Thread: Jakewire

Sad news. RIP.

Rest in peace Owen.
Only met you the once but losing you is a great loss.
Not just to your family and freinds but to the Forum, Southland, New Zealand and the World.
My sincear condolences to his family.

When we lose a good bloke, it makes the world a poorer place. RIP Owen.
My condolences to his friends and family.

This is sad to read. I'm new here and I've met and known two other memebrs I've been able to identify who are both top guys. I've had the pleasure of meeting and keeping contact with several members on another prominent hunting forum I partake in. There are so many great gents all sharing common interests around hunting and firearms that when learning of one passing on it's like a death in the family. That's life, but it still hurts.
RIP sir.

RIP, Owen sounds like the kind of guy anyone would have been privileged to have met.

RIP mate .rest easy your lifes toil is done .thoughts are with the family in these times.

Rest in Peace, wish I had met him.

Rest In Peace Owen. He got me some good cz rings a while back.

Well shit !!! , Have been out of coms, got back to Palmy & heard this awful news

Gees Owen for being the “safe n practical” man you were, going & falling off the perch so young was not the plan mate, this has come as a complete shock.

I know he had many mates & respect on here but Just a little back ground on Jakewire from my perspective, while I haven't known Owen for as long as others I had a privilege to spend some quality time over the past 12 plus years


My first contact with OJR was on the old FnH forum, he had written an article in NZ Guns about a Weatherby ultralight, a rifle I had on my bucket list ( & eventually brought ) we arranged to have a chat on the phone one Friday night, which in hindsight probably wasn’t the best plan, after a full on week & a few “Friday beevies” I basically fell asleep while talking on the phone lol, Ironically the last photo of Owen I found is of him falling asleep on a chair at the Kurow camp ground a couple of months back.

Jakewire was an “old school” bloke, he worked in the same carpet factory his whole life & while many owners n corporates came & went, he was a constant, a bit like on here, not only being a level headed mod but also a hive of knowledge with rifles & calibres etc

I find guys that are into guns can be great to chat & hang out with, Owen was always looking for his rifle – cal – scope “unicorn” & I think that’s why we bonded so well, we both have the same disease, many a time have we debated the topic & I’m still not sure we ever came up with answer even after a multiple whiskeys, coming close with his 6.5 swede finnlight - S&B combo though, he loved that thing & with good reason.


He also loved Wallaby shooting & I was lucky enough to spend a few days on the hill with him, Owen was my man when it came to Roo hunting, funny as the last time we went out mid November last year, he had decided for some stupid reason to muck around changing scopes over & his 6.5 was not sighted in, so only had his 223 to use. The thing was that being an ethical hunter ( something I really respected ) he had a limit of “no Wallabies past 300” with that rifle, ended up that all the ones we spotted were past his set range so I ended up doing all the shooting that day with my creedmoor, he didn’t feel like going back the next day hahaha

Funny too, as to many Owen probably came across as a bit of a quite or somewhat grumpy bugger but he was a genuine GC, I enjoyed my Friday night calls ( something I’ve been a bit slack with the past few weeks & now regret ) he could always pull you out of a slump if you were having a bad week, he’d been there & knew how life worked. He was also a big softie, while never having any kids of his own his wife Tina did & he became a great grandad, spending time with his little granddaughter was a true buzz for him, always made me laugh the thought of Jakewire going to the Christmas parade or the time she talked him into going to a kids film instead of the James Bond movie he wanted to see was classic.

We had some great times, last catch up Owen, Steve ( aka Wirehunt ) & I caught up in Kurow & then we convoyed to Cromwell on a lovely Saturday morning, fuk that was a great weekend. I feel very short changed, for Owens 60th a few of us were meant to go to Stewart Island, for some reason he postponed that trip & now that and the other mission’s we had planned they are never to be, I know I speak for myself & Wirehunt when I say - fuk mate what happened, this wasn’t the way things were meant to end, we should have had another 20 years of trips, shooting guns, catch ups & having a Jamison’s under the stars while listing to Lynyrd Skynyrd session, I’m gutted

Rest easy my friend

Originally Posted by Philipo

Well shit !!! , Have been out of coms, got back to Palmy & heard this awful news

Gees Owen for being the “safe n practical” man you were, going & falling off the perch so young was not the plan mate, this has come as a complete shock.

I know he had many mates & respect on here but Just a little back ground on Jakewire from my perspective, while I haven't known Owen for as long as others I had a privilege to spend some quality time over the past 12 plus years


My first contact with OJR was on the old FnH forum, he had written an article in NZ Guns about a Weatherby ultralight, a rifle I had on my bucket list ( & eventually brought ) we arranged to have a chat on the phone one Friday night, which in hindsight probably wasn’t the best plan, after a full on week & a few “Friday beevies” I basically fell asleep while talking on the phone lol, Ironically the last photo of Owen I found is of him falling asleep on a chair at the Kurow camp ground a couple of months back.

Jakewire was an “old school” bloke, he worked in the same carpet factory his whole life & while many owners n corporates came & went, he was a constant, a bit like on here, not only being a level headed mod but also a hive of knowledge with rifles & calibres etc

I find guys that are into guns can be great to chat & hang out with, Owen was always looking for his rifle – cal – scope “unicorn” & I think that’s why we bonded so well, we both have the same disease, many a time have we debated the topic & I’m still not sure we ever came up with answer even after a multiple whiskeys, coming close with his 6.5 swede finnlight - S&B combo though, he loved that thing & with good reason.


He also loved Wallaby shooting & I was lucky enough to spend a few days on the hill with him, Owen was my man when it came to Roo hunting, funny as the last time we went out mid November last year, he had decided for some stupid reason to muck around changing scopes over & his 6.5 was not sighted in, so only had his 223 to use. The thing was that being an ethical hunter ( something I really respected ) he had a limit of “no Wallabies past 300” with that rifle, ended up that all the ones we spotted were past his set range so I ended up doing all the shooting that day with my creedmoor, he didn’t feel like going back the next day hahaha

Funny too, as to many Owen probably came across as a bit of a quite or somewhat grumpy bugger but he was a genuine GC, I enjoyed my Friday night calls ( something I’ve been a bit slack with the past few weeks & now regret ) he could always pull you out of a slump if you were having a bad week, he’d been there & knew how life worked. He was also a big softie, while never having any kids of his own his wife Tina did & he became a great grandad, spending time with his little granddaughter was a true buzz for him, always made me laugh the thought of Jakewire going to the Christmas parade or the time she talked him into going to a kids film instead of the James Bond movie he wanted to see was classic.

We had some great times, last catch up Owen, Steve ( aka Wirehunt ) & I caught up in Kurow & then we convoyed to Cromwell on a lovely Saturday morning, fuk that was a great weekend. I feel very short changed, for Owens 60th a few of us were meant to go to Stewart Island, for some reason he postponed that trip & now that and the other mission’s we had planned they are never to be, I know I speak for myself & Wirehunt when I say - fuk mate what happened, this wasn’t the way things were meant to end, we should have had another 20 years of trips, shooting guns, catch ups & having a Jamison’s under the stars while listing to Lynyrd Skynyrd session, I’m gutted

Rest easy my friend

Well said Phil
Rip, hot Barrels in the highlands.

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

Terrible. A good man.

RIP Owen

I did not know Owen and did not feel it was my place to ask about his health, but I have seen a change in his forum posts in the last year and thought that something might be wrong. He was always humorous and balanced in his opinions in the past but something had changed and he was not his usual self in the last few months. I wish now that I had PM'ed him to ask if his health was ok.

I never knew Owen only seen his name come up from time to time, but it seems he was only a bit older than my sister and that makes me feel old today. RIP Owen others have said all their is to say

That's shitty news. RIP chap