Giving the handicapped an opportunity for adventure

By Ed Godfrey

Published: April 23, 2006

Michael Bunch never had hunting spots this good when he could walk.

An undiagnosed illness confined the 38-year-old Purcell man to a wheelchair nearly 15 years ago. "I just woke up one day and my legs quit working," he said.

Before losing use of his legs, Bunch loved to hunt. He tried to keep hunting in a wheelchair, but eventually became discouraged and quit.

"It was too hard to go," Bunch said. "It was too much preparation and I didn't have anybody to help me."

That changed when Bunch joined the Wheelin' Sportsmen, an organization that is providing handicapped Oklahomans with opportunities to hunt, fish, camp and enjoy the outdoors.

Wheelin' Sportsmen is an outreach program of the National Wild Turkey Federation that began almost eight years ago in Alabama. Oklahoma formed a chapter last year. The group started with seven members and now has almost 90.

In the past year, the Wheelin' Sportsmen have arranged dozens of trips for disabled Oklahomans. The trips include deer hunts in southeastern Oklahoma, striper fishing on Lake Texoma and a float trip down the Illinois River.

This month, Wheelin' Sportsmen members have experienced some memorable turkey hunts in western Oklahoma. Kaity Morgan, a 10-year-old from Owasso with cerebral palsy, bagged her first turkey on a hunt in Ellis County with Wheelin' Sportsmen volunteers. Kaity pulled the trigger on a 22-pound tom and bragged how she killed a turkey before her two older brothers did.

"She was just ecstatic," said Kaity's mother, Stephany. "She says, 'I can't play ball but I can hunt.' That (turkey hunt) was just the greatest thing. Words can't even describe it. She is asking her dad to go again already."

Such moments are as special for the Wheelin' Sportsmen guides and volunteers as they are for the participants.

"Everytime I tell a story, someone else wants to get involved," said Tim Slavin, a Wheelin' Sportsmen team leader in Oklahoma City. "It's unbelievable how rewarding this is."

The number of Oklahomans eager to help has been phenomenal, Slavin said. Hunting and fishing guides have volunteered their services. Landowners across the state have allowed access. Sporting good stores have provided gear.

"I haven't had anybody turn me down yet," Slavin said.

Earlier this year, the newly formed Oklahoma chapter was honored by the National Wild Turkey Federation as the best in the nation for its work.

Slavin got involved with the Wheelin Sportsmen after recovering from a snow skiing accident that nearly crippled him. He realized how fortunate he was and decided "it was time to start doing something for somebody else." Now he spends more time arranging hunts for people with disabilities than hunting for himself.

Bunch once thought that being in a wheelchair had deprived him from ever hunting with his two teenage sons. He now hunts with them more than he ever imagined and at "premium" locations.

"This has been super for me," Bunch said of the Wheelin' Sportsmen. "I had been depressed about not being able to do things with my sons. It's amazing how good people are."