Most of Russian hunters have known about Craig Boddington at the beginning of 2000s. His articles, devoted to the hunting weapon and cartridges, were regularly published in the SAFARI magazine, published by the international Safari club (SCI). Later his books, about the usage of that weapon in Africa, came to Russia. Nowadays, he is one of the most popular journalists, the author of two dozen of books and the broadcaster of the TV Show “Boddington’s experience” where he talks about hunting all over the world and about hunting weapon. We present you the interview with him.
Quotes:
Craig Boddington was born in 1953 in Kansas, US. Being the teenager, he was passionate about the boy scout activities and at the age of 17th he became the youngest director of the Regional Boy scout Camp. He graduated the Kansas University and got the degree in English. Later he served in the United States marine corps. In 1978 he stayed in Santa Monica as a reservist and became the hunting outfitter because was sure that hunting was his real vocation. In 2005 he retired with the rank of Colonel.
He began to write even being in the College and continued to do it in the Army. From 1979 he was the staff member of the editorial board Petersen Publishing Company where he worked as a Chief assistant in the popular American magazine "Guns & Ammo”, then he became the editor in “American Blade” and another hunting magazine Petersen's Hunting. He is still the editor of the Petersen's Hunting magazine combining it with the work of a consultant on weapons and ammo in several companies.
Boddington published more than 300 articles in different professional magazines. Starting from 1981, he is the author of twenty-four books devoted to the theme of hunting and ammo. The books were published in England, Australia, Scotland, Canada, Germany, Spain, and, of course, the United States.
The question: Craig, you are known all over the world as well as the mountain hunter too. What aim do you want to achieve when going for a hunting trip: to get the biggest trophy, to add a new trophy to the collection or to enjoy the process?
Craig Boddington: I never thought about myself as about the sheep hunter though I got 20 kinds of species what was enough to get Ovis World Slam Super20. I'm more of the ibex chaser and have CapraWorldSlamsuper30 award in my collection. I don’t hunter for super trophies to the exclusion of all else - the process is more important than the size. But I still try to find the super trophy of the white tail deer!
The question: Do you remember your fist hunt?
C. B.: I was with my Dad and my Grandpa. I was about 11 but I clearly remember that had the Winchester, cal. 20. That year our old dog left us and went to the happy hunting grounds but we did not the new one yet. But my Dad could give the advantage to any hunting dog. He heard the rustle of a brood of partridges, asked me to be ready, It helped me to aim the one of them when the birds flew up. It was my first experience and It was successful. I shot and the bird fell down, then we looked for it in the grass and found it finally. I’d never forget my first Virgin partridge.
The question: How wide is the geography of your hunts?
C.B.: I've hunted hundreds of times in Africa, in 16 countries of that continent, in 17 countries of Europe i hunted 31 times and 14 times I tried my hunting luck in the 11th countries of Asia. I hunted 9 times in the South Pacific and 5 times in South America. I’m not sure how many time I’ve hunted in the North America but I know exactly that I’ve been in 48 States iand in different provinces in USA, Canada and Mexico.
The question: You travel a lot are there some countries where your impressions have happened to be different (to the positive way), from what you expected to see in the reality?
C. B.: Several countries in Eastern Europe really impressed me. I really liked Macedonia, Croatia – it's just a holiday! I liked Estonia and other Baltic countries. In Asia you need to move for long distances to reach the hunting grounds but there is a lot of game there. Pakistan – is all fantastic! The biggest surprise in Africa was Burkina Faso (I was called Upper Volta when I studied at school). I and my wife hunted there in March, 2014. It was one of the hottest months but the trip was successful.
The question: What countries do you consider to be the rising hunting stars tomorrow?
C. B.: Mozambique regained its position as the Safari core in Africa. Probably, the hunting there won’t be never the same as it was in 70s but in the contest of modern Africa I’m really glad for this country. Namibia and South Africa provide 80% of all safari trips on the continent. The hunting situation there had been noticeably improved from the time when I was there at the end of 70s. Argentina is the fantastic place for hunting and I can say so about New Zealand. Our world is huge and there are many great places…
The question: What were your biggest failures?
C. B.: I don’t like to remember about it but once in 1972 I lose the really big Black tail deer and a huge moose in 1997. I hit myself hard and couldn’t take the very good trophy of the Alaska Brown bear in 1995. But I guess these are not the only failures what happened with me during all these years. I don’t belong to guys who are better with their computer than with a gun but I’m not a sniper. I’m honest talking about my failures we all have them. Fortunately, I don’t have many missed shots or the lost trophies to torment because of them. There were some missed opportunities. I was too young when had the chance to hunt for a tiger but the Time machine doesn’t exist and there is no sense to talk about it. Telling the truth, I repent that lost several opportunities to hunt in Iran. Though there were! I almost arrived to Iran when the Shah was deposed but I say almost... It's a pity that I can’t get visa to this country during the last three years. I’m tired to hope and don't want to think about the third attempt but regret that haven’t hunted there.
The question: Will you tell us about your outstanding mountain ungulates trophies.
C. B.: There are not many hunters who are ready to go for Marco Polo. The mountains in Tajikistan, where I hunted, are extremely high and the best hunting season is in the terribly cold. My first attempt in 1998 was not lucky because of the many reasons including the mountain disease too. I suffered from it all time I was there. I also got frostbite on both legs. Then I analyzed all mistakes to correct them. I arrived there once again in 2003. It was the end of November and It was very cold. The hunting trip was going to the end when we detected the nice male on the high ridge. It was difficult to approach the animal because it stood on the open place. We began to come close at 8 am and finished at 4 pm and almost reached the top of the ridge. There was about 700 meters to the sheep. The Russian guides told me that the sheep would go down to our side on the sunset and we started to wait. To wait and to froze. When the sun was going to set down the male really slowly went along the ridge to our direction as if somebody gave it the command. It was 350 meters to the male when I shot and got a good trophy.
Hunting for the Crete ibex, called Kri-Kri, was difficult because of the features of Greek legislation: hunting with rifled weapon and the optic sights is prohibited. The hunting season on the grounds, controlled by the authorities is just a couple of days. I was lucky to get a good trophy in the first hunting day in 2006. I hunted independently on the second day. The landlord sent me to that part of the Sapienza island where was not ibexes but I could try to get the mouflon there. I found the mouflon but suddenly spotted the huge Kri-Kri and got it from 100 m shooting distance. That Kri-Kri trophy was the biggest one, taken in the free-range.
To get the trophy of Markhor with its unique spiral horns for a hunter is like to find the The Holy Grail. I didn’t dare to hope that I would ever succeed. My friend Khan Karakay from Pakistan called me in 2011 and told that had managed to get the licenser for a Sulaiman Markhor. It was the fantastic hunting in the steep and rugged mountains of West Pakistan. I'd ascended twice and both climbing were the most difficult I’d ever did. When we rose the top for the second time, I got the great trophy of the old markhor male. The shooting distance was 390 meters. I cried twice in my life after getting the trophy. The first one was, when I got my first trophy of the Desert sheep in 2003 and the second time - when that screw-horned ibex was rolling down from the mountain.
The question: What other hunts do you remember?
C. B.: Hunting in Himalayas, Nepal was also very interesting and difficult. My first African safari, which became the fateful thing in my life, can be added to this list too. The outstanding safari in Zambia where everything was super and one more in Tanzania where the luck followed me all the way. I have had lots of memorable hunts and I’m glad that they still go on!
The question: Where are you going to hunt in the nearest years?
C. B.: I’m sixty-two and I’m still full of strength to travel where ever I want and happy to do it. I want to get more experience in the mountain hunting and going to devote some time to it. Unfortunately, there are many interesting hunts which are unavailable now. But there are plenty of place on the earth where I haven’t been yet. And some of the splendid place I want to visit once again. One part of me want to stop with all these adventures but another one isn’t ready to rest. It’ll be clear in several years which of them wins.
The question: Is hunting with PH the obligatory element of the hunting tourism? Are you nostalgic the times when you had hunted without the PH?
C. B.: You are absolutely right, It’s one of the disadvantages of the hunting tourism. Being in the hunting trip, I prefer the guides give me more freedom because my hunting experience allows me to do it independently. Hunting alone is one of the things I’m used to do in my small range in Kansas. I chase for a white tail deer there. I’m always alone there and take responsibility for all what I do there.
The question: You were in the army, a marine. Did it help you in hunting?
C. B.: Absolutely. Zell Miller wrote a book “Everything You Need to Know I Learned In the Marines”. I highly recommend you to read it. I was lucky to write the similar book about my scout leader Jess Elder. The secrets of success in life, work or hunting are very easy: discipline, work ethic and communicative skills. Successful people come to it naturally while the others take hard fate punches, before they realize it. I was lucky that I had the hard youth as a boy scout and a marine.
The question: How do you prepare for hunting?
C. B.: There is not any special preparation. I work hard and have to be in a good form always, though it's not an easy matter. I regularly train shooting skills at work. As boy scouts say I’m always ready.
The question: Recently, you often go hunting with your family. It's known that your daughters and your wife not only accompany you but hunted themselves and Brittany is as popular as her father. Is it their choice or your dictate?
C. B.: Hunting is a very special experience which you want to share with people whom you love. Hunting allows us to get the real opportunity to stay with the loved ones beyond most of the distractions of our modern world. I took my daughters for hunting trips from their childhood and then they began to hunt ourselves. We started from the boar hunting in California. It was great! They both fell in love with hunting though I wasn’t sure how they’d treat it. The first serious hunt for them was our trip to Africa. I flew there with Brittany in 2003 and in 2013 with Karoline.
The question: If you can hunt with the Great Hunters from the past, who would you choose?
C. B.: Captain Frederick Courtney Selou - is one of the greatest African hunters and the hunting teacher of Theodore Roosevelt. He was also the researcher and the conservationist. He hunted a lot in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America long before airplanes became a vehicle. He volunteered in the First World War and was killed in Jan,1917 in a few days after his 65 years anniversary. It happened in Tanzania on the place where the hunting reserved Selou, called by his name, is located now. Most of his trophies still take the high ranks in the trophy list of Roland Ward’s Record Book.
The question: What writers do you like and who of them influenced your style?
C. B.: Jack O'Connor was a family friend. He was a friend of my uncle, the brother of my Mum. I didn’t know him well but I admire him as the writer. When I was a child, I was a voracious reader of all hunting classic books. They were John Alexander Hunter, and Karamojo Bell and Jim Corbett. They have been one of the best storytellers and they are so until now. I studied how to formulate the sentences and what words to use to attract the reader when reading their books. But most of all, I love Hemingway. If you ask me about other authors, I’m a big fan of John Le Carre and Nelson De Mille.
The question: You write a lot about high quality equipment for hunters but in recent times pay more and more attention to the budget weapon and devices. Why?
C. B.: My tastes are eclectic and a little conservative. If it were up to me I'd stay North American guy in blue jeans and a wool shirt. As for weapons I’m a snob in this question. I’m interested in good quality rifles. I admit that not all my readers can buy such weapon and I admit the fact that some of the rifles are very expensive not because of their quality but their decoration. The main criteria for all hunters is the rifle must work well and I try to talk about such guns in my programs.
The question: What do you dream about when you have time?
C. B.: If you think that I dream about a rancho in Africa, I’ll say no. I don’t have a desire to spend time in Africa in the rain season when snakes leave their holes. Same time I don’t dream to winter in Alaska because I hate cold. I’m tired a little bit from my travels and not want to travel nonstop as others. I dream to stay at home in Kansas and don’t leave it for a year. Probably I’ll make this dream come true, but nowadays I can stay there not more than one day.
The question: Your rancho in Kansas is the family estate?
C. B.: Not so. Kansas is my motherland but we didn't have family estate there. We bought it about 10 years ago, it was something like "the prodigal son's return”. My Dad always dreamed to have his own rancho but didn’t buy it. He could hunt from time to time or break horses and to feed them there. But it didn't work out for him... This piece of Kansas is my tribute to my father and it makes it very special for me.
The question: Fame requires certain sacrifices. How do you feel about this?
C. B.: Not well! It doesn’t hurt me so much now as it was when I was young. I realize that not all people like me. I make mistakes as we all. Sometime the editors find them before the readers or viewers discover them. None of us is ideal and I’m ready to admit my mistake if I’m not right. I don’t envy the celebrities or other media persons because there are always people who hate them. In the past I tried to defend myself in the chats but then realized that it has no sense. People, who attack and offend me, don’t need the truth, they follow their enmity to me or the desire to become popular among other people. Do I care about it? Of course, that's not nice. At last, I understood that it's stupid to cast my pearls before swine of not want to get more negative in my side. I don’t play these games anymore and not going to give trolls a reason to develop their busy activities in the future.
The question: Do they bother you too?
C. B.: Some people get pleasure to offend others hiding behind the anonymity of your keyboard. I am taking a constant " artillery fire» but people who try to hurt me can't do it. I don’t see any sense why do they do it but they are. My daughter Brittany, who became very popular after printing on the covers her pictures with trophies, gets even more angry emails than I do. Here is appropriate to recall the harassment that Melissa Bachman and Kendall Jones were subjected to. I hope the Supreme Court will make the right decision because we need to stop it. People should take responsibility for their words in social media.
The question: There is a theory that the growth of anti-hunting sentiments is associated with the growing gap between a highly urbanized society and the natural world, which is exploited by anti-hunting organizations…
C.B.: Not so bad as it seems from the first sight but I say about the situation in the United States. The independent canvass, made by the National shooting sports Foundation in 2013, showed that 79% of US population approve of legal hunting. The problem is that the most people see the situation from the only side when bad hunters kill good animals. Not many of them know about environmental, and social functions of hunting. The anti-hunting organizations use it. We need to talk about the positive role of hunting for nature and our society, to educate the population in the issues of environmental management! We can't influence the anti-hunters but these politicized groups are not the majority which will define our future.
The question: What will you say to people who want to make the same career as you have made?
C. B. Don’t forget that you need to enjoy your work. When I was 22 years old, my editor told me not to make hunting business if I like hunting because it’ll turn pleasure into a duty. I always kept it in mind. If you write, make television or organize hunting trips It’ll become your job. Don’t treat it like a chore, you need to love it. I love what I’m doing and won't give it up if something changes.
