I received an email from Russia this morning:

Dear Mr. Weber,

I try to registered by myself at your forum but no chance as do know how to do it . And I disurtbe you for the more important resason and tried to register as to inform participants as I know that Mr. Genadiy Sharko
- "Geno" took part at you forum activly .Unfortunatly he died few days ago . His son informed us at Russian forum - huntclub.ru re . this
event.

best regards
Gregoriy Koshkin

*************
I did locate a post on his home BBS however, there were not many details (It is in Russian so a translator is required for most of us.)

http://www.huntclub.ru/cgi/bbs/common?r=128109&l=15795

Prayers for Geno and his family members.......Rest in Peace Geno.....

God Bless,

Very sorry to hear. Geno's presence here will be missed as well as his knowledge.

God Bless.

Sorry to hear about Geno, a most entertaining gun guy. And a setter man to boot! Bill Murphy

I'm going to miss his pictures.

Thanks Mr. Koshkin.

Geno had a wealth of information and shared it often. We will miss him.

Best,

Mike

I always enjoyed his posts. Prayers for his family.

Dave: Thanks for informing us of this unfortunate news. Many years ago, when I first stumbled onto this board, Geno was cooresponding with Bill Wise about (IIRC) goose calls. I was so impressed with both of them and the obvious affection they had for each other that they each became among my favorites. I learned so much about Russian life from Geno's posts and loved his pictures of hunting especially with setters. I didn't know him but I feel a personal loss. RIP Geno.

Geno was generous, one of our most valued contributers. I admired him for his love of Mother Russia and for friendships he made and nurtured this side of the ocean. Geno was not deferential when members made rude remarks. He was not fictitious, all things to all men. He spoke harsh truths. He made friendships of real value.

Geno was our friend! Prayers sent. Bobby

Very sad news indeed. We had agreed to meet up on my next trip to St.Petersburg to see some gun shops. His contributions will be missed. Lagopus.....

Deeply regret that Geno has died. Both enjoyed and learned from his posts.

Do have a tangible memory in the form of a mastodon ivory goose call that my Eastern Shore friends tell me is suitable for snow geese.

Regards, Tim

Not only was Geno a genuine outdoors-man, gun collector and hunter, he was the maker of exquisite duck and goose calls which he referred to as the 'Stradaveri' of calls. I have two of his calls made out of Mammoth Ivory and ebony that he made for me.
I always enjoyed corresponding with him and his various videos.
I will miss him.-Dick

What a shame, I enjoyed his posts as well. He will be missed and will be in our prayers. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

May God Bless him and keep him.

Greg

Thank you Dave. With the help of Google Translate, it seems that Geno had a stroke either Thursday or Friday. The funeral was Sunday.

Geno is now with some of his friends, Bill Wise, John Mann and others. Geno was always very direct and honest. He held his ground on many issues. He always was full of fascinating stories and pictures. He certainly increased my knowlege and understanding in many ways.

My prayers for him and his family.

Pete

As far as I could tell; He was one of the best "Goodwill" ambassadors that Russia ever produced! I will also miss his posts.
Jim

A very nice chap that will be missed by me and many others here. May he rest in peace. All the best to his family. He'll be missed.
Regards,
Tony

What a loss! I appreciated his posts filled with knowledge and enthusiasm--a real zest for life and the outdoors.

Another marker to remind us we're not created for this world but for eternity.

Godspeed, Geno. I pray comfort for his family and friends.

This is very sad news indeed, he brought a different perspective to the forum, one that I very much enjoyed...not to mention the wealth of information that came along with it, he will be missed.

My prayers for him and his loved ones.

CJ

I hate to hear this, he was one of the posters on here I looked forward to reading most.


Destry

I had fun communicating with him...Sad!

I feel for his family.He was always informative, original and he made duck calls to boot!

Geno, we hardly knew ye. Rest gently in the bosom of God.
JR

I am very saddened to learn of Geno's passing. Over some years we shared private communications regarding his dogs and the pride he took in them and also the tremendous pride he had in his children. I admired his forthwright fashion on the board and his contributions to our knowledge of guns, dogs & hunting in Russia.
We are diminshed by his loss.

I once sent him a bottle of a product made for use on old losened chair rungs which he said was OK for hammer handles [that's what I use it for] but was worthless to try & swell shrunken dried out wood near a headstock. I wish I could recall his exact choice of words. He was curious, honest and oft quite humorous w/o intention .. a stand up guy.

My heartfelt condolence to his family.

That's very sad news. He brought a whole new and interesting dimension to the forum and will be sorely missed.

Sad news indeed.
He broadened my understanding of Russian Red Setters, ( old line setters unadulterated? from the time of "Glencar" grandson of "Palmerston"), some outstanding Russian guns and a vast knowledge of such, Vodka and how truly confusing the English language can be to non native speakers.
You will be missed.
Rest in Peace Geno.
My condolences to his family.

Gennadi and friend Duppel working "double snipe" in the environs of St. Petersburg.

And so once again we are reminded of one life's ultimate truths: Governments can and do suck. But people are generally good. RIP.

I will miss him, his posts & pictures & his English
He would help anyone if asked
cheers Geno
franc

Rest in peace Mr. Geno.
Respect;
Kraft

Geno, my friend, enjoy the Happy Hunting Grounds.

Jani

I have always loved Russia and her literary culture. My grandmother was from Belarus. I truly will miss Geno.It is true that governments suck. Though I have no religion to speak of, my truest faith is in the nobility of the human spirit. Geno justified those beliefs. He was a remarkable human. Chops

I will certanly miss Geno's visits here. Blessings of comfort to his family.

I hardly got to know him, through his posts here, but I have a lot of respect for him. He was a gentleman and very knowledgeable. And he will be missed.

May he rest in peace.

I always looked forward to Genos posts....I remember when he first started posting and at first chose the handle Gena...We all had a good laugh about that ....I also have Geno made duck and goose calls [tusk/birds eye maple] [Wild Sound Labratories]..He was quite the craftsman...
My wife even named our Russian Blue cat Genadi..

Rest in peace friend

I liked Geno and I'll miss his posting, as others have said he was a standup guy and will be greatly missed. Rest in peace Geno and Gods blessing to your family.
Steve

Damn...I'm at a loss for words.

Rest in Peace Geno,
My condolences to his family and friends.

tunes

Geno's posts made me smile. The memories of his posts will keep me smiling. No one is gone until they are forgotten and on that basis, Geno will be around for a long time.

Godspeed Geno.

Sad news, indeed.

It would be difficult to improve upon all the foregoing and heartfelt sentiments. They have illuminated Geno's life as we knew it, very well.

So, with raised glass in hand -- Geno, may the fields you hunt now, with the dogs who went ahead, be everlasting and forever open to good company.

Having grown up in the cold war era (I remember hiding under my desk in grammer school) I can honestly say that my interaction with Geno here "tore down my wall". I always enjoyed his candor and honesty, he knew how to disagree with someone without insulting them, an art that seems to be getting scarce.

My hope is that our friend didn't suffer and that his family finds strength in the good words said about him.

Geno was a true gentleman and was always direct, on topic, and an informative contributor to this forum. He will be missed.

I enjoyed Geno's posts. Good guns good dogs and the love of hunting transcends distances, cultures and politics. God bless his family. God speed and good hunting Geno.

Another great enthusiast lost to us here.A wonderful gentle man who tore down barriers.
Let us all pray for his loved ones, that they may remember him as we will. Forever.
He hasn't gone, he's just waiting for us on the other side.

This is a rough translation from the link in the first post:
Gennady died, writes his son. He died this morning. I only know that for many years he visited this resource and found it necessary to write here. If you have any questions,the funeral is on Sunday.

Roger

Very sad news. Geno's posts provided a window into the sporting life of a most intriguing land and culture that many of would have never known. I would love to learn more about the duck and goose calls he made.

I am sorry to hear about Gena.... He was definitely a "mans man". I am not so into doubles anymore and only come here a couple times a year. I was surprised to see that He had passed, and I still haven't gotten past this thread. Russ Ruppel is the one I remember telling him Gena was a girly name, and he should change it to Geno... Russ was pretty opinionated as you recall. I never quit calling him Gena, there was no girly in this man. I am hoping his children can take care of themselves by now. I think they would be young adults now, unless he had some more that I didn't know about.

This all gets me thinking about the ones we have lost from this board...... Larry Barnes, Bill Wise, Russ Ruppel, and John Mann ( I did not know he was gone until reading this thread)
They can all discuss good guns now....

Shame to lose him. We don't hear much about hunting in Russia, and Geno was a real doublegun fan as well.

Very sad when I read the news.

I suppose I'll never get the samples of Poleva slugs he said he would send.

Here he is using his "plucking machine" with one of his setters supervising.



My condolences to his family. He will be missed.

JC

Hopefully some of the condolences here make their way back to his family.

I will add my own.

I too have not been on for some time moving to interest "not permitted" here. I was always fond of Geno and very much affected by his humanization of a country the defined the word "enemy" for much of my life. As fine of an ambassader as any nation ever had.

Gods speed my friend.

Ohhhhh.........that is such sad news. I'd come to relish his contributions to this site, and I'd definitely put him on the level of a couple others who've passed on.

With the cold winds blowing and the coming of winter, it's sadly appropriate in a way that defies rational thinking.

I'll miss him. In fact I already do.

I was looking for one of his posts and stumbled across his condolences when John Mann passed away. Seeing his St. Petersburg/Russia address the first time was an eye-brow raiser for me. His enthusiasm and love of the outdoors and dogs will be missed.

Birdog, that is a fantastically beautiful photo of Geno hunting with his dog. And it takes on a whole other mystical aspect with his passing.

This might be a silly question, but did he send it to you, or did you ever meet him and take it yourself? I only ask because I think a framed print of that for his family would be a wonderful gift, if they don't already have it of course.

I'm definitely going to make a print copy of it

How in the world can this box on my desk create such a connection to someone thousands of miles away. And then bring such a sadness on his unexpected passing. His postings were always a must read. The man, his words and his photo's will be missed. Last spring my wife was taking a Russian class, for what reason escapes me, but she connected with Geno to critique a few emails she wrote to him. Graciously, he responded and made the appropriate corrections. He did mention to her that he had a daughter that was I believe a nurse. Prayers to his family and friends. Randy

Geno was a major contributor to this board, and we will all miss him very much.
I was always amazed at the the guns he found in Russia and posted here and his knowledge of the best made Russian guns.
We will miss you Geno!
Mike

I, as all the others will miss Geno very much. I have one of his wonderful goose calls, such a beautiful call.
I enjoyed his sharing of the Russian hunting traditions, the live web camera of the wild boars, the wonderful guns he found (that Boss was amazing) and shared, plus his insight on his and our cultures.
A truley great loss, my prayers to his family.

Chris

Geno's loss to us will be felt for some time, though the memories of him will live on.

Rest in peace, Genadi.

SRH

I hope that his relatives are reading this, he was smart and kind and willing to share his knowledge with us. He lives on, as a model for us.

Rest in Peace Geno
Your knowledge will be sorely missed.

This is a shock; terrible news.

He was my friend, a real hunter..... a man. Think of him when you carry a gun behind a dog.

Peace and comfort to all that loved him. If there is any way to contact his family, please let us know.

Clair

Godspeed, Gena.

Rest in peace.

Kid,
We exchanged correspondence and some photos over the years but I am not sure this was one of them. Geno posted photos of his hunting adventures, dogs, guns and friends from time to time on this BBS so it could have come to me that way. I will check back through my stuff.
I took the train from Helsinki to Moscow via St. Petersburg and we met for zukuski "small bites" of black caviar with toast & butter, pancakes , egg. onion, black coffee and vodka. Very lively and enjoyable conversation, we discussed -what else- guns, dogs, shooting and women. .... but way- way to short. Took the Red Arrow on to Moscow.



Gennadi Charcot and friends had a rewarding day afield, NW Russia.
Rest in Peace Gennadi.

Years ago I posted a request for information regarding a Belgian maker which was responded to with ignorant replies of JABC. Later Geno posted a link to littlegun.be and I found my first legitimate info.

It would be nice if someone with the requisite skills would post a link to this thread on the site in Russia that Dave cited in the original post. Geno's family might be comforted by how highly regarded he was on the other side of the planet.

I loved his thoughts on the red dogs and will miss his presence.

Hard to say more about Geno than what others have stated. He was very knowledgable and always willing to share his wealth of info to any and all. He will be sorely missed.

I am surprised no-one has mentioned the live camera that always showed the wild boars feeding. If I recall correctly, Geno was the one to link all of us to that camera. Very cool.

Rest In Peace...my friend.

You are right about the cameras. I had that link in my favorites and had a problem with my computer. No longer have it, if anyone has that link, I would appreciate it.

There were other sites once you got in, one nice site was of eagles.
As someone said before, he never spoke bad of someone and always had something nice to day.
It would be nice if his family could see how much he will be missed here, and naturally there.

From the Russian bbs









Pete

Prayers and blessings to the family.

That setter could pass for a show dog.

Pete, thanks so much for the pictures. How could a guy like that just up and die?? What a guy and what great Red Setters. My Dad raised imported Milson O'Boy red setters back in the fifties and I hunted over them until I was in high school. I loved those dogs so much. I will write about Bill Wise and our discussions about Geno when I get time. I am just sick about Geno. Bill Murphy

Isn't it ironic that I had to learn of his passing via an American forum? Don't go online too often now, and that's about the only gun-related place I visit. Shocked. Speechless. RIP.

UPD - posted the link someone asked for, on his favotire huntclub.ru hunting board. With a synopsis of what's been said here. Damn, life's a [censored]

Humpty Dumpty,
Would it be possible to inform our hunting brothers & sisters in Russia how much we here all valued Geno's input. He is sadly missed.

Salopian - I did. Or, at least, tried to.

A bit of an orbituary now before I can move on.

Acad. Vinogradov believed, that one of the functions of a poetic text is to give the readers an insight of the author's vision of the world, and, in effect, reading a lot of poetic (prosaic) text will give the reader an insight of the author's mind, the author's personality. If this theory is true, than Geno was a bit of a poet. Because, for many people across the world he became closer and dearer than many persons whom we know in flesh, although the only contact we had were through his posts on various forums. His texts were such that we got to know him as well, as one person can hope to know another.

Speaking of which, the Russian hunting forum that he perferred, frequented, and helped to establish, the www.huntclub.ru is a very special place. It is the freest place in the Russian outdoor Web - you don't even have to register to post, there's no moderator, and the posts cannot be edited or deleted. It's manned by people who are not ashamed or afraid to be what they are, to have the opinion they have, to speak up when they feel they should, and to tell it as it is, uncomfortable details and all. The arguments do get pretty fired up and personal of course - and that might be what keeps the weenees out. However, Huntclub is much more interesting and pointful, and with dramaticaly fewer numbers of agression, incompetence, trolling and lunatics than any of its heavily-moderated competitors. Shows you the value of freedom.

Geno, as was already mentioned, was one of the founders, the regulars, and one of the souls of the Huntclub, and added a welcome grain of salt - or should I say spice? - on other boards. He had a firm stand on many issues, and he never quit or gave up the fight, especially when it came to his beloved Irish Setters, and the best ways to preserve and improve the breed. He never hesitated to offer his knowledge in the questions of guns, fine and less fine, especially when he felt there was some kind of dishonesty in gun trade. On the other hand, he could be trusted to help a friend sell a gun if it was worth it. He has made a few bitter enemies in these issues - but he will be severely and painfully missed even by those who considered themselves his enemies.

And as to the "nothing girly about his being called Gena" - it's NOT "jeenah"! The name must be pronounced with the "g" as in "get", and the "e" as in "pen". But then again you probably know all that.

I have to speak of the Internet, because I never hunted with him, never met him in person. I wish I did, and it hurts so much to think it's never going to happen. Or - who knows? The thought that will comfort me when it's my turn to depart for the happy hunting grounds, is that there might be some bloody good company waiting out there...

Pete, thanks for the pictures.

Humpty, thanks for the link to the Huntclub, very interesting articles.

Like all of you, I am sad about Geno´s death.
For sure I will miss his great participation in this forum.
In some way, we are like a brotherhood, united by a common interest; there is no diferences between us when we are in this site.
As we say in Mexico, "Geno se nos adelanto" (Geno is only ahead of us).

I do not know if it is improper to ask (I apologize if it is the case), but what was the cause of his death?
In the photos he looks like a healty man, full of life, 51 years old... (Humpty, I understand you, "la vida es una p... mierda" life is a.....)

Apparently, stroke.

Here are some more photos.

In Memory of Gena

This was a hunt for the ultra-wary, world's largest grouse, the Capercaillle. He shot it on the wing at about 50 yards after a 1/2 mile stalk on crunchy snow- taking each step when the bird could not hear for 3 or 4 seconds during it's lekking call. I was lucky to be there exercising my crazy passion; flying gamebird photography. The exceptional trophy weighed 5 kilos (11 lbs.) and was surprisingly good when he cooked it; It tasted somewhat like pine nuts rather than a turpentined old rooster.

He lived life to the fullest while he was here......

Ah! I was waiting for a picture of him with the most famous, at least with me, Russian bird, the Black Capercaillie!

Many Thanks Clare! Look at the size of that thing! Geno looks as proud and happy as he should be.

very sad, i look at the pics. and look in the mirror and see somebody about my age, way to young to go. may he rest in peace. as i was scrooling down on the grouse at first i thought a goose. as i got farther down the head looked like a ringneck. i had no idea what it was. thanks for the pics. and info. god bless. jeff

One wonderful day, my photographer friend, Berle Cherney, and I were in Bill Wise's living room, setting up for a photo shoot for the Matska article. Because of the "occasion", we spent more time that day discussing Gena and his opinions about the Matskas than we spent with the cameras. I seem to remember that Gena had visited the U.S., and maybe Bill at one time, but I can't remember any details of this trip. Can anyone elaborate? Now that Gena is gone, and I did not get to meet him, I know how those feel who never got to meet Old Owleye, Bill Wise. Bill Murphy

Here is a pic of Bill. He belongs on this thread.


All Good.

Pete

Thanks so much for posting that picture of Gena's friends, Bill Murphy, "Eightbore", and Bill Wise, "Old Owleye". I wish Gena could have been with us that day.

Pete, a reader has requested that you post the Eightbore-Owleye picture on the "members pictures" thread. Neither of us are on there yet as far as I know. Thanks.

A Russian reader from Toronto, Canada, took the pains to translate EVERYTHING said above into Russian, and post it on the Huntclub. Thank you, Oleg!

Damn! This is really bad news. So many of my favorite people have gone on before us. I found this place at about post 500 on the original board in the 90's some time. Russ was here at about post 200. Geno was a fellow you would have been proud to share a duck blind all day long. A good guy with tremendous knowledge. God Bless you, Geno!

We are indeed diminished here by this loss. My heart-felt condolences and best wishes to his family...Geo

A few members mentioned they have a duck/goose call made by Geno. We've heard about them over the years but never saw a photo of one. Please post a photo if you're in possession of one. Thanks to all who posted the photos of Geno, great to see the man involved in his passions. Loved his red setters. I remember seeing a photo of him in his office and on the book shelf were copies of Double Gun Journal. If anyone has that photo, I'd like to see it again. Nice to see Bill Murphy's photo flushed out of hiding. Randy

I have one of hazel-hen calls made by Geno look like :
Geno have a movie for it :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDwUftepKpM

and complete his page at youtube

http://www.youtube.com/user/Gennadi1959#p/u

and some his photos of his duck/goose calls :

Really beautiful calls, thanks for posting these pictures Gregoriy.......and the links for Geno's youtube videos....thanks...

Best Regards,

Thank you Gregoriy, very nice indeed!

With kind regards,
Jani

Thank you very much for all thes sincere words. We feel your respect and this is very important for our family. We are glad that the memory of Geno will live with people from all ower the world. We really want to say thank you for your condolence.
Geno's family: wife Julie, daughter Sofia and son Ivan.
If you want to connect us write here: sofia.sharko@gmail.com

Moved to Silent Doubles forum 02/29/12.