doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Don Zutz - The Double Shotgun

I've always enjoyed reading Zutz. I have 3 of his books including the waterfowl guide King Brown mentioned (good read and much more than just waterfowling wisdom in it). I remember one of his last columns in Wing & Shot magazine titles something like, "Why Are 20 Gauge Over & Unders So Delightful?" He went on to talk about how the handling was so comparable to Brit 12 SxS's. Don Zutz also reminded us not to take the sun's rays lightly.

I read Zutz several decades ago and my recollections are a little fuzzy, but I was not overly impressed and I've never gone back to it. I do recall his obsessiveness with straight grips, splinter forearms, and hands in a line, which I thought odd coming from a competition shooter (I am a high-order proponent of the pistol grip). There might have been some other odds and ends that had to do with misconceptions of simple Newtonian physics, something that seems to trip up a lot of gun writers. I might still have the book around here somewhere - it's free is I can find it and you can pay the postage.

Wing & Shot . . . I was writing fairly regularly for them when Zutz passed away. They asked me if I'd be interested in taking over his column. I was honored by the invitation, but declined. Zutz had a much broader background in shotguns (including pumps and autos) than I have. And I've never been a waterfowl hunter. Just too many gaps in my experience to compare with him. About his only real shortcoming, in my opinion, was that he was mostly a dogless bird hunter. But then his column didn't need to deal with hunting over dogs.