Rough couple weeks ....

cloverleaf

Handloader
Sep 10, 2006
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Sorry folks- if this sounds too much like therapy, moderators please feel free to delete if appropriate. However, there is a point to this post that applies here. In the last ten days I have lost two friends and important hunting and shooting mentors.
Rodney- on 11/2/20 at 87 years of age Rodney was still in the combine, combining corn. By 11/7 he had been to the hospital, tested positive, and sent home. and reportedly passed from a ruptured lung embolism a couple days later. A long time friend and neighbor of my wifes family, Rodney was an avid hunter along the Mn River valley where he lived his entire life. Deer, Turkey, and the occasional trip for elk. Rodney set me up for my first successful deer in Mn., and a few others on land he farmed or owned. He also helped me with my as yet unsuccessful effort to call in a coyote, providing me access to private lend and dropping me off in prime spots. Rodney always had a good story, and was never bashful about stretching the facts in the interest of a good story.
Perhaps the worst part was that my FIL found out about Rodney, while deer hunting on the 7th. This is the second year in a row that he found out about the death of a good friend or acquaintance while hunting. He has also lost a brother this year, another hunting partner gone.. Photo of my FIL and I with a buck that Rodney helped me get on to. First time I ever "hit what I was aiming at" deer in Mn.




Uncle Don- On Friday night my uncle Don passed away. Short of my Dad and grandfather, he was a big part of most of the shooting and hunting I have done in my life. He was also an enthusiastic hunter, learned naturalist, and all around outdoorsman and explorer (at least to a kid like me). At one time he was treasurer for the SD wild life federation. I'm sure he was involved in a whole list of outdoor and conservation related projects. He was a collector of wonderful and interesting shooting related things. As a boy I remember holding what must have been a Remington model 241, .22 nickel plated...!! He was one of the people who helped teach me to shoot..." keep your elbow up, boy, don't chicken wing that rifle.." :) He Gave me advice about rifles, " don't worry about buying a used rifle, if it doesn't look too neglected, most people never shoot a rifle enough to wear it out before they sell it." He got me started with "wipe out" and my cleaning "regime" based on his acquaintance with a US shooting team coach he knew. He made a living and raised a family cutting meat for what was then John Morrell. The photo below is of Dad (right) and my uncle after a good day chasing pheasants.



Thanks for indulging me. I will probably add to this as the week goes on... CL
 
It’s all good bud. Let it go. The sun will rise tomorrow. Be the Rodney or Uncle Don to someone else.
 
Looks like they had a long and full live.
Mourn for your loss, but always keep them in your memory.
That is how they live on.

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CL condolences. 2020 has been a rough year. Many loved ones have left their marks on us. Kindness, wisdom and friendship.

Thank you for honoring them.


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CL, I am sorry to hear of your losses. How nice it must have been for you to have known them. I am sure you will miss them but you honor them with your good memories.

Dan
 
Nothing to excuse your post about CL. I am sorry to hear of your loss. Good people are hard to find, you're not alone. I hope you find some peace soon enough.
 
Understand completely. My cousin passed away this summer. He won't be deer hunting with us next week but his memories will be with me. Dan.
 
Lost two more.... my Aunt last week and my friend John, fellow member at the gun club. Im sure john taught and coached thousands of people to shoot trap in his lifetime. The first time we met was at the range on a Sunday afternoon. He was there with a young man from his church and was showing him how to shoot his Ruger stainless black powder 44. To say the least it caught my attention :) .
Kids were his favorite. He taught firearms safety for years. He was a man whose faith I respected greatly, a good pistol shot well into his 80's who always brought ammo for some one else.
If he liked you, you were in for some good natured teasing and the occasional practical joke. We'd go out to lunch and he'd tell the server something like, "give the bill to the guy in the wheelchair...he's faking it anyway..." :shock: :lol: His wife threatened not to go out with us anymore.

My favorite... he'd bring the flint lock muzzle loader he built to the range for some event, Load it up with a stiff charge, visiting all the while, and then hand it to some unsuspecting fella and tell him to go ahead and give it a try. When the smoke would clear John would be standing there peering at the target...he'd pick up his binoculars and look some more...then look again. Hed turn to you in all apparent seriousness, and rather sheepishly say, "it looks like you might have missed...". He'd stand back and see how you reacted. If you protested, "theres no way...the sights must be off..! etc. he'd say "well lets try again..." I watched him repeat the process... and then walk half way to the target and scuff his toe at some supposed divot in the dirt and say, "You dont suppose you were low, do you..?"
By this time those of us who had been burned by this routine before usually couldnt hold it in and John would confess "oh I bet I forgot to load the ball...." :lol: He was always gentle, kind, and honest to a fault, if that's possible. I will miss him so much. He was a true friend. CL







'
 
CL, it’s been a rough .. well, too long..thoughts and prayers for comfort for the lost loved ones families.

All the best, Mark


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CL, I am sorry to hear of your losses. I offer my condolences and am thinking of you. Dan
 
CL,
My condolences to you for the losses you have endured.
The memories they have left behind will burn on forever.
Smile, look up and give thanks.

JD338
 
Thanks guys. It does me a lot of good just to recount that story of John and his muzzle loader....cant help but smile... that is the best medicine. CL
 
I'm so sorry for your losses, CL. I'm right there with you, just starting to get back on my feet after losing my son the day after Thanksgiving. Somehow, life has to go on, but finding that "new normal" is tough. I also lost my stepdad in March, who died from complications due to Covid. It's been a long, hard year for many people. Hang in there, brother.
 
BD- you do the same. Cant even imagine loosing a child. Not by any means have I had the "worst" of it. So many others... just helps to "talk it out" I guess. CL
 
CL- my father was the youngest of his family and outlived them all, as well as numerous friends. As you are experiencing he missed them greatly, he thought for years that he had created some great misdeed and was being punished. We cannot control our destiny, or the lives of others, nor can we justify the loss. It's just another part of our ride through life, take care and remember we are thinking about you.
 
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