Walt and Claire, North American Hunt (1977)
As you might imagine, I don’t feel right accepting this award without Walt. I might have been the better shot, but it was his passion for big game that took us around the world.
Some of you know the story, but Walt and I met when we were kids. I was in a tree stand with my father waiting on a grizzly when Walt came along, tracking some elk all by himself. I spotted his red hair from 200 yards away.
The rest is big game hunting history.
Whether it was an impala in the Serengeti, a silverback in the Congo, or a man-eating polar bear off the coast of Alaska, Walt and I went after it. And mostly we got it with the exception of a few rhino, and a wildebeest we called Calypso.
Before the world knew our motto, it was just a simple phrase we said before our prayers:
Track it, Shoot it, Skin it, Stuff it.
And he’d still be here saying it with me if it weren’t for that bull moose that trampled him some 7 years ago. It wasn’t a pretty ending, but knowing Walt he probably enjoyed the violence.
It is with great honor, then, that I accept this award, not just for Walt and myself, but for big game hunters everywhere, and of course, for the children.
God bless you all.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I always knew Walt to be a truly kind and very fair man. Although I do know some wildebeests who would disagree! heh heh heh
But every time I look up on my wall, every time I make eye contact with the moose that I stuffed in ’84, I find that I always look right next to it, which is where Walt’s masterpiece (my opinion) hangs, an elk that’d make you cry to see it. His gift to me in ’89, after his and Claire’s trip to the Crazies. And when I look at it I say to myself, “Fuck me, that Walt sure could stuff an elk.”
I miss him. Every day.
Stuff it…AND shoot it!
But, yes, that man could hunt.