Open season
Disabled hunters getting the chance to get into the woods through new CNY organization
By Nick McCann
Posted: 4/8/08, 10:56 PM EST Section: Feature
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A sudden cluster of 20-gauge shotgun fire can be heard yards away. On a rainy day in Morrisville, N.Y., a group of hunters practice its aim on clay pigeons in a wet field. The men are all professional hunters, and they are all disabled.
Car accidents and medical conditions have left them all in wheelchairs, walkers or with prosthetic limbs. Regardless, the men are full of life, telling jokes and chewing deer jerky as they clean their guns. Once the rain subsides, they march in a cluster into the woods looking for pheasant.
These hunting trips, headed by Advanced Strategies Adventures, a Central New York organization geared toward taking disabled outdoorsmen on weekend hunting and fishing trips, are still in their infancy. Co-founders Mark Spratt and Lloyd Wiegel have only now achieved their status as a non-profit organization.
"That status will really get us the funding we need for supplies and trips," said Wiegel, a licensed hunting guide
Wiegel turned down multiple jobs as a guide out West to stay in Central New York to work with the disabled community.
"I get upset, downright pissed, that if you're disabled you're not suppose to have a life," Spratt said. "There are thousands of disabled people in Central New York, but you never see any of them. It's so important for people with disabilities to remain active, to stay healthy, mentally and physically."
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