Wheel-chaired hunters target pheasants

Carpinteria resident Jonathan Brown hunted Friday for the first time in 40 years.

He did it in Porterville—in a wheel chair.

He grew up hunting while standing on two feet, but Brown was lured out to Fraizer Valley Road behind Lake Success to spend time in beautiful country in the company of marksmen, nine of whom were also firing their shotguns at pheasants while sitting in wheel chairs. The opportunity to hunt again has incited a life style change, to lay off work and travel, he said.

“It’s pretty close to how it used to be, because everyone is trying so hard to make it work,” he said. “I’m impressed with how it does work.”

Friday kicked off the Southern Tulare County Sportsman Association’s 25th Annual Junior Pheasant Hunt. For three years now, the first day of the three-day event has been designated for physically handicapped men, to sustain and revive their passion for hunting.

“If we don’t do this, where are they gonna go?” President Jerry Dunlap said. “Every person here is a hunter, we want to keep the sport going.”

For most of the physically disabled participants, the sport changed when they lost their mobility.

“People don’t realize what we’re facing,” Richard Riethmayer said. “We’re restricted where we can go.”

Rather than seek out their targets, they wait for the targets to come to them.

They were pushed along the dirt paths on the backside of the lake, accompanied by the association’s members, family and friends who helped solicit the event via word of mouth and to veterans’ groups. German Shorthaired Pointers trotted along, seeking out the 60 pheasants that were stocked into the fields of dried thistle and bushes that morning.

When the dogs signaled they had found prey, the shotguns were immediately raised. As the pheasants flew off, the hunters fired their guns, sounding off loud pops that sent the long-tailed, colorful birds back down to the ground.

To be able to hunt in spite of the obstacles “feels good,” Riethmayer said.

Each man could shoot dead, and take home, as many as three pheasants.

“They go home and barbecue, no birds are wasted,” Dunlap said.

On Saturday and Sunday, kids from across California will have their shot at an additional 400 pheasants to be stocked on the backside of Lake Success. They will practice gun safety, proper hunting techniques and strengthen family bonds.

“Hunt with your kids, not for your kids,” Dunlap said.

Association members plan to expand their wheel chair hunt to include larger game in the future.

“Just because they’re in a chair, doesn’t mean their passion is not there,” Dunlap said.
 
Contact Jenna Chandler at 784-5000, Ext. 1050, or jchandler@portervillerecorder.com.