Utah's man for all seasons

If Utah's fishing and hunting crowd had scoured the country for a perfect spokesman, they could not have done better than Doug Miller. Miller's booming voice and white beard said "man's man," while his temperament and on-the-air style was always more teddy bear than grizzly. He was large, likable and knowledgeable. And in the outdoor sports that have come under fire in recent years for being insensitive and unthinking, he remained a model of decency and reflection.

Miller died Sunday from septic shock infection. He was 59. He had spent 30 years in broadcasting, the bulk of it at KSL and, later KUTV, doing on-site stories for "Outdoors with Doug Miller." He was known for being a good journalist with a sly wit and impressive outdoor insights.

He may well be irreplaceable. Not just because of who he was, but because other sports have crept in to rival Miller's traditional version of outdoor life. Say "outdoor sports" today and skiing, snowmobiling and four-wheeling will come to mind. Miller was a throwback who could still tell a 12-gauge shotgun from a 20-gauge by the report and could heft a trout and tell you its weight within a few ounces. And he had an uncanny knack for humanizing every story he shared. When he filed a story from the deer hunt, it was inevitably more about the families and camaraderie around the campfire than the ammunition. And the banter in the boat always seemed to engage him as much as the bass beneath the water.

He was, in the end, an endangered species — a man who not only loved the game he pursued, but could talk about it with the mind of a poet. He was among a rare breed who could still quote from Walton's "The Compleat Angler."

His news stories and adventures weren't for everybody. But for those who shared the world Doug Miller inhabited, he was an invaluable mentor, friend, colleague and scribe. Like that trophy buck he kept stalking year after year, Doug Miller, himself, was a wonder of nature.