I lost my hunting buddy last year, somehow he disappeared out my back yard 15 minutes after I left the house. He never showed up, but my female never left the yard. He was the hunter and my female was kinda the house dog. Really want a new dog, but having trouble actually going and looking at them, find myself comparing everything to him.

You can't compare on any level, i am going through the same thing and i found my self asking too much out of my new partner, found that i was getting upset but once i figured out she'll never measure up to my old one i spent more time with her and now she is an awesome hunting partner, but still learning as we go, just got to get her in the marsh more

kinda sounds like he was stolen to me...