Watch Hunter S. Thompson Have a Wild Gunfight With His Neighbor

Check out this new video of the late gonzo journalist in fun-filled firefight.

The late, great Hunter S. Thompson loved his guns. His devotion to firearms and just shooting things in general has long been as hard-coded into his legacy as iconic style, drugs, and wildly funny, razor-sharp journalistic insight. 

Thompson lived on Owl Farm in remote Woody Creek (near Aspen) Colorado from 1969 until his suicide in February, 2005. He described his retreat as a “fortified compound,” and it was there he really kept his love of guns on the front burner. As this video shows, Thompson wasn’t afraid to mix it up with a pistol in hand, either.

This recently-uncovered footage, titled “An Evening at Owl Farm,” shows the writer—whose work inspired many fictional or semi-fictional portrayals, including Johnny Depp’s turn as HST in 1998’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—trading gunfire with a distant neighbor. 

Thompson fires off a few rounds and goads his neighbor about using “bird shot” to fire back. Then Thompson in voiceover strikes what for him is almost a conciliatory note, saying, “If this son of a bitch wants to bitch about his cows over here and shoot at me, well, it’s our country.” 

There have been several documentaries made about Thompson’s life and work. This video gives some idea as to why, and we hope we see more in the future, especially if there are random gun battles involved. 

h/t Reddit