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NickJ1980
Guest
I was lucky enough to take part in a great event this weekend and wanted to share some pics and the story. There will be some press releases coming, so I'll try not to spill the beans too much until then...
This hunt was put together and sponsored by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the local Veterans Adminsitration, several other sportsman's groups, and the family of a local disabled veteran. It had been his dream to see this hunt happen, but sadly he passed away this past August. His family pulled together over the past couple of months and fixed up a wheelchair accessible cook shack and bunkhouse, and made sure each of the veterans recieved a buck voucher.
Most of the hunters were Vietnam vets, and Emma was a Korean war vet. Spending time with these folks was amazing--the five of them have more personality than any 50 random people off the street. Between the jokes, the good-humored ribbing, and the story telling the laughing hardly stopped all weekend.
These are the hunters. From left to right are Emma, Jim, Matt (the VA Recreation coordinator), Glenn, Randy, and Larry.
First light found the hunters in blinds and on vantage points around the property. Randy was the first to shoot, about 15 minutes after legal shooting light, making a 200 yard shot on a nice little 4x4 with ease.
About the time that Randy and his guide Adam were posing for pictures, Glenn and Larry were overlooking a pasture that dropped off into a steep, pinyon and oakbrush covered hillside. Glenn took a shot at a nice buck and missed, but after confirming the miss it wasn't long until another group of deer wandered in front of them and Glenn and Larry were able to take their bucks a few minutes apart.
Jim and Emma were in blinds on opposite sides of the property and both saw plenty of deer that morning. Jim passed several smaller bucks, and Emma saw a real bruiser without a chance to shoot.
The first evening found Jim with myself, Matt (from the VA), and Mark and Darian (the landowner's step-sons). We decided that since 3 of the five hunters had filled their tags we would use the truck to move from vantage point to vantage point until we found a suitable buck. We spotted quite a few, and after a few ill-fated ambushes, we found a really good buck which presented a shot. The buck jumped and tripped on his first step, and two of us saw the bullet kick up dust but we couldn't decide if it was beneath the buck or behind it. The deer had moved off to our left into a meadow on the other side of a stand of Pinyon-Juniper, so we loaded into the truck and moved down to where we could see him again. He was already courting his does again, and Jim made the second shot a deadly one. The buck went down, regained his footing, and made it off the hillside. We wanted to wait a while to track him so after about 20 minutes we began to look for blood. We found none. We began to look for hair. Again, nothing. We combed the fence line for drag marks or fresh hair in the barbed wire. Nothing... There were so many fresh deer tracks that any of them could have been ours, but there were enough rocks that none of them may have been. By now it was dark and begining to rain and we were all getting a little worried. With 8 of us combing the hillside with flashlights now, I was concerned that any sign that may have been would be trampled. What a relief when Darien yelled up from near the bottom of the canyon that he had found the buck. He had come across what he thought was a drag mark, and shined his light straight downhill onto the buck's antlers.
Jim was as proud and happy as could be. We pulled the buck up to the truck whole, about 100 yards, so we could get a good picture without too much gore since we missed the opportunity with the other 3 deer. Jim's smile was priceless as he told us the last deer he had killed was a whitetail in 1968.
We were all worn out by the time we reached camp, so after a great chili dinner we found our cots a welcome luxury.
Five o'clock Sunday morning came early, but we were up to send Emma off after her buck. A little oatmeal, a cup of coffee, and a few minutes lighting the damp firewood gave the sun just enough time to reveal a big bodied forkhorn for Emma as she sat in the DOW's disabled accessable trailer blind, which had just been remodeled by a Grand Junction Eagle Scout with a new skin of Advantage Max-1 camoflauge and new padding for all the shooting windows. The camp burst into celebration at the sound of Emma's shot, and the happy beeps of half a dozen walkie-talkies being turned on to hear any news was drowned out by the cheerful chatter of the hunters and guides around the fire pit. Emma's guide's radio wasn't working right, so luckily they caught a ride back to camp with some of the family who was returning to camp from town. We all met Emma at the meat pole, and she told us how she's been hunting off and on since she was 10 years old. When she turned 16 her dad would let her drive him to camp and to his hunting areas, then after the Korean War she continued hunting with her husband and boys. Her last hunting trip was in 1986. Seeing her smile as she stood next to her buck was absolutely priceless, and I could picture her 60 years ago standing next to her father for pictures with his deer.
We would have liked a picture of the 5 bucks and 5 hunters lined up at the meat pole, but the wiser choice was to get the first three to town and into a locker. Emma really wanted a picture with herself and Jim and their deer, and we wanted to make sure this hunt fulfilled the hunters' every expectation, so of course we obliged.
So much for spilling the beans, but my heart is so full of joy that I think it might explode. This was one of the most fulfilling and amazing experiences I've ever had, to see these hunters back in the field, being able to hunt without regard for thier disabilities, to see how nothing slows them down or brings them down, how much they appreciate life, and witnessing how they live every single minute with such vigor...it is truly inspirational.
Good hunting....
This hunt was put together and sponsored by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the local Veterans Adminsitration, several other sportsman's groups, and the family of a local disabled veteran. It had been his dream to see this hunt happen, but sadly he passed away this past August. His family pulled together over the past couple of months and fixed up a wheelchair accessible cook shack and bunkhouse, and made sure each of the veterans recieved a buck voucher.
Most of the hunters were Vietnam vets, and Emma was a Korean war vet. Spending time with these folks was amazing--the five of them have more personality than any 50 random people off the street. Between the jokes, the good-humored ribbing, and the story telling the laughing hardly stopped all weekend.
These are the hunters. From left to right are Emma, Jim, Matt (the VA Recreation coordinator), Glenn, Randy, and Larry.
First light found the hunters in blinds and on vantage points around the property. Randy was the first to shoot, about 15 minutes after legal shooting light, making a 200 yard shot on a nice little 4x4 with ease.
About the time that Randy and his guide Adam were posing for pictures, Glenn and Larry were overlooking a pasture that dropped off into a steep, pinyon and oakbrush covered hillside. Glenn took a shot at a nice buck and missed, but after confirming the miss it wasn't long until another group of deer wandered in front of them and Glenn and Larry were able to take their bucks a few minutes apart.
Jim and Emma were in blinds on opposite sides of the property and both saw plenty of deer that morning. Jim passed several smaller bucks, and Emma saw a real bruiser without a chance to shoot.
The first evening found Jim with myself, Matt (from the VA), and Mark and Darian (the landowner's step-sons). We decided that since 3 of the five hunters had filled their tags we would use the truck to move from vantage point to vantage point until we found a suitable buck. We spotted quite a few, and after a few ill-fated ambushes, we found a really good buck which presented a shot. The buck jumped and tripped on his first step, and two of us saw the bullet kick up dust but we couldn't decide if it was beneath the buck or behind it. The deer had moved off to our left into a meadow on the other side of a stand of Pinyon-Juniper, so we loaded into the truck and moved down to where we could see him again. He was already courting his does again, and Jim made the second shot a deadly one. The buck went down, regained his footing, and made it off the hillside. We wanted to wait a while to track him so after about 20 minutes we began to look for blood. We found none. We began to look for hair. Again, nothing. We combed the fence line for drag marks or fresh hair in the barbed wire. Nothing... There were so many fresh deer tracks that any of them could have been ours, but there were enough rocks that none of them may have been. By now it was dark and begining to rain and we were all getting a little worried. With 8 of us combing the hillside with flashlights now, I was concerned that any sign that may have been would be trampled. What a relief when Darien yelled up from near the bottom of the canyon that he had found the buck. He had come across what he thought was a drag mark, and shined his light straight downhill onto the buck's antlers.
Jim was as proud and happy as could be. We pulled the buck up to the truck whole, about 100 yards, so we could get a good picture without too much gore since we missed the opportunity with the other 3 deer. Jim's smile was priceless as he told us the last deer he had killed was a whitetail in 1968.
We were all worn out by the time we reached camp, so after a great chili dinner we found our cots a welcome luxury.
Five o'clock Sunday morning came early, but we were up to send Emma off after her buck. A little oatmeal, a cup of coffee, and a few minutes lighting the damp firewood gave the sun just enough time to reveal a big bodied forkhorn for Emma as she sat in the DOW's disabled accessable trailer blind, which had just been remodeled by a Grand Junction Eagle Scout with a new skin of Advantage Max-1 camoflauge and new padding for all the shooting windows. The camp burst into celebration at the sound of Emma's shot, and the happy beeps of half a dozen walkie-talkies being turned on to hear any news was drowned out by the cheerful chatter of the hunters and guides around the fire pit. Emma's guide's radio wasn't working right, so luckily they caught a ride back to camp with some of the family who was returning to camp from town. We all met Emma at the meat pole, and she told us how she's been hunting off and on since she was 10 years old. When she turned 16 her dad would let her drive him to camp and to his hunting areas, then after the Korean War she continued hunting with her husband and boys. Her last hunting trip was in 1986. Seeing her smile as she stood next to her buck was absolutely priceless, and I could picture her 60 years ago standing next to her father for pictures with his deer.
We would have liked a picture of the 5 bucks and 5 hunters lined up at the meat pole, but the wiser choice was to get the first three to town and into a locker. Emma really wanted a picture with herself and Jim and their deer, and we wanted to make sure this hunt fulfilled the hunters' every expectation, so of course we obliged.
So much for spilling the beans, but my heart is so full of joy that I think it might explode. This was one of the most fulfilling and amazing experiences I've ever had, to see these hunters back in the field, being able to hunt without regard for thier disabilities, to see how nothing slows them down or brings them down, how much they appreciate life, and witnessing how they live every single minute with such vigor...it is truly inspirational.
Good hunting....
