doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Silent Doubles - In Memorium On another site: "Passing of Michael McIntosh"

This was just posted on the Parker website. I tried to google up a story for verification but did not see anything.

"Saturday, the 14th of August saw the passing of Michael McIntosh. At the age of 66, the world renowned writer gave in to life's final demand.

Michael wrote some 29 books, all of which are cherished and recognized as being of the finest gun and shooting sports related pubications that exist today.

The gun world will forever be the less at Michael's passing."

Charles A. Herzog Sr.

Gentlemen:
One of the better of our faith's finest oracles has passed. More's the pity. Bless him and his memory.

Best, Kensal

The best short story/memoir of fathers and sons hunting I ever read, "Knowing How, Knowing When," should be enuf to fix MM in the memory of more than a single generation. Not much heard from the other Technicana twin recently but hope he's enjoying good health.

jack

Just one of the finest sporting writers in the business. I had the privilege of meeting him several times as he came to traverse City each Summer for the Fieldsport schools, and he was always warm and interested in talking with a reader/student. I hope 'Tober is waiting for him next to a sunny cover.

Sorry to hear....I'll read his book "Best Guns" again out of respect.

Few contemporary wordsmiths attain the level of Master but MM certainly achieved it long ago and plyed his trade with a great deal of creativity. Controversial opinions at times but that just added spice to his writing. I'll miss his writings very much.

i have six of his books and learned much from reading them. i will miss reading his articles in ssm.

What terrible and sad news. What a loss to the shooting sports. He was a true scholar of doubleguns and a man whose writings I've followed for years. His knowledge and writing skills were the best in the business. He was also a gentleman of the first order. I never seen a harsh word written by him.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

With heartfelt sympathy.

Greg

Confirmed by David Trevallion on the Shooting Sportsman board.

What a shame. His works were fun to read and his style was special. He will be long missed.

If enriching the lives of others is part of why we're here, then he did a first class, A+ job. We always laugh about him referring to the side by side with the twin poly chokes installed as "very nearly the d*mndest thing I ever saw!" Thanks Mr. M.

Such terribly sad news. Mr.McIntosh was one of the most interesting and dynamic sporting writers of this or any other generation. I have enjoyed his entire body of work always looking forward to the next. I borrowed from his style in my own writings knowing that it never quite reached his par.

I write this with a heavy heart tonight, Mr.McIntosh will be deeply missed and my most sincere condolences do out to his wife, family, & friends.

Sorry to hear of this, a great loss.

Mac did what many of us only pretend to do.

Sincere sympathy to Crossed Chisels and the many others who loved the man.

Hopefully, Mac and Jethro are somewhere in an autumn wood catching-up.


C. K.

_________________

Very sad news. Lord have mercy on the man's soul, his remaining family, and friends.

What was the cause of his passing?

This is awful new's.......and at 66,there was much,much more life ahead for him.....I am truly saddend by this,his work's are high on the pedastel for me,I really hope he passed peacefully being with someone or doing something he loved..... honestly ,when it come's right down to it that's all any of us can really wish for.

Sad day

Very sad news to hear that even here in Belgium.I liked his dynamic style of writing. I knew him from his books I have a signed copy from his book "The big bore Rifle and his book "Best Guns". Again an American legend is gone to soon.
Marc.

I believe he'd had heart problems previously. I did not know him, but I think we can bless him for resurrecting the side by side from the ash heap of history. And if we jokingly blame him for the fact that classic American doubles cost so much . . . I expect he might chuckle right along with the rest of us.

Very sad news. I never met him in person, but we talked on the phone a couple times and he was kind enough to write the foreword to my MacQuarrie bio. He never asked for anything other than a signed copy of the book. I had hoped to shake his hand one day.

What MM wrote of being accidentally shot by a good friend while ruffed grouse hunting in our Minnesota woods was a work of remarkable grace.

Jay

We have lost the finest prose stylist -- ever -- to write about guns. It is the end of an era, one Michael helped create.

He was in intense physical pain when I visited him in late June -- yet till the very end he still intended to go to the Fieldsports Shooting School this week. He loved his craft, and was a master at it, and he loved loved words and shooting and guns and the folks he met through them.

Damn, I will miss him.

I think that pretty much sums it up for all of us.

Another friend is gone. Sad news. RIP, MMC

I first met Mike at the 1997 Vintage Cup in RI. This involved literally getting in line to pay my respects. He was a genuine celebrity of our shooting sports, and his A. H.Fox book was Safari Press's model for the production qualities of my Parker Guns: The "Old Reliable." The one problem with Mike was trying to follow in his literary footsteps: Wherever I went, he had been there first and could do it better.

To quote a century-old trade press (Shooting and Fishing) eulogy for Charles Parker by Jacob Pentz:

"I saw somewhere recently, where the death of an individual was noticed, a man who occupied a large space in the business interests... 'No man is necessary, but some are missed.'"

Mike will be missed. EDM

I knew him through his writhing, he had a wondrous ability to string a few words together and transform them into literature. Although he died he left a legacy.

May he rest in peace
My condolences to his wife and family.

Like the great old-school writers MM was as concerned about articulation as he was about firearms. For this reason his writings make enjoyable rereading.

He was fearless when it came to taking a position, and that earned my respect.

Sam

I guess it's a measure of Michael McIntosh's writing ability that so many of us who knew him only through his books feel as if we just lost a friend.

I just finished reading through for the second time Mike's "BEST GUNS". He was a talented writer with an obvious love of his subject. Perhaps he and Ansley are together roaming the Elysian Fields. He will be missed!

An absolute genius and master of words. I suspect he could have written about anything and made it fun to read. Writing about stuff of which we are passionate made it all magic. A real loss.

Great writer! I will miss him!

Michael was too young and too valuable to go so soon. Very sad news. He will certainly be missed.

I dreamt up the Reader's & Writer's Wingshoot while at my workbench in Oregon wondering how I could get to meet and hunt with Michael McIntosh and Robert F. (Bob) Jones. We had a wonderful time along with some 30 readers shooting pheasants in South Dakota in the Fall of 1995.
We all became friends.
Bob passed a few years back and I will miss Michael in the same way.
They were both good shots, great men and extraordinary writers!

He wrote with style and passion for his subject. I never met him and always assumed our paths would naturally cross at some point. Another reason to do things now rather than put them off or keep them for the future. I'm sure we would have got along and I'm sorry we never got the chance to have a chat over a drink. His work will stand up over time and provide a fitting legacy of his time here.

I first met Michael almost 40 years ago in Missouri. I was still a student at Mizzou, and he was barely older. We fished for trout. Many years later we hunted and shot together.

McIntosh's writing was influenced by that of John Madson, who may be the finest writer of outdoor tales we've ever had. Simple, declarative sentences. Michael excelled at spare verbiage. Just a few words. Always the right ones.

Michael was an incomparable companion on a trout stream, hunting lodge, or the line on a driven shoot. He was a master teacher. Only a few words for the student -- the right words.

After learning of his death, I opened "Shotguns and Shooting," and spent some time with Michael.

Fortunately, we can all do that. Just pull one of his books from the shelf, and there he is. What a wonderful gift.

Very nice Tom,well said...

Much too young to leave us at only 66. He knew his subject matter as few others did, and he had a graceful way with words in keeping with the graceful guns we all love.

Ave, Mr. Mac.

May the birds always rise for you, and the guns swing sweetly.

Man o Man! I guess I just assumed he'd always be around. He definitely was a driving force behind my initial s x s obsession, but more than that he was an extraordinary teacher. The old adage "There's no such thing as a stupid question" ? Michael was the perfect man to covertly answer any and all questions, making the reader excited to learn them. A really great writer, Braveheart indeed. R I P

I had always hoped to meet him. I have four of his books. I will now read the others. I always felt that we had a lot in common...I guess that was part of his style. Someone mentioned short declarative sentances. This is true and reminiscant of Hemingway. But MM was a far more interesting writer.

He did cost me a lot of money. Due to his prose, I have had three "bespoke" guns made!

An observation undoubtedly shared by many: How his death raised him into the pantheon of greats while he was denigrated here for his comments on choke 12 pages ago. Michael McIntosh was a good man whatever his opinions.

King, I have no idea why the recent flap over MM's essay on the obsolescence of choke? It appeared in Shooting Sportsman yrs. ago and in a volume of collected columns from same also published several yrs. ago. Exaggeration and over-simplification "sets the hook". On the one hand but then on the other frequently doesn't.

I did get to meet him (actually I suppose I accosted him like a groupie) at Sandanona at the VC. He was wearing his kiltie, sporran, knee sox and flashes. I gushed about the enjoyment he gave me. He said "Thanks." Always in my pantheon of wordsmiths.

jack

I must say that I was very saddened at the passing of Michael McIntosh. Michael had a special gift of being a writer that had inside knowledge of the technical aspects of both double barrel shotguns and their use. In a day when most gun writers are mere paid advertisers for gun companies,who know little of the workings of guns and even less on how to shoot them accurately, Michael could tell you how to shoot and how your gun shoots. I don't believe that we will see equal of him for genrations to come. Shoot Straight Michael.


Jonathan

It hasn't been that long since we lost a couple other fine shotgun writers: Bob Brister and Don Zutz. Both really good shots and excellent on the technical stuff. They both had a broader focus than Michael, who was pretty much strictly a doublegun guy. But IMO, while I always enjoyed Brister and Zutz, Michael was a better and more entertaining writer.

I like reading McIntosh and think he was a great guy. More interesting than Bob Brister? Larry, you have to get out more.

I didn't say "more interesting", eightbore. I said "more entertaining". Other than in the technicana pieces MM did with David Trevallion, I think Zutz and Brister were more in the business of communicating that kind of information than was McIntosh. But I'll give Michael my vote as a WRITER, subject matter apart.

If you will read Brister's short stories you will find out what sort of writer he was. He was an equal to Buckingham or Babcock. Moss, Mules, and Mallards or The Golden Cresent; buy a copy and enjoy.

Think I have 3 or 4 of his books. His books "Best Guns" first got me interested in Foxes. Then his book on Foxes hooked me for good. The change from stackbarrels to sxs wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for MM for sure. Great delivery style and easy to read. He will be missed, but he left a treasure chest full of quality reading behind.

Michael with the "Barbra Blanco" and the Foster Grants- looks a bit like the late Ernest M. Hemingway circa 1949 Idaho- sans the shades-- and that's a compliment- as very few writers had the solid work ethic of Hemingway, and also MM- he worked at his craft, was not afraid to take a stand, but did his homework and did it well- Of all his writings I like best his decription of his father with the Rem M31- first as MM was a youngster, and then the final hunt 25 years later, when as we all must, his father became a victim of Anno Domini- And letting that rooster fly away unscathed, a bit of Gene Hill's story about the elephant hunt taken by one of Gene's friends who had terminal cancer- and the line- "Sometimes, when all is said and done, we discover that the greatest pleasure in owning a fine gun is discovering the greater pleasure of not always having to shoot it"!!

Larry, sorry for the misuse of the word interesting. I was comparing Brister and McIntosh both of whom are interesting and entertaining. Zutz is not in the same universe with either.

IMO-- Bob Brister was a technician who covered all the shotgunning bases, and was a master story teller and a first class shot as well- Ditto for Mike M., but with the caveat that he covered double guns of both "persuasions". Don Zutz had his own ideas, in some ways like Francis Sell and "Cactus Jack" O'Connor, all made their mark in the world of shotgunnery and will be missed.

That being said, the three late gun writers who influenced both my interest in shooting shotguns effectively on game (not clays so much) were Nash Buckingham, Paul A. Curtis and especially, Gene Hill. When you read one of Gene's articles on shotguns and shooting, you felt as if he was standing right next to you, lending helpful advice gained from years of actual experience.

I read my first Michael McIntosh book in 81. "The Best Shotguns ever made in America". He really spoke to me in his writings and I have been a fan ever since. I like Gene Hill, as did Michael.
Michael thought equally well of Steve Smiths writings, as do I.
Bob Brister gave me a thorough understanding of shotgun ballistics in his book, Shotgunning, The Art and The Science.
I was never a big Fan of Don Zutz. He wrote about shotguns with all the flair of a treatise on bus transmissions but if you view shotguns simply as tools, you may feel differently.

He wrote very well about shotguns. I really don't know anything other than what he wrote and that he had been a college english prof. I was hoping to meet him and contemplated at one time signing up for one of his shooting clinics. It's not to be. Wish I had not put it off.

Moved to Silent Doubles forum 02/29/12.

Sorry to hear of Michaels passing. I enjoyed reading his books and articles over the years and had the opportunity to shoot with him as my instructor at Brian Bielinski�s Fieldsport Shooting School in Traverse City,Michigan almost 30 years a go. He was a great teacher. I enjoyed his humor at the daily luncheons. I only wished that I had taken him up on his suggestion to have a few whiskies at a local watering hole after a day of shooting.