Indiana group gives youths with special needs chance to hunt

LOGANSPORT, Ind. (AP) - A local nonprofit is aiming for a target: Kids' disabilities don't have to keep them from the chance to go hunting.

Freedom Hunt draws children from across the state with special needs to hunting grounds in Cass County. Attendees of the organization's most recent deer hunt said the organization provides an opportunity to build friendships during the pursuit of a shared passion for being outdoors.

Steve Griffey, of Peru, founded the nonprofit in 2006. The avid outdoorsman said he was motivated by friends in Missouri involved with an organization that offers hunting opportunities for disabled adults and the joy he gets out of taking his sons hunting.

Five kids came out for that first hunt and subsequent years have seen as many as 20, Griffey said.

"These kids don't have opportunities to go out and be able to enjoy the outdoors - whether it's hunting or fishing - in their normal, everyday lives, so we can help them be able to do that," he said.

The hunting camp on the Eel River in the northeastern part of Cass County hosted 16 young hunters and their families Friday, Sept. 25 through Sunday, Sept. 27.

Adult guides spent Saturday afternoon helping their pupils through some paintball target practice before heading into the woods in search of deer.

Their targets consisted of blown-up photographs of Brad Rozzi, co-coordinator of Freedom Hunt, in a bit of playful revenge by Griffey for a prank Rozzi played previously.

Maria Badger, Waterloo, was among the crowd that gathered around the shooters. She was there with her 16-year-old son, Jacob, who has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

While the condition doesn't hamper the 10th-grader's ability to earn the A's and B's on his report cards, it does limit his participation in after-school activities, Maria Badger said.

"Out here, he's on a level playing field with everyone else," she said as paintball rounds cracked nearby. "He's got everything adaptable so that he's got just a good a chance of shooting as anyone else does."

Jacob Badger has a component for his wheelchair that holds his hunting rifle for him, Maria Badger continued.

"All he really has to do is aim and pull the trigger," she went on to say.

Jacob Badger used it to get a 220-pound, 13-point buck in Michigan earlier this year.

Maria Badger said they go on hunts with similar nonprofits across the region. This year was the family's second time participating in Freedom Hunt.

The excitement her son experiences makes every trip worthwhile, she said.

"He didn't sleep last night," she said with a laugh. "Apparently he had a little snooze in the blind this morning."

Jason Barbknecht, of Fort Wayne, was one of the guides on the hunting trip over the weekend. He got involved after his son, Noah Barbknecht, became paralyzed at the age of 15.

"He's been hunting since he was 6 years old," Jason Barbknecht said. "So even in rehab, he never asked if he could go hunting again - he wanted to know when."

They found out about Freedom Hunt online and have been attending for three years now.

Jason Barbknecht commended the organization for helping families conquer the challenges that come with each hunt.

"It's going to be harder," he said. "There's a lot more involved. It's not just like, hey, let's walk into the woods."

A lot of times it means bringing a wheelchair into the woods, he continued. Jason Barbknecht went on to describe how some young hunters use a joystick to move their firearms and look at a monitor connected to a camera on their scope to aim before blowing into a tube to fire a shot.

Excursions like Freedom Hunt also create "camaraderie around the campfire," Jason Barbknecht said, as opposed to the feelings of isolation some of the kids may experience at school.

"Nobody judges anybody here," he said.

Noah Barbknecht, 17, will be too old to participate in the hunt next year, but is looking forward to joining his father as a guide.

Hunting allows him to relax and reflect, he said, taking a break from casting his fishing line on the bank of the river.

"It's pretty calming," Noah Barbknecht said. "It makes you think about stuff when you sit out there."

More information about Freedom Hunt is available on the organization's website, freedomhunt.com.

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Source: (Logansport) Pharos-Tribune, http://bit.ly/1POdaZm

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Information from: Pharos-Tribune, http://www.pharostribune.com