Helping heroes hunt

Every year, a group of disabled veterans heads to Crook County to experience the deer hunting this area has to offer. The Black Hills Veterans' Day White Tail Hunt has been hosted since 2016 by Hunting With Heroes, a nonprofit that gives back to disabled veterans by providing them with outdoor experiences such as hunting and fishing.

As always, the event was scheduled this year for the weekend after Veterans Day – but the planning for next year is already underway. Terry Wilkerson is seeking volunteers who either own land they would be willing to open up or are guides who would be interested in escorting disabled veterans.

Why now? It's a matter of courtesy, says Wilkerson.

By planning ahead, he can ensure that the volunteers who are kind enough to provide assistance are given ample warning that Hunting With Heroes intends to take them up on their offer in any particular year. Conversely, the organization can rest easy that every disabled veteran who arrives in this county will have exactly the experience they have been promised.

"It's a wonderful program, but we just need to be a little more organized to be fair to the veterans, and to the ranchers and the guides who are taking these people out. When you've got someone who is coming from, as an example, Alaska, if they're going to travel that far then we need to be organized on our end, have it set out and make sure we know where they're going and who's going to be guiding them," he says.

"There's lots of public land you can hunt them on, but unless you know the Forest Service land and the trails, it's the luck of the draw."

It's especially important to be organized now the program is growing, he says. Last year, six hunters attended the hunt; this year, there were ten.

"I'm looking to get the word out there, so that if there are ranchers who would like to sponsor disabled hunters going forward, I can get them on a [list]," Wilkerson says.

"Also, if you know of someone who might be interested, please give me their name and I will contact them."

For future years, Wilkerson would like to start making arrangements as early as April. It's a long time before the actual hunt, he says, but that's the point.

"By September, most of the ranchers who have paid clients coming in from out of state are already booked, because they have to get their licenses in October," he explains.

"The majority have told me that if I can tell them ahead of time, they can work it into the schedule."

Wilkerson also wants to build a list that's robust enough to allow for backup plans. Life happens, he says, and volunteers can be forced by circumstances to cancel at the last minute.

It happened this year due to an unexpected medical issue for one landowner, Wilkerson says, and it took some scrambling to find an alternative plan. For both the organization's sake and the volunteers who have been asked to step in at the last minute, he thinks some additional organization would prevent this from happening.

"Most people are very accommodating, especially if you contact them further out, so they can plan for it," he says.

It helps that there's no uncertainty when it comes to timing, Wilkerson says, because, "We know when the event is: it's always the first Saturday after Veterans Day."

Wilkerson is seeking both landowners and guides, although in a lot of cases that will be the same thing.

"A lot of the ranchers will be the guide, because they don't want people running all over their place, and if that works, that's wonderful. But if they just have property and are busy, we will provide a guide," he says.

Wilkerson goes out to the property a couple of weeks ahead of time to meet the owner, see the land and its terrain and find out where the boundaries are. This is done for two reasons.

The first is to make sure that hunters remain on the correct property, Wilkerson says, because the organization wants to avoid causing the landowner any issues by accidentally straying onto a neighbor's land.

The second is to help match each veteran with the right experience. Though it's a requirement of the program that a veteran must be at least 50% disabled to qualify, every disability is different.

A veteran could be in a wheelchair, may use a walker or prosthetics or could otherwise be limited in their movement, Wilkerson says. On the other hand, their disability could be invisible to the eye or a mental disorder such as PTSD.

"You have to match the person with the ranch," he says. "I have some hunting blinds and those are perfect for someone who is in a wheelchair or can't walk very far."

There's no paperwork for the landowner, says Wilkerson. Hunting With Heroes simply needs permission.

"We, as an organization, take care of all the paperwork," he says.

Valid deer licenses are obtained through donations, which are re-issued to the disabled hunter by Wyoming Game & Fish.

Meanwhile, the guides can be outfitters, or they can simply be avid hunters who know Crook County and its opportunities and would like to contribute.

A catered banquet kicks off the event on the Friday night, at which the veterans, guides and landowners have the opportunity to get to know each other.

There's no requirement to attend the banquet as a guide or landowner, but Wilkerson notes that it's a great chance to plan your hunt with the veteran you've been paired with. It's also intended to thank those who have contributed to the program.

"Please come and have a free meal on us and see how much your support means to these individuals," he says.

If you would like to be added to the roster of volunteers – as a landowner, a guide or both – contact Wilkerson at 307-299-3001 or [email protected]