I was talking to my father-in-law the other evening, and he brought up something that really intrigued me. One of his renters, who had just recently returned from a year and a half in Iraq, had a plan that he thought I would be interested in helping with. The plan is a little ambitious, but in the end is definitely worth it. I honestly can’t believe that something like this doesn’t exist in our state already, but I’m hopefully that one day it becomes a reality.

The idea behind the plan is to have a dedicated place where any veteran, especially disabled ones, could be able to enjoy the outdoors. A place where they could come for a weekend, or however long, and turkey hunt, deer hunt, duck hunt, or just fish. A place where they can enjoy the things they once did and be able to forget, for just those few days, about their everyday life struggles. I think we at least owe them that much.

I have found quite a few organizations that do something similar to this, but of course they are in different states. There are also a couple organizations that do this, but they rely upon hunting clubs and such to provide the land for these hunting opportunities. Don’t get me wrong, I think that organizations like that are great as well, but the vision that he has for this project is to have a a place where these particular gentleman and women can enjoy the outdoors, and have that place be specifically built for their needs. By having a “resort” of such, it makes it much easier to provide the necessary services that will allow these veterans, despite what kind of disabilities they may have, to still be able to enjoy the outdoors.

I have to be honest and tell you I wasn’t really sure I could contribute a lot to this cause. I mean sure I would love to volunteer my services to take a couple of these veterans out on a hunt, and be a “guide” of sorts, but once I got started talking to Joe (the guy with the idea), I realized that he was already ahead of the game. He already has a lot of good contacts that he has established in the outdoor community, and with the drive I see that he has for this particular project, I have total faith that it will become a reality. He has even talked to the local VFW’s as well as the local VA and has already started the ball rolling.

The biggest obstacle he faces right now is acquiring land. He has had many people offer up donated vehicles for the lodge, and things of that nature, but land is the one thing that holds him up. He is hopeful that he can acquire some “backers” to help raise enough money to purchase a plot of land and get this project rolling.

I think this is a great idea, and I am more than willing to do whatever needs to be done in order to get this thing off the ground. I would be more than happy to take these veterans hunting and fishing, and have a chance to get to know them, and thank them for the service they’ve done for our country. It only makes sense to give back to these particular individuals and allow them to be able to enjoy our state’s great outdoors.

If any of you have anything you could contribute to this particular idea I would love to hear about in the comments section.

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