Local Iowa NWTF Chapter Hosts Annual Wheelin’ Hunt
Earlier this spring, the NWTF Central Iowa Long Spurs Chapter built upon almost two decades of hunting heritage success, hosting its Annual Wheelin' Sportsmen Turkey Hunt in central Iowa for the 17th year. The event welcomed 12 hunters with disabilities and offered participants the opportunity to harvest a spring gobbler on a mentored hunt.
This year, the Army Corps of Engineers provided land around its Saylorville Lake property for the hunt to take place. In addition, the Army Corps of Engineers ensured overgrown areas were mowed and were wheelchair accessible. The corps also helped with hunt site selection and provided ATVs and park rangers to facilitate transporting hunters to their blinds.
NWTF volunteers and mentors also scouted for turkeys on the property in the weeks leading up to the event.
In addition to the Army Corps of Engineers, the NWTF Central Iowa Long Spurs partnered with Polk County Conservation and used the Jester Park Nature Center as the event’s base camp.
Matt Smith, Central Iowa Long Spurs Chapter president, and his team of dedicated volunteers worked tirelessly to ensure all participating hunters had a life-changing experience. On Friday night, Smith, Jessica Heim and other committee members set up tables and chairs.
Around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, volunteers were already awake to set out coffee and a breakfast of biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs. Participants arrived at 4 a.m.
The hunt’s co-chair, Todd Sanders, was a previous participant at this event. In October of 2013, Sanders fell from his tree stand, causing a back injury. Six months later, he was already back in the woods bowhunting after a retired Iowa Department of Natural Resources employee invited him to the Central Iowa Long Spurs Annual Wheelin’ Sportsmen Turkey Hunt.
“I’ve been bowhunting since I was 12 because the woods are like a second church to me,” Sanders said. “It's always very spiritual being out there. So, going on that hunt was awesome. I was an underdog because I was the only guy who ever showed up with a bow, and I was so recently paralyzed, but I ended up shooting a 26-pound gobbler. I met wonderful people, and it was at a point in my life when I really needed to be lifted up. It really did change my life.”
Sanders now recruits hunters for the Annual Wheelin’ Sportsmen Turkey Hunt with hopes that folks will have a similar positive experience. He wants to create a space of fellowship and camaraderie for people with disabilities.
“There are so many people that are unaware of hunts for people like them in a wheelchair,” Sanders said. “When I became paralyzed, I had to learn to do some things differently, but I never wanted to stay at home, and a lot of good has happened since then because life is what you make it to be. People really connect with the woods; it brings life to a lot of people and a strong spiritual connection.”
Participants received a hat and a shirt along with some other items. This past season’s hunt featured a drawstring backpack, lightweight hunting gloves and a headlamp. Edwin Shirts — known by the local chapter as “Mr. Wingbone” — made custom friction calls for each participant to take home as well.
After breakfast on Saturday, mentors hosted a safety meeting and then took the hunters out to their hunt locations. To make the hunt feel more personal, Heim took a picture of each hunter with their mentor before they departed. While everyone was hunting, she developed the pictures and put them in a special frame with the year on it. When the hunters and guides returned for lunch, they had pictures for them to take home.
“During the hunt, Jessica tries to stay in contact with each group to monitor how everyone is doing and what they are seeing or hearing,” Smith said. “It's pretty exciting when you hear a far-off gun blast and then get the text that says, ‘we got one!’ This year we had two hunters who tagged birds, but everyone had at least some activity, whether it was seeing birds or at least hearing them.”
Kaitlyn Maus, social media influencer and one of the event’s newest members, was also a guide. Her hunt was sponsored by Barronett Blinds, which donated a blind to the hunt. See the hunt from her perspective here.
At lunch, over smoked turkey sandwiches and drinks, hunters shared stories from the day, embracing the life-changing power of the outdoors.