A man of no mean ability
The Australian Crocodile and Big Game Hunters Club
7 Lysterville Avenue MALVERN VICTORIA.
22 aPRIL 1957.
Mr. T. Cole
28 Cooper Street
STRATHFIELD. N.S.W.
Dear Sir,
We have received the enclosed letter from a Mr. Charles Ogilivie, with his request that we pass it on to you.
Mr. Ogilivie appears to be a man of no mean ability !
Yours faithfully
A. R. Bentley Hon. Sec.
THE LETTER FORWARDED BY THE CLUB FROM MR. OGILIVIE READS THUS :-
P.O. Box 7 BEVERLY HILLS P.O.
SYDNEY. N.S.W.
April6, 1957
To the Crocodile Hunters Association
7 Lysterville Avenue
MALVERN VICTORIA.
Dear Sirs,
I hope you will not object to me writing to you and asking you things, when I am not a member of your organisation. I am from Scotland and am one of the most experiencedshotgun and rifle shots that you might meet in most places at any rate. I have had years of fast snapshots with rifle and shotgun and a great deal of shooting out of rowing boats in salt and fresh water by day and by night, because of the specialised technique of aiming I have developed, I can shoot a rifle to kill a target the size of a rabbit at 50 yards in quarter moonlight and less at times without a light at all.
I have also shot thousands of rabbits up to 70 yards range with a torch at night, I don't see the target in the sights because you haven't got enough light, but when not using a torch I can kill it provided it is in short grass. Iam, or was a few years ago, a first class deer stalker and shot. I am also above average with automatic pistols and various types of machine guns. I am a proficient net fisherman by any standards you like to set. I was an aircraft pilot during the war and am a first class seaman and oarsman.
By trade I am a carpenter and build any type of flat bottomed boat and design and draw them from personal knowledge. I am not a boat builder although I have built a number (7) of boats. A few years ago I was firing five to seven thousand rounds a year between shotgun and rifle. Then I could usually split a bullet in half on the blade of a kitchen chopper stuck in the ground at 70 yards range from the standing position. I am not sure that I could do it now, but I would be shifting to the side of it more or less.
I used to shoot an average of 50 to 60 running rabbits weekly, either stalking them up in the long grass or ferreting them. The best I ever did was 107 rabbits picked up from dawn to dusk in one day. I have killed as amny ducks and geese as any living man has ever done. I love boats, nature in the raw, stalking animals, danger and wildness. I am fed up with the dull ignorant people one has to meet in daily life in business but Sydney has been quite good to me. I have above average employment. Most certainly, I cannot complain. I have wondered if I can make more money at shooting crocodiles than carpentry. Do you know anyone I could shoot for to learn about it and see if I liked it before taking it on on my own perhaps. I would imagine it would be foolish to be on your own because the local knowledge takes years to get. I was always able to outshoot all comers to the estuaries, I shot wildfowl because of the great store of local knowledge, I had to for I had to earn my living for some years solely by the sale of wildfowl that I shot. I never allowed anybody o shoot alongside me as other professionals did and get paid for it, I wanted I wanted the big bags of fowl for myself and I got them too, enough to run my house and live on. I am forty four and 5' 10" and strong and active build.
Now that you have read all this, I am going to ask you to send this letter to someone I read about in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, New Guinea supplement. He is by far the biggest professional crocodile shooter and exporter in New Guinea. His name is Tom Cole and he used to shoot buffalo in the Nothern Territory for ten years before the last war. If Mr. Tom Cole on receipt of this letter forwarded by your goodselves to him, would care to put up some sort of proposition to me re shooting for him then I might be glad to hear from him.
He might be able to let me have some idea of how much a week I might average under his direction. If he did want me and his proposition was fair enough it is unlikely that I would like to learn from him and then go off and do it myself.
Yours faithfully, Charles Ogilvie
7 Lysterville Avenue MALVERN VICTORIA.
22 aPRIL 1957.
Mr. T. Cole
28 Cooper Street
STRATHFIELD. N.S.W.
Dear Sir,
We have received the enclosed letter from a Mr. Charles Ogilivie, with his request that we pass it on to you.
Mr. Ogilivie appears to be a man of no mean ability !
Yours faithfully
A. R. Bentley Hon. Sec.
THE LETTER FORWARDED BY THE CLUB FROM MR. OGILIVIE READS THUS :-
P.O. Box 7 BEVERLY HILLS P.O.
SYDNEY. N.S.W.
April6, 1957
To the Crocodile Hunters Association
7 Lysterville Avenue
MALVERN VICTORIA.
Dear Sirs,
I hope you will not object to me writing to you and asking you things, when I am not a member of your organisation. I am from Scotland and am one of the most experiencedshotgun and rifle shots that you might meet in most places at any rate. I have had years of fast snapshots with rifle and shotgun and a great deal of shooting out of rowing boats in salt and fresh water by day and by night, because of the specialised technique of aiming I have developed, I can shoot a rifle to kill a target the size of a rabbit at 50 yards in quarter moonlight and less at times without a light at all.
I have also shot thousands of rabbits up to 70 yards range with a torch at night, I don't see the target in the sights because you haven't got enough light, but when not using a torch I can kill it provided it is in short grass. Iam, or was a few years ago, a first class deer stalker and shot. I am also above average with automatic pistols and various types of machine guns. I am a proficient net fisherman by any standards you like to set. I was an aircraft pilot during the war and am a first class seaman and oarsman.
By trade I am a carpenter and build any type of flat bottomed boat and design and draw them from personal knowledge. I am not a boat builder although I have built a number (7) of boats. A few years ago I was firing five to seven thousand rounds a year between shotgun and rifle. Then I could usually split a bullet in half on the blade of a kitchen chopper stuck in the ground at 70 yards range from the standing position. I am not sure that I could do it now, but I would be shifting to the side of it more or less.
I used to shoot an average of 50 to 60 running rabbits weekly, either stalking them up in the long grass or ferreting them. The best I ever did was 107 rabbits picked up from dawn to dusk in one day. I have killed as amny ducks and geese as any living man has ever done. I love boats, nature in the raw, stalking animals, danger and wildness. I am fed up with the dull ignorant people one has to meet in daily life in business but Sydney has been quite good to me. I have above average employment. Most certainly, I cannot complain. I have wondered if I can make more money at shooting crocodiles than carpentry. Do you know anyone I could shoot for to learn about it and see if I liked it before taking it on on my own perhaps. I would imagine it would be foolish to be on your own because the local knowledge takes years to get. I was always able to outshoot all comers to the estuaries, I shot wildfowl because of the great store of local knowledge, I had to for I had to earn my living for some years solely by the sale of wildfowl that I shot. I never allowed anybody o shoot alongside me as other professionals did and get paid for it, I wanted I wanted the big bags of fowl for myself and I got them too, enough to run my house and live on. I am forty four and 5' 10" and strong and active build.
Now that you have read all this, I am going to ask you to send this letter to someone I read about in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, New Guinea supplement. He is by far the biggest professional crocodile shooter and exporter in New Guinea. His name is Tom Cole and he used to shoot buffalo in the Nothern Territory for ten years before the last war. If Mr. Tom Cole on receipt of this letter forwarded by your goodselves to him, would care to put up some sort of proposition to me re shooting for him then I might be glad to hear from him.
He might be able to let me have some idea of how much a week I might average under his direction. If he did want me and his proposition was fair enough it is unlikely that I would like to learn from him and then go off and do it myself.
Yours faithfully, Charles Ogilvie