I received this email yesterday evening. Bob Hynden, aka "Birdhunter50", has made many contributions on this forum over the years.


Dear Friends, Family and "Gun Buddies" of Bob Hynden,

It brings me great sadness, distraught and heavy heart, to let you know
that this afternoon my dear husband passed away.

He went deer hunting this afternoon around 2:30pm on our little acreage
got a nice fat doe and on his way home he either suffered a massive heart attack
or a massive stroke while driving home. The local EMS were on the scene and
tried to revive him without any luck. He did not suffer. Luckily no one else was injured.

He loved the outdoors and he passed doing what he loved.
He was a great man, very artistic with his builds and he enjoyed the company of
many of our friends.
This year was the first year he got to take his grandsons hunting and he enjoyed
every minute of it.

He will be dearly missed by many.

For those of you that are local, memorial announcements will be posted in a few days.
Bob did not want a funeral, he will be cremated.
I will have a memorial in a few days and probably one later this year when the weather
is better.

Marie Hynden

RIP Bob

RIP Bob - Birdhunter50

Died doing what he loved.

Condolences to his family and friends.

Chris

I received the same. Sent a note to Marie.
Sad to go and leave loved ones behind but to go in the field doing what he loved is far better than wasting away in a hospital bed. When it's my time, this would be my preference.
Cheers, Bob, I enjoyed our communications greatly.
Cal

My thoughts as well Cal.

Bob was the 'smith who made my shotgun to 45-120 double rifle conversion. I enjoyed and will miss the converto sations we shared as well as his contributions this board an others.

Eric

I was very shocked to receive the e-mail from Marie that Bob had died, as I had been thinking several times during the day to telephone Bob and see how the end of deer season was going in Iowa.

Bob was a dedicated firearms craftsman, husband, father and grandfather and mentor to all he encountered in his love of the outdoors and associated crafts.

I will miss him and miss his kind and gentle approach to all others met in person and on the WWW.

Steve

What Cal said.....much better to die with ones boots on than fading away in a hospital bed..

Bob also made a Simson .405 WCF double rifle for himself and eventually sold it to me for 2015 Christmas.


We soon became email buddies on guns, hand loading, hunting, grandkids, politics, etc and exchanged many emails.
He will be missed by all that knew or dealt with him.

I bought my Simson and barrels from him.
RIP.

I bought several ribs from him. Good guy.

Mr.Hynden a gentleman in his own right ..I brought a set of 12ga.slugs barrels for a project which I need to have installed..RIP you be will be missed..

Marie Hynden here,
Thank you guys for making his life enjoyable.


He died suddenly and unexpectedly on Jan. 5th (possibly from a massive heart attack)
Here is Part of his obituary. I edited some of the content for privacy.

Birdhunter50 age 66.

Bob trained to be a lineman and worked for the local Municipal Utilities for many years. He also drove a mail truck for the United States Postal Service, and did general contracting work over his lifetime. His true passion was his numerous hobbies. He loved the outdoors, especially deer and turkey hunting and fishing. He was as close to a mountain man as any of us will ever know, attending rendezvous gatherings across the country, building flintlock muzzleloading rifles from scratch, forging and hand hammering Damascus metal into knives and spending hundreds of hours making fine wood products through a very involved process of multiple scorchings and sandings, using only the best "curly maple" he could find, because it made the most beautiful end product. More recently, Bob had studied up on double barrel rifles and developed his own process for converting double barrel shotguns into double barrel rifles. He also had an interest in making traditional long bows and had recently completed a few for his grandchildren. He was a unique man with a great love of nature and many talents, some of which are now lost to the world.

Preceding him in death was his dad in 2006 and many good friends.
Survivors include his mother age 89, Wife, 3 daughters from a previous marriage, 2 step sons, 4 siblings, 7 grand children, 4 step grand children, nieces, nephews; and many friends.

Memorial services will be held Saturday, January 14, 2017 at 10:30 USA CDT.

Sorry for your loss Mrs. Hynden. Condolences.

My deepest condolences on your husbands passing. He will be missed.

My friend Bob, made me a very nice 577 built on a stout Spanish action...wonderful work and we used Walther barrels conformed to Bob's contour..We spent many many hours on the phone over the years, and was just great...He was just like a brother..Marie always said we would be very dangerous together......
Sad for me to now only have a very small handful of good friends....I am get near 72, and have lost quite a few

Just think of it..He's probably stalking a nice bull elk that he always wanted to do..RIP

Fred