Great Morning

[Garth Gustafson]

Everybody remembers their first buck, but nobody can tell a story like Gene Hill...

https://sportingclassicsdaily.us5.li...1&e=c2e7252e20

[John Allen]

One of the highlights of my outdoor life was when I worked for Dunns and we hosted a writers week during the Nationals. I was assigned to host Gene Hill and Mike McIntosh for 2 days of quail hunting. Spending 2 days on a dog wagon with those 2 guys was wonderfully educational and just plain fun. Great shots and great tales. Gene in particular was interesting. He was one of the Rangers who climbed the cliffs during the Normandy invasion. A great writer and true hero.

[Charles Matthews]

What was Michael McIntosh like? Do you remember what double he was shooting? Thanks

[Phil Yearout]

Not trying to be contrary John, but according to Gene's obit he served in Okinawa during WWII.

[Garth Gustafson]

Gene was born on May 15, 1928 and would have been too young for WWII. The minimum age for enlistment during the war was 18, although 17 year-olds were allowed to enlist with parental consent. His US Army service record shows his enlistment as March 28, 1946 (he was still shy of 18 by a few weeks) and he served in the Panama Canal Department.

Service records during this period are often missing or incomplete. But I would have really enjoyed that Point du Hoc Ranger story as told by a master storyteller.

[Phil Yearout]

Just going by the obit; maybe it’s incorrect. “Mr. Hill served in Okinawa during World War II.”

[Stan Hillis]

Getting to meet famous authors can be quite interesting, John. I once had the grand opportunity to shoot a round of sporting clays with Jim Carmichael at the Southern Fall Classic at Georgetown, SC. We were shooting the hammer gun event at the time. He was so funny. When it was his turn to shoot, on the squad, he would load the gun then say aloud, but to himself, "Cock the damn thing." He would then pull the hammers back.

Afterwards I talked with him and mentioned something he once wrote about A H Fox shotguns in which he said:

"The double-barreled shotguns made by Ansley H. Fox in his
Philadelphia factory are classics for the simple reason that
they are the most beautiful shotguns ever made in America and,
for that matter, among the most beautiful boxlock designs ever
made anywhere. Whereas the customary practice of gun invention
was to design from the inside out, often enclosing the
mechanism in a plain outer shell that required engraving or
other embellishment to be presentable, the seductive lines of
the Fox receiver suggest that it was sculpted by an artist.
Like a lush maiden shed of her arrayment, the Fox needed no
engraving to accent its sensuous contours and, indeed, the
unadorned lowest grades perhaps best showcase their elegance
of form."

He got quiet, looked at me and said "I wrote that? I don't remember it."

I was incredulous.