Adventurer, hunter and now author: Davey Hughes to speak at Conference

Davey Hughes has a new respect for authors. He expected his first book, “to take a couple of weekends talking into a tape recorder, and perhaps a Wednesday night as well.”

Instead he found the experience “truly exhausting!” Luckily he had the help of Justin Brown to pull it all together and capture the flavour of his laconic style.

The 'I’m Gonna Die Screaming' Davey Hughes take-on-life will be on full show at the Booksellers Conference when he speaks at 10.15am on Sunday, 17 July.

IMAGE: Davey Hughes plans to start the Booksellers Conference with a bang.

'I’m Gonna Die Screaming' was the original title for his book, until his publishers told him retailers would probably prefer something more indicative of his accounts of hunting, shooting and fishing here and round the globe, so the book is now called: Untamed: The Extraordinary Adventures of the Swazi Man.

Swazi man? That’s because he and wife Maggie started an outdoor apparel company around fifteen years ago, catering for hunters, workers and others who needed seriously good protective outdoor clothing. They called it Swazi as Davey had a great time in Swaziland after his adventure of walking most of the way across Africa.

Now, as well as his manufacturing plant in Levin – Davey’s adamant that his products be made here and contribute to our economy – he has two stores and a major internet sales presence.

A hard man he may be – the Barry Crump of our age? – but Davey doesn’t fit the man of few words stereotype. He loves public speaking, but it doesn’t have to be to big crowds.

He’s at his happiest when talking to twenty odd kids in a small rural school. “They listen wide-eyed to my stories and then ask amazing questions: what do animals taste like? What do bears smell like?

“I tell them grizzly bears don’t smell of anything when they are wet, but when it is not raining they are musky and if they’ve been feeding on salmon in the river they smell of fish!”  

As a kid in Wainuiomata, Davey spent the weekends in the hills going after pigs and possums. These days he wants to get kids into our back country and having the roughing-it adventures that kick-started his remarkable life.

This August he heads back to Alaska accompanied by a cameraman to film another episode of a television series he has been working on.

Two weeks of a horseback trek that he hopes will get high enough to encounter the Dall breed of alpine sheep “they have an exceptional taste.” He will try to bring some meat back, vacuum packed of course.

The “Wai” tour of the country happens before then. Cities, towns and places with “Wai” name prefixes: Wairoa, Waipawa, Wainuiomata – and a few that don’t quite fit: Levin, Masterton, Taupo, Nelson, Hokitika, Christchurch, Nelson, Oamaru, Tuatapere, Gore, Wanaka and Wellington. Oh, and Greymouth, but he’s convinced mayor Tony Kokshoorn to temporarily re name the place Wai-mouth for his visit!

Audiences are promised hilarity and high adventure, with furs, spurs and exotic bones – and it seems it will be no different for a session with booksellers at Conference!

This hunter of polar bears in the Arctic Circle, grizzlies in Alaska, and buffalo in Tanzania is also a guy with a heart, funding a Siberian tiger conservation campaign. He's also a passionate conservationist.

As a retailer himself, Davey has plenty of thoughts on how to push sales in a recession, so he’s sure to have some creative thinking on the subject to share with booksellers.

And as for dying screaming? Davey says his worst nightmare is facing death in a white-walled room with drips in his veins. He’d rather be hunting.

For all the time he spends in extreme climates in wilderness areas of the world, Davey is a committed Kiwi. His philosophy: “It’s about family, it’s about business and it’s about the people of this country.”

Story and interview by Jillian Ewart, writer for The Read.