Serious Health Conditions Don’t Stop Kids From Hunting Wyoming Big Game

Kaden Achor might not be able to walk because of cerebral palsy, but that didn’t stop him from stalking a big Wyoming bull elk into patchy brush to get a clear shot, achieving a goal he’d set for himself.

He crawled the last 75 yards or so across rough ground between Farson and Lander, trying his best to dodge prairie cactus.

Then he had to pull off a 500-yard shot.

“Of course, I had my adrenaline going. I had to sit there for maybe 20 minutes, just to calm myself down before I took the shot,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

Achor, 18, is from Indiana, where shots at whitetail deer never stretch past 200 yards. But he made the 500-yard shot that dropped his Wyoming bull elk.

“I knew I had a task to accomplish and something I wanted to get done. I came to Wyoming for one thing, and one thing only: To kill an elk,” he said.

Achor was one of several children and youth with debilitating or life-threatening health conditions that came to Wyoming recently to hunt big game through the “Putting the ‘U’ in Hunt” program.

It’s sponsored every fall by the Wyoming’s Muley Fanatics Foundation.

The primary mission of Muley Fanatics is mule deer conservation. But the hunts for youth bring real meaning to the cause, and organizers look forward to it every year, co-founder Josh Coursey told Cowboy State Daily.

Muley Fanatics gets special permits from Wyoming Game and Fish, which allow disabled hunters to go out five days before the regular hunting seasons open.

A Freezer Just For Elk

Achor’s father, Gary, said it was the family’s first trip to Wyoming, but they fell in love with the state and want to return as soon as they can.

He added that because they’re used to hunting whitetail deer in Indiana, they were floored by how huge elk really are.

Kaden got his elk last month, and the family was eagerly expecting the butchered and wrapped meat to be delivered to them this week.

“We went and bought another freezer to put all that elk meat in,” he said.

Kaden said the elk was “like a whitetail on steroids.”

And even though they had several days to hunt, he finally pulled off the shot about a half-hour before sunset on the last day.

“We were in double overtime. I had probably 30 minutes of legal shooting light left. It really came down to the wire,” he said.

“It was surreal” being out on the vast Wyoming landscape and hunting such huge animals, he added. “I miss it already. I miss being out there in the desert.”

Gary and Kaden said they’d never eaten elk meat before, but were looking forward to it, as it’s widely regarded to be some of the tastiest wild game.

‘These Kids Are Capable’

Ohio resident Cody Rodriguez came out to accompany his daughter, Aeriana Quinteras, 14, on her elk hunt.

She also has cerebral palsy, which has left her unable to walk, use her hands or communicate verbally.

He said that he can’t thank Muley Fanatics enough for the opportunity.

“It was huge for our family. We don’t have elk around. We don’t have the wildlife around like you do in Wyoming. We see turkey and deer sometimes, but we don’t have the variety of animals that you do,” he said.

He said that he and a Muley Fanatics guide carried Aeriana’s wheelchair the last 50 yard or so to get a clean shot a at a bull elk. She activated the rifle’s trigger by blowing into a straw-like attachment.

Rodriquez is no stranger to helping disabled youth go hunting. In Ohio, he’s part of the “Hunt for Hope” program that takes children with disabilities or life-threatening conditions on archery hunts for deer.

He met Muley Fanatics members through the disabled youth hunting network, and they set up Aeriana’s elk hunt.

Such hunts are a way for the children and youth to discover what they’re actually capable of, he said. And they also demonstrate to others that disabilities don’t stop people from hunting.

“It’s about getting the kids outside. And it’s helping them prove everybody wrong in trying to push these kids to the side, or trying to tell them, ‘You can’t do this,’ or ‘You can’t do that.’ It’s proving those people wrong and showing them that these kids are capable,” he said.

Stacey O’Neal of Mississippi told Cowboy State Daily that going out to Wyoming with her sons, Matthew and Easton, was exactly what the family needed.

Matthew, 12, shot a buck antelope. He was born with a life-threatening heart condition and had a heart transplant in April.

“Going out to Wyoming and going on that hunt was exactly what our little family needed after the journey we’ve been on for the last 12 years,” she told Cowboy State Daily.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.