|  | | | | | December 2021 Newsletter | |  | What an ACTION packed November! |  | | | | TALES OF A DEER HUNT | | Yesterday was a truly wonderful day for Jackie all because of one man’s desire to help those who are unable to participate in hunting and fishing because of physical challenges. Dave iintended for my husband to have a wonderful experience; and, he did! We arrived at 2:00 in the afternoon. Hands of a Sportsman has a Kaboda that helps them transport individuals back into the woods. Dave pulled the Kaboda up beside us; and together, we moved Jackie from the car to the Kaboda. Dave drove us around two very large cotton fields to get us into the woods. It was a beautiful day! The sky was a brilliant blue; and the white cotton covered the ground like remnants of snow. It was wonderful just to have Jackie outside once again! As we approached the blind, I saw that Jackie would need to step up to get inside. This concerned me. But; after trying several different methods to get Jackie inside, Dave placed Jackie in a seated position and lifted him up by his arms to pull him inside the blind! “This is not your first rodeo!” I said with astonishment. Dave told me that even paralyzed individuals have been able to go hunting with Hands of a Sportsman. This he said was “a piece of cake”. We sat for hours in that little blind waiting for a glimpse of a deer. Jackie’s leg began to cause him a great deal of pain. His left leg was on the side where Dave was sitting. Dave took his booted foot and turned it upward for Jackie to have a place to straighten his foot and rest it for a bit! No, this was not his first rodeo. The sun began to set around 5:15. The woods were beautiful with the brown and gold leaves remaining on the trees and the bright orange glow from the setting sun! Suddenly, a deer appeared! My heart stopped! The two men whispered as Jackie placed the deer in the crosshairs of the gun. It was a small doe. I closed my eyes and covered my ears waiting for the sound of the gun. The two men continued to whisper. I heard Dave tell Jackie it was his decision. The sound of the gun never came. Instead, I heard my husband say, “Let her walk.” I opened my eyes and uncovered my ears. The doe continued to walk around the field unaware of the danger she had been in. A few minutes later a few more deer came. They began to play and frolic as darkness came. Two of them began butting heads. It was a beautiful scene! When it was time to leave, it was difficult to get Jackie out of the blind; but, Dave once again lifted him up and safely returned him to the Kaboda to drive back to our car. We said our goodbyes; and, Dave promised Jackie another opportunity to go after a “big one”! As we pulled away, Jackie had tears in his eyes. “That was wonderful! I loved it! But; more than anything, I am happy that I made another lifelong friend.” As I went to bed last night, I thought about that doe. Was she still running through those woods under the full moon? Did she know a man spared her life that evening? Then, I remembered sitting in a room and hearing the words “You have thirteen months to live if you have chemo and radiation”. Jackie and the doe have something in common. They have both been spared to live another day! On December 11, that thirteen months is up! But, God has extended my husband’s life! Who knows? He may once again sit by Dave on another deer hunt or even a turkey hunt! God is good! We are thankful that Jackie’s mother, Ann, is home from the hospital. Please pray for Alan who is still on a ventilator due to Covid. We ask you also to pray for Jackie, our former pastor’s wife. She is in the hospital with Covid but is also a cancer patient. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save thee.” | |  | | |  | | 1st Annual Anson County Disabled Hunt | | |  | | |  | | | Hands of a Sportsmans annual Pop Keeler Memorial Hunt at Buckshot Hunt Club was a huge success! I’m so thankful to be surrounded by so many good human beings!! People willing to give up their time and money to help others enjoy what we often take for granted. Thanks to all the hunt club members and families, neighboring landowners, and friends who made this hunt a success! 7 deer were harvested, two of which were folks firsts bucks. Just about every hunter had opportunities to harvest a deer. I’m already looking forward to next year! Thank you to NC Wildlife Resources Commission for the use of the track chairs, which makes a world of difference getting hunters to and from stands. As well as the Huntmaster Blind which allows disabled hunters to experience getting off the ground while enjoying a comfortable blind! And an extra special thank you to all the wonderful ladies the kept us all fed throughout the weekend! Y’all are the real rockstars! ~Wesley Rigdon, Mentor Inspire.Motivate.Overcome | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | | |  | | The start of our NC muzzleloader season was a good day. We have been waiting for firearm season to come in to try and help William High shoot his first buck. We saw 8 does, 3 raccoons and one fox before this buck came in just before dark and went straight to a scrape. We didn't have a shoot so we had to wait. Then he turned and came down to the feeder at 130 yrds and the CVA V2 Optima Pro, Nite Site and William did the rest. This area is beautiful and we are so thankful to have this property for our organization. Hopefully this want be the last hunter we can bless!! | |  | |  | |  | | |  | | God definitely works in mysterious ways! Founder/David Hinceman was setting in the deer stand mid November and received a message from a old friend, Lee Ann Staton Freeze. Seems she met this gentleman & his wife and they had the best time talking about hunting and fishing. Leann explained she had been praying for Jackie and how she could possibly help him enjoy hunting again. That’s when she thought of Hands of a Sportsman and reached out to us. After reading Jackie's journey on FB, we immediately realized that we needed to get this man in the woods. I’m happy to say that we were able to do this. Unfortunately though, we didn’t see the buck we were after, but we did see several deer. Jackie and wife Melissa had a great time and that is what its all about. Memories. | |  | |  | | |  | | Hands of a Sportsman is blessed to meet so many people in our journey of helping others enjoy the outdoors. We were excited to meet and help Angie Tate enjoy a great day of hunting. The hunt was filled with laughs, close calls and some crying but in the end Angie smile is what stands out above all. Thank You to the kind hearts in Anson Co that made this hunt possible, we couldn't do this without you! Inspire.Motivate.Overcome | |  | | |  | | | Cowen Plantation Youth Hunt | | |  | | We look forward to this weekend every year. Big thanks to South Carolina Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for sponsoring this hunt, Cowden Plantation for providing a great place to hunt, all the guides and volunteers for taking time with the kids and families, Jarrett Rifles for providing a awesome rifle for kids to hunt with and Vortex Optics for providing some awesome glass for the weekend. We tired but look at all the smiles!! Inspire.Motivate.Overcome | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | | How do we top the nice buck Damon got last year with Hands of a Sportsman? Well like any hunter, it’s not about the buck but the time spent with family and friends! The buck is a great bonus but in this case will take the big doe! Super proud of Damon on this hunt. He needed a little assistance from me but he did most of it by himself. Will make a hunter out of him yet . So far a super blessed season for our organization and the folks that make it what it is today! Inspire.Motivate.Overcome | |  | |  | | | | | | Taylorsville Youth Hunt | | |  | These kids are ready to go hunting thanks to some awsome folks big thanks to all the guides for making this happen | | | |  | Athena Johnson | | | |  | Hunter Hoke | | | |  | Blaze Huffman | | | |  | | | |  | Way to go Cameron Hicks! Old Cameron was one of our hunters this year on the Anthony Barnes Memorial hunt the guides Shawn Moose and Todd Beckman go over and beyond to make dreams come true! Cameron is hooked now and has 2 of the best hunting buddies around! | | | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | | BECOME A VOLUNTEER! | |  | | | |  | Hands of a Sportsman and what this organization means to me. The picture on the left was me, or a resemblance of me at birth. The picture on the right is me 59 years later. I was born with too much fluid on my brain. | |  | | The medical term is encephalacell, or what's more commonly known as a water head. In 1962, when I was born, the doctors didn't know that much about this type of surgery and they told my parents," if he lives, he can be paralyzed, mentally challenged, or both". I've met one other young lady in my lifetime and that was about when I was 6 or 8 years old, and she was paralyzed in a wheelchair, and so severely mentally challenged that they had to strap her head to a brace on the back of her wheelchair just so she could hold her head up. One of my first encounters with Hands of a Sportsman was on Facebook where there was a young man who had a tube in his mouth that was rigged to a gun and I sat there and watched him blow into that tube and shoot a deer. As I was wiping my eyes I knew I had to get involved with this organization. You see I could have been that child and today the only evidence I have of my predicament is this scar you see on the back of my head. God is good. I had a young man down to some property that I own in Union County and although we sat in that deer blind all day, he unfortunately didn't harvest a deer that day. While David and I were preparing my property for the hunt I asked him what caused him to start this organization and he just talked about how some people will never be fortunate enough to sit in the woods and listen to them as they come alive in the morning, I think he could tell by just the look on my face I understood what he was talking about. If I never kill another deer the rest of my life I hope to be sitting in the blind with many a young man from now till the time the good Lord takes me home, to experience their harvest of their first deer.........GOD IS GOOD!!! ~Ray Mills | |  | |  | | | | | |  | |  |  | | | | | | | | |  |  |  | | |  | | | LANDOWNER DONATION | |  | | | | | | |  | | Thank you for subscribing to the Hands of a Sportsman Newsletter. We want to spread our mission to as many as we can and that can accomplished with your help. | | |     | |
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