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Dugger man coordinates turkey hunt for visually-impaired veterans
A Dugger man known for not letting loss of vision slow him down is helping several blind or visually-impaired veterans get a special experience.
Lonnie Bedwell lost his eyesight in 1997. But, his lack of sight has not kept him down. Since the accident that took his sight, he has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, was the first blind man to kayak the length of the Grand Canyon and continues to step into the fields to hunt. Now, with the help of the community, he has brought several men to neighboring Sullivan County to take on one of those feats: Turkey hunting.
As a veteran himself, Bedwell understands the importance of offering opportunities to those who served their country, and he is no stranger to testing the limits after losing his sight.
"This was just a way for me to give back to these combat-injured veterans," Bedwell said of the event.
All of the individuals who will be in Sullivan County this week are blind or visually impaired due to combat injuries, or combat-related issues.
"We called the event 'Hunting blind -- It's not what you think,'" Bedwell said with a laugh.
Eric Marts of Minnesota, Danny Wallace of Missouri, Russel Nelson from southern Indiana, William Murphy of Kansas and Timothy Hornik of Kansas will all be meeting with guides this week to go turkey hunting.
Bedwell said only one guy, besides himself, in the bunch -- Hornik -- has been hunting since losing his vision.
The idea came about when Bedwell and some friends were visiting a buddy, Aaron Hale, in Florida. Hale lost his eyesight as a result of an IED explosion in Afghanistan, and ended up developing spinal meningitis -- which ultimately left him blind and deaf. He recently received a cochlear implant.
"In January, myself and Steve Baskis were down visiting him in Florida and he made mention that he would love to go hunting again. I simply asked him if turkey hunting would do, and he said yes. I said, 'I don't know Aaron, how I'm going to make it happen yet, but I want to bring you up here to go turkey hunting, and I don't want you to have to pay a dime to do it,'" Bedwell recalled.
The idea exploded from there. Other veterans who had suffered vision loss heard about the idea and said they wanted in as well.
"How it became larger than just Aaron was some of the other veterans who knew Aaron wanted to attend and help support him ... I was so humbled because we had plenty of guides volunteer and landowners open up their property to give us access to hunt. Once I brought it up to some of the local community, they just ran with it," Bedwell said.
Unfortunately, Hale was unable to make it to this hunt, but Bedwell was able to get enough community support to get the others to the Dugger and Sullivan area for the program.
Some of the donors included WalMart, Sullivan Elks Club, Peabody Energy, Save-A-Lot, Gander Mountain, Bobes Pizza and other local businesses and individuals. The donations ranged from money to supplies to food. Sullivan man Scott Goodman has opened his home to all the participants for the week.
Several guides have volunteered their time this week to take each of the veterans on the hunt, which will be hosted on the property of Sullivan County landowners who have donated some space. The guys flew in Monday, and the start of the trip will be focused on how the hunters will participate.
"They (veterans) will set up and figure out the best technique, how they want their guide to aim them, how they are going get to the target and shoot, how they want their guide to lead them through the woods," Bedwell said.
The community is now banding together to make this project move forward. Heroes New Hope Foundation plans to not only make this an annual event, but to expand to three hunts a year for blind and visually impaired veterans, including fishing and deer hunting.
Eventually the project may expand beyond servicing only men and women who have served their country, and also include other men and women who are blind or visually impaired that want to get in on the hunts.