Wheelchair-Friendly Wyoming
Andy Hahn 06.12.13
Coordinating travel plans was an exercise in logistics because Ron lives in Pennsylvania and I reside in Brazil, but we worked out a good solution. My wife and I flew from Rio de Janeiro to Atlanta and met Ron and his wife in the airport; from there we all flew to Denver and picked up a rental van. By the time we reached the hotel in Cheyenne, my wife and I had been on the go for more than 24 hours.
The next morning we enjoyed an unhurried breakfast and got back on I-25 to continue north to a truck stop near the town of Douglas. There we met outfitter Pat Phillipps and followed him on a 90-minute drive to the hunting camp. On the way we saw more antelope and our first mule deer. (Man, they have big ears!) Ron and I—typical Easterners used to hunting whitetails in thick woods—were impressed with Wyoming’s vast openness and the number of game animals we could see from the highway.
Pat leases hunting rights on a 22,000-acre ranch. Hunters usually stay on-site in a 100-year-old cabin which has been modernized with electricity and indoor plumbing, and has two bunkrooms, a kitchen and dining/sitting room. Conscious of my needs, Pat asked if I’d rather stay at a motel in town. No way! Even if it took more effort, we wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of a hunting camp and do things like trade stories around the woodburning stove.
Pat suggested that we stay in a small house (built for ranch hands) right beside the cabin; we could then have our meals and relax between hunts in the cabin. Prior to our arrival he built a wheelchair ramp for the house. The convenience of a handicapped-accessible motel room might have offered more comfort, but we never regretted our decision to stay at the ranch. The cabin window offered a picturesque view of a valley where mule deer came to feed each morning and evening.
Our first mulely
Ron, Pat, and I held a strategy meeting over dinner the first night in camp (Sunday). We told our guide that we weren’t looking for record-book trophies, but we wanted respectable examples of mule deer and pronghorns. We would trust Pat’s judgement in deciding which animals to take. We also recognized that my condition would make open-country stalking quite difficult, so we might not have the luxury of being very choosy.
After receiving my antelope and deer tags, I had applied for and received a Disabled Hunter Permit. Provided to qualifying individuals free of charge by the Wyoming Game and Fish Dept., this permit authorizes the holder to shoot from a stationary vehicle.
Pat usually conducts his hunts on horseback, but he assured us there were good areas on the ranch that we could reach by 4WD pickup. “I haven’t taken any other hunters there this season,” he said. “I’ve been saving those spots for you.”
Ron rigged my equipment on Pat’s custom-built .243 with 4x scope, and we began our hunt under cloudy skies on Monday morning. We had ample room in the back seat of Pat’s Dodge Mega Cab pickup to maneuver and shoot out either side. The rifle’s chamber remained empty and the bolt open until we decided to shoot.
Although we stayed in the vehicle, we certainly weren’t road hunting. Pat drove us along a creek bottom that runs through the ranch. Cottonwoods and tall grass provided cover while the valley offered protection from the wind, making it a perfect place for mule deer. By lunchtime we had put the four-wheel-drive stalk on a couple bucks but couldn’t get a shot.
That evening, however, we connected. While creeping past a field just a half-mile from the cabin, Pat stopped the truck and raised his binoculars to glass several deer. “Hmmm…that rack’s tall but not very wide,” he said. “Definitely not a Monday-night buck. He might do if we’re still trying to fill a tag on Friday. Wait a sec, there’s another one. He’s a shooter! Get ready!”
Realizing the evening gloam was too dark to produce a clear image on my scopecam, we quickly decided that Ron should take this buck. He and Pat hopped out to sneak closer. After a brief stalk, my friend touched off a 110-yard shot to collect his first-ever mule deer in the final minutes of shooting light.
