Fall 2023 17 Chief of Wildlife Bob Duncan was eager to help our program grow. He arranged a meeting in February of 2005 with the Virginia Department of Forestry’s (DOF) Deputy State Forester John Carroll, Public Information Director John Campbell, and me at DOF’s main headquarters in Charlottesville to discuss the possibility of offering a spring gobbler hunt at their New Kent Forestry Center near Providence Forge. We agreed to move forward with our plans. In March I met with Duncan, Carroll, State Forester Carl Garrison, and other leaders from both agencies at the Forestry Center to assess the facility and determine logistics such as the staffing and scheduling needs for planned future events. While numerous deer hunts for disabled veterans had taken place on the property, a spring turkey hunt had never been held there. We agreed to partner for the first-ever turkey hunt. On April 22, 2005, our team of volunteers arrived on-site to set up blinds and prepare for our first spring gobbler hunt. So here we were, tucked into a camouflaged pop-up blind listening to A Partnership Built in the Pines By Robin Clark Blake Rush, 12, of Mechanicsville, with his first longbeard. Mike Deane was his guide for the hunt. Robin Clark of North Garden with a nice eight-point buck (2012). The barred owls hooted back and forth as the dawn sky slowly turned from black to pale pink. A cool April morning breeze whispered through the tall loblolly pines above us as we sat in silence in our blind at the New Kent Forestry Center. The songbirds came to life, their voices traveling further in the crisp, clear air. The sound of the west-bound freight train was just disappearing when we first heard it. I turned and looked at my guide with a slight smile and whispered, “Did you hear that?” He nodded affirmatively. I pulled up my facemask and slowly turned my wheelchair to be more in line with our decoys. An eternity of five minutes passed before we heard the sound again. A deep-voiced mature gobbler perched on the limb of a big loblolly pine 150-yards-out was giving notice to any hen within hearing distance that he was awake and ready to go a courtin’. We let a few minutes pass before my guide made a couple of soft yelps with his slate call, mimicking a hen looking for a date. The gobbler hammered, cutting off his yelp. In the real world the hen would go to the gobbler, but it was our goal to defy nature and convince him to come to us. Let the challenge begin! Before I continue, allow me to give you some background. In late 2000 the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) adopted their latest outreach program, one that would provide all people with disabilities opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors through hunting, fishing, and shooting. In 2001 Virginia Wheelin’ Sportsmen (VAWS) was created, and our first event, a deer hunt, was held in western Albemarle County. In 2002 I was appointed the VAWS State Coordinator. Our membership consists of mobility-impaired individuals with a variety of disabilities, wheelchair users, amputees, stroke victims, to the visually impaired. VAWS quickly gained support from other NWTF chapters, expanding and hosting events throughout the state of Virginia. We also gained the attention and support of the Virginia Department of Wildlife (DWR), formerly the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
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