Selby honed his hunting skills early in life while working for the Safariland safari company and under the tutelage of legendary hunter Philip Percival.
The presence of the big cats would spark a hunt in order to protect the livestock, and at the age of just eight years old he was entrusted with his own single-shot .22 rifle.
[citation needed] Selby's early pursuits kept the family's larder stocked with guinea fowl, francolin and gazelle and it was during these times that he perfected his gun handling skills.
[6][7][8] In 1955 Ruark wrote a subsequent book called Something of Value, a fictional novel influenced by Harry's colonial Kenyan childhood and his Professional Hunter exploits.
The attention placed great pressure on Harry, who later commented that creating his reputation was easy – maintaining it for 40 years was the hard part.