My Buddy Charlie

Back in the mid 90's I was at a convention and lurking around a hospitality suite where the Rum and Bourbon were of good quality and generous pour. I was talking with some colleagues when I overheard a tall older gent in another cluster of drinkers talking about a recent fight involving boxer Arturo Gatti. I was fairly lubricated at the time so I felt no compunction about injecting myself into the conversation to advise the fellow aficianado, Charlie, that I had been at the fight he was discussing.
A two hour conversation ensued and from that evening on, Charlie and I have been friends, colleagues and hunting buddies. Charlie and I learned during that conversation that we both liked boxing, hunting, fishing and horse racing.Charlie is a member of Lost Creek Rod & Gun Club, a renowned hunting camp in upstate PA, and I was lucky enough to be invited by him on several trips to hunt deer and upland game. Pictured above are Charlie and I with my hunting dog sitting by the woodstove having beers and talking long into the night. The next photo is this writer schooling Charlie on the finer points of Poker.
Charlie had previously enjoyed a successful career in banking and after retirement got into marketing, which is what led him to be at the convention where we met. Charlie is an accomplished and semi-famous Turkey caller, a serious and highly skilled fly-fisherman, an excellent shot with a shotgun, a great friend and simply one of the most decent and affable humans I have ever had the pleasure and honor of hunting with and calling my friend.He loves a good cigar and a good joke, dotes on his Grandsons shamelessly,and has matched me beer for beer sitting on the tailgate of my pick-up out in a field after a hunt when we felt it our duty to attack a icy cold case of Yeungling Lager. We have hunted Upland game, waterfowl and deer together over the years and shared many a fine meal, poker game and the occasiional horse race. Charlie is getting up there in years now and slowing down a bit but we still take to the field and the goose pit whenever we can. I still look back on that fortuitous meeting and am thankful our paths crossed.