Veterans take to virtual woods

Veterans at the Cape Girardeau Missouri Veterans Home went on a virtual duck hunt with the Missouri Department of Conservation. Marine Corps veteran John Moses and Navy veteran Bob Canon both took 30 out of 30 ducks on their first try at the laser shot game.

Kirk Hendershott, an intern with the department, led about 14 participating veterans in computerized Laser Shot games. Paula Wyckoff, a recreational therapist at the Veterans Home, said the games exercise the veterans' minds by triggering memories of outdoor sporting in their younger years. She also said the activity of aiming the computerized gun is good physical exercise because it forces them to use muscles that aren't worked often.

"They love it," Wyckoff said. "Now we're going to have to go out and buy an outdoor sports game to keep here."

DeeDee Dockins, an outdoor skills specialist with the conservation agency, coordinates outdoor sports related activities for residents at the Veterans Home on a monthly basis. She said the sportsmen retain their passion for hunting and Missouri's outdoor resources even though they can no longer take their hunt outdoors.

"Just because your legs may not be able to take you out to the woods doesn't mean you are not a hunter anymore," Dockins said. She said the spirit of hunting was certainly alive in the room of veterans even though they were shooting mallards with a laser shotgun.

Navy veteran Bob Canon took 30 out of 30 ducks in his first try at Mallard Mania, a computerized duck hunting game brought to the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau Monday by Kirk Hendershott and DeeDee Dockins of the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Wyckoff said one of the resident's favorite visits by Dockins was when they were treated to one of Dockin's own duck recipes. She said Dockin's visits regularly bring a welcome break in routine for the veterans.

According to Dockins, programs like this help to meet the department's mission to provide opportunity for all citizens to use, enjoy and learn about fish, forest and wildlife resources and are paid for with a portion of the 1/8 of 1 percent Conservation Sales Tax that supports the department. The conservation agency represents less than 1 percent of the total state budget, working to support Missouri's 1.1 million anglers, 608,000 hunters and 2.2 million wildlife watchers that continue to pass along the tradition of discovering nature.

"Each time I present a program to the veterans, I am amazed at how much I learn about our natural resources from these veterans who hunted 50 and 60 years ago," Dockins said.

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