One hunter's ingenuity: Problem solved

I watch three kinds of TV - hunting shows, cooking shows and science shows - and one thing that has struck me in the past year is how hunters, more than anyone else I see in the onscreen world, are working so diligently to help disabled veterans.

Most recently, I've seen two episodes of a Jim Zumbo show where he helps this young vet, a double amputee, go on safari and hunt sika deer from a stand. To get the vet where he needs to go, they often have to carry him on their backs.

That's great for stand hunting, or hunting from the back of a truck, but what about something vigorous like upland hunting, where you've got to hustle through wheelchair-unfriendly grounds to get to a dog on point, and be ready to shoot now?

My friend Pete Ottesen answered that question for me this morning with his latest column in The Stockton Record.

The short synopsis is that a firefighter and hunter named Steve Peeples participated in a disabled shooting event sponsored by the NRA last fall, and there he met a young vet named Aaron McMikelk. McMikelk lost the use of his legs as the result of a viral infection he got while serving in the Marines.

"Ever since I assisted this young disabled veteran, I kept thinking how I could get a hunter with a walking disability into the field and move around so the hunt was in his face," Peeples said. "I wanted to make it real."

So Peeples bought a wheelchair, removed the wheels and other parts, and mounted it on the front of a quad. The result is what you see in the photo above - a disabled hunter who can participate in a pheasant hunt just as well as people walking on two good legs.

So how many pheasants did Peeples get the day Ottesen went out with them to do that story? Well, read Pete's story and find out. But I'll say this: The dude sounds like a WAY better shooter than I am. Yes, color me green, I am envious.

But I'm also really proud of the hunting community. No one can give back what our soldiers have lost in this war, whether it's arms, legs or merely the innocence of having never been in battle. But we can help them go forward using whatever they've come home with. And while lots of people are talking that talk, hunters are walking the walk.

Bravo!

© Holly A. Heyser 2009