Wm. Hovey Smith is an author whose groundbreaking outdoor, business, and fiction books demonstrate how to take control of your life to accomplish your financial objectives and satisfy your passions as they change over time.

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Books are available from Amazon.com and other booksellers worldwide.

The Goldfarb Chronicles: Moving With Baby, The Solitario, Brewster County Law

The Goldfarb Chronicles is a trilogy which uniquely traces the same characters through a situation comedy in Moving With Baby, has two characters go on a Western adventure in The Solitario, and concludes with a courtroom drama where three of them go on trial for Capital Murder in front of a West Texas Judge. in the first book, a young Detroit couple, Aron and Samantha, have a difficult conception due to an uncommon genetic disease, Hemochromatosis, and the baby must be delivered a month early. They are assisted in moving into their new apartment by their Red Neck in-laws from Georgia, Jewish in-laws from Detroit, two movers including a dreadlock-wearing black actor who speaks Shakespearian English, a Syrian refugee family, and a pregnant dog. All must get along while they are snowbound for four days.

In the second book Aron and his newly married brother-in-law have a survival adventure in West Texas and are kidnapped by a Mexican gang. Samantha hatches a plan to rescue the men with the aid of Larry Jr.'s 80-year-old father, his ranch hands, caballeros from Mexico, Apache Indians and the security detail from the Full Gospel Bible Camp and Nudist Colony of Terlingua, Texas. During the rescue Larry Sr., with the assistance of his health aid Albert, shoot down a helicopter killing the pilot, but the gang leader, El Jefe Gonzales, escapes.

Goldfarb Chronicles


Until Death Do You Part: An American Family Meets Their Sicilian Cousins

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Make Your Own Job: Anytime, Anywhere, At Any Age

Is a business book for the non-business major that enables the user to discover ways to raise immediate cash, start their own mini-businesses as needed and work toward longer term goals such as developing unique home businesses to support them and their families. In this time of the Corona Virus many have been and some still are without work and see no immediate prospects of finding a job while continuing home schooling or caring for elderly relatives. This book describes methods of selecting the best short-term, medium-term, and long-term business options to enable readers to select their optimum methods at the moment to raise immediate cash, plan for longer-term prospects, and to ultimately start a unique business that can provide them and their families with lifetime security. 

These new ventures may be in new product development, personal service, retailing specialty items, selling specialized tools, in the arts, founding a nonprofit organization or combinations of the above. Even if presently employed, running such a business at a low level while working for someone else provides additional income security, should one become injured or abruptly terminated from what was once considered a lifetime job. Professions that formerly seemed secure such as medicine, and education have seen wide-spread cutbacks while many retail business have closed forever after having been displaced by on-line sales. This book has received a recommendation of, "A worthy book for newbie entrepreneurs." This book was considered “worthy” by Kirkus  and was “Recommended” by the U.S. Review of Books.

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X-Treme Muzzleloading: Fur, Fowl and Dangerous Game with Muzzleloading Rifles, Smoothbores, and Pistols (Author House, 2012)

This heavily illustrated large format 300-page book takes the reader on the author’s adventure as he spends a half-century hunting in North America, Europe, and Africa with an assortment of black-powder guns and components. Not content with shooting deer with the latest in-line rifles, Hovey took on small game with rifles, pistols, and muskets; the world’s largest fowl with muzzleloading muskets, shotguns, and rifles; and African game with a black-powder muzzleloading double rifle. The guns used were as varied as the game. They included matchlock, flintlock, percussion, and 209-primed original, replica and modern muzzleloading firearms. Although some hunts were sponsored, the majority were self-financed, and available to anyone. Those who read the author’s adventures in as they were published in Dixie Gun Works’ Blackpowder Annual, Muzzle Blasts, Blackpowder Hunting, and numerous other publications will enjoy revisiting these interesting, and often humorous stories. Some have been combined with fact-filled chapters covering small game, upland game, waterfowl, big game and African hunting while others remain mostly intact. The variety of guns, species taken and the innovative hunting approaches used are unmatched in modern times. Those who want a “new” look at an “old” aspect of the hunting sports will not be disappointed. Publication credits include thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, 13 previous books and he is now the Corresponding Editor for Gun Digest covering black-powder guns and hunting. Including shipping, the book is available  for $27.77 by mail order for U.S. orders.  Send a check with shipping instructions to Whitehall Press-Budget Publications, 1325 Jordan Mill Pond Road, Sandersville, GA 31082. For bulk purchases inquire to  www.hoveysmith@bellsouth.net. Often the best available price for this book will be at AuthorHouse and it is also available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

X-Treme Muzzleloading as an E-book is now available at AuthorHouse, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and all electronic book sellers.

x-treme muzzleloading

Crossbow Hunting (Stackpole, 2006) (Printing sold out Feb. 2016)

Is the most comprehensive book ever written on the modern crossbow as a hunting instrument. Starting with a brief section on the history of this hunting tool, the book quickly proceeds through a series of heavily illustrated chapters to describe the features of a variety of modern crossbows in several price ranges. Rather than being a catalogue, this book features hunting techniques and the tested capabilities of crossbows as the author describes his experiences on hunts from Georgia to Alaska. He includes some of his own hunts where he took deer, bear and alligators with the crossbow and others' experiences hunting lion, Cape and Asian buffalo. He views the crossbow as part of the archery continuum. A youngster, under adult supervision, can shoot his first deer at about eight-years old using a crossbow that fits him and can take any North American deer at close range. As he ages he can progress to the compound bow and fall back on his crossbow should he become injured. At an older age the crossbow can extend a hunter's ability to hunt another 20 or 30 years beyond the time that he can pull a hunting-weight bow.  Existing copies of the softcover book are available from bookstores for a retail price of $19.95 and also from Amazon.com and other Web outlets so long as copies last. I have some stock remaining which may be ordered by sending me an e-mail to  hoveysmith@bellsouth.net for $25.00 which includes shipping.

Crossbow Hunting will continue to be available as an E-book from Amazon.com and other E-book sources.

crossbow hunting

Practical Bowfishing (Stoeger, 2006)

Is now out of print, but is still available from the author. This book is similar to the author's other titles in that it takes a comprehensive look at the subject starting from choosing basic equipment, rigging a bowfishing boat, methods of bowfishing, the fish that may be taken and concludes with chapters on cleaning and cooking the fish. There is no other sport where usually an unlimited amount of game may be taken, from almost anywhere in the country, provide some of the best-eating fish that exist and improves the fishery at the same time. After the book was published the author took a 30-day trip bowfishing from Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, to Grays Harbor, Washington State. Using an old boat, worse-looking trailer and a 4-hp. engine, he bowfished the Savannah, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Yellowstone and Columbia rivers and many smaller bodies of water. The biggest fish was a Washington carp that weighed over 50 pounds. Nearly all of these fish were eaten by the author or others. This is a sport where almost anyone can participate since the draw weight of bowfishing bows of about 30 pounds. This book may be ordered from the author by sending a check to Wm. Hovey Smith, 1325 Jordan Mill Pond Rd., Sandersville, GA 31082 in the amount of $20.00 for U.S. orders.

practical bowfishing


Buying Used Muzzleloading Guns: How to Select the Best of the World's Used Muzzleloading Firearms (Muzzleloading Short Shots Book 2)


The evolution of muzzleloading guns has undergone an enormous revival during the past 60 years because of the great interest in the Civil War Centennial and the arms used during the period as well as the rise of interests and opportunities to hunt with muzzleloading guns. As a result large numbers of muzzleloading guns are available on the used gun market, and there is interests in using and collecting them. The author's interests in black-powder firearms is strongly slanted towards hunting with these guns, and he has written extensively about them in magazines, published several books on the subject, filmed some 800 videos largely about outdoor topics including hunting with muzzleloading guns, and blogged about them. For a decade he was the Corresponding Editor for The Gun Digest Annual covering black-powder guns.

This book provides buyers of muzzleloading guns information on how to evaluate them, which defects might be repairable, what of the guns are more desirable for hunting, and information based on real experiences on how they performed in the field. A small amount of load information is included and much more appears in his other books and e-books.

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Shooting and Maintaining Your Muzzleloader: How to Make Your Muzzleloader Most Effective and Keep it Working (Muzzleloading Short Shots Book 3)


Relying on 50 years of muzzleloading hunting experiences in all parts of the U.S. with occasional trips to Europe and Africa, Wm. Hovey Smith delivers candid and practical advice on muzzleloading guns ranging from Japanese matchlocks to the most modern in-line rifles and pistols. Never restricted to a given type or hunting or make of gun, he presents information on guns from many makers of replica muzzleloaders as well as on a number of originals that are now available on the U.S. market. As may be seen in the list of chapters that follows, the book is comprehensive in its coverage, unusual in its approach and full or useful information for the hunter, shooter and owners of muzzleloading guns of all sorts.

The 17 chapters in the book are: 1. Choosing between today's muzzleloading powders, 2. Managing percussion and electric ignition systems, 3. Twenty-one steps to flintlock success, 4. Tyrrany of the match: Shooting matchlock guns, 5. Shooting the percussion revolver, 6. Muzzleloaders and round balls: How effective are they?, 7. Muzzleloading bullets and shot placement: Big and slow vs. light and fast, 8. Home casting bullets, 9. Shooting sabots and such, 10. Are 150 grain charges useful in today's in-line muzzleloaders?, 11. Weatherproofing your muzzleloader, 12. The fumble factor in muzzleloader hunting, 13. The four levels of muzzleloading accuracy: What they are and how to achieve them, 14. Cleaning your muzzleloader, 15. Storing muzzleloading guns, 16. Muzzleloading accessories and 17. Getting your new muzzleloader ready to hunt in one day. The book contains 20 illustrations and links to YouTube videos.

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Hunting with Muzzleloading Shotguns and Smoothbore Muskets: Smoothbores Let You Hunt Small Game, Big Game and Fowl with the Same Gun (Muzzleloading Short Shots Book 4)


Relatively few modern hunters use their smoothbore shotguns and muskets to take game, yet these versatile guns have taken all of the world's game including elephants. In this book the Corresponding Editor for black powder for the Gun Digest Annual uses a variety of single shot, double barrel and bolt-action shotguns and muskets to take game as diversified as dove to deer to wildebeest in the U.S., Canada and South Africa.

The book's nine chapters cover muskets, fowlers, shotguns and blunderbusses and documents their use with candid comments about their successes and failures. Much practical information is given about traditional loads as well as those using modern powders, plastic wads and HeviShot for small game and fowl along with round-ball loads for big game animals.

In order to more completely examine the capabilities of these guns, the author has even used the seldom written about blunderbuss to help take a swan and make a decisive kill on a wild turkey.

This book is intended for those who have a general interest in the historic capabilities of these guns and particularly for those who want to extend their muzzleloading hunting experiences by using historic and replica guns to take game.

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Hunting Big and Small Game with Muzzleloading Pistols: Using single-shots, double-barreled pistols and revolvers for taking game. (Muzzleloading Short Shots Book 5)


In modern times muzzleloading pistols are often thought of as big-boy toys that go bang and make lots of smoke, but both historic and modern-pattern guns are effective for small and big game if the guns and loads are properly matched with the game. For decades, Wm. Hovey Smith has hunted a variety of animals with traditional and modern muzzleloading handguns in the U.S. and Africa. With proper loads many original guns may be used to take smallish deer and hogs and the long-barreled modern single shots can be used with confidence on any but the very largest species of big game.

This book goes in details about the guns, loads and the game that the author has taken with them. In addition other pieces of practical information are given about powders, bullets and even how to make improvised holsters for these frequently odd-sized guns so that they may be more practically carried in the field. Some of this information has previously been shared in magazine articles, but other more specialized segments have never appeared in print.

Although taking big game with muzzleloading handguns draws most attention, small game hunting is fun, provides useful practice and in some states allows you to take wild hogs with effective muzzleloading pistols that are legally classified as small-game guns in many states.

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Hunting with Muzzleloading Revolvers: New powders and bullets have made these guns capable game killers. (Muzzleloading Short Shots Book 6)


Once considered only powerful enough to reliably take small game, today's replica muzzleloading revolvers and their modern counterparts, such as the Ruger Old Army, can be used to take larger game animals using charges of modern black-powder substitute powders and Keith-style bullets with weights up to 255 grains. Now available in calibers ranging from .22 to .45, or even .50-caliber in custom-built guns, these arms are versatile alternatives for today's hunters who are willing to take on the same challenges faced by our ancestors.

The author's experiences with these guns began in the 1960s and have included hunting not only the deer, wild hogs, and alligators in his native Georgia, but also small and large game in the Rocky Mountain states where he worked as a Professional Geologist. Not so much a traditionalist as a hunter, he made many modifications to these guns to make them more reliable and capable hunters and illustrated their enhanced capabilities by taking game with them. From these efforts came a Super Walker with improved mechanical performance capabilities and a Red Dot sight as well as a Ruger Old Army with a 14-inch barrel and scope sights. How these and other percussion revolvers were built, loaded, and used is described in detail in the book. These muzzleloading revolvers will never equal the power of the Remington .44 Magnum, but do equal the killing power of a .44-Special handload. With proper attention to shot placement, these revolvers using appropriate components can reliably take many species of big game.

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Building or Restoring Your Muzzleloader: Making Muzzleloaders From Kits and Damaged Guns (Muzzleloading Short Shots Book 7)


As the conclusion of a series of inexpensive, introductory e-books on muzzleloading guns, this book explores the possibilities of building muzzleloading rifles, smoothbores, pistols, and revolvers from commercial kits as well as how to carefully restore or completely rebuild muzzleloading relics to usable conditions. These processes are illustrated by commercial blunderbuss, rifle, revolver, and pistol kits from various makers, and by restoring one Brunswick rifle and smoothbore gun, and restocking another to convert it to a powerful muzzleloader capable of taking any North American game. Hunts with these guns are covered in the author's previous softcover and others of the e-book series while this volume concentrates on the structural elements that make muzzleloaders work, and how to assemble and return them to service. Additional insights on the process are provided by active links to related YouTube videos.

Many who are reluctant to believe that they have the skills to safely build a muzzleloading gun can take heart in the fact that the author is not a fine craftsman but takes an engineering approach to build safe, practical and useful guns often using readily available shop and hand tools. Although the results are often handsome because of the original design, they do not compare with guns made by master craftsmen which was not the author's intention.. One can start with simple small kit guns and progress from there to larger projects. With each build a person will gain skills and can take real pride that he is shooting and hunting with a gun that he, or she, had a part in building. Outside of wholesale destruction in a fire, there are no parts in these kits that cannot be repaired or replaced. This is exactly what our ancestor's did, and many guns that were actually used will be found with repaired stocks, replaced parts, etc. that mark their passage through many hands through time. Some original guns that the author works on had obviously seen hand to hand combat and were likely held in the desperate grip of a dying trooper trying to fend off a slash from a saber after he  had fired his last shot and had no time to reload. Such a gun, built and used by you and passed on to your family will last for generations which is somewhat remarkable in today's throw-away society.  

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- Wm. Hovey Smith