The saying goes: “Anyone can kill a deer, but it takes a man to kill a varmint.” In those days cougars and bears were considered varmints and if you are capable of killing a few then you are considered a brave hunter.
Here is a list of top hunters around the globe;
O’Connor wasn’t just a great writer, he was also an incredible hunter.Hunting Heritage and Education Center
Jack O’Connor
O’Connor became the most prominent writer to work for Outdoor Life magazine after he filed his first article in 1934. But O’Connor wasn’t just a great writer, he was also an incredible hunter.
He is best known for his skill as a sheep hunter. O’Connor had taken three or more of each of the four wild sheep species in North America by 1946 and became only the fourth man to do so.
Through his adventures and writings (he penned a total of 16 hardcover books) he inspired generations of hunters to take to the wild.
Jim Corbett
Corbett played a major role in establishing India’s first national park, Hailey National Park (later renamed Jim Corbett National Park).
Corbett is perhaps the most famous dangerous game hunter of all time. He was a colonel in the British Indian army and throughout his career he was called upon to hunt man-eating tigers and leopards. Between 1907 and 1938 he killed 19 tigers and 14 leopards.
The first tiger he shot, named the Champawat Tiger, reportedly killed 436 people. Corbett grew so adept at killing man-eaters that local villagers began to consider him a sadhu or saint.
Later in life Corbett turned into a conservationist and vowed to only kill big cats that threatened human life. He also played a major role in establishing India’s first national park, Hailey National Park (which was later renamed Jim Corbett National Park).
Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway went on to write several books about Africa including The Green Hills of Africa, The Snows of Kilamanjaro and True at First Light.
Hemingway is one of the country’s greatest writers, but he was also an experienced big-game hunter. As a kid he spent time romping through the woods and waters of Michigan where he learned basic woodsmanship.
As an adult, he hunted the American West, and most famously Africa. In 1933 he went to Africa for three months to hunt and gather writing material.
Hemingway was viewed as a man’s man and sometimes even a bit of a brute. But no one ever questioned his love for Africa or big-game hunting.
HUMAN EATER: Lion Attacks Hunte
He went on to write several books about Africa including The Green Hills of Africa, The Snows of Kilamanjaro and True at First Light.
Teddy Roosevelt
Roosevelt was a lover of wildlife and an avid hunter.Wikimedia
Roosevelt is celebrated as one of driving forces behind the establishment of the country’s national park system. He was a lover of wildlife and an avid hunter.
In 1909 he set out with his son Kermit on an African safari to collect specimens for the Smithsonian Institution.
It turned into one of the largest African Safaris ever and gained world-wide recognition. With a crew of 250 porters and guides they trekked across British East Africa into the Belgian Congo and then back to the Nile ending in Kharoum. The group took 1,100 specimens including 500 big-game species.
Here’s Roosevelt’s recount of a charging rhino he encountered during the expedition: “Before he could get quite all the way round in his headlong rush to reach us, I struck him with my left-hand barrel, the bullet entering between the neck and shoulder and piercing his heart.
At the same instant Captain Slatter fired, his bullet entering the neck vertebrae. Ploughing up the ground with horn and feet, the great bull rhino, still head toward us, dropped just thirteen paces from where we stood.”
Davy Crockett
Crockett developed into an expert marksman as a teenager and an incredibly successful bear hunter.Davy Crockett in 1834
Crockett grew up as a crafty Indian fighter and hunter. He developed into an expert marksman as a teenager and regularly won shooting contests. He was also an incredibly successful bear hunter. According to Crockett himself he once killed 105 bears in just one year.
Daniel Boone
On one occasion Daniel Boone was even captured by Shawnee Indians
Boone explored and helped settle what is now Kentucky. He created the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap allowing settlers to reach Kentucky and gained a legendary status as a guide and tracker.
He was also a professional hunter and would go on long trips where he would spend months in the wilderness with a small group of companions.
On these hunts Boone had to avoid native hunting parties that viewed him as a trespasser.
On one occasion he was even captured by Shawnee Indians.
Iqbal Mauladad (Bali) 1926-1970
Mauladad (aka Bali) was a unique African Professional Hunter, who stood six feet two inches tall, weighed 215 pounds and was of Asian descent––unlike most British PHs.Balimauladad.com
Mauladad (aka Bali) was a unique African Professional Hunter. Unlike most PHs, he was not a white British man with a reputable upbringing and slim build. He stood six feet two inches tall, weighed 215 pounds and was of Asian descent.
But his close encounters with dangerous game earned him a legendary reputation. He was mauled by a leopard and also caught in a stampede of elephants. But his guts paid off and his clients regularly took record book animals, especially elephants.
Howard Hill
Hill has been voted into the Bowhunting Hall of Fame for his successes.Wikimedia
Hill was an expert archer and one of the best bowhunters of all time. He was one of the first hunters to take lions and leopards with a bow on film in 1968.
Amazingly, he also took down an elephant with his bow long before modern technology allowed for the super-fast compound bows we have today.
He has been voted into the Bowhunting Hall of Fame for his successes.
