Ipswich boy prepares for deer hunting season

An Ipswich boy is busy gathering his gear for a big game hunt. Coy Stager will soon be enjoying a long-honored South Dakota hunting tradition courtesy of the PDR Disabled Youth organization.

Other members of the 2022 PDR hunting party are coming from Elk Point, Volin, Clark, Mitchell, and Sioux Falls. All these anxious young hunters attending the PDR deer hunt come with specific challenges. The private landowners in Clark who help host this hunting weekend say regardless of an individual's circumstance each special needs youngster will be accommodated.

The kids' high-spirited adventure with the PDR Hunt crew will begin in midafternoon on Friday September 16 at the Day Betterment hunting lodge in Clark. At the rifle range paper targets and pumpkins will splatter at the shooters' trigger pulls filling the kids with a sense of power and control; something their disabilities do not always permit. The range session often starts with a young shooter's initial and tentative "I might" attitude and evolves into a surprised "Why yes, I can!"

After a hearty dinner and a good night's rest it is time to go in-field. At pre-dawn on Saturday morning, the local guide accompanies each hunter and parent to individual, specially constructed, handicapped-accessible field blinds. As the sun peeks over the horizon, yesterday's realization at the rifle range converts from "yes, I can" to now "I will".

Yet, the taking of a deer is not the most significant aspect of the PDR hunt. The lodge camp, the range time, the camaraderie with similarly disposed youth, the entire weekend has an effect. Engaging in a big game hunt instills confidence in a disabled young boy or girl's sometimes fragile self-esteem. Assurance builds up progressively as they first hesitantly watch and then anxiously participate in an authentic South Dakota, White-tail deer hunt.

Calvin, a 12-year-old wheelchair bound young man once expressed his feelings after a weekend PDR hunt this way: "There are a lot of things I know I can't do, but today I learned I CAN HUNT."

With each muzzle blast these special teenagers' attitudes about themselves and their capability rises. As PDR founder, Dean Rasmussen said, "When the smoke clears the PDR hunt is not only about the harvest." There is a recoil with this outdoor experience. It comes as the kids' excited smiles extend onto the faces of the volunteers and ultimately strikes through to people's hearts.

For more information about the PDR hunt for disabled youth contact Dean Rasmussen at 605-233-0331 or log onto http://www.pdryouth hunt.com.