10/09/2024
The golf tournament was another great success. We had a full field of 46 teams – 138 players.
As of right now – we are a little of $35,000 raised for the event. We had a great rally at the end of the night that added almost $10,000 to the funds.
I loaned out the wheelchair accessible “buggy” to Disabled Outdoorsman this past weekend for a dove hunt in Uvalde. They called me late Saturday night after the event excited to let me know that the “buggy” was a big hit for everyone involved – almost all of the wheelchair bound hunters tried it out – loading – unloading – and taking a quick ride. All shapes and sizes of wheelchairs were able to load and unload. We should be getting a video of the event highlighting the “buggy” in a few days. We have several hunts planned over the next couple of months – I’ll keep everyone posted.
Disabled Outdoorsman expressed the need for their own wheelchair accessible Can-Am/UTV. With two vehicles, they can better handle those weekends were they are double-booked and they do not have to rely on the availability of the one that we built. Sure they will find a ton of uses for it.
The plan right now is to donate $25,000 to $30,000 to allow them to purchase and convert their own Can-AM – using ours as a template and working from there. We don’t foresee many changes. Hopefully with helping them purchase the Can-Am, other groups will step-up and help outfit it with everything else they need – doors, windshield, lights, etc.
With the funds, we are also going to build a wheelchair accessible trailer deer blind. Again – to allow a more “normal” transition from the buggy to the deer blind. There are several commercially available wheelchair accessible deer blinds – but none fit the vision of how I think they should be configured. And from talking with Disabled Outdoorsman – they’re usually not modified more than changing out the door to 36” and putting in ramps. No changes to the window heights, etc.
With the dove hunt they had, they mentioned the challenge for some of the hunters to turn/pivot sideways to take shots at dove that weren’t directly in front of them – so a volunteer would stand behind them – turn them to allow for a more straight-on shot. In the dirt, not necessarily the smoothest thing to do. After putting our heads together, we’re going to make an oversized Lazy Susan that will allow the hunter to wheel up on it – then easily have someone turn them. They plan to use these for turkey hunts – where typically hunting in a ground blind/tent – in the dirt. And possibly goose/duck hunting as well. The prototype should be completed in a couple of weeks – then we’ll make several more for events like this.
Lastly, we’re going to purchase a night/day vision scope – essentially a digital scope that projects an image in the eyepiece rather than looking through a traditional scope – just like the fancy new rearview mirrors that turns your rearview mirror into a monitor. This will allow for more eye relief and the challenge of getting your eyes in the right place to fully see through the scope – and thus keeping their forehead and cheek further from the butt of the gun. This image can also be transmitted to a phone or ipad – to allow for the shooter to use that to aim and allow for the guide to see the target. It will also record video – allowing to capture the memory or know how well the animal was hit.
This letter is getting a little long, before I lose you, just want to thank those that played a part to make this happen – along with everything else that you allowed me to do in the name of the Bo Lusinger Memorial Fund. We have made an impact and with your continued support – we’ll keep doing our best to spend the funds wisely. As I’ve mentioned before – I wish everyone could experience first hand the conversation that I have on how we made a difference in a person/family’s life. Some small – some that will last a lifetime.
Thanks again – cannot thank you enough – I’ll keep you posted on the progress.
