Bruce Day - Our Condolences...

[John Dunkle]

I've learned a lot while running public web forums since 1998. A couple of those things include....

- You can disagree about politics, religion, what is "good fast food" - or not..

- You can critique a man about his hunting style, his clothes or his choice of ammo...

- And you spend days with someone in the field, duck blind or hunting camp - and not really know the man... But - you will get to know his dogs.

Bruce, Charlie Herzog just told me about your loss today of your pup Shortstop and sent along these pics.

We are so sorry for your loss today of Shortstop...

Give Triple a hug from me...

John

[Frank Cronin]

Sorry to hear about your loss Bruce. Hang in there!

Frank

[Steve Kleist]

Bruce,
We miss our hounds as much as we love them. I suspect there are some wonderful days afield that will be remembered forever. Cherish them.
Your friend, Steve Kleist

[Dave Suponski]

Bruce, Sorry to hear of your loss.

[Dean Romig]

What is a dog?

Unconditional love;

Unconditional dedication;

Always ready to have fun - whether at work or at play;

Loves approval and accepts admonishment... reluctantly;

But comes back happily when you say "Okay, come on - let's hunt!"

And then, too soon, they leave us... feeling pretty empty.

I'm sorry for your loss Bruce.

[Mike McKinney]

Bruce,
Very sorry about Shortstop, a very hard day, they are very good friends and leave us with good memories.
Mike

[Bruce Day]

Thank you my friends. A very hard day. He was my friend and constant companion for 13 years. A big running, open prairie Elhew pointer, out of the fabled Snakefoot and Agitator lines. A never stop, alpha dog and sometimes our only bird dog for a line of five hunters. He hunted for people who are now themselves gone, Roger Giles, Sam Shepard. We bagged hundreds of birds over him, fed him steak scraps from the cattlemen's cafes and rolled down the windows. He had been failing but we got him a few hours on birds last fall. I knew it would be his last, so go we all.

[David Holes]

Sorry for your loss, It seems like dogs should live a little longer. I'll bet you have plenty of cherished memorys. Dave

[George Lander]

" Those of us who surround ourselves with lives more temporary than our own
Live within a fragile circle that is easily and often breached. Yet knowing this
We still would choose to live no other way." Irving Townsend

God gives us these true friends for just a little while and then he takes them home.

Bruce, I'm sorry for your loss..........George

[Sam Ogle]

I have forgotten many people I have met and interacted with, yet remember bird dogs from over fifty years ago. Their memories never leave; including the times I was damn mad at them, and the times I was astounded at some miraculous thing they just did.
I am sorry to hear of your loss. A bird dog trainer once told me he really believed that on some level we don't yet understand, they read our minds.
Get another pup, and start over, as miracles are yet to come.
Sam Ogle, Lincoln, Ne

[calvin humburg]

Fell for you Bruce. ch

[Bruce Day]

Thanks Calvin, Sam and everybody else. Yes I have a little setter now, very sweet, a good bird dog, so it softens the loss. Shortstop was a first rate bird dog.

Calvin, I'm really worried about the birds this year. A few months ago, I was seeing plenty of pheasants in the evenings but now it seems like I am not seeing as many. We've had this terrible heat, way above 100 day after day, no rain, crops dying. I'll be in Dodge most of next week and will be looking. What are you seeing?

[Larry Frey]

Bruce,
Sorry to hear about Shortstop. From the four years I hunted behind him (3 S Dakota and 1 Kansas) it was obvious he was a hard headed, big hearted, alpha male and I am sure you miss him dearly. Getting a new pup as you did always make these passing’s a little easier. My lab is now 10 and is showing signs of slowing down and I dread the day we will have to say goodbye.

[Armond Fish]

Bruce sorry for your loss of a good friend.

[Mike Shepherd]

I am sorry. I know you know this but it quits hurting after awhile.

Mike

[JAMES HALL]

Bruce, Just put Shortstop in place of Sparky. Sorry for your loss and hope this helps soften the blow. Jim




THIS DOG'S LIFE

God Of All Living Things:

You do, indeed, work in mysterious ways.
Only You would use a dog to help mold a man. I'm
told no living creature-not even a sparrow-falls to
earth beyond Your watchful eye. If that be so, then
You already know old "Sparky" missed the hunt
today. From the now still form of this big, black
dog You call this man to instruction. You open
my heart to the wisdom of the ages.

To Loyalty: He accepted me exactly as I am.

To Patience: He would quietly wait and watch
for my moods to pass.

To Forgiveness: One word, a crack of a smile,
and he was back at my side again.

To Friendship: He was always there when I
needed him.

To Humor: He filled my belly and my day with
laughter.

To Love: He loved me unconditionally; very
much I suppose like Your love for mankind.

Now that his big heart has beat its last, I want
to thank You, Lord, for blessing this man with
this dog's life.

Amen

J. Brent Pichard
Matthew 10: 29

[calvin humburg]

Bruce not many young birds lot of hens with none see some with 2 or 3. Sparying yeasterday I did see 12 0r so young birds fly up didn't see mom they might of been quail? See a lot of old roosters so hunting should be fair. But not like it has been. hottest i can remember. ch Didn't see any early here. I probably won't shoot gentleman bob this year.

[Richard Dow]

Bruce: I havn't been on the forum for awhile and I see this thread. Sorry to hear about shortstop. I was playing with Huck today and already worried about the day he'll be gone. We'll get tired ourselves one day and remember our fine dogs as rewarding our lives right along and almost equally with our best friends. Stay in touch.
Dick Dow dowdd.s@roadrunner.com

[Bruce Day]

Oh my gosh. Thank you all for your support and condolences. I'm very touched and grateful for you all.

Pete Kappes called me last night and I learned that Pete lost his little pointer last March. That little dog was another fine bird dog that lived a good life and went with Pete everywhere in the cab of his pickup. Pete bought a new truck for the farm but kept the old one for running around with his dogs......that and his wife refused to get in the old truck.

[Francis Morin]

" Those of us who surround ourselves with lives more temporary than our own
Live within a fragile circle that is easily and often breached. Yet knowing this
We still would choose to live no other way." Irving Townsend

God gives us these true friends for just a little while and then he takes them home.

Bruce, I'm sorry for your loss..........George--"And when the Vet's advice runs towards needles or a chamber, there is no other course you can take- then you'll realize the final harsh lesson, that you've given your heart to a dog for to break" Rudyard Kipling "The Power Of The Dog" 1894--Bruce, I too have buried many fine four legged friends- too many now that I look back over 60 years of days afield (other than my 10 in the USMC) the dog makes the hunt more than just killing birds awing, whether with a fine Parker or Smith, or a Iver Johnson Champion. All the fine walnut and blued steel can't ever come close to the lick of a tongue, his panting breath in your face as he struggles, in his pup years, to bring back the big Rooster you knocked down- the thumping of his tail against the side door of your Jeep on the long drive home, the whine of a dream in his memory path as he lays sleeping at your feet in front of a cabin fireplace-- Of all the great writers- Nash Buckingham, Corey Ford and Gene Hill probably have written it best- others described their dogs as I might a Bridgeport Mill to an apprentice- form, function, purpose- but those three greats knew the heart of soul of the noblest creature God ever blessed man with- I am sadden by your loss, but hopeful the new pup, over time, will assuage somehow Shortstop's passing-

[Dean Romig]

......that and his wife refused to get in the old truck.

...sounds familiar.

But, back to your dogs -

Bruce, when is the new pup's 1st birthday?

[Bruce Day]

Dean, she is just 2 now, so she's not a new pup, and has two seasons under her. The first, she was six months old and following Shortstop and pointing when he did and working back when he did and getting snarled at when she busted birds. The second and last fall, Shortstop could no longer hunt hard and keep up the pace, so she was primary and Shortstop did hunt and sat down or laid down when we stopped in the field, and Triple would not stop hunting, even when I was tuckered. When Charlie and I went on our grand adventure to western North Dakota and hunted sharptails in those absolutely rugged and beautiful Little Missouri Badlands, Teddy Rooseveldt country, we didn't even take Shortstop and took only her. I posted a lot of photos here about that hunt and they turned out to be immensely popular. I sure advise people who can walk hard and who have dogs and feet that can stand it, to go out to Medora, Rough Rider country, and have the trip of a lifetime.

John Dunkle hunted over her on her first season and wanted to drive home with her and a little D 20ga that I have , he didn't mention when he would bring them back.


( I say unloved about Charlie's dogs, but Charlie is right now a couple hundred miles from me picking up his two who have been at doggie charm school the last couple months. Charlie can hardly wait to see them and see what they have learned. He talks to them and believes they can actually understand what he is saying. I understand Dave Weber, a buddy of Charlies from Ste. Gen and another Parker guy, bought a set of pink doggie thorn booties for one of them for our SW trip. )

So, Charlie and I are planning a Jan or Feb trip to the southwest for a couple weeks, AZ or NM and walk the hills, draws and plains, eat enchiladas, drink margaritas, and shoot quail. I'll have Triple for that and between her and Charlie's two setters, we should have plenty of dog power. Triple likes to curl up against me, but that darn Charlie, he won't even allow his two unloved and uncared for setters in bed with him. All these setters are Llewellins, the little, fast setters that seem to do better out here in big country than the bigger, blocky, grouse dog setters of the east.

[John Dunkle]

....John Dunkle hunted over her on her first season and wanted to drive home with her and a little D 20ga that I have , he didn't mention when he would bring them back. .... I would have most DEFINITELY might have brought back that that little D 20GA in a few years...! Triple, well - no way!!!.. She'd fit in with my pups all too well, is my guess :)

Again, Bruce, sorry about your loss of Shortstop..

John

[Richard Flanders]

Sounds like one of these dogs that will never really go away, never be far from one's thoughts, that will be the standard that every dog afterwards will be measured against. A man is lucky to have one dog like that in a lifetime. Carry on Bruce. Hopefully there will be another for you.

[todd allen]

So sorry to hear of your loss, Bruce. We lost a 9 month old pup a week ago, a little GSP named Lacie. (my wife's dog) and have been reeling from the hurt.
I bought her a new pup from a litter out of Northern Utah just two days later. (over her objections of ever getting another dog) Drove all day, and half the night to get it done.
The healing is beginning. A new pup doesn't replace the old love lost, but they are powerful medicine.
Here's the drive home:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/luckydogx2/NewPuppy.jpg
Cathy and new pup getting to know each other:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/luckydogx2/Puppy2.jpg
Here's to the healing!

[Bruce Day]

Todd, thanks so much, I am so sorry about the puppy's life cut short and my best for the new pup. Cathy looks happy and content .

Dogs are blessings for mankind.

[james van blaricum]

Bruce: We are men and are not show emotions, but there nothing wrong with grieving the

[Jack Cronkhite]

Bruce: I'm sorry to hear of the loss of Shortstop - a dog I never knew, sharing life's journey with a man I've never met but in cyber-space. All dogs are special and a hunting dog is so inextricably connected to the hunter that separation seems impossible - yet we know it is inevitable. With each passing, I have proved my tear ducts work. We cannot "replace" but we do welcome yet another, until our own journey achieves its end. Until then, enjoy the dog with you now, anticipate the hunts yet to come and recall past memories with pleasure.

Best regards,
Jack

[Tom Wooden]

Bruce: Sorry to hear of your loss, I enjoyed hunting behind Shortstop with you. Shortstop was a strong, dominant dog that was a joy to hunt with. I hope Triple begins to fill the loss of Shortstop as your look to the fall hunting season.

Thank you,
Tom Wooden

[Bruce Day]

Gosh. I am really touched by the outpouring of condolences from so many who hunted over him and those who did not. He wanted to be dominant and he wanted the birds first above all else. Thank you very much, so many wonderful people.

[Richard Flanders]

Make sure you keep us entertained with pictures of your adventures with the new dogs Bruce. We all love good hunting dog pics and stories.