Richard LeRoy DeChambeau

I remember the first time I met Richard.  I was thirteen years old and my parents and I were taking a tour of Goose Hill Gun Club.  But let me go back a little further.  I wanted a dog.  Mom was on my side and she wanted a dog as well, but Dad didn’t want to be picking up poop in the yard and having to deal with some ‘pet’.  So he said we could have a dog on one condition.  He had seen an episode of Bell Lange’s Outdoorsman several years before on television where they were bird hunting over a dog called a Pudelpointer.  If mom and I could find a Pudelpointer, we could have a dog.  Mom tracked down Bell Lange, who told us about Goose Hill Gun Club where they had filmed that hunt.  We got the number and Dad called that night and spoke to Richard for well over an hour.  I even spoke to him for a few awkward moments while Dad went to the other room to get something.  We were at Goose Hill the next weekend and took a long tour of the ranch with Richard driving Michaels jeep (which I thought was the coolest jeep ever!) before joining that day.  I remember meeting both Michael and Richard that day.  I remember thinking Richard was the serious businessman and Michael was the fun one, but they were both  people I wanted to be around.  Little did I know the kind of friendship I eventually build with both of them.

The next time I remember seeing Richard was my first night of High school.  Fish and Game was going to test the Trout at Goose Hill for Whirlings Disease.  A disease my father had done a great deal of study on, so Richard wanted Dad there to help question the DFG Biologists.  I remember being very impressed with the way Richard would ask questions and lull the DFG guys into giving more information than they wanted to.  I also remember not feeling very well and getting sick with the stomach flu that night.

Over the next 12 years at Goose Hill, Richard became more than just a friend, he became a hunting mentor, and an older brother.  Someone I would go to many times in my life for advice and friendship.  Richard always found ways to get me involved in things I wanted to do.    Like the time they were filming a Turkey hunting video.  I don’t even remember what he came up with for me to do, but I got to be there.   That was big stuff for a 15 year old kid back then.    Richard presented me with many opportunities to be involved in many organizations and events which helped to shape my life and who I am. 

There are many stories I could tell, and even some I shouldn’t!  Like the time he tried to use a brand new rental car as a drift boat on Little Walker Creek outside Bridgeport while fishing with the family.  Or the time he shot a really nice buck on Goose Hill with a shotgun while quail hunting.  Or the time in Washington DC when Michael, Richard and I were betting on the exact  time it would be when we heard the first gunshots in the streets. Then there was the time at the Safari Club Picnic where I won the high overall shooter.  Some people didn’t think I should be allowed to win because I was only 16.  Richard, Michael and my father took a stand for me.  I also remember that he owed me a 6 bird chucker hunt for some favor I had done.  I don’t remember the favor any more, but I always teased him about the interest.  It went from 6 Chuckar to a Salmon trip, to an Elk hunt the last time we talked on the phone.  20 plus years has a lot of interest!  Some day, when I get to hunters heaven, I will collect.

I was always amazed by the way he could relate to people and have tried to emulate that in my life as well, but I don’t have the talent Richard had.  Many times I can remember him being the ultimate ‘politician’  dealing with Senators or executives in the NRA or other organizations, and then moments later talking with and relating just as well with a hunter in overalls and muddy boots.  Both felt completely at ease and understood by him.  And they both were right.  Richard could relate to and with almost anyone.  He was a friend to paupers and millionaires.

I think that is part of the reason he was so successful as an NRA Board Director and later as the Head of Hunter Services, and then as a radio host.

He had many great accomplishments in his life.  Most people I know would have been happy with just founding one of the greatest hunting clubs in North America – Goose Hill Gun Club.  But Richard was destined to bigger and greater things.  It is a great loss to the entire hunting industry that Richard was taken so soon. He left our hunting grounds on earth for the fields of Heaven in December of 2010, he was 62.  I imagine he is now hunting with some of the greats who have gone before him, among them both of our fathers, and still arguing politics!

I think of you daily and I will never forget you my brother.