I love to shoot. You all know that.
I also love to flyfish, backpack, and hunt. Especially hunt! Doesn’t matter to me if I make a kill or not. Just being out in the wild, seeking the beast on terms Nature herself wrote eons ago. In my case, I prefer to use the ancient flintlock rifle. Have to get close and have but one shot. Therefore I must be able to make a clean kill with that shot, or simply not take the shot. I’ve turned down many more shots than I’ve taken over the years, but I’ve not had any lost, wounded, animals. More a testament to “will” than “skill“. Clint Eastwood said in one of the “Dirty Harry” movies that “a man has got to know his limitations”. While my skill is ‘better than average’ to ‘excellent’, too many variables exist on a hunt to depend on shooting skill alone. Good sense and the will to use it is better than the newest Super Whiz-Bang Mega-Magnum anyday!
All that has been put far to the rear in my mind for several years now. First was the spinal cord injuries, then a lack of income forced me to sell all my guns save two my father gave me. Surguries and the attendant recovery periods followed. Then came a new marriage and a new family – complete with the usual bills. End result was a very limited disability income, never-ending pain, and the physical inability to trek through the forest, marshes, rivers, and mountain tops that I love so much.
It was a “goodbye” to flyfishing for trout, packing long trails into the Blue Ridge, and a “goodbye” to hunting.
Years have passed. My disabilities are still here though the pain is somewhat reduced. I’m shooting again, too. I’ve had to limit the cartridges and black powder loads I shoot to an acceptable level of recoil because of a weakened cervical spine, but the skill is still there. Just a tad on the rusty side. Things are starting to polish up quite well, though. What is missing is the hunt – and that hurts! It is time I remedied that…
For me hunting always consisted of a hike off into the mountains, (keep forgeting I’m not back home anymore), ‘woods’ and hunt everything from deer and hogs down to birds and squirrels, (I stopped hunting bear after a bear could have had me for dinner and chose not to do it – on three seperate occassions. Figured that was a clue from Above). Things are very different now. First, I’m no longer in my home ‘woods’. I live just outside of Mobile, AL on the Gulf Coast. A far cry from the Appalachian Mountains and Foothills of Virginia and the Carolinas. Second, there is no public lands nearby and I know no one well enought to get permission to hunt private land. Third, my income and family budget won’t stretch over a private hunting club membership. It might if I dropped shooting and reloading the rest of the year and didn’t need a place to practice. We must not forget the disabilities either! I’m not in a wheelchair. However, my ability to lift is seriously curtailed as is the distances I can walk
I want to hunt. I need to hunt and I will hunt!
Where and how are the questions. Occassionally I read of hunts for the disabled that occur in various points around the United States. Most sound like guided hunts, (probably expensive), or ‘ranch’ hunts, (of which some few are ‘canned’ – totally out of the question!).
I would really like for those of you out there that also love the hunt to think about this situation. If you come across any information concerning hunts for the disabled – here in Alabama or elsewhere – please forward said info to me. You can do that by commenting on this post or via email to me, “Omar the Bull”. I’d appreciate it!
Bull, out!
I had a friend who hunted from a chair. He had a special chair for it. It had a hard back and grips to hold the rifle while he moved. Worked pretty well.
In November we’re doing a “disabled” hunt in Rock Cut state park here in northern Illinois. The park is closed for three days, disabled hunters are trekked out to the blinds by park personel along with one non-disabled “helper” (which is me).
Should be a damn good time
I’m (thankfully) not in a chair. I have limited distances I can walk, use a staff, and I’m extremely limited in the amount I can lift.
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