Caribou Gear Tarp

jack o'connor quotes

220yotekiller

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2017
Messages
736
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 l grew up reading his books as a kid and still do today, his data is outdated but l think that a lot of his wisdom has been overlooked.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
 
“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.
 
"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.
 
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

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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Save $100 on the Leupold VX-3HD

Forum statistics

Threads
110,809
Messages
1,935,247
Members
34,887
Latest member
Uncle_Danno
Back
Top