CHAMP Hunt.

[bojangles]

I have a buddy who has a CHAMP license (legally blind).

He drew a cow tag this year, and i was determined to get him an elk, as was he.  He rigged up an iPhone to his scope,(he was able to magnify the image, and with glasses he could see the screen of the phone) so he could shoot, as looking through the scope  alone proved too difficult to see.  I took him to the range to see how it would work out, and he was able to shoot really well with this set up, but i was concerned because of how long it took to get the rifle set up.  But he was not dismayed.

He missed opening day, but on saturday we got out there and had elk right off the bat.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get the gun in position so he could see the elk, even though she was only 100 yards away.  That evening he sat water with no luck.  We went out again on Monday, and blew a stalk.  While it looked like we were road hunting, i was careful to explain to others that we had a champ hunter. Even though he had a permit to shoot from a vehicle, that seemed really hard to facilitate.  Shooting from the ground would be best.  I had a tri-clawps set up on my tripod.  But it was really difficult to get animals to sit still while we got the rig set up, as it took a while.  One morning we had a really nice set up on an elk, but it turned out to be a bull.  

Finally yesterday afternoon we spotted some elk about a mile away.  Light was fading fast and i knew it would be a tight squeeze making it that far in rough terrain before dark, but he wanted to go.  We scrambled as fast as we could to cover some really rough country, but it took a while. Finally, I ranged her at 250 yards, and thought we could close another 50 for the shot, but a bull had us pegged. We were looking at 4 bulls and 2 cows.  So we set up.  I was somehow able to get the rig set up quickly, and find a cow in the scope/screen.  We had trouble with them moving, and i had to keep checking for antlers because bulls kept walking in the way.  But he was really patient.  Finally i gave him clearance to shoot.  

I gotta admit, i was really nervous as to how this would turn out.  

He held for 250 and let her rip.  She ran, and the other elk looked our way, bewildered.  I thought, that's a good sign, she's the only one moving.  Then she stopped, and all the other elk ran.  I thought this was even better.  We watched her for ever, actually till the sun went down.  She didn't move, after all the elk left.   I didn't want him to take a follow up shot, because of all the other elk, and i wanted to make sure we only shot one.  What if this was the other cow?  So we waited it out.  By the time we waited for her to fall, and crossed two super nasty, steep washes to get over there, we lost  most of our light.  All we had was our cell phone lights.  We couldn't find blood, or the spot where we saw her go down in the dark.  All of our water and supplies were a mile back at the original hill.  So with fading cell phone batteries, we decided to stop looking and come back at dawn.

I used ONX gps tracking system, and walked right back to the hill in the complete dark.  That was kind of cool.  I'd still be out there if we didn't have that.

I had to work, so i sent his son, who works for me, and my nephew down to look for her.  My nephew and his daughter glassed the whole thing from the original hill.  I told my nephew to get there at first light, glass up the spot where we last saw her, and then go look.  His daughter was to stay back and look through the glasses and guide them in. 

Welp, it worked.  She was right there at the bottom of the wash.  The meat was still good.

Pics to follow.  

If you pm me and ask me where those bulls are, i'm not telling.  Seems like somebody always does that.

 

 

[bojangles]

[NewlyMinted]

Great story! Congrats!!

[muledeerarea33?]

Awesome! Any pics of his scope set up?

[jim]

Congratulations that is the true meaning of friendship and patience. 

[CatfishKev]

Nice job man!

[tomharveyb]

Nice job-both of you

[AZbowhntr]

That is awesome.  Congrats to everyone involved.

[bojangles]

1 hour ago, muledeerarea33? said:

Awesome! Any pics of his scope set up?

He made this contraption.  It worked.

[MT_Sourdough]

Way to go.  

[pwrguy]

Very cool...way to go Dan!!!

[eddielasvegas]

Congrats and love the resourcefulness.

 

Eddie

[Roosevelt Mark]

3 hours ago, bojangles said:

He made this contraption.  It worked.

That proves when there's a will there's a way!

[Delw]

Bojangles

congrats and thanks that is really aswum what you did.

back in the 90's I knew a guy in WY he would set handicap people up for hunts. he would make what ever was needed for them to hunt. not to mention he brought them in on horses and gave them the entire experiance. modfied wheelchairs for the back country.

He did many hunts for paraplegics , he hooked up a air system to pull the trigger. as electronics were Illegal on triggers at the time. one guy in particular he used sony handycam with external tv screen and a air system, as the person couldnt move his head that well or see that good., he could move his fingers but not arms.

The Man went out of his way to help these people, he attended many seminars here in the valley and did quite a few make a wish foundation hunts back then.

This guy was an older cowboy had a huge ranch up in wy and was really creative on making things work for those who wanted to hunt but couldnt.

[azbugler]

This is awesome! Amazing job! Took my dad out last year in the champ hunt. I couldn’t get him to see through the scope! This contraption might just be the ticket. That’s amazing. Congratulations!