Elmer Keith

[Coaltminer]

He made a 600 yd shot with a 44 mag..I don't doubt it, but who in hell is he to try such a shot? Damned poor sportsmanship

 

[doublesharp]

It ain't bragging if you can do it - Dizzy Dean

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

You might look into the full story of his putting out of misery the wounded deer someone else left to suffer!

Ivan

 

[Muley Gil]

He made a 600 yd shot with a 44 mag..I don't doubt it, but who in hell is he to try such a shot? Damned poor sportsmanship

Obviously, you don't know WHY he made the shot. Elmer was guiding a hunter and the hunter wounded the mule deer. It was running away on three legs. Elmer was trying to make the killing shot before the animal escaped to die a long, lingering death. He made 2 hits out of 4 shots.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...it was a different time...

...Elmer Keith shot eagles too...

 

[Watchdog]

When I first read Sixguns back in 1969, I was fascinated by the tales and the information. I lost track of how many times I read it. The handloading data was invaluable to me.

I took everything Elmer Keith said as gospel, including the 600-yard shot. I don't do that now.

But in the end, what does it matter in the 21st Century? The man is long gone, but his stories are still good for a chuckle. To believe them or not is the reader's choice.

Keith may have fallen a bit out of favor in this high tech handgun era we live in now, who knows. Like him or not, he remains an icon. He may have told some stretchers, but his contributions to the world of revolver shooting and handgun load development will forever stand as benchmarks for those of us who still love revolvers.

 

[Bakebfr480]

...it was a different time...

...Elmer Keith shot eagles too...

The first animal Elmer killed with the 44 magnum was a Golden Eagle!

 

[Warren Sear]

As far as I am aware, no one has ever been able to prove that ol' EK ever told a lie (at least in print). So, I think he has earned the right to be believed, until someone can provide proof of any lie he told.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

When my old Buddy up in CO told me that he saw Elmer shoot an Eagle,
I believed him.
My Buddy was a Old China Hand, he was in the last Army Regiment we had in China before War Two.
Prior to the war, They were transferred down to the Philippines.
He rotated back Stateside before the war started.

 

[remshooter]

also remember ,there were no lazer range finders back then ,you just eyeballed it ,and guessed how far away it was ,with no real way of checking ,unless you pace it off after the fact , cant remember if Elmer paced it off ,been lontime since read that book

 

[5-Shot]

also remember ,there were no lazer range finders back then ,you just eyeballed it ,and guessed how far away it was ,with no real way of checking ,unless you pace it off after the fact , cant remember if Elmer paced it off ,been lontime since read that book

I used to live in the high desert, where Elmer did most of his hunting. Out in the high dry air visibility was substantially better than it is here the east. In addition, the soil is light, dry and not covered with grass so spotting bullet strikes is pretty easy. I shot a 44 often at 300 yards and seeing the misses was pretty easy. In many of Elmer’s stories he walked his shots on, often with the aid of a “spotter”. I’m pretty much a believer.

Ed

 

[Alpo]

I don't see what's so terrible about killing an eagle. Yes, today, killing a raptor is not only a "terrible thing to do", but it's illegal.

Back in the day, however, birds of prey were considered targets of opportunity, because they killed livestock.

Advertisement in a 1955 issue of Boys Life.

 

[Dave.357]

I think Bob Mundin
proved it was possible
Did he do I like to think so

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Once I took a shot that I shouldn’t have.
I parked at the bottom and climbed up to the top of a N-S Ridge.
I glassed the backside, and then N-S of the Ridge.
Then I glassed down to check my truck.
Oh my! There he was, standing in the road looking at me.
It was a big Muley and he was about 1,000 yds or more away.
I was shooting a 270 and there nobody there to spot for me.
I had a clear downhill view with a big rock to rest my rifle.
I missed!

 

[rwsmith]

And it was a different time.....

To Keith, golden eagles where terrible predators that killed livestock as well as coyotes, etc. He passed up many a shot where the animal that was legal, but didn't want to take a younger specimen when the old ones were the biggest.

The measure of a hunter is not what he shoots, but the shots he passes up.

There are many things that raise my eyebrows in his book, but besides being in the first part of the century, it was not only out west near the mountains, but civilization was a trading post in a tiny town 15 miles away.

And he ate what he killed. When he was making like $35 a week his family lived on what he shot or caught fishing. And his big game was also devoured by his crew and the locals. They had a system for divvying up meat.

 

[RobertJ.]

Elmer may have "raised a few eyebrows" with his writing, but he was far from the only gun scribe to do so. Anyone ever read any of Col. Charles Askins work? Talk about politically incorrect! But, it was a different time.

Did Elmer ever lie about his exploits? I seriously doubt it. Did he ever exaggerate? Perhaps, I don't know. But he still had more experience shooting than most of us will ever hope to have, and I will take what he wrote at face value.

 

[Watchdog]

And he ate what he killed.

I can't swear to it, but I'm fairly confident Keith didn't eat eagle meat.

 

[Muley Gil]

"It was a big Muley..."

Careful now.

From what I've read, all of Elmer's fellow gunwriters said you could take everything he said as the truth, even a 600 yard shot at a limping mule deer. Elmer wrote several times that he took those shots because he didn't want the deer to escape. If you have read enough of his writings, he practiced long range handgun shooting, not long range hunting.

 

[Onomea]

The NRA magazine, the Rifleman, that first carried the news of the new .357 registered magnum revolver, back in the mid 1930s — I don’t recall the exact date — has as its cover story the shooting of bald eagles as vermin in Alaska for a bounty of $1 apiece. (For each pair of talons, I believe it was.)

I had a copy of the magazine for a while, but gave it away to the wife of a collector who wanted to give it to her husband as a birthday present.

 

[llowry61]

I read many a Keith book and I really don't get too caught up in what is politically correct in his writings. They are what they are. I have magazines that refer to hunting waterfowl in the spring on their northward migrations and they lament how you can't kill a limit of 20 mallards. Times change. Personally this is what makes the reading interesting. Read some of TR's African adventures, and his lust for 100lb plus ivory. Again, times change. I enjoy reading these accounts. I have read market hunter stories etc. and find them fascinating from a historical perspective not an envious position. EK was a man who pushed the envelope of shooting science and we are all lucky he did.

 

[keith44spl]

That sure sounds like something one of them Ol' Keith boys could do!!!


.

 

[tops]

Like, Like. and Like again. Larry

 

[chiefbob81]

I am not a writer, but have been known to spin some stories. My disclaimer is: "There is some truth in every lie I tell".

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Billy Dixon killed an Indian at Adobe Wells at a little more than a measured mile with a Sharps rifle in front of witnesses. Scientist later reconstructed the shot and said at one point Billy's bullet was over 40 feet above the ground......Google it.

 

[mtgianni]

I remember fishing Henry's Fork when they dropped the limit from 15 to 12 fish. We talked about whether it was still worth the drive. Last time I was by there it was 2 fish none over 16". Times change but it was rare for us to go home without a limit. They were all eaten too.
Pikeminnow, aka Squawfish went up on the bank, an illegal act now. Currently there is a bounty on them in the Columbia system. 50 years from now "experts" will put us down for how little we knew.

 

[snuffy51]

Everything I say or write has to be the truth, lies are impossible to remember.

 

[Skeet 028]

Had ol EK out hunting waterfowl one time. He was a funny fellow with great stories. He was also a good shotgun pointer. Knew how to shoot waterfowl....but so did Jack O'Conner. 600 yd handgun shot? Who knows how far it was? At this point it really doesn't matter. After shooting and hitting a floating metal 25 gal drum at 400 yds(not every shot and it was in the water so I could see where I missed) I have a tendency to believe the story. He didn't go around bragging of it. In Maryland we routinely shot hawks owls etc. But not Bald Eagles. It was even pointed out in the hunting license books we got that it was good for game management. I can tell you after they banned raptor shooting the quail population sure disappeared.... even in good game habitat. But the worst predator on the quail seemed to be the owls...

 

[joe44va]

Hell, I wasn't there.

 

[S&W ucla]

I think Bob Mundin
proved it was possible
Did he do I like to think so

Jerry Miculek hit his target at 1000yds.....Offhand.......with a 9mm revolver! If I was a betting man, my money would have been on Elmer!

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ3XwizTqDw[/ame]

 

[S&W ucla]

Hell, I wasn't there.

Classic!!