chummer
5 year old buck +
It is with great sadness I share that Chainsaw, A.K.A. Dave passed away yesterday after his battle with cancer. Dave was a friend and a mentor to me and I will forever miss him. Dave thought about deer and habitat 365 days a year. His passion is not duplucated by many. He resided on his version of paradise, a 700 acre 3k apple tree sprawling deer estate. I got to hunt a few times with him. The best sit was the two of us at the bottom of a tree watching numerous deer walk by at close range. I don’t think we even considered shooting one. He also supplied my greatest dad moment when he had my daughter and I over for a hunt after she went the whole season only seeing a couple deer. He put us in his best redneck blind and pulled me aside before hand and told me ”tell her to shoot the first deer she sees”. He wanted to make sure she had success her first season (she did). Better than the hunting was the dinners with him and his lovely wife, and of coarse we talked about deer. About three years ago he called me with a crazy idea. He needed to go big with planting dozens (turned into hundreds )of late dropping apple trees. I told him he was crazy. He said he had done the math and if he lived to 90 it made sense. Sadly, that part of the plan didn’t come through. He spent his final days doing what he loved, watching deer. They set him up looking out his sun room at The Turning Point tree. Anne told me there were huge bucks chasing does all day. I know this brought him great joy. Chainsaw was one of a kind and one of the nicest people to ever live. He loved this site and sharing ideas. For those of you that send prayers please send them for his wife Anne. She was a rock the last year and anyone that has been a care giver knows what that intails. Dave has moved on to his new paradise. I am sure the bucks are a little bigger, the apples hang a little longer, and he still shoots as straight as ever.