Outdoor Buddies held its annual banquet at The Wildlife Experience on Saturday, March 1st.

The evening included a presentation by Colorado Division of Wildlife's Mark Cousins, which described some of the activities currently underway at the CDOW, and an update of Outdoor Buddies ongoing activities by Jed Prendergast, Outdoor Buddies Vice President..... Click here to read more.

Again this year, Trapper Mining, Inc. near Craig hosted elk hunts for mobility-disabled hunters associated with the Outdoor Buddies organization.

Two handi-buddies, Chuck Coet and James Sack hunted during the first rifle season and an additional two handi-buddies, George Marquez and Jim Cothran, hunted during the second rifle season.

On Saturday, October 14th, Chuck and Jim started this years hunts by scoring a two-for-two record with each harvesting a nice five-point bull elk.

The next weekend was just as productive with George and Jim both harvesting nice bulls. Vern Anderson said "We had a great time and were done by noon on Saturday. Jim got a six by three bull and George got a five by five. I think they both had a great time, and they were really enjoyable guys.

The mobility-disabled hunters were guided and assisted by employees of Trapper Mining. Forrest Luke, Manager of Environmental Affairs at the mine has sponsored Outdoor Buddies elk hunts there for several years. Vern Anderson coordinates all Outdoor Buddies hunter activities at the mine. Trapper Mining employees Don Benefiel, Kevin Brown, Jesse Taylor, Allen Oliver, Tom Baker, Marvin Cattoor, and others assist Vern.

The next weekend was just as productive with George and Jim both harvesting nice bulls.

Handi-buddy, Chuck Coet and Able-buddy guide, Jesse Taylor with Chuck's bull elk.	James Sack and guide, Kevin Brown, admire James' nice bull.

My Antelope hunt in Wyoming at the Monaghan Ranch, located near Laramie WY, was sad but also joyful. Sad because this will be my last hunt that Mr. Sid Sellers arranged for me. Mr. Sid Sellers, co-founder of Outdoor Buddies, passed away on August 5, 2006.

Sid was contacted by Mr. Greg Marrian through the DOW here in Colorado. Greg is a sports writer for various sports magazines. They put me in contact with John Hurley at the Department of Wildlife in Wyoming to prepare all the paper work required for my hunt. Required paper work included a permit to shoot from a vehicle, hunting license, and conservation certificate. They also contacted Mr. Garry Woodman, at the Monaghan Ranch, who in turn contacted me. We communicated by telephone and e/mail to work out the details of the hunt. Garry set up a hunting date for the morning of Monday, September. 25th.

Mr. Wally Hunt, who had agreed to be my able-bodied helper for the hunt, arrived at my home at about 4:30 am. We loaded Wally's trailer with all my gear and headed for Wyoming.

We arrived at the Monaghan Ranch, after a short detour due to a missed turn, where we met Garry After filling out some release forms; we headed out for my hunt.

Al and Wally Hunt.	Al and Garry Woodman.

Not 300 yards from the ranch house stood a gorgeous pronghorn buck. However, no hunting or shooting is allowed in the pastures around the ranch headquarters so we had to pass on that one.

We continued on down the road and I asked Garry if I could take a couple of practice shots at a target that I had brought. I had sighted in my rifle with 175-grain bullets, but I was going to use 162-grain bullets for the hunt and I wanted to see where my gun was shooting. It was not good, three to four inches to the right and four to five inches low.

Soon after the practice episode, we spotted a nice buck about 175 to 200 yards away. I took aim, shot, missed. The guys said too high. I shot again, missed too low. I felt really bad! I told Garry I never miss. Garry said relax, take it easy, take a deep breath, and don't be so hard on yourself. We came on another herd. As I took aim, I said to myself one too high one too low, so I held it right on the top behind his shoulders and fired. It was a good hit, but he was still standing. Garry said shoot again. My shot had gone through the heart, he went down.

We celebrated by shaking hands, and taking some pictures. I thanked Garry for the good job he had done locating antelope and for being patient with me. Even "ole deadeye" can miss when not properly prepared. That will never happen again, I promise you all that. BE PREPARED GUYS!

I want to thank the owners of Monaghan Ranch for the privilege of hunting on their property, and especially Mr. Garry Woodman for all he did for me on this hunt.

I also want to thank Mr. Wally Hunt for all his efforts in helping Outdoor Buddies and me. I would like to congratulate Wally for getting his masters degree in opening gates. Thanks guys.

Thanks to Blane Gilliland of Spur Outfitters, handi-buddy Al Montoya, enjoyed what he calls his "moose hunt of a lifetime". Blane donated a guided cow moose hunt to Outdoor Buddies and Al was the lucky recipient of the hunt. Click here to read the rest of the story

Ken and Toby with Toby's turkeys, taken the day before his deer hunt.	Chris and Toby with Toby's exceptional Kansas Whitetail.

Greetings from the sunflower state! Handi-buddy, Toby Clement, of Mesa, Arizona, came two days before deer season opened so he could hunt turkeys prior to his scheduled Whitetail hunt. And boy did he ever do a number on the turkeys. He filled his four tags with three big gobblers and one hen. Then on the opening day of deer season, he elected to fill his doe tag and took a very nice mature doe. That was on Wednesday, and then on Saturday, he filled his buck tag with a huge 9-point buck. We skinned his buck so he could make a shoulder mount with it. The buck had a 23-inch spread. Wow, what a beautiful animal! .

When Toby left here to start home, his grin was as wide as the grille on his truck. The big doe Toby shot was harvested from the hydraulic blind that the Kansas Fish & Game Department lets us use for our handi-buddy hunters. Toby thought it was great. Ken Hunter traveled with Toby to assist him on their trip from Arizona. I really enjoyed meeting Ken and swapping hunting stories with him. Able-buddies, Chris Ingersoll and Steve Nicholson guided Toby on his deer hunts. They were just as pleased as Toby with his success.

For more information about opportunities for handi-buddies to hunt turkeys and Whitetails in Kansas, contact Merle Heldenbrand at 316-532-2425.

Larry and Vern after their successful Trapper Mine antelope hunt.

First of all, I want to thank Outdoor Buddies, in particularly Dwaine Robey, for letting me know about the hunt for doe antelope on the Trapper Mine property near Craig, Colorado. I also want to thank Sid Sellers for starting Outdoor Buddies and for all he has done for us for over twenty years.

Dwaine put me in touch with the man at Trapper Mine who has worked with Outdoor Buddies for 8 years. This man is Vern Anderson, a very nice man and he enjoys his work at the mine and also working with us disabled hunters of Outdoor Buddies. Vern is one of the nicest men I have had the pleasure of hunting with and above all, his patience in helping me spot the animals and even more so my supersonic speed, ha-ha, of getting out of the truck and getting set to shoot. With us was a friend of Vern's', Jessie, also a man who is very nice. After my shot, Vern and Jessie field dressed my doe and even took it back to the shop and washed it out for me.

I cannot express my appreciation enough for the opportunity and the fellowship with my guides on this hunt. For any of you who have a handicapped friend, please try to convince him or her to come join us in Outdoor Buddies.

Thanks again to those who arranged for me to participate in this and the many other hunts sponsored by Outdoor Buddies.

Outdoor Buddies held its annual banquet at Heather Ridge Country Club on Friday, February 18th.

The evening's activities included dinner, a presentation by Colorado Division of Wildlife Director, Bruce McCloskey, which described some of the activities currently underway at the DOW, silent and live auctions, and two raffles for firearms.

Outdoor Buddies founder and executive director, Sid Sellers, presented an award to Sportsman's Warehouse in appreciation of their outstanding support of Outdoor Buddies programs. Mr. Gary Watts, Sportsman's Warehouse store manager, accepted the award.

Colorado State Senator, Tom Wiens did an outstanding job as the auctioneer for donated auction item.

Outdoor Buddies is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that was founded in 1984 by a group of concerned sportspersons who desired to provide the outdoor adventure experience to mobility impaired lovers of the outdoors. The organization's activities are based on the concept of able-bodied volunteers (Able-Buddies) helping mobility-handicapped individuals (Handi-Buddies) in the pursuit of outdoor adventure experiences. Outdoor experiences include fishing, camping, hiking, hunting, target shooting, etc.