Kevin Pawloski
Kevin Pawloski is a 15 year old boy who was born with mylomeningocele, more commonly known as Spina Bifida. This is where a hole forms in the spine during pregnancy. Kevin has had 14 surgeries including one 4 hours after birth. Kevin has an uncanny interest in guns & hunting. His family doesn’t hunt nor own guns. His Mother wanted him to have an opportunity to experience hunting even though she didn’t have the resources to full fill that dream.
Vice President Mark Schultz contacted me about this young man and his dream to hunt Deer. I contacted Bob Singler of Wolf River Preserve/Outdoor Wish about possibly putting on a hunt with this young man. Bob graciously agreed and we set the date for Sept. 5, 2011. What a way to spend Labor Day. Hunting! It doesn’t get much better! The next thing was getting a gun for Kevin as his family has no guns & really didn’t hunt. Again Mark Schultz was there as he offered him a gun to use & also brought him to his farm where he had a chance to shoot it and become familiar with it.Finally the big day arrived. This was going to be my first experience with handicap hunting. Kevin showed up at my home and was eager to go. I was amazed at his arm strength & how well he could get around, I was relieved and knew this was going to be a fun and rewarding experience.When we got to Bob’s he got out a huge box of shed antlers. He went through how to age the deer and also showed Kevin a couple of last years antler sheds of the Deer he was targeting for Kevin. At last we got to the stand & got set up. We started seeing deer almost immediately. It took about an hour before they moved into a comfortable shooting range. It had to be torture on Kevin as there were probably 40 deer there. Bob finally said there’s your deer, but there was always another deer stepping behind him or one stepping in front of him.Finally an opportunity arose & Kevin made the shot. It looked good, but was a hair low. It was a long tedious trailing job as it bled very little. Luckily just before dark we jumped it & finished it off. The smile on his face said it all!We quickly took pictures & headed to the shed as we quickly skinned the Deer & cut the meat off of it as it was nearly 70 degrees. Dan Johnson Taxidermy & member of our Chapter graciously offered to mount the head for Kevin which was a beautiful 9 pointer in the velvet. On the ride home I knew Kevin’s dream was fulfilled. Although he was tired he talked a mile a minute. Kevin & his mother Dana were very happy & thankful for this great opportunity. They would like to thank Bob Singler of Wolf River Preserve/Outdoor Wish & the N. E. Wis Chapter of SCI for making Kevin’s Dream Come True!
