He and I talked AR triggers when he dabbled in them briefly.

I have to give him props for trying them. Even if he decided they were crap and went back to his bolt guns.

It's good to see all these stories/memories. It's a good reminder of how to live life: he was generous with his time and his knowledge, and left a lasting impression on many.

May we all live so well.

RIP friend. Heard this from a nurse this morning, and came right here.

I've worked with Neel here in Austin for several years. I first met him when he came to Seton Williamson to become the new trauma director. We met in the doctor's lounge; when he noticed my ring, he immediately introduced himself as "Neel Ware, class of '80... do you post on TexAgs?" When I told him I do occasionally, we exchanged handles. This was not long after his sunglasses rant, so I quickly laughed and said something along the lines of 'ah, you're the sunglasses rant guy!' He laughed, and we talked about it a bit.

He'd often come down to radiology and we'd discuss patients, young docs who don't have or don't trust their clinical judgement, hospital admin, etc. But, every chat seemed to end up working its way to hunting or Aggie football, and taking more time than either of us had, and they were often the highlight of that day for me. When he changed hospitals, every call about a patient still found its way to other topics.

Perhaps my favorite tales about knowing Neel...
Twice, while on call and driving around town while listening to Jack Arute on Sirius XM, I heard callers and thought to myself "that sounds like Neel!", followed by me calling or texting to confirm. The first time was discussing Sumlin, and the second time was when a "Texas fan from FW" called in to rag on Herman. That second one took me a minute to figure out who it was, but I called him and confirmed that he'd indeed been trolling.

I'll miss his rants and his wisdom. I'll miss his medical expertise. And I'll kick myself for too long for not ever taking him up on his offer to go up to Georgetown for fly casting lessons.

Man what a life lived. They don't make 'em like that anymore and the world is worse off with him gone.

Here

My wife worked with Dr. Ware at South Austin Medical Center. She manages the nurses in the trauma unit. I don't like to talk shop but couldn't wait to hear the daily Dr. Ware stories. We shared a passion for fishing, hunting, reloading and Texas A&M yet I only knew him through my wife. He would tell my wife "you're my kind of people".

I really regret not getting that fishing trip on the calendar that he always talked to her about. I focus on catching speckled trout and that was something he wanted to "learn" from me. I'm sure I would have been the one getting the education.

RIP NW80!

HERE!!

Like many of you, my experience with NW80 started by posting here asking for advice. A family member has land in West Texas and I asked for advice on hunting mule deer. A short time later he replied and we exchanged emails and then sent me his phone number asking me to call him. I had not been on Texags long and I pondered whether or or not to call him. When I finally did, he answered the phone and said he was busy and he would call me back. He called me back about an hour later and we talked about 45 minutes on hunting mule deer and how to find them. He had asked me where the property was and it turned out he knew several of the surrounding land owners as well.

I will miss his opinions and I wish more people would be more direct with people like he was. RIP NW80, you will be missed.

I lived in the same townhouse complex (14 units) as Neel did in the early/mid 2000's. Couple stories:

His truck was too long to fit in the garage so he would just pull in and leave the garage door open (HOA busy bodies pissed and moaned) but Neel and the rest off us just blew it off. Dr. Red Duke would swing buy often so I had a chance to meet him on numerous occasions. One time in the common drive Dr. Duke was barking at Neel about never buzzing him through the gate or answering his doorbell. Good hearted banter about not liking each other ensued. Dr. Duke got tired of it and decided he would start squeezing through the driveway gate or following a car in and just go through Neel's garage and walk right in. One day I am backing out of the garage and Dr. Duke is hollering at me to help. While trying to squeeze through his pocket got hung up on a sharp corner of the gate and he was stuck. I helped him get free and he said don't tell Neel, of course I did. Neel's response was you should have left his dumb arse there with much more colorful language.

When my fiance moved in he loved to catch her in the common drive and get her opinion on his dating life and women in general. My wife would be caught off guard when he said things like, "I went out with this lady last night. I think she wanted to have sex after the first date. What should I do next? Should I wear a condom? Do a lot of women have sex on the first date? Did you and <my name> have sex on yall's first date?"

All in all great stuff. Lost track off him when I left the complex and Texas about 11 years ago. RIP

Just came off of a 3 day ban, so i'm a bit late to the thread here.

This news was a kick in the gut for me. Right on the heels of my FIL passing away, but Neel's was completely unexpected news.

I didn't know Neel nearly as well as many here were fortunate to know him, for that I'll always be a bit jealous. He and I got off to a rough start - it's safe to say we disagreed on some things, namely him being a crotchety old fart and me being a slightly younger crotchety fart, both of us being stubborn as a mule with hard heads to boot. He actually joined one of the now defunct FB pages specifically to give me sht - that was actually news to me that gave me a chuckle.

It wasn't long after that I got a random message from Neel wanting me to give him a call. I thought his account had been hacked at first, but the response back let me know it was legit. So I called him. I believe his first words to me were "I used to think you were a little sht, turns out you and I think a lot alike about a lot of things!". From that point on, I'd get random phone calls at 11pm or 12pm from Neel - we'd talk about everything under the sun, a lot about guns and life in general. He was really looking forward to building his house in Port Mansfield and I am pretty sure he had invited most of the OB down. One thing about when Neel called - you better clear your schedule for at least an hour, and make sure if you are on speaker that little kids weren't around because he didn't have a lot of finesse in that department. He always ended the call by thanking me for taking time out of my day to talk with him. I'm really going to miss those calls, they were always entertaining and I was always playing catch up on the whiskey front to him.

All I can say is that God must have needed a new fishing buddy. I just hope, for God's sake, that He chooses to wear the right colored sunglasses. Otherwise there will be hell to pay.

Here.

sunchaser said:

---

As many of you have come forward with different scenarios his passion was teaching. That could be to trauma surgeons, fly fishing or tying, hand loading, rifles especially pre 64's, he loved a 270wsm....I didn't, I prefer a 7mmm...he hated it, hunting clothes(Carhartt is as good as it gets), dogs, jeeps, skiffs, trucks, engines, Carmen deer and believe it or not he had an opinion on the lens color of sunglasses.

In the early days of the Outdoor board he would share those opinions.After he kept getting in trouble he started bouncing his comments off me before he posted. I got a call from him about sunset one day and he was headed to Cornudas to speed goat hunt. He had a bad stint in the trauma unit regarding a accident with a child on an ATV. I listened as he talked thru that for a good while. It then turned to, "Are you following that thread on lens color?"

He started reading his response and my response for about an hour was, "Neel, don't send that!"

...and then he said, "I just hit send." He imposed a sabbatical and didn't post on the outdoor board for about six months due to the flack that followed.....but he still has the same opinion on lens color. I think it was about lens color but I'm just going off my memory.

One of my sons went hunting on a cattle leased property below Marathon. He shot what he thought was a really nice whitetail for that part of the country.He took it into Hip-O in Alpine for a shoulder mount. The taxidermist said, "This looks like a Carmen!"

He sent a tongue sample to Sul Ross and they confirmed. It was shot about 55 miles out of their range and the the good doctor had an opinion.

---

I probably heard the story a half dozen times of how he and his buddy called Winchester up one day and asked when they were going to start a production rifle in .270 WSM because he was tired of wildcatting it. Was on hold for a few minutes when the head of development for Winchester got on the line and they talked for an hour or so about what all Neel had been able to do wildcatting the .300 WSM down to the .270 WSM. About a year later - Winchester introduces it as a production gun and caliber. He was proud as hell of that, even if he wouldn't flat out say it.

December 1, 2010 was the date I was introduced to NW80. That was the date I posted and asked a for recommendation on lense color for wade fishing. What an intro it was. I have enjoyed the outdoor board for many years and the insight, humor, wisdom and friendship. Here for you NW80 ! Peace be to you, your family and friends. God Bless.

He shot the elk on a ranch in the Davis Mountains.

"We really weren't hunting. Went down South to see if we could locate Bulls for the next morning ( cocktails in hand). We ere wearing house shoes. Squeeled once and 4 Bulls lit up. A young 3 yo came up, then two cows and a calf. Big root came behind the cows. Y'all make fun of me when I say "big deer look big." But there was no question , when his 22" G1s came out, he was gonna die!
Caliber 6.5
Cartridge 6.5x280AI
140gr Accubond @3050fps."

dr_boogs said:

---

Great post, thanks for sharing!those stories. Welcome back, what did you do (or didn't you do) to earn your 3 days off?

---

I upset the delicate sensibilites of a poster on Politics. I knew better, but just couldnt help myself.

Have to admit it's been an odd mix of emotions this we. Oddly enough, it hit my wife pretty hard. She really like Neel. Some OB posters that have ridden in a vehicle with me may be able to attest my wife may cuss as much as NW80 did. Sunchaser, NW80 and I all met up to go fishing. My wife and 2 yo son spent the day hanging out on the beach. NW80 asked if I would like for him to arrange a sunset boat ride for my wife and son, sure. We show up that night and it is a 1930's wooden yacht complete with a captain (I'll admit my son was a turd for awhile not liking the life jacket). My wife was impressed, and she liked NW80 from that point on. She would laugh her a-- off because apparently I had an amusing look on my face when "Doc Neel" would pop up on my phone. As alluded, he was a master of inopportune or flat out odd times, and I flat out do not ignore phone calls. The look was usually making sure my son was not in earshot, because speaker phone or not, everyone within 10 feet is going to hear him while I frantically turn it down.

I'll be blunt (and laughing my a-- off), for about 4 years those first words were "Did you see what that fu---- Smell Bad 99 said in the ______ thread". And would progress from there.

In 2011, it was an extremely scary time around TPWD. We had a large RIF, and a lot of folks in the Wildlife Diversity program were laid off. NW80 legitimately knew lots of bigwigs around Austin. For some odd reason Neel really liked me as a biologist, and really like my outreach function as a biologist. To this day I don't know who all's ear he bent, but when things settled down it became apparent that he did. He never mentioned it to me.

As previously mentioned, the night mybdad passed away he talked me through the reality of the decision I had to make. I literally click off the phone as I walked into the room. For that I will forever be grateful. He called me later that day to check on me.

Now back to a lighter note. Social nuances, especially related to women were not his specialty. He loved to flirt and fawn over them. Already told the story, but here we go again. I'm probably the only person on here to literally go on a date with Neel (yes, I know that sounds odd as crap). Neel forgot I was hunting just north of Georgetown. I wrap up my hunt and call him as planned. "Oh sh--, I forgot you were down, I got plans tonight". No biggie. "No No, I'm just going to dinner with a friend, come on down to the house". Turns out his plan is meeting up with a lady he's been seeing for long enough they were serious in his mind, and he was meeting her 2 older teenage sons at dinner. I try telling him that dragging along his internet buddy probably isn't the best idea in the world. He wouldn't hear it. So off to Saltgrass we go. We'll just say he was happy. Her sons actually beat her getting to the restraunt. Yeah, this isn't awkward at all. Thankfully, I can generally talk to anyone. She turned out to be a fairly attractive lady. Well, he proceeds to stand up, and turn to me and her sons "Gentlemen, let's some some manners and stand up and acknowledge the presence of beauty." Mind you, he is fairly loud, and we are about as in the middle of the restraunt as you can get. Uhhhh, okkkkk. It only got better from there. I think I talked to her more that night than he did, while he tried to warm up the teens to him dating their mother. He offered advice on trusting women about their birth control (mind you, I am filtering). He might have reminded them multiple times how great their mom looked, and they should try to find younger versions of her to date......needless to say, this was not working out several weeks later when we talked.

Damn I'll miss that man.

ursusguy said:

---

fu---- Smell Bad 99

---

LOL

back in '14 Neel shot me an email with his cell that just said 'call me - NW80'... ok sure. So I give him a call and he was looking for a reloading bench with pre-drilled holes to mount his press. That was about the first 10 minutes of the conversation, the other 30 were a blur of me trying to keep up and talking hunting, fishing, A&M football, etc.

This was before I made much stuff to sell, so I was excited at the opportunity. I spent a lot of time working out details - getting the footprint for his press so I could pre-drill the bolt pattern, making a top removable section for lights/pieces. I got it all lined up, make this thick ass hard maple top with a groove around the edge so pieces wont fall off, make it break down easy with bolts and threaded inserts, full extension heavy duty drawers, etc. I'm pretty sure by the end of it I probably didn't make minimum wage with as much detail I put in to it and discussion with him to get it just right.

Well comes drop off/pick up time and we agree to meet halfway between his place and mine in Hillsboro, and I say 'well I have it made so it breaks down easy and you can put it together with 10 bolts. He says 'Screw that, bring it assembled, I don't want to build that s!@#'

I drive down and meet up, and I had to take the top half off, just because it was too damn bulky to load. I get it in his truck and say 'all you have to do is set the top on, line up two holes, and screw the top from the bottom through the pre-drill holes in to the threaded insert.

I get home and later that night I get a call which involved about a 40 minute rant about 'I don't like this ikea !@#$, the holes don't line up. I build on people, not furniture'. We finally get through it and get it taken care of.

I thought for sure 'damn, I am on his bad side' for a few years until a few months ago he calls me out of the blue and says 'hey I am building my retirement house on the gulf and want to get you to come down and do all the cabinets in the kitchen. We can work on it in the day and go fishing in the evenings and mornings for the week. Bring the wife and kids too if you can'. We talk a while and say we will catch up later. That would have been a blast, but we never got that far. I guess I did good enough on the bench to get a call-back though, so that was good to know.

Said bench:

I didn't realize you built that. He loved showing that off in his gun room.

QFT:

Quote:

---

I build on people, not furniture!

---

I too saw that in his gun room and had no idea you built it.

Funny about his gun room. He had the gun room, the cool "safe". Yet every time I was at his house, his most expensive rifles were next to the backdoor. You almost had to work to avoid tripping over them.

I think that's cuz he made everyone who walked through the door hold his fancy rigs and feel how smooth the trigger pulls...