I ran across an old bookmark yesterday for Pat McManus's website and took a look. I was surprised to see a note from his daughter saying they are shutting down the website and online store. Pat's blog is blank and his wife's (Bun) blog says "Pat no longer writes." McManus's most recent murder mystery was released last summer. Does anyone know if his health is failing or what's going on?

I'm very sorry to see his writing come to an end. My entire family has been longtime fans of Pat's humor writing. One of my few fond memories of junior high school was reading his Field & Stream pieces in the school library back in the 70s and trying not to laugh aloud!

I think I probably read every piece he wrote for Outdoor Life magazine. Hope he is doing well and enjoying retirement.

Its a sad time, Pat put smiles on a lot of peoples faces, thats some thing we could use more of.

Guys, he's 81 years old. I love his stuff and will miss him too, but if he wants to retire, he's entitled.

I agree. He's earned his retirement. However, the circumstances make one hope that he will be able to enjoy it.

Thank you Pat. I enjoyed every laugh hope you enjoy your retirement

Absolutely deserves every dollar his writing ever earned. Anyone with his talent for making people laugh should be well rewarded.

When I was growing up I would always read Pats column first in Outdoor Life. I always looked forward to it every month.

Had the pleasure of meeting him briefly several years ago - a very nice gentleman, with a great wit...

I call one of my twin grandsons, ( Rancid Crabtree) the other is Crabby Appleton.

I also loved his Outdoor Life columns. I usually turned to the back and read them first as some of you. Pat gave me more than a few good laughs.

I just loved Pat's work. God bless the man.

I have a few of his old books around here somewhere. I should find them and read them again. He sure could make me laugh.

To this day when I am hunting or fishing and things aren't going so well I invariably think of the title of one of his great stories about fishing - "A Fine and Pleasant Misery."

God bless Mr. McManus.

Yes, Bless you Patrick McManus. Your books were my son's bedtime stories. My wife and I laughed so hard it was hard to make sleep happen.
Hopefully it will be time soon to get them out again for the grandkids.

one fine writer in my book! 1st story I read was in the back of a od life mag!...got all the books and seen the live show!...years/years later in a cabin in the mnts we stayed at18miles off the rode and 20 below... was 3 pages of the back of a od-life mag ..same story !!! I had tears running down..

www.amazon.com � Books � Humor & Entertainment � Humor � Essays


The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw....lol!!!!...... Water Spirits Letter to the Boss Scritch's Creek The Tin Horn Cupidity, Draw Thy Bow Whitewater Fever Never Cry �
Rating: 4.9 stars

Had a hard enough time reading his books to myself without chuckling out loud, never could read one out loud without people staring.

Thought I was going to cause an in-flight emergency on a commercial flight one time, one of his stories involving his dog Strange. I absolutely could not stop laughing. Not sure why, but that really makes some people uncomfortable.

God bless you, Pat McManus. I think I'll have to give Real Ponies Don't Go Oink! another read.

Yes, Pat has retired, but if the right thing came up,well.

email I received a while ago.


Butch, Pat is like me: He tapered off from full monthly issue schedule but still around to do odd jobs.

No more Pat McManus...no more Ed Zern...

No more reason to buy Outdoor Life or Field & Stream.

They were both eagerly awaited each month.

I do not believe Patrick should get such praise for simply following me and my friends around and writing about what we did. Racid was actually a man named Jack. Retch was my friend Dave. When he wrote about every boy needs to dig a hole, Dave aka Retch and I had just finished digging a huge hole in the neighbors field to use as a pit trap. His square bowed canoe was a direct copy of the one Dave and I built and attempted to float down the Roaring Fork River, with the same results. His mountain car was a dead ringer for my old Jeep Wagoneer. The proof in the pudding was his spot on description of my grandmothers and my relationship. He told the reader the events happened in Idaho, when in real life it happened in a small valley in long ago Colorado. My mother read everything he wrote and would remark while laughing "remember when you and Dave did that exact same thing?" I got to meet him once and he was quite the gentleman. He will be missed.

He did have a way of putting a picture in your mind with his words.

I can't tell you how many times I had tears in my eyes after reading some of his passages

^this^

I can't imagine the total hours of pure enjoyment and stomach aches from laughter he's brought to his readers, but he deserves every penny he's made. I wish him the very best, and hope he's enjoying his retirement.

I met him at a book signing back in the early 90's. There wasn't the chance for real conversation, but I feel privileged to have at least met him.

I'm picturing him bringing the deer he THOUGHT was dead down the mountain on his bicycle

I was thinking, what you were typing.

One time McManus published a story in the Missouri Conservationist. One reader liked it so much that she wrote a letter to the editor urging McManus to quit whatever else it was he did and "write, write, write!"

Nobody told her he had already figured that out.

The funniest stories are those that are just a RCH past the truth. McManus, Foxworthy, . . . who?

My sentiments exactly. He was here in town one time at a local bookstore signing books but due to work I could not get there to meet him.

I truly enjoyed Pat's writings through the years. May God bless him with health and strength.

My left-wing former father-in-law would have never found McManus if it wasn't for me recognizing their similar troubles with trailers. Father-in-law laughed until, like many of us, he cried reading a Pat McManus story on trailers. Soon, father-in-law owned several McManus books even though he was neither a hunter or fisherman.

Growing up in a rural family where we produced most of our own food makes me remember a McManus line about subsistence farming that said something like 'back then, we had a personal relationship with our food.' Yes indeed, I got to know well dozens of chickens, ducks, rabbits, pigs and calves before eating them. It is OK that Mr. McManus has retired since, at age 60, I'm probably one of the younger people who had a youth recognizable in his stories. There's a generation or two now that might see some humor but just can't understand the full meaning of his writings.

The unexpected twist in a story line, the subtle pictures he painted with words and the ability to convey stories much like we've lived made Pat McManus a treasure. He was truly a gift from God for many of us.

It hurt but we survived the retirement of Gary Larson and his infamous 'Far Side'. It'll hurt but we'll survive this. Both are and will be missed, to be sure.

The last Pat McManus I red was "The Horse In The Garage."

A book. The horse, the house's big lot, the garage/stable, the kids. A side-splitter because I think it was true. Now that I hear his age, it must be.

I grew up reading Pat McManus articles in Outdoor Life. When I got married I reread them all for my wife.

I have all of his humor books. I have literally laughed til I cried several times while reading them. I started reading them in high school in the mid 90's. Several times I got some odd looks during study hall when I would start laughing uncontrollably. I've read several stories to my wife who would end laughing at the story, and at my attempts to read and not laugh.

I too grew up reading, no actually studying his work. And loving every bit of it. My sons read every one of his books that I have. When one became a camp counselor at a youth camp in Wyoming he "borrowed" my books and read his kids one of the stories each night. He said they all howled with laughter and Pat's legacy continues!

Loved reading his stories as a kid!

Thanks Pat!

Did he actually write stories? I've just seen the comics.

Pat's book on writing was a great read.

have a set of his books sitting around waiting for my nieces and nephews to get just a bit older when uncle gets stuck babysitting....

also have one of Ed Zern's books that i found in a used book shop out in Washington.....least if its still with the rest of my stuff and Scott didnt steal it

Dad gave me THEY SHOOT CANOES, DON�T THEY? for Christmas, 1982, the day before my son was born. I worked 3-11 that night in ICU, but we only had two patients in pretty good shape, so I spent most of the shift with my wife and son in L&D while Mom, Dad, My aunt, and my brother babysat the girls. They started celebrating the new grandson/nephew before I got home, so I had to play catch-up. The folks went then drove home (they were in no shape to walk) and my brother stayed. He read aloud the first half of "All You Ever Wanted to Know About Live Bait but Were Afraid to Ask", and I read the second, crying and holding my belly all the way. Tried to start the next story, but had to quit. Couldn't see the page anymore. We laughed ourselves to sleep that night.

When I was in high school, I obtained a copy of A Fine and Pleasant Misery. I had it with me in biology class one day with my other stuff. My biology teacher was a nice, but crusty, take-no-crap, WW II Marine.

On the day in question, we had a test on a biology chapter that we had just finished up a day or two before.

I went ahead and finished my test about the middle of the pack time-wise and decided I'd read a little to pass the time until everyone finished and we were given the next assignment.

The story I started reading was The Bike. I'd gotten to the part where PMc was describing the neighbors' dogs that always chased him.......I let a little giggle slip........looked up and was met with one of those looks.

I continued reading and before you know it, I couldn't suppress it anymore. I was giggling, snorting and had tears in my eyes. Everyone started looking at me and this continued even after I put the book down on my desk.

Mr. Longanacre, my biology teacher, came over to my desk and decided to take possession of the book and set it down on his. I got sent to the hallway until I could regain some composure. I went back into the classroom and sat down and was asked if I was done. I nodded.

After a couple minutes I guess curiosity overwhelmed him and HE started reading it. I sat there and watched for a couple minutes and pretty soon I could see a smile cracking as he read.

Needless to say I got a pass on the disturbing of the other students while they were taking a test.


Thank you Pat. You have no idea how close you've to describing my friends and I growing up.

Pat was the funniest writer I ever read. I never could keep my composure while reading his stuff aloud for my family.