Wheelchair hunting group set up to help disabled pheasant shooters
The scheme pairs wheelchair users up with able-bodied hunters who help them get where they need to go during hunting trips.
Monday 16 September 2019 14:04, UK
Hunting in the great outdoors is not without its risks at the best of times, but for those who are confined to a wheelchair it can be that much more difficult.
However, a man from Utah has begun to break down barriers for people in wheelchairs to take part in the activity, by setting up a scheme to get them outdoors.
Clint Robinson, who has been in a wheelchair for 32 years, has started a pheasant hunt for people like him who need the extra support.
Mr Robinson broke his neck after he was thrown from a horse in 1987, but has tried his best to keep getting outside so he can hunt and fish, despite his disability.
He calls the event Wheelchairs in the Wild, and it pairs people that have physical disabilities with able-bodied hunters who help them with whatever they need to do to take part in hunting, including using off-road vehicles.
Mr Robinson said: "What we're trying to do is get new injured, handicapped people back out into the field, trying to get them back out, enjoying the outdoors and wildlife that's out there and show them that there's other things that they can do besides sitting in the house doing nothing."
The group's youngest hunter is 13-year-old Missy Cowley, who has spina bifida.
Cindy Cowley, her mother, said it was "amazing" to find a scheme that allowed her daughter to go hunting with her father.
She said: "We always told her when she was little, you can do everything you want to do... but we just got to figure out a way.
"(But) we really did not know how we were going to get her up there to (hunt)."
Missy said she was able to meet other wheelchair users on the programme, and that it was an "great" experience.
"I was like, this is awesome. I can actually do it... It was really fun. And I love being outdoors," Missy said.
Jerry Schlappi, who is a law enforcement officer for Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources, said Mr Robinson is a perfect role model who shows other wheelchair users that they do not have to give up what they love because of their disability.
He said: "He's never let his disability or whatever slow him down. I think his whole thing is just giving people an opportunity and showing them that they can still do it."