Tribute to Mr. Stu Ward, a Great Friend, Father Figure and Indefatigable Hunting Companion

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by John Fetters

© 2008-2009 Fetters Setters, all rights reserved

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Photo at right is of

the late Stu Ward

with his English

Setter, Tri ~ in

anticipation of a

Ruffed Grouse flush

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"You're never lost as long as you have Grouse to chase." ~~~ infamous Stu Ward quote

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Mr. Stu Ward was one of the best shots I have ever witnessed. But more than that, he was a great friend and indefatigable hunting companion ~ always ready for the hunt and raring to go.

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Depite the difference in our ages, there were times in the field when I had a hard time keeping up with him. And in all the many years I hunted with Stu Ward, he only missed two flushed Ruffed Grouse that he shot at ever.

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In 1979 I received an inquiry about my setters from Mr. Odie Adcock of Manheim, Pennsylvania. Upon sending out the requested information, weeks drifted into months and no reply was received.

On a March day in 1983 during the evening hours, I received a phone call from Mr. Stu Ward of Joppa, Maryland, inquiring about a well started tri-colored male English Setter named Tri. After about twenty minutes of conversation about Tri and a little dog talk with hunting thrown in, Mr. Ward made arrangements to come see this setter.

A week later on a Sunday morning Mr. Ward arrived with his shooting friend. Upon introducing himself, he turned and introduced me to Mr. Odie Adcock and I immediately mentioned that I remembered sending information to him back in 1979. Mr. Adcock informed me that the letter was received but was found a month later on the floor under his desk and apologized for not sending a reply.

Upon the completion of the initial polite formalities, Mr. Ward asked to see "Tri." After looking him over Mr. Ward asked if it would be possible to take him out into cover to look him over in a hunting situation. My reply was, you drove all that distance to see this setter and that is exactly what we are going to do.

We walked about 300 yards to an old abandoned farm apple orchard that was grown up in hawthorwn and fox grape tangles with Tri working the cover in a fast steady pace and then it happened ~ in a sudden whir and rock solid point. Mr. Ward told Mr. Adcock to come see Tri and I told them to walk in carefully, adding that Tri had a ruffed grouse pointed.

They asked how I knew that and my reply was simply, "Come see." Upon their approach, the grouse flushed.

Mr. Ward then stated he would take Tri.

From that day on, Mr. Ward and Mr. Adcock became two of my greatest friends and hunting companions ~ and we shared our favorite coverts with one another, my coverts in Pennsylvania and theirs on Maryland's famed Eastern Shore.

Over the years Mr. Stu Ward was my friend and mentor, taking over the role of a father figure to me after the death of my own father.

Mr. Stu Ward was a real gentleman's gentleman as well as a true die-hard grouse and quail hunter. Through the years of hunting ruffed grouse together I quickly came to realize he was without a doubt a crack shot with his Winchester model 21 16 ga. side by side, witnessing only two misses ~ up to his passing at age 75.

If I would have only known where our shooting friendship was headed the first day of our meeting, I would have just given him Tri.

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Because his friendship ~ and even the "missing him" part ~ was and still remains more important to me than any monetary aspect of any deal. . .

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Rarely a day goes by when I do not think of him in one manner or another ~ and miss him terribly. Below are just a few of the many, many photos I have of Mr. Stu Ward in the field ~ and just a few of what we will ultimately publish here in an on-going tribute to him.

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Corey Ford and the DRFC ~ Part One and Part Two

Author Corey Ford and

his infamous English Setter

companion, Cider, with

their Christmas stockings

While many are aware of Corey Ford's famous English Setter books and pieces in national publications, it is a lesser known fact that Corey Ford was an extremely prolific writer with over 30 books and 500 articles to his credit.
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Corey Ford, both while alive and in death, was also extremely generous to his alma mater, Dartmouth University. Several films from Dartmouth are still in existence which feature Corey Ford extensively (along with his famous English Setter companion, Cider).
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We are sharing two of those films here with you below:

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A Well-Lived Life and a Squirrel's Best Friend

The passing of a loved one is never an easy ordeal to bear. No matter the now-touted "celebration" of a life well-lived, there remains a deep longing, a hole in one's heart which can never be filled.

And while many "happy memories" remain, it still is irrefutable that no more happy occasions will occur with the loved one who is gone.

It is a situation which is difficult at best to bear when others are experiencing the loss, and a situation which seems almost unbearable at times when it is yours personally to bear. There is at times little consolation in even the best-intentioned consoling efforts and only the memory of what the loved one would want somehow makes one's life still go on.

Such is the case especially when the loved one was one's father. But knowing also he would not want me to be morose even one day in my life, I will give him the tribute here of a life well-lived, a life well-loved and share one of the many happy memories left to me now.

In his later years, after decades of long hours and hard work, my father found time for many recreational pursuits. He had always loved nature and wildlife and a home in the mid-Atlantic mountains proved one of his greatest joys.

He had the patience of Job and one day began coaxing a squirrel closer and closer to him as he relaxed in his favorite patio chair. There was something inordinately kind and loving about my father which the squirrel apparently recognized before too long.

Within the space of a couple days, the squirrel was sitting in my father's lap, eating peanuts and other goodies from forks and spoons my father had obtained from my mother's meticulously kept kitchen.

Before long, the squirrel would be waiting at the glass patio door for my father each morning, then began the impatient tapping when he felt my father was taking "too long" to tend to his new favorite buddy.

My father reveled in this evolution of events, however my mother had misgivings (my father had jokingly mused aloud several times about letting his new little freind in to share their breakfast table) ~ but it was too late at that point as the squirrel had become one of my father's favorite companions and past-times.

As usually happens with "adopted" wildlife, there comes a time when their "wildness" gets the best of them. And their in-bred instincts and innate intelligence invaribly get them into one sort of trouble or another.

The trouble in this instance would ultimately be with my mother ~ however in the meantime, the squirrel was learning that the "goodies" my father had been hand-feeding him, in fact, came from several well-sealed containers in the garage.

The squirrel had begun accompanying my father around the house at times to retrieve more of these "goodies" for the squirrel's dining pleasaure.

Then one day, the squirrel decided it would be faster and easier to just by-pass my father's kindness and retreive the goodies himself. This, of course, was the beginning of the squirrel's undoing ~ and the beginning of the end of a beautiful relationship.

During the course of a day of yardwork, the garage door was left open and the squirrel wandered past the threshold and somehow managed to find a way to open one of the well-sealed containers ~ and well, simply put, made one heck of a mess.

The end of this close relationship ~ insisted upon by my mother ~ was not without its bittersweet moments (the chore of shoo-ing the pesky squirrel away subsequently fell to her more than to my father).

However it always brought a smile to my father's face and a subsequent laugh when recalling the too-smart squirrel with whom he had once been best friends.

My mother did not find it at all funny ~ even in the recollection ~ but then again that too was part of my father's great joy.

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