goodbye carl

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
muskiemagnet
Posts: 1253
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 8:43 am
Location: kaukauna, wi

goodbye carl

Post by muskiemagnet »

http://fox6now.com/2014/05/29/popular-m ... tal-crash/

carl was a friend and i thought i'd share this.

-ben
User avatar
Daniel D Dye
Posts: 1220
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:56 pm
Location: New River (Brooker), Florida
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Daniel D Dye »

User avatar
JBBoiler
Posts: 147
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 11:53 am
Location: NW Indiana

Re: goodbye carl

Post by JBBoiler »

I had the pleasure to herp with Carl on three occasions. We kept in contact occasionally via text. He was a wonderful person and I feel tremendous sadness to know he is lost. Carl made great effort to learn the names of my wife and children. The last time we met he told me he would pray for all of us. He made his faith known and with that I feel comfort that he is in a better place. My heart goes out to his wife and daughters.
User avatar
chris_mcmartin
Posts: 2447
Joined: June 9th, 2010, 12:13 am
Location: Greater Houston TX Area
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by chris_mcmartin »

Sad news. :(
User avatar
Ross Padilla
Posts: 2666
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 6:29 pm
Location: I love L.A.
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Ross Padilla »

I didn't know him personally, but I do know who he is and have for years. This is very sad to hear. He will be missed.
jimoo742
Posts: 546
Joined: November 4th, 2010, 3:43 pm

Re: goodbye carl

Post by jimoo742 »

Very sad.

RIP.
User avatar
VanAR
Posts: 590
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:36 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: goodbye carl

Post by VanAR »

Sorry to hear. I never met him but he was a great member of the online fieldherping community.

Van
User avatar
BillMcGighan
Posts: 2362
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:23 am
Location: Unicoi, TN

Re: goodbye carl

Post by BillMcGighan »

Very, very sorry to hear.
Who could forget his special posts on Hognosed nesting.
Condolences to his family.
User avatar
jeffpm
Posts: 19
Joined: June 13th, 2010, 8:08 pm

Re: goodbye carl

Post by jeffpm »

RIP, Carl. I will be forever grateful to you for sharing your knowledge, friendship and love of nature with me.
User avatar
jeffpm
Posts: 19
Joined: June 13th, 2010, 8:08 pm

Re: goodbye carl

Post by jeffpm »

Image
User avatar
Dan Krull
Posts: 846
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:05 pm
Location: Kansas
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Dan Krull »

So sorry to hear of his sudden passing. He was a great guy, and a hell of a herper. I am thankful to have met him in person. I was supposed to go film his eastern hog nesting sites this summer. I really wish I hadn't put it off for so long. I would have loved to hear his insights while in the field.
You were a good man Carl, and I've never heard anyone say a single bad thing about you. You will be missed.

Dan
User avatar
Bryan Hamilton
Posts: 1234
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 9:49 pm

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

I never met Carl personally but I always enjoyed his posts, especially the ones that documented hognose nesting. If I remember correctly Carl was a teacher and must have spread his love to herps to countless students.

RIP Carl.
User avatar
Carl Brune
Posts: 488
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:22 am
Location: Athens, OH
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Carl Brune »

Very sorry to hear this. I never met him in person. I really appreciated his posts and writings.
User avatar
Brendan
Posts: 435
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:26 pm
Location: Arizona

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Brendan »

Wow that's horrible news. I'm another here who never met Carl but certainly always enjoyed reading his posts and interacting with him. RIP Carl!
Verhoodled
Posts: 306
Joined: August 7th, 2010, 3:48 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Verhoodled »

No, no, no, no...

Never met or knew him. Hoped to, expected to, some day. Life is long, right? Plenty of time to cross paths, right? Take this as a reason to say hello or thank you to all who somehow brightened your path that you've yet to connect with, in whatever field. I've done that with numerous folks on these forums, and am stupid to have waited, when it came to Carl.

Very sorry for those who knew him. So sorry for your loss. It's self-evident a helluva lot more than just the herping community lost a great guy.

Absolutely loved and admired the passion he overflowed with when it came to herps. The ear to ear grin in his smile said it all. How tickled pink he was with his rubber boas spoke volumes, and made me all the more enthused as I embraced my first pair. Loved how generous he was in sharing photos and tips of those.

Edit: I should have known he was a musician, and a teacher. All the talent of touch and happiness in his posts... His hog nesting posts remain among the most epic ever shared on these forums, and that's a mighty high bar set by this collective.

For Carl's sake, if you ever had an itch to pick up an instrument, but didn't because you felt too old, didn't have enough time, I'm telling you DO IT! Nuts to the excuses. DO IT! Handling and finding your favorite herp is very much akin to playing your first or favorite song. Embrace music as you do herps, and you'll be astonished how fast you can impress yourself. If you found English hard, well, music is only an 8 letter alphabet.
User avatar
David O
Posts: 162
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:48 am
Location: NW Ohio
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by David O »

I knew Carl only through his posts here and a few PMs. I was able to find my first hog-nosed snake because of the nesting behavior observations he posted here. He was also kind enough to take my brother out for salamanders a few springs ago (my family is up in SE WI, Carl's stomping grounds). They didn't find much that night, but as you might imagine, my brother had a great time and lots of laughs with Carl and the fellowship of a shared faith.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
User avatar
JakeScott
Posts: 690
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:26 pm
Location: Gainesville, FL
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by JakeScott »

Saddened to hear of this immense tragedy. I knew Carl and had herped with him, he was an amazing person. RIP friend.

-Jake
User avatar
Andy Avram
Posts: 897
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:37 am
Location: NE Ohio

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Andy Avram »

I only met Carl once, my first time at Snake Road. HE was a great guy and fun to herp with. Of course, as others have mentioned his hognose nesting observations were amazing. Sad to hear of his passing.
User avatar
justinm
Posts: 3423
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:26 am
Location: Illinois
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by justinm »

I was really hit and hurt by the news. I have been on a few "big" trips with Carl, he slept at my house on occasion and I called him a friend. I told my wife and we cried, when we heard. Carl to me was a rare bird. He had a way of wandering off to get what I call medicine. He was a deeply spiritual man, and he shared the field as medicine the same as me. It's medicine for the soul and the heart, and I need it today to get me through this loss.

Carl has left me with a lot of funny situations in the field to smile about, he could laugh off walking an hour back to the car to get waders, only to take a step and go in the water way above his waders... I remember the poor guy keeping a smile as we camped deep in the Ozarks. Carl had the misfortune of getting chiggers covering all of his body below the waist. He couldn't sleep and eventually couldn't herp and I felt so bad but Carl still had a smile. I'm crying now and I don't think I can keep writing about how much fun and what he brought to a group. Carl I know you're out there in the universe somewhere, I'm going to just think of your laugh and sunsets we had after spending the day herping.

Image
hellihooks
Posts: 8025
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 8:12 am
Location: Hesperia, California.
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by hellihooks »

Very, very sad. I always looked forward to his Hognose posts, and insights. RIP. jim
Flintdiver
Posts: 16
Joined: June 22nd, 2010, 6:27 am

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Flintdiver »

Terribly tragic and sad ! I sure learned something from each post he made. Even though I didn't personally know him, he will be missed !
juicebox
Posts: 38
Joined: September 8th, 2012, 7:35 pm

Re: goodbye carl

Post by juicebox »

Again very sorry to hear of the loss of Carl, I tried to contact him last summer and never got a response. My sympathy to his family.

-troy
User avatar
ZantiMissKnit
Posts: 1037
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 9:43 am
Location: Boston area, MA

Re: goodbye carl

Post by ZantiMissKnit »

Very sad news. I had only a few communications with him, when I thanked him for his "Year of the Hognose" article and his posts on here about hogs. He seemed like a really great guy.
User avatar
Mike VanValen
Posts: 2074
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:41 pm
Location: Connecticut
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Mike VanValen »

We had only talked a few times, commented on each other's finds, and shared photos...you really do take for granted that the wonderful people in this community will always be here. The time we all have here is very short. I, too, anticipated the yearly hognose posts.

Somewhere there is a sandy field, with the late afternoon sun casting a golden glow. Here and there are hognose snakes digging burrows. And eternally walking through that space is Carl Koch.
gmerker
Posts: 30
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 7:43 am

Re: goodbye carl

Post by gmerker »

Boy, very sorry to hear this. His work with hognose snakes was amazing. G. Merker
KUJordan
Posts: 63
Joined: July 7th, 2010, 8:03 am
Location: Portland, OR

Re: goodbye carl

Post by KUJordan »

Very sad to hear this. I too had not met him, but as everyone else I had been so impressed with is posts. I feel like his was a name that really brought something here- you would see his name and know you would be getting something out of his posts and really enjoy reading them- some fascinating natural history with the hoggie work. It is always a slap in the face when this happens. Enjoy what you do, and do what you enjoy. Tell your loved ones every chance you have how you feel, and spend time with your friends. Keep his family in mind.
User avatar
muskiemagnet
Posts: 1253
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 8:43 am
Location: kaukauna, wi

Re: goodbye carl

Post by muskiemagnet »

got word that the accident happened between his two favorite hog spots. he was doing what he loved.

-ben
User avatar
Tim Borski
Posts: 1855
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:28 am
Location: FL Keys
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Tim Borski »

One day several years ago I was hunting Hognose in WI. I knew I was in the right area because of a dor and a woman that had a "blow snake" in her front yard. I was sucking wind and didn't have a clue what I was actually looking for. I remembered Carl here and on fb and asked for a pic of a nester/burrower. He replied within 1 hour with a photo of what I should be looking for! How cool is that?!! He didn't know me from shinola but still responded to an ask of assistance. Sometimes that isn't all that common in this community. The next evening after only an hour or so I was looking at virtually the same photo he'd sent. Carl, you didn't have to do that but am happy you did. Thanks man! I never met you in person but will never forget what you did for me as a complete stranger.

RIP

Tim
User avatar
justinm
Posts: 3423
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:26 am
Location: Illinois
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by justinm »

muskiemagnet wrote:got word that the accident happened between his two favorite hog spots. he was doing what he loved.

-ben

I chatted with his wife Stacie today, but didn't want to ask for details on what happened. I was going to assume that he was starting to watch his beloved hogs for the season. Ben, thanks for confirming what I had thought. I hope I go out doing what I love to do.
User avatar
Gary2sons
Posts: 297
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:44 pm
Location: Camden County, Missouri

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Gary2sons »

Very sad news! He once sent me a PM about herping in Missouri.

A great herper and even greater person from what others said. Condolences to the family.
User avatar
mfb
Posts: 275
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 6:06 am
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by mfb »

What terrible news. I did not know him personally, but greatly enjoyed his posts and he seemed like a wonderful person. Condolences to his friends and family.
Jamie D
Posts: 38
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 8:14 am
Location: Racine, WI

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Jamie D »

Carl was a good guy and he will be missed. I spent lots of hours in the field and in the car with him. The first time I met him we found the first burrowing hognose snake together at what became his favorite study site. The last time I saw him he was leaving one of his other favorite spots and he gave me a hug. Very sad.
User avatar
Mike Rochford
Posts: 167
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:27 am
Location: Tucson, AZ
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Mike Rochford »

News like this always catches me off guard. He was certainly too young. I only met him once very briefly but he seemed like such a happy person. When I read that it was a single car accident involving a tree and the cause was unknown I told myself he was probably swerving to avoid killing a snake. Now that I read he was between herping spots it adds a little more evidence. It's just speculation and perhaps romanticizing a tragic situation but I can certainly see that happening and it would certainly be noble. I'm sure nobody will ever know but it would be a fitting end for such a nice guy... putting a snake's life before his own. I'm sorry for all who have lost a friend.

Mike
User avatar
Knightkrawler5
Posts: 257
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 6:54 pm
Location: Milwaukee, WI

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Knightkrawler5 »

He is the main reason I got back into herping up here in WI. He showed me my first Hognose, a snake that had eluded me for 16 years, and I even got to do a trip to snake road with him. I'm going to miss observing the hognose nesting with him. Thanks for getting me motivated again! R.I.P

Stuart
crotalusman
Posts: 15
Joined: June 30th, 2010, 6:28 pm

Re: goodbye carl

Post by crotalusman »

Very, very sad. Deepest condolences to his entire family. RIP Carl.

CM
User avatar
Kelly Mc
Posts: 4529
Joined: October 18th, 2011, 1:03 pm

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Kelly Mc »

I provide my captives with clean water, clean bedding, a range of temps and humidities, things to climb on, assistance with problem sheds or ailments.

I take them out to enjoy their colors, the way they feel, their behaviors, and in the case of the active ones, give them a chance to explore.


- Carl




I was never graced with Carl Koch's friendship. But his animals sure were.

Rest in Peace, Carl Koch, hope its wild and beautiful there for you.
User avatar
Antonsrkn
Posts: 971
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 2:38 pm
Contact:

Re: goodbye carl

Post by Antonsrkn »

Tragic news, Carl was a great guy always enthusiastic and a lot of fun to be out in the field with. I fell out of contact with him for the past year or so but always figured I'd get back in touch sooner or later, now I'm kicking myself for not keeping in contact better. The world lost a great man, he will be missed by everyone who ever had the good fortune to come in contact with him.
User avatar
muskiemagnet
Posts: 1253
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 8:43 am
Location: kaukauna, wi

Re: goodbye carl

Post by muskiemagnet »

Knightkrawler5 wrote:He is the main reason I got back into herping up here in WI. He showed me my first Hognose, a snake that had eluded me for 16 years, and I even got to do a trip to snake road with him. I'm going to miss observing the hognose nesting with him. Thanks for getting me motivated again! R.I.P

Stuart
stu is one of my greatest friends. i met him because of carl.
Antonsrkn wrote:Tragic news, Carl was a great guy always enthusiastic and a lot of fun to be out in the field with. I fell out of contact with him for the past year or so but always figured I'd get back in touch sooner or later, now I'm kicking myself for not keeping in contact better. The world lost a great man, he will be missed by everyone who ever had the good fortune to come in contact with him.
anton, that was well said. life is short. do what you have to do in order to enjoy it. life is funny like that. "if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it" -ferris bueller

-ben
sschind
Posts: 2
Joined: June 8th, 2014, 4:15 pm

Re: goodbye carl

Post by sschind »

Those of us who knew Carl in person can consider ourselves to have been truly fortunate and those of us who knew him well enough to been his friends were truly blessed. I can honestly say that I have never known anyone who thought less about himself and more about others than Carl.

I wish I could say just how long I have known Carl or remember exactly how and when we met. I know it had to do with herps but it is one of those things that you don't always think about when it happens and as a friendship develops the details are just not there. In the days since I heard about Carl's passing I have been thinking about the opportunity I will miss by not being able to say "I've known Carl for 40 years and I have never met a finer man" I guess I will have to settle for "I've known Carl for about 15 years and I have never met a finer man" those 15 years were not nearly enough but it is all I will have. It just saddens me to no end to know I will never pick up the phone again and hear that cheerful "Hey Man."

Funny thing is now that I closed my pet shop and I have plenty of time on my hands I was looking forward to doing some field herping with Carl. He was always asking me to go and aside from one disappointing rainy night early in April many years back looking for salamanders I never took him up on his offer. Carl could spend hours looking and if he didn't find anything he didn't really care. The looking was the joy, the finding was just icing on the proverbial cake. To me herping is a lot like fishing. I don't particularly care for fishing but I love catching. The thing is, with Carl there was a lot of catching. It is an opportunity I missed out on and will always regret. Those of you who did go herping with Carl I am sure you understand just how lucky you were.

I got a call from Carl's wife and she told me something that will always remember and treasure she said that on numerous occasions when things were going rough for Carl he would tell her "I've got to go see Steve" and he would come down and we would visit and he would show me some of his amazing photos and we would have a great time. Just knowing that he thought of me as a friend who he could turn to means more to me than anything else I have ever accomplished in the herp world.

On May 28 2014 the herping community lost a dedicated member. His wife and daughters lost a dedicated husband and father and many of us lost a true friend. More important than all that though world lost a great human being. Those of us who knew Carl were very fortunate indeed and those of you who had not been so honored I can honestly say your life will not be as complete. I know some of you may be rolling your eyes now saying "whatever" and its understandable. In the past when I would read things like I just posted I often got a similar feeling. After all it's only appropriate to say such nice things about the deceased and could anyone really be all that. Well, I say all this with the utmost sincerity and I will never feel like that again because I know that yes, some people can be all that. Carl was one of my best friends and I will miss him.

Rest in Peace Carl


Steve Schindler
Post Reply