On the hunt: Annual Wheelin' Sportsmen event gave hunting opportunity to 25 people with disabilities

It's sunup at Lake Wappapello, and for the past few hours Jackie Rowe has been shuttling hunters from the lodge to their blinds. It's not an easy task, since the hunt is specially tailored to help mobility-impaired people enjoy the sport, but also, there were just so many this year. Rowe, as part of the National Wild Turkey Federation and with help from the Missouri Corps of Engineers, had spread 25 hunters across thousands of acres of forest before 7 a.m.

"This is the biggest year we've had so far," he says, piloting his maroon pickup truck over the winding roads back to the lodge. "And they usually do pretty well. Last year we had 19 hunters and 15 deer harvested. That's a really good percentage."

When Rowe first got involved with the hunt -- called the Wheelin' Sportsmen program -- there were only a couple participants. Now, roughly 15 years later, the NWTF has to use a lottery system to choose applicants from across the state.

"We've just sort of gradually grown and grown over the years," he says. "And it's no charge to them at all. If they can get here, they can hunt."

To be eligible, the applicants must only be mobility-impaired. Otherwise, they are all ages and all degrees of mobile. On this year's hunt, Rowe explains, some hunters were in wheelchairs, some used canes, and one individual fired his weapon by sucking through a straw. For Rowe, the point is to give them an experience they would otherwise not be able to have.

An off-road vehicle transports Charles Galbraith Jr. and the doe he shot in conjunction with the National Wild Turkey Federation's Wheelin' Sportsmen Program on Saturday, Oct. 15, at Lake Wappapello in Missouri.Laura Simon

Rowe is an avid hunter himself, but also a grandpa. As such, he says he's come to appreciate helping others hunt even more than going out by himself. The feeling of seeing his own granddaughter spot a turkey for the first time, he says, was priceless.

"The look on her face when she saw that turkey, you know?" he says. "That's better than getting anything for myself."

The Wheelin' Sportsmen program is a way for him to do that every year, he says, arriving at the National Guard facility they use as a headquarters for the hunt. Now there's nothing to do but wait for the first radio report of someone getting a deer. It's a little warmer than usual, he says, so he worries about the deer behavior, but the first call comes in before 8 a.m.

Rowe drives out to one of the nearby trailheads, where volunteers are waiting with camp chairs and coffee. They'd heard the first shot and the radio confirmation, too, they said. They'd also heard another shot later, but nothing came of it.

Eventually, an off-road buggy rounds the corner and comes rolling out of the brush with a half-dozen camo-and-orange-clad hunters on board. The doe in the back is the first deer of the hunt.

It belongs to Charles Galbraith Jr.

"Aw, I'm just tickled to death," he says, smiling and leaning on his cane.

It's Galbraith's first year on the hunt, and a welcome return to a hobby he loved before an injury made it too difficult.

"I hunted since I was 15," he says. "That's 40 years ago."

It was a way of life for him, until a bad car accident in 2010 crushed his foot. Now, he explains, if he can't use a four-wheeler, he can't make it far enough into the woods to hunt. He'd filled out an application for the Wheelin' Sportsmen at the insistence of a friend, and was glad to have been chosen.

Plus, he says, his grandkids love deer jerky. They load up Galbraith's doe and head back to the base, where Eric Limanen of the Corps of Engineers cleans and skins it. Then he decides to take it easy.

"I think I'll just wait here a while and see what everybody else comes back with," he says, still smiling.

During the rest of the hunt, which ran all day Sunday as well, hunters bagged six deer and two turkeys. And organizer Eric Lemons says their goal is to grow and get better every year. Anyone interested in entering to be chosen for the hunt can do so by calling (573) 222-8562.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627