doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Gene Hill's "Our World Without Shotguns"

Drew how appropriate two days before the opening of the Nebraska upland season which will be followed the next weekend by the Kansas opener.

I'll not be a casual observer of either.

My thought exactly TB
http://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1YeFat6AO8K_0g5fqQFQ1lLOabAQ9ZRP8RxdCmmQ3Ct0

Hey, my two good friends - I won't be participating in the Nebraska opener (to my regret) but, God willing, I'll be there for the Kansas affair! Drew, thanks for the neat Kansas tribute; for those who don't know her, she truly is "God's Country". Best to you both, and to all kindred souls..

Fin

Hill is (was) right near the top of my 'favorite writers' list. Man, didn't he hit the nail squarely on the head with that story? Everything he discusses there is so true but "shotgun" can be substituted by any of several other nouns or phrases depending upon anyone's perspective or opinion of what, for them, is the true epitome of wingshooting sport. For many it would be the dog. For some it would be place or time or season or weather. For others it would be the companionship of cherished old friends or the comfortable warmth of a good fire in the woodstove at day's end sipping a favorite beverage or even a good book to read by someone like Hill. But let it be the "shotgun" as a totem of the things he loved - that we love.

Strange, I just unpacked my copy yesterday, after several years in a box, and read ".....without shotguns" again.
Gene Hill is one of the best outdoor/gun writers I have ever read.
He could make the reader "feel the fire and smell the smoke" better than anyone could.
Also his love for fine shotguns, labs and November days perfectly follows my feeling for three of Gods greatest works.

RIP Gene.

I also got down my copy of A Listening Walk last last night to re-read "...Without Shotguns." Tucked inside were a copy of a fan letter I wrote to Gene many years ago, and Gene's very gracious and kindred reply to me. The book is warmly inscribed to me from Gene; it showed up around Christmastime later that same year. Gene was not only a great writer but a genuinely good guy; I'm sure many of us who never met him face to face still think of him as a friend. I know I miss him!

Gene Hill=- truly a legend- Trapshooter, Dog Trainer, Shotgunnner to the nth degree- Corey Ford, Nash Buckingham, Burton Spiller, Ed Zern, Gene Hill and now the recent loss of Micheal McIntosh-- Of all the many fine stories Gene ever penned- "The Stranger" is my all-time favorite- shorter that Corey Ford's "The Road To Tinkhamtown" but just as moving!!

A World without Shotguns- T'would be a travesty Lads- like an Erin without Bushmills and Guinness--

Some beautiful writing there from a man who'd been there and done that. There are some lines that brought me nearly to tears, and I'm no softie. But Gene Hill has a way with words that I wish I had.

In some ways he reminds me of a man who I believe was called Dick Wolf who wrote 'Parting Shots' on the back page of Guns and Ammo magazines way back in the early to mid 1970's. He too could make you dab the corner of your eye.

Even after forty years I can recall an article about a puppy he lost to a speeding car, he wrote " All the vastness of outer space is not half as empty as that place by the stove, where the puppy slept, now he sleeps somewhere else forever".

I've never been jealous of the wealthy or successful man, or his expensive cars, guns or fishing tackle, nor of his trophy wife, his boat or even aircraft. I only envy a man who has such a command of my own language, that it strikes me dumb, just to read his words.

Harry