The Coolest Jack O’Connor Photos from Outdoor Life Archives

It’s difficult to talk about the history of Outdoor Life without mentioning Jack O’Connor. He sold his first story to the magazine in 1934 and wrote 1,200 articles before retiring in 1972. These are some images from his stories.

O’Connor with a pronghorn buck. This was an unused image from the story “Antelopes to Order.”

With hundreds of O’Connor’s adventures to sort through, it’s challenging to decipher each photo’s context. These original JOC photographs have been in our archives for decades and are mostly labeled “Outdoor Life.”

O’Connor shakes hands with his moose guide after a successful hunt.

While you may not have seen many of these photos before, dedicated O’Connor fans have likely read about the hunts behind them. The images capture O’Connor’s confidence, expertise, aloofness, and relatability. They reflect a unique era in hunting history.

The note on this OL file photo simply reads, “Jack O’Connor, 1950.”

Jack O’Connor in Africa

O’Connor first went on safari in the summer of 1953. Outdoor Life was the first outdoor magazine to send its shooting editor on safari. O’Connor wrote 15 stories based on that trip.

“As we sneaked back to the car I was as low as ever,” he wrote. “I had dreamed of killing a great-maned lion for 40 years. Two were in front of me, and I missed the opportunity like an excited schoolboy.”

O’Connor later discovered his riflescope had rattled loose. He eventually killed his first lion with his Model 70 in .375 Magnum.

The O’Connors hunted together in Zambia in 1969, each taking lions just a few days apart. Jack’s wife, Eleanor, killed hers a few days after her husband did. They took their last safari in 1972.

Jack O’Connor beside a record-book eland taken with his Model 70 in .375 Magnum.

Although O’Connor killed an eland on his first safari, the pictured one is from a later trip with his wife, Eleanor. It is frequently featured due to its excellent quality.

This image originally ran in the 1961 story “Big as an Ox” with the caption: “O’Connors with a fine Kilombero zebra bagged by Mrs. O’Connor.”

Jack O’Connor in North America

O’Connor was best known for his adventures in the Southwest and sheep hunting.

This is an unused photo from the January 1939 story “What, No White-Tails?” It was from a hunt for Coues deer in Sonora.

“This is the account of a hunt for white-tails in a region where no white-tails are said to live,” O’Connor wrote about Mexican Coues deer in the January 1939 story. “Actually, I have seen them there by the hundreds. I told a scientist that once, but he raised his eyebrows and pulled out a distribution map to show me. I was wrong; he was right, according to the book. Hence the trip about which I am writing.”

An unused photograph from the May 1941 story “Sonora Luck.”

O’Connor wrote about another Sonoran hunt in the May 1941 story “Sonora Luck—Mixed.” This time he was hunting for desert mule deer.

An unused image of O’Connor with a Gambel’s quail from the September 1939 story “The Quail Came to Us.”

O’Connor enjoyed hunting birds, and this is an unused image from a 1939 quail hunting story.

O’Connor often hunted with his wife, Eleanor, and she appeared frequently in his stories. They met in college and eloped in 1927.

Photographs that ultimately were not included in the story “The Quail Came to Us.”

By the end of his hunting career, O’Connor had completed two sheep Grand Slams.

O’Conner’s best stone ram was taken in 1946. It measured 14 7-7/8 x 41 1/2 inches.

One of O’Connor’s lasting contributions to hunting is his sheep stories. He believed that a large old ram of any North American sheep species carried great prestige.

An unused shot from the April 1947 story “Day in Ram Heaven.”

O’Connor’s trophy room was a separate building behind his home in Lewiston, Idaho.

Read stories from the Outdoor Life archives:

• An Ontario Moose Hunt Turns Into a 10-Day Survival Ordeal, From the Archives
• Arrow for a Grizzly: A Classic Fred Bear Tale from the Archives
• My Lady Judas: The Wolf-Dog That Called In a Pack of Wolves for Frank Glaser

Or check out more OL+ stories.

Or check out more OL+ stories.