My friends have always been awesome to me, never leaving me behind and always helping me with wild ideas of how to do something.  You see the paralysis just affected my body and not my spirit, so not hunting had never occourred to me.  Hunting from the ground is cool and yes the new ground blinds make it easier to do but, it is not the same as hunting from an elevated treestand.  There is nothing like it when your up 15 feet or more in the air and able to see everything that is taking place like you aren’t even there.  13 years in my wheelchair had almost made me give up on the idea of hunting in the air again with my bow.   I was at the ATA Show in Atlanta last year and saw the big ladder stands for two that have heavy duty ladders on them and the urge to git’er done hit me again. 

I am strong in my upper body and thought that with a little help I could climb the ladder and make it up to the stand.  This got me started but, I found that to get 15 feet high was just too much for me to do.  So I tried a pulley on a chain around the tree at seat level with a rope to my Kawasaki Mule 3010 could pull me up using my River’s Edge full body safety harness.  My brother J.D. Albertson and friends Ron Zimmer and George Walden came up with putting an angle iron boom with a pulley right above my seat and using the Mule to lift me and into my stand.  Fastening the rope to the safety harness on my back allows me to climb with my hands while being lifted with the pulley.  If something broke I would still have a hold of the ladder but, the design is way to heavy duty for anything to go wrong.  The boom is fastened to the tree usng ratchet straps and weighs about 85 lbs.  The picture shows Ron Zimmer checking everything out before they attempt to lift me.  Ron joined the USMC with me right after high school. 

I was really excited to bow hunt from the stand and see deer under me as my had in years past while hunting from an elevated stand.  Tree stand hunting improves scent elimination and noise and movement stealth that you lose while hunting on the ground.  So they pulled me up for the first time on Nov 7, 2007 and I was ecstatic and they were in tears as they knew how much it meant to me and without their help I could not have been there.  After getting me settled on my plasma seat cushion and all the calls, arrows and rattling horns that I had to have with me they drove off in my Mule leaving me in the stand alone.  What a feeling, I could not safely get down by myself and I was miles from anyone or anything.  I did have a cell phone for emergencies but, I was basically going to be there until 45 minutes after dark as they would hunt and then come and get me. 

The woods settled down almost as soon as they drove out of hearing.  The squirrels and birds began to reappear and scamper after forage.  It was about 15 minutes until the deer began showing up.  My heart was racing as I had squirrels and turkeys all around me and the noise they were making in the dry leaves always gets your attention. You always know it is too loud to be a deer but, you have to look and confirm the sounds are not deer.  I heard a softer rustling then that I knew was not a squirrel and of course it was behind me. and over my right shoulder.  Turning my neck and straining to see I finally made out a mature doe and her 1 1/2 year old doe walking up the finger ridge right at my stand.  They both kept looking over their backs and stopping and turning to look behind them so I was pumped knowing a buck had to be behind them.  Sure enough more movement was coming up the ridge right at me.  It was a 7 point buck that I took to be 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years old.  They were all 3 safe from my arrows as they were not the size deer I was hunting on this day.  I am only going to harvest a buck over 150 B/C and nothing else.  They walked up the ridge and began to forage in the white oak grove my stand was in.  All 3 deer were within 20 feet of my tree and spent 2 hours feeding and frolicking around under me.  I was so excited as I had not had deer under me since the fall of 1993 before my snow tubing accident.  Yes, I had deer close to my ground blinds in the past but it is nothing like having them under you and completely unaware that you exist.  The doe’s bedded down about 20 yards from my tree stand and laid there until the buck got them up right at dark.  He was rutting but, they are a week from standing for him I am sure.  So as darkness was coming on they fed up and over the ridge proceeding down towards the winter wheat and picked corn fileds about 1 mile away.  

I had gotten some pictures of them and was just sitting there smiling all over from the  4 hours we had shared together.  Darkness was suddenly upon me and here I was 15 feet off the ground and very alone.  Hell abandoned is a better word! Nothing comes alive like the woods at night, raccoons and skunks were milling about and then the gremlins came!  The first one flew from a beech tree and hit me in the right arm.  I almost jumped or fell from the stand right then before I realized what it was that had scared me so bad.  There was 2 small flying squirrels that in the dark sounded and felt like frigging dragons.  LOL  After I confirmed what they were my pulse and heart rate got back to normal.  But I had to sit there about 45 minutes in the dark until my brother got there to get me down. 

I thanked him profusely over and over for the experience he enabled me to have by getting me up into the stand.  Non-hunters would not understand how this was such a great hunt when I had not fired a shot or even seen a big buck to brag about.  I have 7 deer over 140 B/C and this hunt was better and meant as much to me as any of those hunts had meant to me.  It was great to be in the tree again!

SEMPER Fi to those who know!   

Dear Marine Corps Family, 

“The Few. The Proud. The Marines.” is more than just a slogan. These 

three sentences represent who we are, epitomizing the challenge of 

becoming (The Few), and the reward of being (The Proud), one of the 

elite (The Marines). Suffice it to say, Few slogans convey such a Proud 

tradition. 

Our tagline has been a foundation in the Marine Corps for over thirty 

years. Now we have the opportunity to immortalize these words into 

America’s civilian culture as well. “The Few. The Proud.” has been 

nominated BEST SLOGAN for the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame. 

The Marine Corps joins a list of 26 other brands that will compete for 

entry based on total number of votes received online at 

http://advertising.yahoo.com/advertisingweek_07/slogan_poll.html 

Whether you are one of the few and the proud, or simply one of the 

faithful to those who bear the title United States Marine, we ask that 

you browse to the URL: 

http://advertising.yahoo.com/advertisingweek_07/slogan_poll.html to vote 

for the slogan that has meant so much to so many. If you have Internet 

access in more than one location, you can vote more than once, so 

remember to vote from home, work, the library, and anywhere else you can 

find a computer! 

With a dedicated constituency of active, former, and civilian members of 

the Marine Corps, strength of message, and patriotic nature of our 

institution, we are confident a concentrated effort will deliver “The 

Few. The Proud.” into the hall of fame, establishing it in its rightful 

place among elite American brands. 

We thank you for your support! 

Marine Corps Recruiting Command 

(703) 784-9433 

MCRC Advertising Department 

Here is an orginazation that’s sole purpose is to establish fellowship with disabled sportsmen and women and help them to get outdoors and enjoy it as much as possible.  The orginazation has a website www.outdoorbuddies.org .  It also has a dedicated group of director’s that work tirelessly and without pay on thier own time to make these outdoor adventures happen. The disabled sportsmen and women that come forward and express interest in getting back into the outdoor’s after their injury or illness are welcomed by the group.  It has a Colorado and a Kansas group but people from all over the country are welcome to join.   Groups like this and people like this need to be recognized for their efforts and sponsor’s need to get on board and help them with their efforts.  Outfitter’s and guides do step forward and donate hunts on their properties and as you can see from their website it has all be a great success.  The HUNT is not about the kill, and people that do not hunt just don’t understand that concept.  It is the fellowship of the hunters, sharing stories and the comradarie of being outdoors with other people.  There is nothing like a frosty sunrise while sitting there on stand and just being in the outdoors.  Being in a wheelchair does not make it any less exciting for the disabled participants.  Being in a truly remote area and seeing the sights and the magnificent animals in their natural setting would not be possible for these disabled outdoorsmen and women without the help of the Outdoor Buddies.  To be able to harvest an animal is just an added bonus for the participants as it will provide meat for the year and a memory to never be forgotten.  The look on a person’s face who thought they would never get to be outside or to hunt or fish in a setting like the Outdoor Buddies enables them to be in again is priceless.  I have seen that grown man and child get emotional after getting to share in a special outdoor moment that they had given up on as something that would just never happen due to their medical condition.  Thank you Outdoor Buddies for the work you all do so unselfishly!

Danny Oldham and I met in Beaufort, SC in 1982.  We were both stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station there in Beaufort.  It was great being young and a dedicated Marine.  But it was like Disneyland there for us with the outdoors that we had at our finger tips.  The fishing was great, saltwater and freshwater and the deer season lasts from August to January.  So Danny and I spent 4 years there in the Corps and on the water and in the woods. 

We have stayed friends through out our lives as most Marines do when they meet and work together. Danny now is back in Tennessee and stalks the Cumberland River, Percy Priest and Old Hickory for bass and hybrids.  Danny is a super guy who loves to fish and loves his wife and 3 girls.  I salute you Danny and I want you to know I value the time we have got to spend on the water and in the woods.  It has been 25 years and let’s keep catching them buddy!  Yes in Tennessee they perform miracles with fish releases and those ones on the board were put safely back in the water.  Good eating Danny! Danny’s fishing buddies in the picture are James and Jayden Malugin also from Tennessee. Jayden really likes to fish according to Danny.  I will be posting more pictures of Jayden when i get them. 

This is Mrs Ashley Biggs.  Pauls new wife and looks like she is adjusting to Michigan from Oklahoma just fine.  That is a keeper Paul!  Well actually two keeper’s   Paul; tells me that the bass fishing is awesome right now on top water and using tubes early in the AM and at sundown.  So those low light conditions are best for the bass right now and for the deer in the fall.  Funny thing how that works isn’t it?  So as not to let Paul be showed up I wil post his bass and his friends fish too.  Good job on lipping the bass and not the barracuda Paul.  I wish Mr and Mrs Biggs the best and I know the outdoors will be thier playground. Congrats on the marriage!

This is the leader and producer of www.myoutdoorzone.com Mr Paul Biggs. He got married on June 9,2007 to Ms Ashley Thompson. While vacationing in Belize Paul of course had to get in some fishing and caught this nice barracuda. Now for a boy from Oklahoma without a net; you guessed it Paul tried to lip it like a largemouth bass. Hmmm, just kidding Paul those things do have the teeth. Send me some pictures that include your wife and I will post the happy couple! I ask Paul for wedding pictures and being the true outdoorsman he sends me this picture of the barracuda he caught on his honeymoon.

This is my brother John and his two children Blake and Jenna.  He took them out to the lake to catch these wipers on 28 March.  It was 75 degrees and just a perfect evening to be fishing.  They had triples on several times and you can see by these pictures they are really good size, especially for a 6 yr old girl.  The kids and the fish kept John really busy but he loved it, you know he did and did not mind all the extra work at all.  He also had his neighbor along John Shassberger, John always likes to share his hunting and fishing trips with people who don’t get to participate in it as much as he does.  He loves to show off is what it is    These fish weigh from 5 to 15 lbs and are just a ton of fun to catch, especially on top water when they are chasing shad.   I can’t wait for it to warm up again so I can go too!