Posted on 11/26/2005 12:22:28 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
CATO, WI (AP) - Deer hunter Ernie Englund didn't have a steady hand as he spotted the buck walking slowly through the woods last Saturday afternoon. But Englund stayed calm, patiently tracking the animal on the first day of gun deer season. Finally, at about 70 yards, he pulled the trigger on his Remington 1100 rifle - with the hook at the end of his prosthetic left arm.
"It was a heart shot," said Englund, 30, showing off the eight-point buck that will turn into venison steaks, chops and sausage.
"I've seen more than a dozen deer that if I had arms I probably would have been able to shoot them," Englund, a Kenosha high school teacher, said from the "Little Ponderosa," a cabin on Madson Road just south of U.S. 151.
The cabin and surrounding 30 acres are owned by Bill and Ellen Surfus. The retired local schoolteachers have let Englund and three of his relatives shoot from their land since 1982 after Bill Surfus met Englund's dad, Mike, through a business associate.
Surfus' invention of a makeshift turret allows Englund to hunt even though he was born with a 2-inch stub of a right arm and a left arm about 8 inches long. The turret can swivel the mounted rifle 360 degrees and can be maneuvered vertically.
Englund sits, as motionless as possible, on a stool hoping deer will come within range - about 100 yards. If he has to swing the rifle more than about 20 degrees laterally he has to get up and push it with his hip.
"But when Ernie gets up to do that, he makes a noise and the deer is gone," said Mike Englund. "He can't follow a running deer."
So there is a lot of luck involved if Englund is going to be successful. In fact, when he fired his rifle last Saturday afternoon it was the first time he had done so in eight years.
"But there's skill, too. The buck appeared in a 1-foot gap between two trees and Ernie shot it from 75 yards away," said the proud and envious father who has shot dozens of doe over the years but no bucks.
The father wasn't totally surprised, having raised a resourceful son who never let the absence of hands keep him back.
"I do most everything with my feet and mouth. Normally, I don't have the prosthesis on. The steering wheel on my Chrysler 300 is mounted on the floor. I steer with my left foot and operate a brake and gas pedal with my right foot," Ernie Englund said.
He said he carries a 196 bowling average. When Englund goes fishing, he casts the line with his feet. He plays pool, pinching the cue stick under his left arm.
"If you challenge me to do something, I'll do it just to prove you wrong," Englund said.
Surfus said he was motivated to develop a way to help Englund hunt after Englund, as an 8-year-old, helped build the "Little Ponderosa" by pounding nails with a hammer held by his feet. He played soccer and was the kicker for Bradford High School before earning his bachelor's degree from UW-Whitewater. He teaches freshman and forensic science at Bradford.
Oh.......I sure will, budd! thanks! But GOD has it handled. No problem. Same with them thar Gay topics, Suicide bomber methodology and ALL other topics of cruelty and discrimination.
Did you read the link?
You got something against shooting deer?
Becoming "One" with the bear. :-)
Sure do. You would just wasting those expensive sabots without one.
I thought that is considered illegal because the bore is larger than .50.
I believe that there is a "sporting purpose" exception.
I thought that deer slugs are usually rifled on the outside so they catch the air and start spinning once they exit the barrel.
Those are foster type slugs, which generally should only be used with a smooth barrel. They are generally much less accurate than sabots from a rifled barrel, however.
You are not clearly a conservative, especially when you are carring water for DU and PETA.
Gosh, is it that scary to you that I commented truthfully towards a person who has been gifted with prosthetics; a person able to use his hands again who would choose such deathly, harmful pursuit instead of something life embracing and life enhancing?
Life embracing and life enhancing? Good God. Turn in your man card.
Just because I comment that this person made a worthless choice to go deer hunting.........that makes me a DU and Peta lover?
Yes you are pathetically obvious.
Hi again
Why don't YOU do something usefull in your life, like go protest the wearing of leather at a biker bar!
thanks for another ping....the troll is not making my Monday :/
Yeah, we hear you there. It gets so old, doesn't it? On someone's advice, "he" started his own thread.
Shooting (a PC term for killing, also see hunting or tracking).....For sport or necessity? Putting food on the table or just for the fun of seeing something die? Thinning overpopulation? Perhaps you could clarify.
If you say it doesn't matter, many would take issue.
The guy eats what he kills, if you bothered to read the article. Perhaps he could get his food elsewhere, but I am glad to see that a guy with no arms can enjoy a hobby like this one.
This appears to be a good example of someone overcoming a handicap. A recent article in the Marietta (OH) Times regarding handicapped hunters made no mention of this when handicapped hunters from 3 states collected (killed) a large number of deer.
You don't have to be a PETA loon to dislike killing just for the sake/fun of killing....'course there are the other loons who say "we can kill anything we want, anytime, any place".
I actually DO think it takes a PETA loon, and I honestly cannot understand what upsets you about hunting. This isn't the same as wanton killing. There is sport to hunting, it's a longstanding traditional means of recreation.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.
' I'm thinking you've GOT to be related to Lauralee Braswell. And while I never thought I'd say these words, my apologies to Lauralee for the comparison because you make HER look like a Rocket Scientist, LOL!'
That is funny, but what about the prohibition on personal attacks? Where is the Poncharelli pic when one needs it for FS. Maybe FS and LLB are the same dolt.
I'm no anti-hunting, latte' lapper, but there sometimes appears to be a blurry line between wanton killing and recreation.
Not sure we are intelligent enough to understand the meaning of life in all its forms...which are superior; why are some meant for eating; some for reverence.
I have no answers....which is why I tread lightly. Those who claim to know or simply don't care on either extreme of the argument are the only ones I take issue with. Yep, I hammer on PETA pushers as well...no real disagreement here...simply don't know.
Congrats to him. Really nice to hear that he is able to get out and be that patient. I'm getting frustrated that I haven't seen a nice buck this season, and this guy waited 8 years! Amazing.
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