jack o'connor quotes

[220yotekiller]

l meant to do this a couple of days ago but was super busy and forgot about it, jack o'connor was born january 22/1902 and passed away january 20/1978. l grew up reading his books as a kid and still do today, his data is outdated but l think that a lot of his wisdom has been overlooked. what are some of his best quotes...

''...this is a very academic advantage as the average elk hunter never uses the shoulder shot and couldn't locate the shoulder blade with the aid of three bloodhounds and an anatomical chart...'' -the art of hunting big game

 

[TheGrayRider]

“This is no game for the weak-kneed and faint-hearted. Hunter success is not high, not because there aren’t enough sheep but because there aren’t enough people with the temperament to become sheep hunters.”

—Jack O’Connor, “The Bighorn,” March 1960.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Great writer and hunter. Would have loved to hunt with him.

 

[OntarioHunter]

"Everyone should hunt with a .270 because ... well ... just because."

He was around way back when I was new to the hunting game but I wasn't into reading outdoors magazines or books. I preferred nonfiction.

 

[BigHornRam]

Some good sheep quotes here.

20 of Jack O'Connor's Greatest Quotes on Sheep Hunting

Jack O'Connor wrote dozens of sheep stories while working as Outdoor Life's shooting editor, and these are some of the best quotes from them.

www.outdoorlife.com

1. Sheep Sickness
There is no half way. After his first exposure, a man is either a sheep hunter or he isn’t. He either falls under the spell of sheep hunting and sheep country or he won’t be caught dead on another sheep mountain.
—”The Bighorn,” March 1960

2. Earn a Sheep
If I’ve learned one thing in 40 years of seeking the majestic wild ram, it is that hunting him is not a privilege to be taken lightly.
—”Sheep Hunting is an Art,” February 1971

5. Magic on the Mount
The wild ram embodies the mystery and magic of the mountains, the rocky canyons, the snowy peaks, the fragrant alpine meadows, the gray slide rock, the icy, dancing rills fed by snowbank and glacier, the sweet, clean air of the high places, and the sense of being alone on the top of the world with the eagles, the marmots, and the wild sheep themselves.
—“The Bighorn,”

14. Lusting Away
Rams, rams everywhere—but try to get a shot. Stalking was impossible, driving exceedingly doubtful. About all we could do was to look at them through the spotting scope and drool.
—”The Last Sheep Hunt,” August 1972

 

[Zak]

From "Hunting on Three Continents" Volume I:

Desert sheep permits are in great demand because the desert ram has become the No. 1 status symbol among big-game hunters. A member of the Arizona Game Commission told me that Arizona could sell every permit they issued for $5,000--maybe even $10,000.

 

[NAHMINT]

And for all the hype about 'old Jack,
he thought the .30-o6 WAS a better all around cartridge.
he loaded a .30-o6 for his wife with solids while after Cape Buff in Africa. Pure Applesauce as he was fond of saying !!

 

[hank4elk]

And for all the hype about 'old Jack,
he thought the .30-o6 WAS a better all around cartridge.
he loaded a .30-o6 for his wife with solids while after Cape Buff in Africa. Pure Applesauce as he was fond of saying !!

But it is...LOL
He loved the 270 in later years.

 

[Steiny77]

Have read most of his stuff.
Went sheep hunting in 96' purchased a pre-64 Winchester Mod 70, .270 with a Weaver K6 to shoot my dall ram.

 

[noharleyyet]

He'd have been a colorful Insta influencer....; )

 

[mtmiller]

"Fear the millionaire that burns his shit and never misses with a shotgun." Jack O'Connor

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

These quotes might as well have been written by Boddington....

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Some good sheep quotes here.

1. Sheep Sickness
There is no half way. After his first exposure, a man is either a sheep hunter or he isn’t. He either falls under the spell of sheep hunting and sheep country or he won’t be caught dead on another sheep mountain.
—”The Bighorn,” March 1960

I've seen that one a bunch and just don't agree. There's a lot of room between falling under the spell and not being caught dead on another sheep mountain that people fit into.

 

[BigHornRam]

"Eleanor, if you shoot a young ram like Craig Boddington's wife did, I'm divorcing you."
Jack O'Connor

 

[220yotekiller]

He'd have been a colorful Insta influencer....; )

he would give them tongue lashing and then run them back to the rock that the crawled out from under.

 

[220yotekiller]

"Eleanor, if you shoot a young ram like Craig Boddington's wife did, I'm divorcing you."
Jack O'Connor

hahahahahaha

 

[Wind Gypsy]

he would give them tongue lashing and then run them back to the rock that the crawled out from under.

I've never read much O'connor but are you sure he isn't just the mid 20th century version of Cam Hanes?

 

[Schaaf]

In the United States it is another story- and a very sad and depressing one. In the high Rockies, in the deserts, wherever sheep were found, they have gone down, down, down. They were quickly exterminated from the more accessible portions of their range- the Badlands of the Dakotas, the little mountains and buttes of Wyoming and Montana, the canyon country of the Big Bend of Texas, the Navajo country of northern Arizona, the lava beds of California and Oregon.
Even in the highest and wildest country, they are not doing well, and year by year they grow gradually fewer. As a concrete example, the high Santa Catalina mountains of Southern Arizona formed great sheep country at one time. Even as late as 1910, it was estimated that there were around 1500 sheep there. In 1934 a rather careful survey arrived at an estimate of 150. A few years later there were less than 40, and in 1944, when for the first time in many years the area where they ranged was opened to deer hunting, all evidence showed there were only about 20 left. The herd is now so small that inbreeding alone will doom it in a few years.

I think about this one quite a bit. Not so sure much has changed in the 80 years since it was written. Native sheep face a grim future and Montana suffers from such a severe shifting baseline syndrome on what is Sheep habitat that I don't see anything getting better anytime soon.

 

[220yotekiller]

I've never read much O'connor but are you sure he isn't just the mid 20th century version of Cam Hanes?

not really, he actually did what he wrote about.

 

[BTripp86]

I've never read much O'connor but are you sure he isn't just the mid 20th century version of Cam Hanes?

No...just no. Nope, not at all. NO