In late July we had a request to help Don Christensen fulfill a dream of going Bear hunting. Don is a 42 year old man who suffers from MS and is paralyzed from the neck down. After several phone calls one to Lake Superior Chapter President Dale Brudder and Brigid O’Donoghue of the United Special Sportsman Alliance the bad news was in Bear tags in Wisconsin are not transferable unless the person is under 18. So I made Don the next best offer, we would sponsor him on a White Tail hunt if he so chose.
In the mean time I contacted Bob Singler of Wolf River Preserve/Outdoor Wish about doing this hunt. Bob agreed. Having done a couple other handicap hunts we knew this one would be a much bigger challenge and require more than the previous hunts before.Don got back to me a month or so later and informed me that he had spoken with Roger Devenport – founder of the Way Outfitters and said Roger wanted to film this hunt for their T.V. Series. The way Outfitters films Handicap hunts which interested me quite a bit. After several phone conversations with Roger it was decided on to do the hunt on Jan. 7, 2012. The night before the hunt we met Don, his son Riley, his caretaker, and the cast of the Way Outfitters for a dinner donated by the owners of the Machine Shed Restaurant. We were showed Dons Apparatus for shooting. This device is like a gun vise, you clamp the gun into it and basically a blow tube is used for pulling the trigger. There is a device like a joy stick to maneuver the gun in to the direction he wants for aiming by using your chin. I definitely knew we were in for a challenge, but was up to the task.The next day we met at Bob Singler's and started this hunt. We finally got Don & the film crew in the blind and prepared for the hunt. We began seeing deer almost immediately, but they were 300 plus yards away. The time was slipping away and finally a few deer were moving with in range. It was almost dark when a nice 10 pointer moved in. Sitting in an adjacent blind we could see the deer but really had no idea what was going on in the other blind. It was nearly dark when this real wide 10 pointer came into view, Mark & I were betting on which deer was going to be shot and suddenly a shot rang out & the wide 10 pointer was down. What a Deer! Walt Janke a former Chapter president offered to do the taxidermy on Don’s great buck. After getting the deer loaded & Don out of the stand we went back to Bob’s garage & had a fine meal before taking pictures. Don was just completely exhausted & needed some time to rest. We had a great Wild Game feed. Bob cooked some great walleye fillets & I grilled some elk burgers & prior to the hunt made a big pot of venison & shrimp jambalaya. The pictures finally were taken and we called it a day. I would like to thank Bob Singler, Walt Janke, Mark Snyder, (Chapter Web Master & back bone of the chapter), and the Way Outfitters for making this hunt a success. Thank you to Mike & Kim Whalen owners of the Machine Shed Restaurant & owners of the Heart of America Group for donating dinner for the whole group the previous evening.The story of Don Christenson will be one of the episodes for the television series. The Way Outfitters Adventure T.V. Series is now airing nationally on the Sportsman Channel on Thursday Evenings at 9:30 PM and Friday mornings at 9:30 AM central time. Don Christensen
