Dec 7, 2007 9:12 pm US/Eastern
Special Technology Allows Wounded Vet To Hunt
AVELLA (KDKA) ―
James Fair was an avid hunter.
In 2003, he was severely wounded during a roadside explosion in Iraq, but today he got the chance to go back to the woods and do what he used to do with the help of good people and some new technology.
Ken Patterson, a veteran big game hunter, has hunted everywhere and nearly everything. But today's hunt on his own land had a special meaning.
"I don't know how to say it. It's just, it's something I need to do," Patterson said.
He has made his 22 acres in Avella, Washington County, the exclusive hunting ground for physically-challenged and specially disabled veterans.
"My goal is to let them know that there's ways to do this and there's people out there that will help them. There's people out there that care," Patterson said.
"It means a great deal to me," Fair said of the hunt. He lost his sight and the use of his arms after an IED attack in Baghdad.
"It means I know I can get back out there and do the things that normal people do," Fair said.
To enable Fair and other vets to hunt, Andrew Pope, of PB Adaptive Sports Equipment, developed a device called the Equalizer. It is a gun mount that can go on ATVs and wheelchairs.
Learn more about the All American Dreams Hunting Program:
All American Dream Hunts
P.O. Box 45
Latrobe, PA 15650
E-mail: andydpope@verizon.net
Phone: 724-600-4965
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