Loss of a legend

[chummer]

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.

 

[Catscratch]

Awfully sorry for your (and his families) loss. Prayers!

 

[bueller]

Sad day for sure. I always enjoyed his posts. R.I.P. Chainsaw.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Very nice tribute. I had a buddy who visited his farm and said what a great guy he was.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Such a bummer, I loved reading his posts. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Native Hunter]

Chummer, thanks for sharing that.

He only knew me from the forums, but he saw how much I loved apples. One day a few years ago, I got a message from him offering to send me some scion wood from some of his better trees. I took him up on that and now have several of his trees growing on my farm. Every time I walk by one of those trees, I will remember Dave from now on. He seemed like such a great person who loved life and lived it to the fullest.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Chainsaw had a great property thread on deer hunter forum called "Recreating a Deer Woods"that he carried over from the old QDMA site

It was (and is ) a great read

Part of his legacy is the wealth of information and experience that he generously shared on our forum

May he rest in peace

bill

 

[willy]

Great tribute Chummer. All the qualities you highlight about Chainsaw were evident in the all the posts he made as he told the story of his farm and in all the helpful responses to others questions or comments. This news saddens me and my thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends as I'm sure he had many and this has hit them hard. Hang in there Chummer.

 

[BobinCt]

R.I.P Dave. I didn’t personally know him but I knew he was huge into the apples. My condolences to his family and friends. I feel like we are all friends on here but we just haven’t met.

 

[swat1018]

I'm sorry for your loss, you can't replace a friend like that, they are few and far between. Praying for you, him and his family.

 

[Mortenson]

Very sorry to hear this. My thoughts are with his loved ones. He will be missed on the forum.

 

[Bill]

Two threads on this. Which is fine. Here is the other one.

Rest in peace (Chainsaw) apples, apples and more apples

Today we lost a good one as David Whalen met the lord. To many of us, we knew him as "Chainsaw" For those of us who knew him outside the forum. He was a guy who would give the shirt off his back and help anyone he could. Dave loved this forum and writing about his experiences. Whether that was...

habitat-talk.com

I’m thankful for all the contributions he made to our little community here.

 

[Tree Spud]

Good man, always willing to share his knowledge. Prayers to him and his family.

 

[J B]

Chummer- Sorry to hear about your loss! I will miss his forum updates. I have a turning point planted here in WI and another coming from Ryan again this year. I can’t wait to see what they do here and I will think of him every time that I pass by them. Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends!

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Sorry to hear about this chummer. Thanks for the post and for your tribute to Dave.

 

[rusty1034]

Such a generous man.

He also had another passion, growing and hybridizing daylilies. He had a fenced enclosure at his farm that contained hundred of the plants. He spent lots of time using a tiny paint brush cross pollinating in order to get a new variety. I never saw the garden in bloom, but have seen pictures of his garden at the lake, and it’s spectacular.

I met Dave in person in 2017 when I bought some winter rye seed from him. He had offered it for sale on one of the habitat forums. We communicated frequently about deer and habitat after that. He had a habit of letting me know when some deer related trinket was on sale. I now have several extra trail cameras and tree stand accessories due to his online shopping habits.

In ‘ 18 or ‘19 he invited me to his farm for a hunt. It was on the last day of rifle season in the northern tier of NY. In the morning we sat in one of the gorgeous Redneck blinds, and didn’t see a thing. We cooked blackstrap for lunch, and spent the afternoon in his beautiful Sun room that overlooks the original Turning Point apple tree.

He pondered about where to sit for the evenings hunt, and ended up sitting with me at the base of a thorn apple tree on the side of a small slope at the edge of a swamp. Quite the opposite of the 5 star accommodations of a Redneck. About 10 minutes befor the end of shooting time, some deer appeared. I turned my head to check with Dave, and he was asleep ! We ended up taking a deer, and I still believe that was one of my most memorable hunts ever.

Dave toured my land a couple of years ago. At one point we got separated, and a few min later I heard him yelling “ Hey check out this apple tree”. He had located an apple tree that was in the cover of some mature maples. He told me how to get rid of the maples, and “release” the apple tree.

A couple of years ago I noticed a crab apple tree not far from my house that was holding apples into February. I told Dave about it, and he ended up taking scions from it to add to his collection.

He taught me how to graft apple scions onto rootstock, helped me take cuttings of red osier dogwood from his land, and “introduced” me to several fellow habitat enthusiasts.

Chummer, we’ve never met, but Dave spoke of you so often I feel as if we are friends.

God Bless Dave and his family. Great people.

Rusty

 

[TreeDaddy]

Such a generous man.

He also had another passion, growing and hybridizing daylilies. He had a fenced enclosure at his farm that contained hundred of the plants. He spent lots of time using a tiny paint brush cross pollinating in order to get a new variety. I never saw the garden in bloom, but have seen pictures of his garden at the lake, and it’s spectacular.

I met Dave in person in 2017 when I bought some winter rye seed from him. He had offered it for sale on one of the habitat forums. We communicated frequently about deer and habitat after that. He had a habit of letting me know when some deer related trinket was on sale. I now have several extra trail cameras and tree stand accessories due to his online shopping habits.

In ‘ 18 or ‘19 he invited me to his farm for a hunt. It was on the last day of rifle season in the northern tier of NY. In the morning we sat in one of the gorgeous Redneck blinds, and didn’t see a thing. We cooked blackstrap for lunch, and spent the afternoon in his beautiful Sun room that overlooks the original Turning Point apple tree.

He pondered about where to sit for the evenings hunt, and ended up sitting with me at the base of a thorn apple tree on the side of a small slope at the edge of a swamp. Quite the opposite of the 5 star accommodations of a Redneck. About 10 minutes befor the end of shooting time, some deer appeared. I turned my head to check with Dave, and he was asleep ! We ended up taking a deer, and I still believe that was one of my most memorable hunts ever.

Dave toured my land a couple of years ago. At one point we got separated, and a few min later I heard him yelling “ Hey check out this apple tree”. He had located an apple tree that was in the cover of some mature maples. He told me how to get rid of the maples, and “release” the apple tree.

A couple of years ago I noticed a crab apple tree not far from my house that was holding apples into February. I told Dave about it, and he ended up taking scions from it to add to his collection.

He taught me how to graft apple scions onto rootstock, helped me take cuttings of red osier dogwood from his land, and “introduced” me to several fellow habitat enthusiasts.

Chummer, we’ve never met, but Dave spoke of you so often I feel as if we are friends.

God Bless Dave and his family. Great people.

Rusty

great story

thanks,Rusty

bill

 

[Mozark]

My prayers

 

[Garrett S]

He was a good guy. That’s a shame. RIP


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[Triple C]

Mercy. Loved his posts and assumed he was a great guy by his posts. He will be missed.