Requiem
10-12-2009, 13:49
Hunter bags bull moose from wheelchair
DISABLED VETERAN: 7th year of program put on by Army Corps.
By TIM MOWRY
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner via The Associated Press
FAIRBANKS -- John-Taylor Lawton thought his moose hunting days were over after losing one of his legs three years ago.
So when Lawton received a call from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking him if he wanted to take part in a moose hunt for disabled veterans at the Chena Flood Control Project, he readily accepted.
"I said, 'You've gotta be kidding; I'd love to go out and moose hunt.' I haven't been out to a moose camp since I lost my leg. It's something I never thought I'd do again."
As luck would have it, Lawton, 50, wound up shooting a young bull moose on the last day of the five-day hunt, one of two that were taken by disabled hunters in this year's hunt.
"It was great," Lawton said. "It was the last morning of the hunt and we'd just about given up on the morning hunt."
That's when Lawton's guide, Dale Findley, thought he spotted something on the other side of a pond the two hunters were staking out from a wheelchair-accessible blind, one of three specially made blinds used during the hunt.
"The mist was rising off this little pond, and we couldn't see real well," Lawton said. "We waited until the sun came up, and I tried a couple of bull grunts and, son of a gun, he walked out."
Lawton downed the bull with one shot from about 150 yards.
"He dropped like a stone."
This is the seventh year the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hosted the hunt for disabled veterans on the flood control project in North Pole, said John Schaake, manager of the project. A half dozen wheelchair-bound hunters -- four from the Lower 48 and two from Fairbanks -- participated in the Sept. 10-15 hunt.
While the hunt normally caters to members of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, this year the Corps was able to involve two local disabled vets, Schaake said.
"A couple of the PVA hunters had to leave early ... so we looked around town to find some local guys," he said. "It worked out great."
Lawton, who spent 13 years in the Army and lost his leg to a bone infection in 2006, couldn't agree more.
"All in all it was a special hunt," he said.
And not just because he was one of the two hunters who happened to bag a bull.
"The great part was being out there with other disabled vets that were hunters," said Lawton, who runs a custom metal fabrication shop in Fairbanks. "There's a difference between folks who aren't dealing with handicaps and folks who are ... to be able to talk to folks about how they're coping with their handicap made it real comfortable to be in that group.
"It's probably the most magnificent program I can think of for guys in my position," he said.
Crops rangers and volunteers use six-wheelers to transport hunters to and from blinds located at strategic points north of the Chena River. The hunters are in the blinds before first light and they stay out until it gets dark, taking breaks only for meals.
"We're out there at 4 a.m., and we don't get back in until around 10 p.m.," Lawton said.
Ladd McBride, 77, was the other local disabled hunter who went on this year's hunt. The former borough assemblyman is confined to a wheelchair because of a degenerative spinal condition in his lower back.
McBride had a shot at a nice bull on the first morning of the hunt but decided not to take it because it was too far away and his vision isn't what it used to be, he said. While he didn't end up bagging a moose, McBride wasn't disappointed, evidenced by the 320 pictures he took during the five-day hunt.
"This is the first time I've been out hunting for 30 years," he said. "Even though I didn't get a moose it was worth every minute of it. It was five days of pure paradise for me."
The camaraderie among hunters was special and the accommodations provided by the Army Corps were "outstanding," said McBride, who served 12 years in the Army and another 28 in the Navy.
http://www.adn.com/outdoors/hunting/story/970339.html
This is an awesome opportunity for our veterans, thanks to the Army Corp of Engineers, Paralyzed Vets of America, selfless volunteers and unsuspecting bull moose. :)
DISABLED VETERAN: 7th year of program put on by Army Corps.
By TIM MOWRY
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner via The Associated Press
FAIRBANKS -- John-Taylor Lawton thought his moose hunting days were over after losing one of his legs three years ago.
So when Lawton received a call from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking him if he wanted to take part in a moose hunt for disabled veterans at the Chena Flood Control Project, he readily accepted.
"I said, 'You've gotta be kidding; I'd love to go out and moose hunt.' I haven't been out to a moose camp since I lost my leg. It's something I never thought I'd do again."
As luck would have it, Lawton, 50, wound up shooting a young bull moose on the last day of the five-day hunt, one of two that were taken by disabled hunters in this year's hunt.
"It was great," Lawton said. "It was the last morning of the hunt and we'd just about given up on the morning hunt."
That's when Lawton's guide, Dale Findley, thought he spotted something on the other side of a pond the two hunters were staking out from a wheelchair-accessible blind, one of three specially made blinds used during the hunt.
"The mist was rising off this little pond, and we couldn't see real well," Lawton said. "We waited until the sun came up, and I tried a couple of bull grunts and, son of a gun, he walked out."
Lawton downed the bull with one shot from about 150 yards.
"He dropped like a stone."
This is the seventh year the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hosted the hunt for disabled veterans on the flood control project in North Pole, said John Schaake, manager of the project. A half dozen wheelchair-bound hunters -- four from the Lower 48 and two from Fairbanks -- participated in the Sept. 10-15 hunt.
While the hunt normally caters to members of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, this year the Corps was able to involve two local disabled vets, Schaake said.
"A couple of the PVA hunters had to leave early ... so we looked around town to find some local guys," he said. "It worked out great."
Lawton, who spent 13 years in the Army and lost his leg to a bone infection in 2006, couldn't agree more.
"All in all it was a special hunt," he said.
And not just because he was one of the two hunters who happened to bag a bull.
"The great part was being out there with other disabled vets that were hunters," said Lawton, who runs a custom metal fabrication shop in Fairbanks. "There's a difference between folks who aren't dealing with handicaps and folks who are ... to be able to talk to folks about how they're coping with their handicap made it real comfortable to be in that group.
"It's probably the most magnificent program I can think of for guys in my position," he said.
Crops rangers and volunteers use six-wheelers to transport hunters to and from blinds located at strategic points north of the Chena River. The hunters are in the blinds before first light and they stay out until it gets dark, taking breaks only for meals.
"We're out there at 4 a.m., and we don't get back in until around 10 p.m.," Lawton said.
Ladd McBride, 77, was the other local disabled hunter who went on this year's hunt. The former borough assemblyman is confined to a wheelchair because of a degenerative spinal condition in his lower back.
McBride had a shot at a nice bull on the first morning of the hunt but decided not to take it because it was too far away and his vision isn't what it used to be, he said. While he didn't end up bagging a moose, McBride wasn't disappointed, evidenced by the 320 pictures he took during the five-day hunt.
"This is the first time I've been out hunting for 30 years," he said. "Even though I didn't get a moose it was worth every minute of it. It was five days of pure paradise for me."
The camaraderie among hunters was special and the accommodations provided by the Army Corps were "outstanding," said McBride, who served 12 years in the Army and another 28 in the Navy.
http://www.adn.com/outdoors/hunting/story/970339.html
This is an awesome opportunity for our veterans, thanks to the Army Corp of Engineers, Paralyzed Vets of America, selfless volunteers and unsuspecting bull moose. :)