THE EYES HAVE IT!

After being blind for thirty two years, I believe that I would have to say that this fall has been my utmost experience in the world of the handicapped, all due to the thanks of three sets of eyes and much encouragement and work from my friends, family and organizers of the assisted hunts.

My September hunts started with the assistance of my son Paul and his virtual reality of sighting for me at two pheasant hunts, which we attended. In the past four years, I really got hooked on this and with Paul's capable and accurate eyes, we scored very well at the two pheasant hunts. Although the hunt at Whispering Emerald Ridge near Menomonie was only a half-day hunt, Paul and I bagged three pheasants, one being a nice rooster with a 19-inch tail. On the following Saturday we took our annual trip to the Big Rock Hunting Preserve near Gilman, WI, and things went even better as we brought down five pheasants and hunted over an excellent pointer that gave us plenty of time to set up for our shots. Each year that we attend the hunt, our accuracy improves and I give all of the credit to Paul's eyes and ability to help me point the gun into the kill zone.

Although, I am primarily an archery hunter, in recent years I have included rifle and black powder into my arsenal. On October 4th and 5th, my friend and sighter, Darryl Nelson and I took part in the Central Wisconsin deer hunt for the handicapped at Dales North Mound bar near Willard, WI. With our new scope set up, Darryl's eyes provided me with two shots, both which harvested does at over one hundred yards. Again the eyes did it.

In late October my friend Jim Johnson and I planned a QDM hunt and did a wealth of sighting the bow with Jim's eyes, we demanded perfect accuracy in the twenty-yard range. On the first day of our hunt, Jim described numerous does and bucks to me but none of which we were after. On our second day out we were blessed with an excellent set up in our tree stand but it also was accompanied with some strong winds, rain, sleet and some snow. Again we saw a good number of deer but late in the cool and wet afternoon Jim caught sight of a nice two and a half year old buck that gave us our opportunity at twenty yards. With Jim’s capable eyes and assistance, we manage to bag our animal after some excellent trailing, again they EYES have it.

About three days later, the Wisconsin T zone started and with the generosity and capability to load up the black powder rifle, Darryl Nelson took me in a stand with our Double Bull ground blind. Although the prey must be anterless, we had the thrill of having a nice buck approach the side of our blind and spent about twenty minutes making scrapes and preparing for his future meeting sights with others. About 4:00 p.m., Darryl's eyes picked up on some deer coming for a dinner of clover and Darryl gave me the great news. With the help of a half rack buck, one of the larger does was chased broadside at about sixty yards. After that, again it was all Darryl's eyes and aiming ability, the black powder smoke erupted on the command of shoot. The large doe went down in her tracks and after settling down, I took a moment to thank God for all of the wonderful opportunities to hunt and how He preciously provided three sets of eyes to give me the opportunity to again enjoy the outdoors and face the challenges of the hunt. My thanks and prayers go out to all who helped in so many different ways.

Dick Fischer

Hi Everybody, Boy are we excited!! After eight years of trying to get a turkey with a bow and arrow, Dick (Fisher) and Darryl Nelson accomplished what Dick was beginning to think would never happen. On April 24th they arrowed a 25 1/2 lb. gobbler. After it went down Darryl had to chase away two gobs that decided to beat the heck out of "The Boss". I am sure that Dick will be sending all of you a detailed description of the whole event. My job is to scan the pictures and get them out to you. Since I have never done this I am hoping all goes well.

Paul Fischer, Dick’s son, went with Dick on Wednesday the 21st up to our land and had a nice one come out but it was at a difficult angle and they hit one tail feather for a souvenir. Thursday the 22nd I went with Dick to our land and we had lots of gobbles and lots of turkeys around us but nothing in our area for a good shot. We could have bagged several with a gun but not the 15 to 20 yards we needed for the bow. The 24th Dick and Darryl went over to Taylor, WI to Darryl's cousins and they shot it at 6:48 a.m. They had packed up their hunting clothes, sleeping bags and lots of food for a two day stay on Thursday afternoon and never got a chance to eat any of it. After showing it to many people in the area they came home pretty tired and mighty happy. Good job done!!!

Betty Fischer

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