I could feel butterflies in my stomach and a lump in my throat as I eagerly waited on Mr. Lopez to squeeze the trigger on his crossbow. He was sitting beside me with his weapon shouldered and his sights were tucked firmly behind the front shoulder of the largest buck of his life. It was so quite I could hear Mr. Lopez’s heart beating. At the sound of the arrow being released, I realized that it had hit its mark and the excitement that was only seconds ago within Mr. Lopez was now being displayed in his body language. It appeared to be some type of funky dance that he was doing that I was unfamiliar with. His breathing seemed labored and he couldn’t get his lips to cover his teeth. This dance was contagious because when I looked down I realized that I was doing it too! I am so glad my wife couldn’t see me because I know that she wouldn’t understand.
This hunt makes me extremely proud to be a part of the PBA. You see, Mr. Lopez is one of the ten Wounded Warriors that were invited to participate in this year’s Wounded Warrior Hunt at PBA. I am humbled each year when we put this hunt on to have the privileges of coming in contact with the very men and women that continue to allow me to have the freedoms that this country has to offer.
Over the past four years I have watched different Directorates and their employees not only take pride but ownership of this project. It seems to be the type of project that causes everyone to set aside their differences and to have a solitary focus: to ensure that the men and women who will be participating in our hunt have the best experience that we at PBA can offer them. It has grown from two hunters and three volunteers (2010) to two separate hunts with five hunters per hunt (2013). This doesn’t happen without a lot of support and volunteers helping behind the scenes.
All of the Wounded Warrior's this year are hometown men and women from Arkansas and are part of the Arkansas Freedom Fund. The goal of this organization is to get these Wounded Warrior back active through outdoor activities. We join with them this year to make sure we as an Arsenal are doing our part to ensure we help our local heroes. For information on the Arkansas Freedom Fund visit their website http://www.arkansasfreedomfund.org/ . This year the Wounded Warriors harvested a total of 14 deer to include a couple of really nice bucks.
Special thanks go to everyone that makes this project possible!