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CRAIG BODDINGTON AT FRED HALL -- matthews-ONS -- 14feb07
Craig Boddington: a real life Indiana Jones headlining Hall Show
By JIM MATTHEWS Outdoor News Service
Craig Boddington is about as close to Indiana Jones as any real human being today. His life isn't a Hollywood fantasy, but a real life lived large.
Boddington has traveled all over the world hunting big game in exotic locations. He has been charged by lions and leopards, shot at by elephant poachers, and once he was sitting in a tree above 22 terrorist who surely would have killed him if he'd been discovered.
Since 1978, Boddington has one of the most prolific writers in the world on big game hunting and proper hunting armament, authoring over 2,500 magazine articles and writing or co-writing 18 books on hunting and shooting. In 2006, he spent over 150 days in Africa filming the television series, "Tracks Across Africa," which airs on The Outdoor Channel. While he would argue about this contention, Boddington is one of the most influential writers and perhaps the most famous hunting celebrity of this generation. He also ranks among the great names of past generations of hunting writers, like Jack O'Connor and Robert Ruark, but he downplays his influence.
"I truly don't believe any body of my generation will ever have the reach or the power that Jack O'Connor or Warren Page had," said Boddington. "Magazines aren't as powerful as they used to be -- it's a multi-media world."
But Boddington's accomplishments and influence in all of the outdoor media would tend to suggest otherwise. It could be argued that he is perhaps the most well-known hunting writer of all time.
Boddington will speak about his Indiana Jones-like life daily during the Fred J. Hall Fishing Tackle, Boat and Travel Show to be staged at the Long Beach Convention Center March 7-11.
Retired as a Colonel from the United States Marine Corp Reserve after 31 years, Boddington saw active duty service in Afghanistan and Iraq, being called up six times, but it was while hunting as a young man that he saw his most dangerous duty.
"Probably the most scared I've ever been while hunting was 30 years ago in Zimbabwe," said Boddington. "A lion had killed a steer, so we built a machan, setting up over the carcass. It was moonlit night, and as I recall there were 22 of them. We called them terrorists then, now they call them 'freedom fighters.' But what was for us 22 of the bad guys came out of Mozambique and took a rest break underneath our tree. I don't know how long they were there, but it seemed like a real, real long evening. That's the most scared I've ever been in my life."
The 53-year-old writer has been on 55 African safaris, and his accomplishments as a hunter and writer fill five pages of a resume. He became the first American to hunt in Greece since before World War II when he hunted ibex there last year. His lifetime tally on big game animals includes 198 different species. He's the only living writer to have taken all of Africa's big five -- elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and buffalo -- and to have taken all of the spiral-horned antelope in Africa. He's also the only writer in history to have taken mountain sheep from the world's 12 different varieties of sheep -- a world slam. ''Even Jack O'Connor didn't do that."
The Kansas native now lives in Paso Robles, and while he spends much of his time in Africa now hosting the "Tracks Across Africa" televison show, Boddington admits that he still has a fondness for North American deer hunting, saying if he had to choose just one animal to hunt, it would be our deer.
"If someone says, pick just one, that's hard, but for me that would have to be North American deer because thats what we all grew up with. That's still the great big game adventure. For me, I grew up in Kansas when there wasn't a deer season, and we didn't have a modern deer season until I was 14 or 15. So to go deer hunting was the ultimate adventure. That surpassed anything O'Connor or [Warren] Page wrote about because that was forbidden fruit, we couldn't do that. And so to this day, if I had to pick one, it would be a good deer hunt for any variety, but probably learning toward whitetail because they are the most difficult," said Boddington.
But he is quick to add that Africa has a strong hold on his heart.
"Africa still is my favorite place. Culturally, to watch the African trackers do their thing is a fantastic experience," said Boddington. And then there's buffalo, his favorite big game animal next to North American deer.
"I never get tired of hunting buffalo. It has all the elements that make a hunt great. It's physical. You get to watch the great African trackers do their thing. The animals are exciting. Get close to them, it gets real exciting because there is some element of danger," said Boddington.
It is the romance of Africa that still attracts so many hunters from around the world to the Dark Continent, and it's one of the most affordable hunts a man can take today.
"You can have a really great African hunt for the cost of a decent elk hunt in most of the American West. You can do a safari for buffalo plus plains game or leopard and plains game for the price of a moose hunt in Alaska. Africa remains a tremendous bargain," said Boddington. "Where does the adventure lie? Where do you get the most bang for you buck? Africa."
Boddington will speak about his adventures during the Hall Show, focusing on African hunting. Boddington's audio-visual presentations will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and at 1:15 p.m. Saturday and Sunday during the show. He will also be in his booth in the upstairs hunting section of the show during most show hours, autographing books and videos, and swapping stories with people attending the show.
It's not every day you get an opportunity to meet a real-life Indiana Jones.
Craig Boddington: a real life Indiana Jones headlining Hall Show
By JIM MATTHEWS Outdoor News Service
Craig Boddington is about as close to Indiana Jones as any real human being today. His life isn't a Hollywood fantasy, but a real life lived large.
Boddington has traveled all over the world hunting big game in exotic locations. He has been charged by lions and leopards, shot at by elephant poachers, and once he was sitting in a tree above 22 terrorist who surely would have killed him if he'd been discovered.
Since 1978, Boddington has one of the most prolific writers in the world on big game hunting and proper hunting armament, authoring over 2,500 magazine articles and writing or co-writing 18 books on hunting and shooting. In 2006, he spent over 150 days in Africa filming the television series, "Tracks Across Africa," which airs on The Outdoor Channel. While he would argue about this contention, Boddington is one of the most influential writers and perhaps the most famous hunting celebrity of this generation. He also ranks among the great names of past generations of hunting writers, like Jack O'Connor and Robert Ruark, but he downplays his influence.
"I truly don't believe any body of my generation will ever have the reach or the power that Jack O'Connor or Warren Page had," said Boddington. "Magazines aren't as powerful as they used to be -- it's a multi-media world."
But Boddington's accomplishments and influence in all of the outdoor media would tend to suggest otherwise. It could be argued that he is perhaps the most well-known hunting writer of all time.
Boddington will speak about his Indiana Jones-like life daily during the Fred J. Hall Fishing Tackle, Boat and Travel Show to be staged at the Long Beach Convention Center March 7-11.
Retired as a Colonel from the United States Marine Corp Reserve after 31 years, Boddington saw active duty service in Afghanistan and Iraq, being called up six times, but it was while hunting as a young man that he saw his most dangerous duty.
"Probably the most scared I've ever been while hunting was 30 years ago in Zimbabwe," said Boddington. "A lion had killed a steer, so we built a machan, setting up over the carcass. It was moonlit night, and as I recall there were 22 of them. We called them terrorists then, now they call them 'freedom fighters.' But what was for us 22 of the bad guys came out of Mozambique and took a rest break underneath our tree. I don't know how long they were there, but it seemed like a real, real long evening. That's the most scared I've ever been in my life."
The 53-year-old writer has been on 55 African safaris, and his accomplishments as a hunter and writer fill five pages of a resume. He became the first American to hunt in Greece since before World War II when he hunted ibex there last year. His lifetime tally on big game animals includes 198 different species. He's the only living writer to have taken all of Africa's big five -- elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and buffalo -- and to have taken all of the spiral-horned antelope in Africa. He's also the only writer in history to have taken mountain sheep from the world's 12 different varieties of sheep -- a world slam. ''Even Jack O'Connor didn't do that."
The Kansas native now lives in Paso Robles, and while he spends much of his time in Africa now hosting the "Tracks Across Africa" televison show, Boddington admits that he still has a fondness for North American deer hunting, saying if he had to choose just one animal to hunt, it would be our deer.
"If someone says, pick just one, that's hard, but for me that would have to be North American deer because thats what we all grew up with. That's still the great big game adventure. For me, I grew up in Kansas when there wasn't a deer season, and we didn't have a modern deer season until I was 14 or 15. So to go deer hunting was the ultimate adventure. That surpassed anything O'Connor or [Warren] Page wrote about because that was forbidden fruit, we couldn't do that. And so to this day, if I had to pick one, it would be a good deer hunt for any variety, but probably learning toward whitetail because they are the most difficult," said Boddington.
But he is quick to add that Africa has a strong hold on his heart.
"Africa still is my favorite place. Culturally, to watch the African trackers do their thing is a fantastic experience," said Boddington. And then there's buffalo, his favorite big game animal next to North American deer.
"I never get tired of hunting buffalo. It has all the elements that make a hunt great. It's physical. You get to watch the great African trackers do their thing. The animals are exciting. Get close to them, it gets real exciting because there is some element of danger," said Boddington.
It is the romance of Africa that still attracts so many hunters from around the world to the Dark Continent, and it's one of the most affordable hunts a man can take today.
"You can have a really great African hunt for the cost of a decent elk hunt in most of the American West. You can do a safari for buffalo plus plains game or leopard and plains game for the price of a moose hunt in Alaska. Africa remains a tremendous bargain," said Boddington. "Where does the adventure lie? Where do you get the most bang for you buck? Africa."
Boddington will speak about his adventures during the Hall Show, focusing on African hunting. Boddington's audio-visual presentations will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and at 1:15 p.m. Saturday and Sunday during the show. He will also be in his booth in the upstairs hunting section of the show during most show hours, autographing books and videos, and swapping stories with people attending the show.
It's not every day you get an opportunity to meet a real-life Indiana Jones.
