Thanks for the memory. Gary was a writer who was always worth reading – not just for the subject matter, but for the magical way that he solved the problem. Damn it, he really made you stop and think. I only hope that his work is soon compiled and sold in book form. Maybe you can help make that happen, my friend.

I thought that your remarks about Sitton would have stimulated more response. So much more interesting than discussing the finer points of the latest bore cleaner. Did Sitton ever write anything outside of firearms and hunting? I understood that he was, very briefly, an advertising copywriter – I believe in Phoenix. But what about fiction? Anything like that? With those wire-rimmed spectacles, he always looked quite O'Connor-ish.
As in Jack.

One thing I remember about G Sitton was his 'bias' for fixed power scopes, which made him appear like a voice crying in the wilderness. Even in the age of reliable variables, he remained a fixed power guy.

But for the rest of his stuff I've read, there's little to find fault. Like John Wooters, Sitton was a firm believer in a bullet's terminal performance first. If that meant Nosler Partitions, A-Frames, Fail Safes, Barnes X's and Trophy Bondeds, so be it (good bullets, by the way).

I'll be damned. It's funny the way things work out. I just found this blog about a week ago and I'm going thru the archives and stumble upon your tribute to Gary Sitton. I absolutely loved his work cause he could tell a story better than 99.9% of the writers out there (present company excepted). Other than F&S, Rifle and Handloader Mags, I've dumped all the rest years ago. Most just rehashed the same stuff over and over. Mr. Sitton, however, was a classic. I used to tear out his stuff and toss the mags; still have a file of those articles. Even those he wrote on a back page for some magazine under a pseudonym. (did I spell that right?? probably not) Man he was good. Found out he'd passed sitting in my barber's chair reading an old issue of G&A and damn near cried. He died the day after my birthday last year and I didn't find out till this month. I went thru basic at Ft. Knox the summer of 69 on my way to Nam and I wonder if either of you guys was there then? Anyway, thanks for a great tribute to Mr. Sitton. It's funny how you read a favorite writer long enough and you feel like they're a personal friend. It was like that with Sitton. He called em like he saw em and they don't make em like him any more. He will be missed.

To: El-Wazir

Gary Sitton wrote the "Backtracking" back page column (as Jacob Bowers) for Hunting Magazine for a while back in the early 90's. Only reason I know it was Sitton is cause Boddington mentioned it in one of his editorials. I still have a July 93' issue of Hunting where he's on the back page under "Jacob Bowers" and also wrote two feature articles under his G. Sitton name. Don't know when he dropped the "Gary" and went to "G". Some of those "Backtracking" columns are superb writing. He could really tell a story. He used to hunt with some regularity on John Wooters' place in Texas. Wrote a number of articles about his hunts there and they were all great. He was good and I sure miss his writing. A few more years and some experience under his belt and Petzal might get right up there with him.

To DEP: Speaking of great writers like G. Sitton, any chance you remember a writer by the name of Ed Nixon? He wrote 10 or 11 stories in "Hunting" Magazine starting back in the mid 80's till about 1990. Some of the titles were "Too Close to Grizzlies", "Witness Trees", "Old Decker Men", "September Songs", "Bears in Remembrance" & Tribute to a Packhorse". I've got all of them packed away in my library. After his last article in 1990, he just disappeared and never wrote another article for "Hunting". Then, "Hunting" republished one of those stories a few years ago (can't remember which one), but never any more of them. This guy was a TREMENDOUS storyteller. He wrote stories about guiding & outfitting for elk in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and you could swear you were sitting in the saddle or by the campfire. F&S publishes some of the "old timers" once in a while, any chance you could find this guy and run some of his old stories? Boddington thought he did some of the finest, if not THE finest, writing to ever appear in "Hunting".

It is sad to see such a person pass away, but yet still lives in a person which was passed on to me by my father..

The "Backtracking" column was one of my all time favorites! Every time I read that column I "felt" something. Writers that can do that are remarkable and very rare. I hope his work is published in book form for all of us to enjoy again.

It's the Sunday night before Labor Day 2006 and I just heard the news abou Gary. I had the pleasure once or twice, both in the company of Wootters and the late Jack Carter, and it was Gary who wrote the first articl on BlackStar in Guns & Ammo in 1994. At that time, BlackStar was just a glimmer of what it would eventually be, and Gary and John were the first writers to believe in what we were doing with the insides of rifle barrels. I will always remember him well for taking an interest in a small company that meant nothing at the time to anyone except me. He was very, very funny in the sort of way that all the best humorists are, and it ran freely from a deep reservoir of pain that was quite evident, even to me 12 years ago. Unless things changed at the end, Gary didn't believe in God, but I always thought that god believed in Gary Sitton. Best regards, Mark

Mark,
I so appreciate what you said about not knowing if Bear knew God, but that God knew him. I can ASSURE you he not only knew God, but that he introduced God to some special friends in the end of his life. He died with the peace that he knew exactly where he was going. The irony was that he died with more peace then he lived with! But, that was exactly how Bear was! If you are wondering how I can be so sure, it is because I was there with him, along with my mother (his wife) to the very end.
Thank you for your kind words!

God Bless Mr. Sitton, for all of the knowledge, experience, & humor he gave so freely to all of his readers. I pray he knew how much he was appreciated by all of us that admired his fine work. Happy Trails, Sir.

I had several nice visits with Gary Sitton over the years and he had a real talent. As for Ed Nixon, he lived on Flathead Lake in Montana and I talked to him by phone in 2000 and his health was very bad so I did not get to visit with him at that time, but he did say that Craig Boddington was going to put out a book with all of Ed's stories and some other material as well.