| Nash Buckingham Born: 1880 Died: 1971 |
There are certain things that seem to go together; for instance, hunting, fishing, and telling good stories. Another common combination is the man or woman who enjoys not only getting outdoors, but also loves to read about it. Much rarer though, are the people who live these adventures and write the stories. Through their stories, we are able to see the green trees, hear the babbling brook, catch sight of the flash of a jumping trout, smell the fields and leaves on the ground, feel the spring’s cool breeze and sun’s warmth, and see the golden glow of autumn on a dew-covered field. Among lovers of such literature, certain author’s names stand above the rest; Corey Ford, Robert Ruark, and Nash Buckingham being three of the greatest. Nash Buckingham was born on May 31, 1880 in Memphis, TN. His family was apparently well off, as he attended Memphis University School and later attended Harvard for a short time before transferring to the University of Tennessee. During his college years, he was involved heavily in athletics, participating in football, baseball, and track and field for U.T., as well as being a successful amateur boxer. His love for sports led to early jobs in sports journalism, including a period with The Commercial Appeal. He also tried his hand at other occupations after his marriage to Irma Lee Jones in 1910. He owned a sporting goods business from 1917 to 1925, was an associate editor for Field and Stream, and was a director for the Western Cartridge Company. He finally settled on journalism as a career, and seems to have found a perfect combination of interest and vocation. By all accounts, Nash Buckingham was an expert shot with his 12 Gauge Magnum, being especially skilled at knocking the “high ducks” out of the sky. He was a master trap and skeet shooter as well. Mr. Buckingham was a contemporary of Hobart Ames, a great name in the world of bird dogs and field trials, and beginning in 1933, he became a judge for the National Field Trials, which still take place annually at Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, TN, a small town outside Memphis. He coauthored, with William F. Brown in 1955, the book National Field Trial Champions: An Authentic and Detailed History of the National Field Trial Championship Association Since it’s Inception in 1896. He was also a four-year executive secretary for American Wildfowlers. | 
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The problem with making hunting such a popular sport is the danger of decimating game populations. Nash Buckingham foresaw this problem and the loss of sport and tradition that would occur with it. Along with a few concerned citizens of his day, such as Aldo Leopold, he helped begin the conservation movement in the United States, including leading the successful effort to limit shotgun magazines to three shells, advocating for the Migratory Bird Treaty, and authoring A Duck Hunter’s Viewpoint as to the Duck Supply and the 1935 Duck Hunting Regulations. As the people of the Mississippi Flyway can attest, the revitalization of the duck and goose population is one of the most successful conservation efforts ever undertaken. | Nash Buckingham is known best as a writer of articles for Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, and similar magazines of the early 20th century. Many of his articles were collected and published in a series of books, many editions of which are collector’s items today. These include his first and most famous book, De Shootinest Gent’man, published in 1934. This was followed by Mark Right! (1936), Ole Miss’ (1937), Blood Lines (1938), Tattered Coat (1944), Game Bag (1945) and Hallowed Years (1953). He also helped found The Outdoor Writer’s Association of America. His stories mixed a lot of fact with a little fiction, and provided an excellent historical picture of the South and relationships between people, both black and white. His use of colloquial language has been criticized, but anyone who has actually read his work can sense the love he had for all the characters in his books. |
This is reinforced by everyone who has written about him; that he cared deeply for people, and that his sensitivity to people and the beauty around him allowed him to capture it all so well in his stories. One of his real-life characters, Horace, wrote this note in 1935: I’m trying to write you some words of thanks for your kind & thoughtfulness of me as to present to me such a wonderful book as De Shootinest Gent’man. Your freshness of memory brings tears an joy to my soul. Just to think of long gone days – on duck stands, in goose pits on sand bars and through corn fields quail hunting. Mr. Nash, all through these many years I have knowed you I can truthfully say you always would try to do somethink to put sunshine an happiness in some one life. You would give up your gun, dogs, boots, shells, wadders, boat, even your guide. I prays God’s richest blessing upon you and your family always. Nash Buckingham died in 1971, within two months of his 91st birthday. He had managed to hunt and fish until near the end of his life. Thanks to his foresight, many continue to enjoy hunting and fishing in the same places that he roamed. Most recently, in 2004, early films of his hunting and fishing were rediscovered and put on the Internet, a testament to his enduring legacy and popularity. Thanks to his writing, those of us who prefer our adventure in an armchair can relive the hunting and fishing life of the old South forever. |  |
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