Texas Hunt Part One

First I would like to thank Field & Stream for sponsoring a fantastic hunt.  Everyone at Field & Stream was great to deal with.  They completely understand the outdoors and they also understand what it's like to travel with a significant disability. I could not ask for better accommodations.

 I flew to San Antonio Texas on Saturday and returned to Pittsburgh on Wednesday. The flight down went well on United airlines. The only issues I had was with boarding the plane. The people were friendly when they were transferring me, however no one seemed to know how to secure me using the seatbelts on the aisle chair. This would prove to be an issue on the return flight as well.

Before the trip I ordered some supplies to make a chest strap from Amazon (belt, strap, buckle). This turned out to be very helpful and I would recommend any quadriplegic give this a try when flying. Using this homemade chest strap was helpful on the flight and when I was using United's wheelchair.  Transferring planes in Houston and moving throughout the airport was made easier with this chest strap.

Chest strap on plane

We flew down with Justin Long from Field & Stream. Justin is a great guy and really helped so much on this trip. We also met our cameraman at the airport in San Antonio, Martin.  Martin is the ultimate professional cameraman and I loved hearing his stories in the ground blind. He has filmed all over the world with some great hunters.

An accessible van was waiting at the airport for my trip to Canyon Ranch, near Sonora Texas. It's funny, I have the exact same van even the same color. The ranch is located almost 3 hours from San Antonio. It was a beautiful drive across Texas and I was able to see lots of deer and turkeys along the way.

Van rental

When we arrived at the ranch we were greeted by Mr. Mike Stroff Senior and Randy. Right away they made me feel welcome and told me to make myself at home at the ranch.  The ranch is extremely beautiful and the ultimate man cave. Other hunters were coming in and it was nice meeting everyone over dinner.

Canyon Ranch Texas

After dinner we talked with Mike Stroff the host of Savage Outdoors, he went over safety and strategy for the week and wished us all a safe and successful hunt. We would all be going out in the morning leaving at 5:15 AM.

Best Man cave ever