Sad Sad News

[BarryBobPosthole]

I was watching a segment of Oklahoma Outdoors on PBS about the Okie Ducks Unlimited efforts and de ided to see if I could find news of my friend Skip Hurlburt (Herb to us here) and found his obituary on line. It looks like he passed away in September of this year. I don't know any other details.
I met Skip through Goodhunting and got to hunt and fish with him a couple times and he's been to my house for a steak dinner a time or two. Birddog and I used to meet up with him every year at the Tulsa boat show. He was easy to spot in the crowd, since he was about 6'6" and every bit of it was solid Oklahoma good guy. He was also one of the smartest people you'll ever meet.
Man I sure hate to hear this. He never said much, but I think he's been in kind of poor health the last few years. He'd lost some toes to poor circulation from diabetes last time I talked to him, probably last summer. Here's a link to his obit.

BKB

http://www.moorefuneral.com/obituaries/Charles-Hurlburt/#!/Obituary

[Captain]

Man that's sad. We have lost another one. Glad you and Birddog got to meet him and spend some quality time with him.

[Thumper]

Damn that sucks. I remember him well ... he just sort of faded away. And so young. :(

Anybody have any pics to add to the Memorial Page?

[DeputyDog]

That is sad. He didn't post much, but when he did, he sure educated the rest of us.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Here's one of his stories from the HOF forum.

BKB

Camping with Uncle John
Herb
Camping with Uncle John
By Herb (Oklahoma)

About a year after my Dad died, there was a knock on the front door. It's my cousin John and his wife. They load me up in their car and proceed to take me on a week long fishing/camping trip.

Of course they have arranged it with my mother, but heck I'm only seven years old; I wouldn't remember it if Mom had asked me if I wanted to go. It didn't matter; I wanted to go whether they asked me or not.

We went down to Lake Eufaula. At that time the lake had just been impounded, and we rented a boat and went out to an island to camp.

It was wonderfull!. We had a live box to put fish in that was made of 2x4s and hardware cloth, and was sunk into the lake where we beached the boat. Every day the top of the box would be covered with snakes and every day John would take a paddle and sweep the critters of the box so we could stash that day's catch.

We would wake up at dawn and have breakfast; not your wimpy adult breakfast but something GOOD; as I recall, SPAM figured prominently, as did some thick sliced bacon we bought on the way down. Did you ever watch someone slice bacon at an old time grocery?

After breakfast, we would go trolling for sand bass. I know now what fish they were, but at the time they were just fish. We also cast some, but it didn't take long for John to see that I couldn't cast. We trolled mostly and he taught me how to cast. We had old Shakespeare rods and spincast reels. They weighed a ton but I could sometimes cast them.

We'd come in and Dortha (John's wife) would oversee the clean up detail. Sweep out the tent, police up all the trash, and chop wood for the fire. There were clear rules about the tools, too. If a kid (me) even touched the ax, the tent would fall down, the trees would explode and we'd have to go home. I could use the hatchet, if there was an adult present, and they would sometimes let me use the cane knife all by myself.

After the camp was inspected and cleared, we'd cook lunch and plan the afternoon's activities. Both the grownups took far too many naps, but we also got to go swimming, and one memorable day John announced he was tired of all the snakes on the fish box and we should go shoot some. We took off, me with my trusty Daisy lever action one pump BB gun, and him with his 22. We didn't find any snakes, but we had fun shooting tin cans.

Then before dinner, we'd go back out fishing, but this time John would use his fly rod to catch bass and sunfish, and we'd just watch. Then, in for a quick dinner and to bed in the tent (Do you remember how a canvas tent smelled? To this day that canvas smell takes me back).

The week went by all too quickly, but it was just first of many. Long before, it turns out, when JOHN'S father died, my grandfather had taken John under his wing, and John was returning the favor. He returned it for over 30 years.

By the time we went the next time, John and Dortha had started building their lake cabin, and instead of campground policing I was taught things like stone masonry, roofing and plumbing. I was also taught how to fish and how important being outdoors really is for your peace of mind.

I grew up at their cabin, and they were there to guide me every step of the way. They were like an extra set of parents to me. Along the way we picked up their nephew, Sam, and we grew to be like brothers.

Sam has the cabin now, along with a beautiful wife and two wonderful kids. We get together a couple of times a year to do a little fishing, or maybe to try our luck with the bobwhites, or mainly to just sit and enjoy each other's company. Maybe I ought to suggest a camping trip.

[Chicken Dinner]

Well, damn.

[Captain]

Cool stuff Posthole. Thanks for posting.

[jb]

I had the pleasure of meeting up with Herb many years ago when #3 and I went hunting in OK for the first time.
Herb met us for breakfast and when we left he gave us a big bag of Moon Pies and RC Cola, he said this was OK state snack and drink.
I'm really sad to here this, he was a great guy.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jbmich/Herb%20and%20JB_zpsgpc2dvbw.jpg

[Arty]

He just posted the first week of September. Sad news indeed.

[Captain]

Good picture JB and Herb must'a been a big boy if he stood toe to toe with you. We need to put that picture up in the gone but not forgotten thread.

[quercus alba]

http://osagenews.org/en/article/2015/09/25/funeral-scheduled-sept-26-charles-hurlburt-longtime-bia-employee/

https://www.facebook.com/skip.hurlburt.9

[Trav]

Man that sucks, I had no idea.

[Bwana]

So sorry to hear.

[Buckrub]

Hard to hear.....smartest guy ever here....and a gentleman. Wow.

[LJ3]

Well hell. I missed this one. That is indeed sad news. Herb used to post quite a bit back in the day. I think he eventually figured out we weren't much stimulation for his superior intellect :)