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

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