Photo By Sgt. Russell Midori | Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Smith, a volunteer for the 5th Annual Lowcountry...... read more read more
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About 30 wounded Marines and Soldiers, and 12 disabled sportsmen and children participated in the 5th Annual Lowcountry Wheelchair and Wounded Warrior Hunt, hosted by Safari Club International and centered around Nemours Wildlife Foundation, Oct. 12 and 13.
Local landowners supported the event by offering hunters complimentary access to 21 private plantations rife with wildlife, many with handicapped-accessible deer stands. The group came away with 25 deer, three hogs and countless hours of hunting stories to share with each other.
Event coordinators reached out to the Wounded Warrior Regiment at Quantico, Va., to invite Wounded Warrior Battalions East and West to this year's hunt. They also contacted the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization to bring all the armed services together.
"I've had people call and invite me to events, but they usually can't accommodate my disability," said former Army Staff Sgt. Matt Keil, who attended the hunt. While serving as an infantry squad leader in Ramadi in 2007, Keil took sniper fire to the neck, paralyzing his body from the top of the chest down, including his right arm.
"I can't hold a rifle anymore," said Keil of Denver. He purchased an apparatus to secure his rifle, which he controls with a joystick and discharges by blowing into a tube.
Such devices could be found attached the wheelchairs of many disable hunters in attendance.
"As the event has grown over the years, it also has become a showplace for new adaptive technology," said Mark Peterson, the hunt's founder and coordinator. "It gives us an opportunity to bring a lot of people together and assist them in learning what is out there to help them overcome their disabilities."
Three innovators of such equipment came to participate. Nick Yeary presented his invention, an electric, hydraulic stand that can attach to a tree and fully elevate a wheelchair-bound hunter. Jerry Haynes who invented the "Go-Getter," a chair that attaches to the front of a 4-wheeler, seating disabled hunters, and John Rackley, the inventor of the Renegade Wheelchair were also in attendance.
Through donations, the Low Country Chapter of Safari Club International purchased two Go-Getters and a hydraulic deer stand for disabled sportsmen to use at the hunt and in future events, said Peterson of Bluffton, S.C.
The chapter could afford the devices because every man and woman working in support of the event did so on a volunteer basis, Peterson said.
Volunteers outnumbered hunters at the event. They came from Tri-Command installations and concerned organizations, donating funding, supplies and services. They provided the manpower to set up tents and food, register hunters, assist as guides and process and barbeque deer meat.
"I saw an announcement for it in The Boot, and figured I wasn't doing anything for my three-day weekend, so why not be a part of it?" said Lance Cpl. Sasha Fanger, a 4th Recruit Training Battalion administrative clerk. She registered hunters as they arrived, and then guided one of the wounded warriors, helping him set up in his tree stand.
"The military gives us great opportunities to volunteer, and I think it's something that every Marine needs to experience to understand the rewarding feeling it comes with," said Fanger of North Bend, Wash.
She said she admired the determination, not only of the wounded warriors, but also the young hunters from the Outdoor Dream Foundation and adult disabled hunters from The South Carolina Disabled Sportsman Association.
Originally, the event centered entirely on those groups, but grew over the years to include wounded service members, said Ernie Wiggers, the director of the Nemours Wildlife Foundation.
"For some reason, there's just some natural connection between hunters and veterans," said Wiggers of Beaufort, S.C. "Hunters tend to be very patriotic," he said. "They hold their rights and privileges very high and are obviously thankful to the military for upholding them."
Welcoming the warriors aboard some of the most exclusive, scenic and well-maintained plantations added tremendously to the significance of the event, Wiggers said.
"If you are a lifelong, hunter you appreciate the hunt and the outdoors and all it entails," said Ed Edmundson, a volunteer for the event and father of Sgt. Eric Edmundson, a wounded warrior.
Edmundson of New Bern, N.C., said regaining the ability to hunt through technology has been one of the most enriching aspects of his son's life since he suffered spinal and traumatic brain injuries in northern Iraq. He needed the outdoor life he grew up with and the camaraderie it comes with.
"When you have a wounded warrior who used to hunt and who no longer can because he's made sacrifices for his country, it's an awesome thing to see him come together among brothers into the outdoors."
| Date Taken: | 10.13.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 10.27.2009 09:31 |
| Story ID: | 40722 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 446 |
| Downloads: | 350 |
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