Stories of the Old Duck Hunters (Gordon Macquarrie Trilogy, Book 1) [Hardcover]

Gordon MacQuarrie (Author), Zack Taylor (Editor), Paul Birling (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1994 | Series: Gordon Macquarrie Trilogy, Book 1 (Book 1)

Masterpieces you can read over and over is how the Washington Post reviewed MacQuarrie's engaging, timeless stories of the misadventures of the Old Duck Hunters Association. Here are 53 classic hunting and fishing stories, some from sporting magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, including unpublished works from the author's literary estate. Available in individual volumes or collected in a slip-cased three-volume set, here is a legacy to today's sportsman from one of America's finest outdoor writers.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Willow Creek Press (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572230037
• ISBN-13: 978-1572230033
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,005,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Stories of MacQuarrie, May 7, 2000

By 

Joe Volovar - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stories of the Old Duck Hunters (Gordon Macquarrie Trilogy, Book 1) (Hardcover)

This is for anyone who is ever thinking about buying a book with stories by MacQuarrie in it. Buy it and don't look back. MacQuarrie wasn't an advertiser like so many things are today. He wrote about everyday people and their love of the out doors. You must be careful though because after you read MacQuarrie it will be hard to find someone to out do him. I never heard of him before I found a book that Zack Taylor compiled with the stories of MacQuarrie flyfishing. Buy anything you can find by him and you won't be sorry. Enjoy MacQuarrie in your private times when you need things to be enjoyable and he'll never let you down.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A collection of absolutely wonderful tales..., March 27, 2007

By 

W. M. Robbins "The Badger" (The Beautiful Blue Ridge) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stories of the Old Duck Hunters (Gordon Macquarrie Trilogy, Book 1) (Hardcover)

The terms "author" or "writer" do not apply to Mr. MacQuarrie. He is an artist. Reading "Stories of the Old Duck Hunters" will first transport you to your favorite duck blind, with the early morning sun glowing through the morning mist, the winter chill misting your breath and numbing your fingers. Then you will find yourself in the middle of the old Brule river, the cold water swirling around your waders as you try to tease a crafty Brown from behind a rock with a worn no-name brown fly.
MacQuarrie's wonderful story telling will cause you to laugh with joy, sigh with nostalgia, tense with apprehension, and bring the occassional tear to your eye. I found myself many times gazing of into space as I reflected upon my own experiences, the book momentarily forgotten in my hands as MacQuarrie once again made some connection to my thoughts and feelings. If you love the outdoors, and especially if your idea of a perfect day involves the frigid, wet, muddy, foggy self-torture device known as a duck blind, you must read this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outdoor adventures, February 11, 2008

By 

Utah Blaine (Somewhere on Trexalon in District 268) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stories of the Old Duck Hunters (Gordon Macquarrie Trilogy, Book 1) (Hardcover)

Gordon MacQuarrie passed away more than 50 years ago, but his stories are as fresh and relevant today as when they were penned more than half a century ago. People will still be reading and enjoying these stories a hundred years from now. This book contains a collection of 19 of MacQuarrie's best short stories spanning his prolific career. They are about fishing (mostly fly fishing) and hunting (mostly duck and deer hunting) in his native northern Wisconsin. If this is any evidence of what impact this book has had on me, I've fished all my life, but I've never fly fished. I'm now going to go and buy a fly rod and try it this year! These stories really are amazing, after reading them you'll want to spend the rest of your life out in the woods. MacQuarrie apparently based many of his fictional adventures and characters on real life incidents and people. Each of the stories center around the fishing and hunting adventures Old Duck Hunters Association, Inc (the Inc stand for Incorrigible). Hizzoner, the quirky and often irascable chairman, and the author travel around Wisconsin often in friendly competition, occasionally scheming to out-maneuver the wife, but always enjoying life, companionship, and their outdoor adventures. I think that MacQuarrie has perfectly captured the image of what we would like each of our outdoor adventures to be, even if they do not often live up to this expectation in reality. This collection rates as 4.8 stars in my view, rounding up to 5 to give GM the benefit of the doubt. It is better than similar collections by Gene Hill (which are also good but tend to be more introspective). The only reason that I give this 4.8 is that as good as they are, these stories are not on the same planet as Ruark's `The Old Man and the Boy'.