Disabled Hunters

By Debbie Williams Reporter

The rush is on to bag that trophy buck with only a couple weeks left in deer season. Disabled Hunters

Published: Tue, January 15, 2008 - 3:45 pm

Debbie Williams

The rush is on to bag that trophy buck with only a couple weeks left in deer season but for some, hunting is a distant memory. A car crash or accident has left them wheelchair bound and like their ability to walk a favorite pastime has been taken away, until now.
On ten thousand acres in North Baldwin County, hunters are gathering. Time is running out on the season and the deer are waiting.
"They got em out here, they got some big ones they said." Pat Deroshe thought he'd never do this again, a lot of things changed for him 22 years ago.
"I was at Pascagoula Pier and a friend of my dove off the pier and I dove in to help him and the water was shallow."
A broken neck put him in a wheelchair. Hunting was something he'd done as a kid and now he's doing it again thanks to Outdoors Without Limits.
"I don't think they would call it disabilities, but maybe some inconveniences." Hooper Matthews is hosting the group. "God's blessed us to be able to do this and so we really get more than we give, I feel like."
So Pat and his buddy Randy are ready to hunt, a lot easier said than done. They need special equipment and assistance where ever they go.
Using a chair mounted rifle and using a lever controlled by his head and a tube to activate the trigger Pat fires off a practice shot at a target. The bullet pierces the paper bulls eye.
So what is it about hunting? For folks like Pat it's chance to get back something they lost after their injury and for just a little while, they are like everyone else out in the woods trying to bag that trophy deer.
"Just the chance to be out here maybe not even shoot it you know, yeah, I like that," says Deroshe.
Pat's two guides get him in a blind overlooking the field and the wait is on. Hours pass and soon the sun is gone and so is Pats chance at a deer.
"It was exciting wasn't it?" he says grinning ear to ear. It as a little more exciting for his buddy Randy. "My heart was doing this the first time, I missed him and kept waiting another couple come out and I let them go finally getting pretty close to dark and that one come out and I shot that one."
It's been one of those days Pat and Randy will tell stories about. Hunting and hanging out, the day they were able to be just one of the guys, once again.