My favorite outdoor humorist. I got hooked when I read his short piece "The Horse in My Garage" years ago. Always enjoy the adventures of Pat, his pal Retch Sweeny, his long suffering wife Bun, his sister, The Troll and and many others.
Some of my favorite stories:
"Shooting the Chick-a-Nout Narrows"
"The Modified Stationary Panic"

Best Book Title (IMHO)"Real Ponies Don't Go Oink"

My favorites are "Excuse Me While I Get Out of the Way", "The Good Samaritan Strikes Again", and in general any story featuring Rancid Crabtree the Real Live Mountain Man. But "The Modified Stationary Panic" is a hoot too.

McManus's stuff is my comfort reading. Whenever life in the big city gets too complicated, I just sit back and enjoy his tales of getting lost in the woods, outsmarted by deer, blown up by childhood black-powder experiments...and suddenly big-city life doesn't seem so bad.

OK, I've just been rereading the 'Good Samaritan' collection, and you can add 'The Duck in the Fireplace' to the list of favourites. How on earth does a duck get down a fireplace, anyway?

'The Kelley Irregulars Learn to Cry' - in which Pat takes the guys out on a Robert Bly-esque camping trip ('I'll play the part of the psychologist - I took Psych 101 in college.' 'That don't seem like much?' 'I took it twice.' ) - is a hoot, too.
Especially when, for these guys, 'getting in touch with your feelings' turns out to mean blubbering over a snapped fishing line. Finally one guy confesses that he was mad at his dad for kicking him out of the house to find a job...at age thirty-two.