This may have happened somewhere before but I had not heard of it.  These two white morel honeycomb mushrooms came up after our first snow this December.  Mushroom hunting is such a big deal here the local paper came and photographed it and ran a story on it.  If you have had this happen before of know of it then please comment and let us know.  Here is the picture of them as ran in the Salem, IN Leader Newspaper.  

I have known Jim for too many years now. Time has flown by it seems to me.  Jim and his brother Ron as well as his son Russ hunt with me each fall.  There are no better people to share a hunting camp with or a deer stand with.  This year again all fo the Zimmer’s harvested trophy bucks.  This is one of Jim’s deer.  Congrats Jim!

My friend Michelle Mcphereson’s Dad harvested this buck in Virginia in the Nov 2007 deer season.  Congrats on the buck Chet.  This was a good buck for the area and will make for some great eating.

You get these pictures and wonder WOW what I would give to see that buck. This thing is a true Giant.  Look at the mass and the spread.  If you know more about this buck then please post it.  I had not seen it until today.  Here are more pictures of this beast.  Man what a deer ! I know we will be hearing more about him. 

2007 has been a special year in pointing out how short life is for us all and what the most important things truly are in life.  Time shared with family and friends are the most important thing to me and I am not sure if it is because I am older or due to me being a father and having kids.  Maybe it is due to both of those things that deer camp and deer hunting is a such a quality time for us.  My brother John, Ron Zimmer, and I have been going to deer camp and deer hunting for the past 25 years.  It used to be the most important thing to us was keeping our secrets about trophy bucks and our hunting spots from outsiders.  But now it is actually in sharing those same things and helping people to get to experience what we have been so blessed with.  My brother and ron and I have got to hunt with our kids and been able to see them reach their goals of harvesting deer and now being able to hunt on their own.  Now my kids are in their late teens  and Sarah is 20 and in college doing her pre-med.  My son Sheldon and her our both so busy in their schedules that the deer camp is really one of the only times that we are not hustling off to a soccer game or to work.  It is so special to me that they still set aside time for this each year and every year I am afraid it will be our last as they grow up and take new interests.  But this year my daughter and son both brought friends and wanted them to experience it all.  My daughter brought her friend David and here is how their hunt went.      

Sarah and David went to the place we had picked out in a niche on a ridge; that made a funnel point for deer going around the lake to a bedding sanctuary.  They heard lots of deer in the dark and saw several doe walking along the tip of the ridge.  They had waited makin sure that a big buck was not after the doe as the rut was winding down.  After an hour the doe had bedded about 50 yards from them just over the ridge top.  They snuck closer as the wind was strong and from the right directionn to coneal them from the deer.  Sarah said it was so exciting as they got to within 20 yards of the deer and they did not know suspect they were even around.  They selected  the largest doe and harvested her with one shot!  What a great hunt and what an excellent way to see our hunting heritage continue to grow.  I was so happy for her and David and it was our second day of hunting so it was something they worked for and earned.  Here are some pictures of them.  It was also the day of her sorority semi-formal and she was mad at me as she broke a nail field dressing the doe.  Yes she did it and I was so proud of her for the job she did dressing it out.  Love ya Sarah!   

When I started out with the WHA everyone kept talking about what an inspiration I am to them and you know what I didn’t get it.  I am just me, the same me I was before I got hurt.  I love my family, friends. the outdoors, just like everyone else does is the way I see it.  So when confronted with being an inspiration it disturbed me;  as I am just living my life the best I can each and every day.  There is no quit in me and that is all I am going to say about anything I do that is special so when I met Ron Stewart who had followed me via the internet I was faced with this again. 

Ron Stewart was hurt in a construction accident and I had never met or even heard of Ron until I started writing on my blog www.hacksstand.com .  Ron proceeded to let me know that my courage in going on with my life had inspired him to go on with his life too.  My god, that hit me so strong and hard as I was getting it explained to me from another man, father, husband, hunter what it meant exactly to him.  You see my accident was immediate and permanent as I severed my spinal cord at T-9 so there was no thinking about it or drawn out pain of seeing it slowly fade away no matter what I did.  Ron’s injury is like that though.  He could still walk although very painful, and slowly it is leaving him as his spine and injury deteoriates.  He is now spending most of his life in a wheelchair each and everyday.

So after reading about me and seeing himself as I am in a chair, he felt that if I can do it then by the grace of god, he would do it to.  So Ron quit sitting around and feeling sorry for himself, thinking that he was being passed by and over by the real world and slowly fading out of real everyday life.  By following my written exploits and the video and articles posted on the internet about me, Ron Stewart was ready to face the rest of his life in a wheelchair.  After Ron explained what I meant to him then I think I grasped the understanding of what I did that inspired him.  You see I truly know I can do anything anyone else can do, I might have to find a different and even harder way but I know I can do it.  I try to not let the wheelchair or my injury affect my family or my life if I can help it and Ron was able to see that and to see that he could anything I can do, maybe even better. 

We exchanged several e-mails and talked on the phone and I feel a real connection with Ron now.  It was one of his last visits to the doctor that he sent me this prognosis.

   Went to the Doc’s this morning, got some disturbing news, the
osteomylitis has completely killed of the marrow in L4 and L5, and the
cavities are replaced with fatty tissue, which is evidence that L4 and L5
are officially dead bone, but hey , I still have all my teeth, so who’s
complaining, I already knew something had changed, I just didn’t know for
sure what.

I hated to hear that as I had held out hope that Ron would not be confined to a wheelchair.  We talked allot about our feelings and the bad days we have.  But the big thing I assured him was to try and be happy .  Find a way each day to do something with your family or for yourself to enjoy it to the fullest.  Not to be down and depressed as your family and friends feed on your emotions too and it sets the tone for their life with you.  That is all I am going to say about the hurt and pain that we share, as the important thing is what lays ahead for us both.

The last few e-mails have dealt with hunting, deer hunting, shed hunting, turkey hunting, the passion of being outdoors that still burns and can be lived to its fullest just as it was before.  I look forward to hearing from Ron Stewart and about how happy his family and him are and what they are doing.  He just found some shed antlers at his home in Pennsylvania and his seeing gobblers and hens in the woods behind his house.  I tell him how I hunt from a Kawasaki Mule and from an Eagle Sports Chair www.eaglesportschairs.com .  I also get up in a tree stand using a pulley and harness, not for the feint of heart or to be tried at home. 

This was one of Ron’s last e-mails and the closing which hits me hard when I read and think about it.

  I’m glad I got to know you Hack, the more I think about it we have
allot in common, more than the average people, and I feel very blessed to be
your friend, hope all is well for you and the family,

     Your friend forever,
                                                                            
                             Ron

This is Ron Stewart and his wife who he loves very much and she supports him and stands by his side through this life altering accident.  God Bless you both.

Here is a picture of the hunters and some of the guides and volunteers that made for a very special weekend for myself and a group of hunters that love the outdoors and just need a little help to get there.  I was humbled by the time and preparation this group put into this event.  Starting with the NWTF Banquet the night before, the food and prizes were just what you expect at any NWTF event; awesome; but the men and women of Greenevile, TN made this Hoosier Turkey hunter feel so welcome and appreciated that it was an emotional event for me.

Where to start is the real dilemma for me on this story from last weekend and the opening day of the Tennessee Wild Turkey season.  The night before the banquet the NWTF regional director did a great job with the auction and the prizes.  The food was first rate and all of the volunteers made sure I had plenty of everything and that I was comfortable.  After I won the fifth of my prizes though I think they were getting a little tired of me  Just kidding, but I did win more than my share and I was very appreciative.  I did win one of the grand prizes in the raffle and it was 3 pairs, all different models of the famous Lacrosse boot.  One was a low top then a mid-shin, and a tall knee high boot that made up the prize of three sets of boots. Value over $400.00 so it was a very nice prize to win.
That is unless your paralyzed and your ankle won’t bend far enough to put on the two taller sizes  when I got there and saw the prizes I had remarked to everyone that just my luck I would win the boots instead of one of the beautiful shotguns they were giving away. duh!  Now I have a lifetime supply of very nice boots, go Hack!
So then all of us out of state wheelchair hunters raided the Wal-Mart for our licenses and paid the $250.00 for it.  Tennessee is a little expensive on this as they group turkeys with the deer and call it a big game license.  Davy Crockett would not like that I bet and he was a senator I think, so you guys might want to revisit that one.  I mention Davy Crockett because this was his birthplace, Greeneville, TN and I was so excited to be there on this hunt.  I think all of us in wheelchairs spooked the people at Wal-Mart a little.  Hell, it spooked me to see that many wheelchairs rushing to the sporting goods department at once.
 

I have gone to the Bristol night Race for the past 5 years and this race is the best for a list of reasons.  First and foremost is the people at the Bristol Track go overboard in helping, and making sure that us people in wheelchairs can have the chance to enjoy the race.  I have been to lots of tracks and I live in Indiana so the Indy 500 and The Brickyard  are in my backyard practically.  But after years of going there I will never go back to those events due to I have had the Bristol hospitality and the arrangments made for us paralyzed patrons and our guests.  The parking at Bristol and the seating is unrivaled anywhere.  The attendants at the track are kind and help without challenging you as if you were a criminal or a problem for them.  Facilities are always clean and access is unlittered so there is no rolling over lots of garbage with your wheels.  But the big thing is how all of us get to park so close and in the same assigned spot each and every year.  This has allowed friendships to to develop with other devout race fans in wheelchairs.  I am one of the biggest Dale Earnhardt Sr fans that has ever lived.  Racing changed for me after his accident as I know it has for lots of others too.  But I still make the trek each spring and fall to Bristol not just for the great race but for the people too. 

 I met Bryan and Britney several years ago at the race and our seats are right next to each other there.  So we tailgate and party before and after the race, cooking out and talking about our other passion - hunting   Yes, we are paralyzed and it makes it more of a challenge but we both actively hunt.  Bryan invited me down for a March 30th turkey hunt and I am looking forward to it.  It is a week after the race but I will be back for a weekend of turkey hunting and fun with a really cool guy and his fiance Britney.  He is holding a big shed antler of mine.  I have been trying to get him to come to Indiana and deer hunt with me sometime.  I can’t wait to explain how I climb up in a 16 ft treestand now with a rope and pulley hooked to my 4 Kawasaki Mule.  Not for the faint of heart to watch    But a guy has to do what he can to shoot a big buck with a bow.  Bryan just a few more weeks man and those Volunteer Turkeys are in serious trouble.             

The “cowboy” Joey Menegatti as I have said previously is just an awesome guy to share hunting camp with because there is no finer hunter, sportsman, or partner to hunt hard and long and have a great time doing it with.  The first day of March came roaring in like a lion but Joey was deep in the Colorado Mountains and the snow hunting cougar with a bow and his favorite MUZZY broadheads.  Besides being an accomplished elk and deer hunter Joey likes to harvest predators and his first choice for hunting is his Mathews bow and his MUZZY broadheads.

Here are some pictures of the cat in the tree thinking about pouncing on the cowboy  

 The cat right before he met the new 2007 Muzzy’s of Joey’s.

Below is Joey posing next to his big cat.

 Congrats Joey on a great mountain lion with a bow.

This is my daughter Sarah. She just loves to hunt with me and has been going since she was about 5 years old. We have so many memories together of deer hunts and opening day sun rises. She was the goal kicker for her High School Football Team her senior year. She set a school record for 7 extra points made in one game. She has always gun hunted and I hope to get her to try bow hunting this year. Sarah was also the homecoming Queen and Prom Queen her senior year. So hunting with Dad every year was a good thing as it kept us close and helped keep what’s important in life in focus for her. She looks forward to deer camp every year. She is going to college to be a veternarian. Her boyfriend is a Marine stationed at Beaufort, SC right now. Life is funny because 20 years ago that is where I was at too. Semper Fi Sarah and L/cpl Drake