{"id":6292,"date":"2022-07-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/?p=6292"},"modified":"2022-11-08T13:50:28","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T18:50:28","slug":"wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/?p=6292","title":{"rendered":"Hemingway’s Secret African Passion..Wingshooting"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Ernest Hemingway with Sandgrouse Photo Courtesy John F. Kennedy Library<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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By Edgar Castillo <\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201c<\/span>Bwana! Bwana! Ganga Namaqua!<\/span><\/i>\u201d The swift flying birds were dive bombing the small watering hole. Ernest, who was lazily sitting against a large boulder, was busy watching giraffes slowly move through <\/span>acacia tree<\/span>s<\/span>, along with a herd of nearby grazing zebras. He had been waiting for the next wave of sandgrouse, but instantly sprang to his feet when he heard the commotion. Though time had begun to creep up on him, Ernest was still quite lively. It was hot. His light-colored garbs consisted of the quintessential safari hunting outfit. Leather boots, a well-worn sun-faded tan vest, a white poplin-collared shirt, khaki cotton pants, and a sweat-stained billed tan cap instead of a Pith Helmet rounded out his wingshooting attire. It was simple and effective for a day of bird hunting under Africa\u2019s scorching sun<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ernest\u2019s sudden movement did not spook the determined birds away. In Africa, every living organism requires precious water. Sometimes, the danger that awaits its prey does nothing to dissuade thirst. With his beloved side-by-side, Ernest carefully chooses one bird out of the entire flock. Both barrels emit a thunderous clap across the savannah. Two birds fall! Ernest brakes open the shotgun, and two spent cartridges are tossed to the ground. They land in the soft sandy ground, amidst large cat prints. A rifle lays within hands reach just in case. From the leather pouch strapped to his hip, he grabs a pair of shells. They are inserted quickly, and a volley of shots are fired rapidly. More sandgrouse drop from the blue sky. One of the local tribal villagers, who\u2019s wearing a pinstriped sports coat hurriedly gathers up the birds. \u201c<\/span>Betty good, Bwana.<\/span><\/i>\u201d Ernest watches the rest of the flock fly off to the west. They\u2019ll be more. He returns to his rocky perch and waits to be hailed again. Laying motionless at Ernest\u2019s feet are Guinea fowl, and a tattered pair of francolins. Hyenas are heard in the distance. Their vocalized and sinister laugh are their calling card. They instinctively know that feathered carcasses will be found close to the watering hole come darkness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>



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Ernest Hemingway in Africa Courtesy John F. Kennedy Library<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Yes, the above \u201cshoot\u201d account is fictional. However, I am sure that a scene like what I described took place at a few watering holes or there were eyewitness accounts of Hemingway walking the scrub open country pushing small plump Galliformes to flush into the air, during his last trip to the dark continent. Hemingway knew even during his day that great bird hunting opportunities were being overlooked and overshadowed by his own big game exploits. His hunting safaris are world renowned and are frequently seen in his works. Even his love for fishing takes center stage above bird hunting. What is not well known is Hemingway\u2019s love for wingshooting. Glimpses of his passion for the uplands can be seen in his travels to Idaho, where Hemingway loved to hunt pheasants and ducks with the likes of legendary Hollywood actor and close friend, Gary Cooper. There are scores of B&W photographs of Hemingway engaged in upland bird hunting at home, but hardly a word of his wingshooting endeavors in Africa.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>



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Hemingway visited Africa twice. He spent a total of ten months traveling and exploring the massive wild and<\/span> dangerous Serengeti countryside. Stalks for lions and rhinos made the headlines, as well as still-images of<\/span> massive horned kudus and sables at Hemingway feet are what captured his adventurous lifestyle. However, I<\/span> think it was Hemingway\u2019s silent, less publicized love of African wingshooting are what carried a subtle, yet<\/span> heavy influence in some of his writings.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Hemingway penned several references and well-known quotes regarding wingshooting, particularly in his<\/span> African stories. Hemingway\u2019s 10-week safari to Kenya in 1933 provided him material and inspiration for his<\/span> short stories \u201cThe Snows of Kilimanjaro\u201d, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” and 1935 novel \u201cThe<\/span> Green Hills of Africa\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

My fictional two-paragraph introduction was inspired by Hemingway\u2019s short single sentence description<\/span>, <\/span>\u201cThis was a pleasant camp under big trees against a hill, with good water, and close by, a nearby a dry<\/i><\/b> water hole where sand grouse flighted in the mornings.\u201d <\/i><\/b>\u2013 The Snows of Kilimanjaro.<\/span><\/p>

I have absolutely no doubt that Hemingway saw those birds every day and patterned them enough, that one<\/span> mid-afternoon, he positioned himself nearby in the attempts to pass shoot some of the dove-like sandgrouse and<\/span> add some flavored African poultry to the menu.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ernest Hemingway Mount Kilimanjaro Photo Courtesy John F. Kennedy Library<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Upon retrieving the limp body, Hemingway would gaze upon the gorgeous ground dwelling bird and softly<\/span> stroke its vivid markings. Male sandgrouse have a somewhat orange buff head, throat, and chest, with brown<\/span> colored backs and speckled wings with white markings and pointed tail that are similar in shape and flight as<\/span> American white-wing doves. In another of his famous citations which is often copied and used religiously by<\/span> b<\/span>ird hunters everywhere<\/span>\u2026 \u201cWhen you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all<\/i><\/b> different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first.\u201d <\/i><\/b>\u2013<\/span> Fathers and Sons. What more proof do you need?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Want more evidence Ernest Hemingway was a devout and opportunistic bird hunter after my own heart while in<\/span> Africa? Fans have no doubt read or at least heard of his book, \u201cThe Green Hills of Africa\u201d. In this wonderful<\/span> literary work, Hemingway describes a carefree encounter with snipe while duck hunting with his second wife,<\/span> Pauline. <\/span>\u201cA flock of dark ibises, looking, with their dipped bills, like great curlews, flew over from the marsh<\/i><\/b> on the side of the stream where Karl was and circled high above us before they went back into the reeds. All<\/i><\/b> through the bog were snipe and black and white godwits and finally, not being able to get within range of the<\/i><\/b> ducks, I began to shoot snipe to M\u2019Cola\u2019s great disgust.\u201d <\/i><\/b>I\u2019m confident that Hemingway wasn\u2019t worried about<\/span> losing sleep over his actions and unimpressed gunbearer.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ernest Hemingway and friend with Shotguns in Africa Photo Courtesy John F. Kennedy Library<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Hemingway more than likely used his famous W.& C. Scott & Scott 12-gauge pigeon shotgun to bring down an<\/span> array of African gamebirds and waterfowl when he wasn\u2019t face to face with leopards and cape buffalo.<\/span> Hemingway was described \u201c<\/span>as fine a wingshot as ever<\/span><\/i>\u201d, and probably didn\u2019t have much difficulty in shooting a<\/span> good number of birds. He would have been exposed to the partridge-like cape francolin in the Western Cape<\/span> p<\/span>rovince, and pheasant-size guinea fowl, both occurring in multiple species, as well as pea fowl, plenty variety<\/span> of doves and pigeons, a smorgasbord of ducks and geese, and yes, even quail. All would have been a welcomed<\/span> table fare in the Hemingway canvas tent.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

I will be bold and say Hemingway may have opted to silently move through the brush gripping his shotgun<\/span> instead of the Westley Richards double rifle, as local tribesman chanted to drive the small turkey-sized<\/span> helmeted-guinea fowl into the still African air. With overlooking mountainous peaks swathed in clouds in the<\/span> distance, the sweeping panoramas of the Serengeti would suddenly be dotted with screaming birds. In one fluid<\/span> movement, Hemingway would snap the shotgun to his shoulder and fire. Lifeless bodies would fall. Nearby<\/span> animals scattering at the sound of the manmade thunder. Maneaters and other dangerous game would rest easy<\/span> this day, as bird hunting would take centerstage. One could only wonder.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>



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Hemingway is described as a rumbustious man of action, a literary bullfighter in the arena and in life, a<\/span> deep-sea fisherman, war hero, world traveler, and a passionate seeker of outdoor adventures. His personality<\/span> was larger than life. Ernest Hemingway\u2019s illustrious and well-documented big game safaris are legendary! His<\/span> p<\/span>ersonal and fictional hunting escapades captured the minds and hearts of many, <\/span>BUT <\/b>I want to picture<\/span> Hemingway startled at the whir of wings and marveling at the sight of exotic gamebirds flushing from <\/span>jaragu\u00e1<\/span> grass before he squeezed the trigger<\/span>\u2026he <\/span>was<\/span> an African wingshooter at heart.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBwana! Bwana! Ganga Namaqua!\u201d The swift flying birds were dive bombing the small watering hole. Ernest, who was lazily sitting against a large boulder, was busy watching giraffes slowly move through acacia trees, along with a herd of nearby grazing zebras. He had been waiting for the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[46,45,43,200],"class_list":["post-6292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hunting","tag-africa","tag-ernest-hemingway","tag-safari","tag-wingshooting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0.jpg","acf":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6292"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7663,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6292\/revisions\/7663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}