I want to share a story that happened recently with one of our hunts. This may be long but should be worth the read.
Lone Star Warriors Outdoors had our annual hunt this December with 15 Wounded Warriors from across the Nation. One of these individuals is a triple Amputee. I will simply call him by his first name, Jose as I have not cleared listing his name publically. Jose lost his right arm, left leg just above the knee and right leg into his hip. Needless to say that because he has no stump learning to walk using the right prosthetic is a little hard as it is strapped to his waste like a belt. When I first saw Jose walking from the plane to the terminal I was a little concerned at how we were going to pull this hunt off. To make matters worse he is (was) right handed and right eye dominant.
For this hunt, we gave each of the 15 guys a Howa 308 rifle to keep and use in the future to hunt elsewhere. The first morning we took them all to the range to get them sighted in. Jose required a little extra work, but he was able to shoot about a 1 inch group at 100 yards. I was amazed.
The next afternoon after two unsuccessful hunts, this LA boy, former gang member killed his first deer. Although I was not there, we have it all on video. He was so excited that he could not talk. Moments later the camera pans down and his left stump was shaking like a little dog with no hair in the snow. The buck fever stuck with him for about 30 minutes, but the smile on his face was priceless.
This was a great story, but the real story is the man himself. This is a man that I contacted to hunt and he asked me how much walking is required. He was walking 2 miles on a treadmill at the time and said that he will be up to 5 miles at the time of the hunt. I wanted to know more about him so I started probing. What I found out is so motivational that I felt ashamed at some of my thoughts sometime. He feels out of place, but puts himself purposely in places that he will feel really out of place. A prime example is a few months ago he got tickets to a pro football game. He really did not care about the game, just got tickets in the highest part of the stadium. The reason is that he first wanted to climb all the steps, it was a goal, but secondly he knew that everyone would be watching as he passed and he wanted to try and get used to it. He said at one point everyone started clapping, he could tell that it was for him, so he turned around and yelled "Who Scored", then kept walking. His outlook on life is "Well things are different now, but I will find a way to do everything I want to do, I am a little slower, but I will get it done." Makes me think about those mornings I wake up and hurt and do not want to get out of bed, or the fact that I need to get out and exercise but I do not want to spend the next two days hurting. This man hurts all day long, every day, but still goes through life with a smile and an attitude of "What can I conquer next?" We need more people in this world like Jose. Thank you for letting me share this.
Lone Star Warriors Outdoors had our annual hunt this December with 15 Wounded Warriors from across the Nation. One of these individuals is a triple Amputee. I will simply call him by his first name, Jose as I have not cleared listing his name publically. Jose lost his right arm, left leg just above the knee and right leg into his hip. Needless to say that because he has no stump learning to walk using the right prosthetic is a little hard as it is strapped to his waste like a belt. When I first saw Jose walking from the plane to the terminal I was a little concerned at how we were going to pull this hunt off. To make matters worse he is (was) right handed and right eye dominant.
For this hunt, we gave each of the 15 guys a Howa 308 rifle to keep and use in the future to hunt elsewhere. The first morning we took them all to the range to get them sighted in. Jose required a little extra work, but he was able to shoot about a 1 inch group at 100 yards. I was amazed.
The next afternoon after two unsuccessful hunts, this LA boy, former gang member killed his first deer. Although I was not there, we have it all on video. He was so excited that he could not talk. Moments later the camera pans down and his left stump was shaking like a little dog with no hair in the snow. The buck fever stuck with him for about 30 minutes, but the smile on his face was priceless.
This was a great story, but the real story is the man himself. This is a man that I contacted to hunt and he asked me how much walking is required. He was walking 2 miles on a treadmill at the time and said that he will be up to 5 miles at the time of the hunt. I wanted to know more about him so I started probing. What I found out is so motivational that I felt ashamed at some of my thoughts sometime. He feels out of place, but puts himself purposely in places that he will feel really out of place. A prime example is a few months ago he got tickets to a pro football game. He really did not care about the game, just got tickets in the highest part of the stadium. The reason is that he first wanted to climb all the steps, it was a goal, but secondly he knew that everyone would be watching as he passed and he wanted to try and get used to it. He said at one point everyone started clapping, he could tell that it was for him, so he turned around and yelled "Who Scored", then kept walking. His outlook on life is "Well things are different now, but I will find a way to do everything I want to do, I am a little slower, but I will get it done." Makes me think about those mornings I wake up and hurt and do not want to get out of bed, or the fact that I need to get out and exercise but I do not want to spend the next two days hurting. This man hurts all day long, every day, but still goes through life with a smile and an attitude of "What can I conquer next?" We need more people in this world like Jose. Thank you for letting me share this.
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