Sorry the news letter is late this month. I have to tell everyone that winning the 2009 SCI Pathfinder Award was a great honor for me. When Ron Bartels called me about a year ago to tell me the NC Triangle Chapter of SCI had nominated me for the Pathfinder Award and I had won, it was overwhelming. When Mr. Bartels informed that I would be going on an all expense paid safari to South Africa I had no idea what to say. I hope everyone will take time to read the article I wrote for safari times. When I was getting ready to go on my safari with my family, everyone said Africa was a special place and I would want to go back. They were right! I am hooked and look forward to a return trip to Africa.

I have met with land owners in Pender County and really look forward to our new hunt. The hunt has been named the Pender Possible Hunt. We all know anything is possible if you want to work for it. The properties people will be hunting on are mostly farm land with some blueberry orchards and other crops around them. We saw deer on several properties just looking around at the places we plan on setting up blinds in November. Camp Kirkwood will be our host for all the events during the hunt. Everything from the safety meeting to meals and lodging will all be at the camp grounds. Camp Kirkwood has a nice lake with an accessible pier for fishing. This is going to be a great family event.

I am happy to tell everyone that we have partnered with Antler Addiction outdoor show this year and they will be filming the hunt in Pender County for national television. The host and hostess DR and Laura Harrison will be with us on Thursday for the safety meeting and lunch. Then they will both be filming a hunt with one of our members. We will be having a pig picking Thursday evening after the hunt. I hope everyone who joins us at Camp Kirkwood will take time to chat with DR and Laura and make them feel at home. We are also fortunate to have outdoor writer Mike Marsh joining us for this hunt. Mike is well known all over the state for his outdoor articles and publications.

I would like to let everyone know that one of our youngest members Joey Davenport has been thru a rough time with his radiation treatments. Joey got great news on July 12th that he had no new brain tumors and his existing tumors were getting smaller. Joey hunted with us last year and has become an inspiration to all of us. We had a chance to turkey hunt with Joey this spring and it was a blast. Tony Robinson wrote a great article about Joey that was published in the June issue of North Carolina Sportsmen. Every year we meet new handicapped sportsmen and women that are truly amazing people. I am sure this year will be no different.

I spent several days in Raleigh before I left for South Africa and will be heading back to Raleigh next week. The NC Handicapped Sportsmen has worked with the NCWRC to try and open up new opportunities for outdoor recreation in NC. We have tried for several years to change the way disabled sportsmen’s hunts are set up on NCWRC game lands. Unfortunately it seems we have not put our opinion into the right context so Tony and I have been preparing a new presentation that will explain what we feel are problems with the program and what steps might be taken to bring solutions everyone can agree on. The presentation will be on our website next week.

With the help of several of our partners the North Carolina Handicapped Sportsmen, Inc will be starting a new face book page and updating our website. If any of our members has any ideas how to better inform everyone about what we are doing or how we can better show all the great things we have seen and done in the past please feel free to email your ideas to me.

Edward Mays
President NCHS

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
Ronald Reagan