Here is a story of a hunt I did this past season .
I videoed a Handicap hunt this winter in Flemington NJ and it was such a success. A few weeks ago I talked to a guy on the site(NJhunter) named Jim and he told me about this hunt they were hosting for handicap hunters and handicap Wounded Warriors. It sounded like such a great cause that I made sure to PM him right away.
Yesterday was the opening day of their 3-day event, and it's the only time throughout the whole year that they offer this program. It was great to meet the guys and it turned out that each one at yesterday's hunt was a Wounded Warrior. The stories these guys told were really crazy, and I got to be honest, it was hard to hear some of the stuff that these guys have been through while in the line of duty. It really makes you appreciate how much our soldiers sacrifice for our country.
We all ate lunch, then they set me up with a great guy named Eddie as my hunter and Jim Long as our guide. We got into the blind and I did an interview with Eddie and was shocked to find out that he had never been hunting before! He grew up in New York City and was never exposed to the outdoors while growing up (except for summer camp - how sad!!) After he returned from the war and was back on his feet, the Wounded Warriors Program helped him out by organizing all kinds of fun events , a lot of which were outdoor adventure types. Eddy said that this is where his real love for the outdoors was finally sparked and he was lucky enough to make a few new friends who got him shooting again, brought him to get his test and geared him up with everything he would need for his first hunt.
Well after a few great stories and a couple of sandwiches, we had one deer come cruising in at about 4pm. When the deer fist came in, it was only about 20 yards away, but there was a ton of brush. After about five minutes of waiting, it finally stepped out into an opening and Eddie raised his shot gun up... and boom! He dropped his first deer right in its tracks! After about ten minutes of celebrating we settled down because it was prime time for more deer to come in.
At about 4:40pm here comes some more does! So we had Eddie take his safety off and raise his gun up. After about 20 minutes of the deer milling around towards us, they finally came into range and Eddie fired... but the first shot was a miss! That didn't stop Eddie though! To his luck, one of the scared deer didn't know were the shot came from and it ran right at the blind, stopping at 10 yards -- perfect range for Eddie to drop it!
I couldn't believe it -- Eddie's first time hunting and he got two deer! It was such an awesome day to be apart of and I'm glad that I got the opportunity to show my appreciation first hand to one of our brave soldiers.
Eddie and his first 2 deer
The guys eating lunch
Eddie and his guide Jim in the blind
