Weapons Of Colonial Africa, 1800-1960 by Anthony C Tirri (2007) is one of the most comprehensive books ever written on African weapons. African weapons have been presented country by country in a clockwise manner starting with Sudan. All efforts have been made to place accuracy foremost.

Henry C Watson

Thrilling Adventures Of Hunters In The Old World And The New by Henry C Watson (1853). Accounts of big game hunting in Africa for elephants, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles and lions, in India for tigers and boa constrictors, in South America for jaguar, in North America for wolves, bison, moose and elk. Also accounts of hunting and fighting bears, most notably the grizzly bears. A fascinating tale of early and fearless frontiersmen and hunters.

Captain Thomas Williamson

Oriental Field Sports by Captain Thomas Williamson (1808) 'Being a Complete, Detailed & Accurate Description of the Wild Sports of the East; & Exhibiting, in a Novel & Interesting Manner, the Natural History of the Elephant, the Rhinoceros, the Tiger, the Leopard, the Bear. As Likewise the Different Species of Feathered Game, Fishes, & Serpents.&c.'

Derek Wilson and Peter Ayerst

White Gold: The Story Of African Ivory by Derek Wilson and Peter Ayerst (1976) traces the relationship of elephant and man from prehistoric times through to the present. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the game hunters, the ivory traders and the slavers were entwined in the ivory trade. Many legendery figures occur throughout the book - Tippu Tip, Stanley, Gordon, Emin Pasha and the great white hunters - Selous, Sutherland and Oswell. Stories of treachery and greed as well as thrilling exploits of the hunt.