Post by jeffpahunter on Oct 30, 2008 19:54:00 GMT -4
Returned Sunday night 10/12 from helping out at the Physically Challenged bow hunt that I've been fortunate enough to help at the past four years.
This hunt is held free of charge each year in upstate NY and organized by the NY State Bowhunters Organization and attracts folks from up and down the East coast to the mid west.
The hunt is held at a private resort in NY which is 5000 acres total and has 3000+ acres behind fence as a highly managed preserve.
This preserve is not open to public pay hunting ever and is hunted by invitation only from the owner but this man has opened his preserve, had his employees build a camp solely for this hunt and supplies his employed 5 star chefs to do the cooking for close to 15 years now for this generous cause.
The hunt begins Friday afternoon, runs Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning and finishes with lunch on Sunday.
Species hunted are Whitetail, Elk & Russian Boar. What sex and how many can be killed varies each year from the 3 separate preserves based on what the staff needs to thin out.
Camp has been constructed to resemble a western hunting camp and while in first years it did consist of wall tents it now consists of 3 heated bunk houses with electric that sleeps 42 people total, a large eating cabin with heat and electric and 3 wheelchair accessible bathrooms with hot & cold running water. To say that the accommodations and cooking exceed those found in about any hunting camp is an understatement.
This year the owner himself showed up for lunch Saturday and I was fortunate enough to have this humble and generous man sit across from me during lunch and we had some great conversations, what a down to earth man. During lunch he commented about his cooks cooking and how "it melts in your mouth". All the meat is made form wild game taken from the preserve and I responded by saying "these cooks could fix a stone that would melt in your mouth. These are 5 star chefs that cook for a living, teach cooking at the resorts culinary school and also at local universities. These men donate their time to cook for this hunt and what they prepare is out of this world.
Lunch Friday consisted of Elk tenderloins in sauce with mashed potatoes. Dinner Friday was Elk sausage sandwiches smothered in onions & peppers. Breakfast Saturday was eggs, home baked danishes, Elk sausage, wild Boar ham & bacon. Lunch Saturday was Elk fillet mignon made on the grill. Dinner Saturday was spaghetti with Elk meatballs along with stew made from Bear meat. Breakfast Sunday was French Toast, Texas style...damn near 2" thick along with more Elk sausage and Boar bacon. Lunch Sunday was Boar tenderloins. All meals are all you can eat and served with homemade desserts that are to die for......if you have room left for any... :mrgreen:
Hunting is done from ground blinds built from brush and the preserve employees use Suburbans & Vans to transport hunters and their aids right to the blinds, most of the time right to the door.
All kills are processed on site in the butcher house, blast frozen and ready for the lucky hunter to take home upon departure.
Below are some pic's from this years hunt.
Hunters assembling in the parking area. Camp is in the woods down the lane in the right of the picture.
Pictures of the hunters. We had 12 hunters in camp and this year they killed 2 Russian Boars, 5 Whitetail Doe & 1 cow Elk.
Pictures of the hunters and assistants. For those that don't know me I'm seated in front, 2nd from the left, in case you were wondering.
Pictures from around the camp fire etc.
Here's my buddy George and me. George is the one that about single handedly organizes this hunt each year. George was featured in Field & Stream a few years ago as they had one of their writers tag along with him for a week of hunting and they published a story about the life for a Physically Challenged hunter.
Image
My hunter this year and his wife. Coincidentally his was name was Jeff as well. Jeff killed a nice 75 lb Boar Friday night and took this Doe Saturday night with a well placed 35 yard shot. Jeff has been hunting from his wheelchair for 23 years now since he dove into a river and broke his neck in 3 places. He proved to be quite an accomplished shot to.
Here's a nice 6 x 6 Bull that paraded about 10 yds behind our blind Sunday morning. Unfortunately from the angle I took the picture from I couldn't see that I had his rack cut off behind the pine branch. He was so close that when I camera's flash went off he flinched and bolted as if he had been shot.
Here's picture of Patti from Western NY and the 200 lb Russian Razorback Boar she killed Saturday night. This was Patti's first bow kill although she has killed Antelope and other species with a rifle.
We saw many Bull Elk as usual with some that score over 400" easily. We saw one Whitetail that scores in the 170's easily. They have 2 breeder Bucks that are 1 1/2 years old that already score well into the 140's,.....at only 18 months old.... :shock:
The quality of animals in this place is just unbelievable.
Weather was fabulous and a great time was had by all with many new friendships made and some old ones rekindled. The weekend goes entirely all to fast and I'm already anticipating next years hunt.
To any who donated items to this cause, thank you so much and your donations were well appreciated.
Thanks for allowing me to share with you all.
This hunt is held free of charge each year in upstate NY and organized by the NY State Bowhunters Organization and attracts folks from up and down the East coast to the mid west.
The hunt is held at a private resort in NY which is 5000 acres total and has 3000+ acres behind fence as a highly managed preserve.
This preserve is not open to public pay hunting ever and is hunted by invitation only from the owner but this man has opened his preserve, had his employees build a camp solely for this hunt and supplies his employed 5 star chefs to do the cooking for close to 15 years now for this generous cause.
The hunt begins Friday afternoon, runs Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning and finishes with lunch on Sunday.
Species hunted are Whitetail, Elk & Russian Boar. What sex and how many can be killed varies each year from the 3 separate preserves based on what the staff needs to thin out.
Camp has been constructed to resemble a western hunting camp and while in first years it did consist of wall tents it now consists of 3 heated bunk houses with electric that sleeps 42 people total, a large eating cabin with heat and electric and 3 wheelchair accessible bathrooms with hot & cold running water. To say that the accommodations and cooking exceed those found in about any hunting camp is an understatement.
This year the owner himself showed up for lunch Saturday and I was fortunate enough to have this humble and generous man sit across from me during lunch and we had some great conversations, what a down to earth man. During lunch he commented about his cooks cooking and how "it melts in your mouth". All the meat is made form wild game taken from the preserve and I responded by saying "these cooks could fix a stone that would melt in your mouth. These are 5 star chefs that cook for a living, teach cooking at the resorts culinary school and also at local universities. These men donate their time to cook for this hunt and what they prepare is out of this world.
Lunch Friday consisted of Elk tenderloins in sauce with mashed potatoes. Dinner Friday was Elk sausage sandwiches smothered in onions & peppers. Breakfast Saturday was eggs, home baked danishes, Elk sausage, wild Boar ham & bacon. Lunch Saturday was Elk fillet mignon made on the grill. Dinner Saturday was spaghetti with Elk meatballs along with stew made from Bear meat. Breakfast Sunday was French Toast, Texas style...damn near 2" thick along with more Elk sausage and Boar bacon. Lunch Sunday was Boar tenderloins. All meals are all you can eat and served with homemade desserts that are to die for......if you have room left for any... :mrgreen:
Hunting is done from ground blinds built from brush and the preserve employees use Suburbans & Vans to transport hunters and their aids right to the blinds, most of the time right to the door.
All kills are processed on site in the butcher house, blast frozen and ready for the lucky hunter to take home upon departure.
Below are some pic's from this years hunt.
Hunters assembling in the parking area. Camp is in the woods down the lane in the right of the picture.
Pictures of the hunters. We had 12 hunters in camp and this year they killed 2 Russian Boars, 5 Whitetail Doe & 1 cow Elk.
Pictures of the hunters and assistants. For those that don't know me I'm seated in front, 2nd from the left, in case you were wondering.
Pictures from around the camp fire etc.
Here's my buddy George and me. George is the one that about single handedly organizes this hunt each year. George was featured in Field & Stream a few years ago as they had one of their writers tag along with him for a week of hunting and they published a story about the life for a Physically Challenged hunter.
Image
My hunter this year and his wife. Coincidentally his was name was Jeff as well. Jeff killed a nice 75 lb Boar Friday night and took this Doe Saturday night with a well placed 35 yard shot. Jeff has been hunting from his wheelchair for 23 years now since he dove into a river and broke his neck in 3 places. He proved to be quite an accomplished shot to.
Here's a nice 6 x 6 Bull that paraded about 10 yds behind our blind Sunday morning. Unfortunately from the angle I took the picture from I couldn't see that I had his rack cut off behind the pine branch. He was so close that when I camera's flash went off he flinched and bolted as if he had been shot.
Here's picture of Patti from Western NY and the 200 lb Russian Razorback Boar she killed Saturday night. This was Patti's first bow kill although she has killed Antelope and other species with a rifle.
We saw many Bull Elk as usual with some that score over 400" easily. We saw one Whitetail that scores in the 170's easily. They have 2 breeder Bucks that are 1 1/2 years old that already score well into the 140's,.....at only 18 months old.... :shock:
The quality of animals in this place is just unbelievable.
Weather was fabulous and a great time was had by all with many new friendships made and some old ones rekindled. The weekend goes entirely all to fast and I'm already anticipating next years hunt.
To any who donated items to this cause, thank you so much and your donations were well appreciated.
Thanks for allowing me to share with you all.