With a shattered heart

Guys and Dani,
There are many shattered hearts today among the friends of Steve Sutton on this site. Years ago he was a key personage around the Mighty Layout Boys and Duckboats.net.

I include a link below to the old Readers Rigs from our site. It shows a list of Steve's fleet/armada of duck boats. It was my first impression and memory of Steve.

I will at some point post a devotion in his memory. But not today.

Larry

http://www.duckboats.net/sutton1.htm
 
Dani~


I am so sorry to hear this - for you and for everyone who knew him. I knew him only through this website and as a customer. I had hoped to meet him in person....


Truly a shock - and a loss to us all.


SJS

 
Dani,
Hank called me while I was hanging in a tree deer hunting. This news struck me to my core. I am still trying to process the event. And just how precious every day we wake up and can take in another day in the outdoors we love actually is. Hank and I both agreed that Steve was a huge part of our lives when we all came together in the early days of the DBHP. Goodness knows there were moments and strong opinions. But at the hart of it all was a love for the color of a sunrise or sun set on the Marsh or Woodland we were hunting. I watched a doe tonight pass near my tree and as she fed off into the clear cut, I thought about how much it meant to me to even partly understand the outdoors and the wildlife we love to pursue. NO small percentage of that is due to my having met Steve Sutton and spent countless hours discussing the finely detailed parts of it with him.
God speed to the great stump dancer. The world is a lesser place with out that big smile leading the way, off on another adventure.
Dani I know just how much this must be weighing on you. You are in our families thoughts in the days ahead.
Bob Butler
Noank CT.
 
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Eric, if you haven't done so please make Dani's post a sticky at the top of the page for a while... Thanks
 
Thank you all. I am in KY with Debby. Her brother came up and will drive her home. The three of us are going to clean out the motorhome. I will drive his truck home with me as well as whatever hunting stuff.

Steve is being cremated. There is no hurry for his memorial at this point. Debby and I have talked a little about it and waiting until after the holidays at least would be easier. She mentioned maybe doing two memorials....one for folk like us and one to satisfy her and Steves family. When there are more details, I will post them.

Eric mentioned that he has gotten requests for Debbys address so people can send cards. Here is her address:

Debby Sutton
675 Acorn St
Merritt Island, FL 32952

Thank you to everyone who has posted, called, texted and PMed me.
 
Dani ,


I am truly sorry for yours and Debbie's lose , this is a truly tragic and unfortunate incident but it just confirms how life can change at the blink of the eye . As i sat in my chaor last night i received a text from a good friend that i met here on the page Bob Butler or as i call him "BUTLER" he informed me of the news, you see quite a few years ago Steve reached out to me regarding decoy patterns , i lost track of those prints he sent out but just this last weekend while getting things in order i came across them again and it brought me back to a conversation i had with Steve . He was a great guy and was always ready to share his experience as you know . Always remember the good times and take the time to do what you love to do . RIP Steve and thank you for your insight and input on this forum . I will be sending a card to Debbie as well
 
I'm in shock.... while I never personally met Steve, he was one of the main reasons I originally stuck around this page when it first started. His personality was just such a HUGE part of this page.

We've emailed over the years and he's given me some advice on hunting trips, boats, etc.

Truly a huge loss! Prayers to you and his family....
 
I can't even believe this...it's like some stupid joke.

I used to give Steve shit about the fact that most of us have a 90-120 day hunting season, and he had a 90-120 day work season, with 250 days of hunting.

I had hand surgery Wednesday, so typing is not my friend right now, but my world is a little smaller.

this is not right or fair....

Godspeed, Steve...tell Harker we said Hi.
 
Oh my, I can?t believe this. I am so very sorry to hear of Steve?s tragic passing. I know he was family to you Dani and I pray for comfort for you during these moments of loss.

One of my favorite stories Steve shared that to this day makes me laugh is leaving his boss in one of those inner tube thingies to hunt ducks. Steve mossied off to hunt a little ways away. He heard several shots and thought he had put is boss in a good spot. He learned this wasn?t true when he went to check on him and found he was shooting in distress after being chased around by alligators. Sure wish I had that story saved somewhere.

Rest in Peace Steve - you will be missed by many.

Mark
 
Hard to believe. I am stunned by the unexpectedness of this. Steve was certainly "one of a kind, " from his Have Gun Will Travel business card - to his penchant for encouraging others in their outdoor pursuits. He was always supportive of my efforts as a carver - both with kind words as well as a collection of birds to gun over. He found delight in all the subtle things we can experience when we go afield and had an eye for all the magnificent things in nature.

As I once heard it said of another departed friend : "The room was a bigger place when he was in it."

Godspeed.

[size 4]Here is one of the many pictures Steve sent showing his decoys in use over the years, but this one was particularly special to him because it is the bird that DHBP guys commissioned for him:

View attachment SuttonBlkf.jpg

 
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I had a voice mail from Eric and couldn't believe what I heard. Steve and I kept in touch after he stepped back from actively posting here, was scratching my head wondering what had happen, thinking "I didn't even know he was sick"...little did I know. This is a tragedy. My condolences to Deb, Dani and all his family. Steve was larger than life, full of knowledge, wisdom and a wicked sense of humor. The world is an emptier place without him but all our lives are fuller having known him.

Rest In Peace my friend.

Chuck Jagger
 
The only way I knew Steve, is through your stories Dani. I was not on this forum when he was active but wish I was after reading all the stories of him.
Thank you Dani, for bringing us along in your stories that you shared with Steve.
Prayers for all of y'all.
 
Dani, I am so sorry to hear of Steve's passing. I felt like I knew him through his stories and other's stories of him. Please accept my deepest sympathies for your loss.
 
Thanks to everyone again for everything.

Debby is home and is surrounded by family. We picked Steve?s ashes up Friday afternoon during the one break we took cleaning the motor home. Her financial advisor got in touch with an RV broker so they will take care of everything. That is one less thing to worry about for Debby. And a huge thing.

I got about halfway home and am staying with Jason Russell and his family. I will be home tomorrow and then the process of unloading everything will begin again. I dread it.

I am still in shock. It doesn?t seem real. Driving from Nashville to Paducah I saw so many things that I thought geez Steve would LOVE that. Simple things. Beautiful things. And I would think to myself, oh I gotta email him and then I would be brought up short. At some point it will really truly sink in...

Unloading the RV, I realized just how much stuff he and I take. Mostly him but if there was space for something then something would fill it. And Don, I travelled with him lots of places and I always thought he had waaaayyyyy too many tshirts...he always had a couple pairs of socks but until I cleaned out his drawers I never knew what a collection of socks he had. He had TWO DRAWERS full of just socks...TWO!!! I had to laugh when I saw your post.

If you pray or just think good thoughts, continue praying especially for Debby. She had to witness it and then be left trying to get him free and not knowing how to operate the levelers to jack it up. I am sure it is no comfort to her but had it been me there instead of her, I would also have been at a loss on how to jack it up. If you travel a lot in RVs, please please please show whoever you are traveling with basic things like how to jack stuff up. I would not wish this on my worst enemy.

The only silver lining to this was that they were in Paducah so their friend Steve McCullough (sp?) was there and was with her almost immediately so she wasn?t totally alone.

Thank you again and I knew he touched a lot of lives but it has been eye opening to find out how many.

Dani
 
Yesterday my oldest son Hunter and I went to the Columbia River, an area Steve hunted for years and did a hunt in Steve?s honor . We shot our bluebills over a pair of cork birds that Steve had given me before he and Debby moved back to Florida, just a nice quiet morning in the boat with not much conversation but lots of time to reflect on some great hunts Steve and I had done over the years, Eiders in Main, sea ducks on the coast of Washington , chucker and quail on the ranch and Turkeys dancing into the decoys. God speed to a good friend!!

View attachment 06096454-3FB9-471A-BFD9-F27559A8ABA6.jpeg
 
Dani, Debby, and all our DB.net family, I'm sorry beyond words to hear the news of Steve's tragic passing.

Prayers for all Family and Friends of Steve to find peace with this incredible loss.

A true sporting gentleman.
A photo of Steve in what I believe was one of the two Bud Miles sneak boxes he had.
I'm thinking he owned more than two Bud Miles boxes at one time. Great photo that says it all.


View attachment sutton1 (600 x 399).jpg
God Bless!
 
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Thank you for the updates Dani,

We have never met, but I know so much about you because Steve was so proud of the relationship y'all had.

I have intentionally held off posting, because I am still trying to process it all.....

Debby messaged me through Facebook and asked if I was in town. I replied yes and that I was at the hospital working. She said Steve was badly hurt and was taken to Lourdes which is the hospital where I happen to work. I immediately went to the ER and helped with the resuscitation. About 15 minutes total. His injury was so severe that there was no way to survive it. I went out to the lobby and gave her that dreaded news that no physician ever wants to give: "He's gone". I hugged her and we both cried. She spent time with Steve in the ER and was able to get some closure, but there is no way to ever get closure with something like this. Debby stayed with Tammie and I that night and we tried to provide as much comfort as we could. We spent time reminiscing and we recalled many of the times we spent together. I have known Steve and Debby for almost 20 years and it is because of this website. I have spent the past few days reliving our experiences....

My first trip to Washington state was to visit Steve and Debby and I was able to take my first Harlequin and Barrows with him. As we were boating to the Harlequin spot, Steve stopped the boat and grabbed his camera and snapped a picture of the sunrise coming across the inlet where we were. He always took a moment to appreciate the beautiful spectacle of nature.

That first trip out, I also arranged to hunt with Pete Markantes down in Oregon at the Columbia River. Steve insisted that I take his truck and a Fat Boy down to hunt with Pete. I was planning on renting a vehicle, but Steve wouldn't have it. Mind you, this was only the second time I met Steve in person. He said, "Hell, drive it, it's insured".... I am not sure I could ever do something like!!

We spent a long weekend together in 2001 with Grayson Chesser at his home on the eastern shore of Virginia and took a carving class together with Grayson. It was definitely one of the highlights of my life.

Countless emails and phone calls. Countless decoys he mailed me with pictures and hand written notes. He would make me laugh so hard over the phone, that I always would get a headache.....

He helped me design my tender boat and I stayed with them when I met with the builder who was just outside of Issaquah.

When they retired and he moved the last of his belongings from Washington to Florida, he stopped by my home and I purchased an antique ducker from him that was built in the 1880s and later restored. It is an absolutely beautiful boat and the pre-cursor to the famous "Ducker" boat that was popular in the 1950s. It is proudly hanging in the lodge at the Bandana Hunt Club.

This tragedy made me pause and reflect how fragile life really is. As a physician, I am amazed at how "tough" the human body and mind is with day to day life; tremendous reserve that allows us to live 80+ years even if we don't take care of our bodies. But in the blink of an eye it can also disappear.

The world is a smaller place without Steve Sutton. I am very proud to have shared time in the blind with him; carve decoys with him; cook with him; fellowship with him and learn from him. I am a different person from knowing Steve.

Please keep your thoughts and prayers with Debby. Time does heal all wounds, but going through that time span is really tough.

Steve McCullough
 
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