Lake Sakakawea hosts 10th annual wheelchair hunt
By Chris Erickson, BHG News Service
Five hunters came out to enjoy the outdoors and test their luck against deer when Lake Sakakawea State Park recently hosted its 10th annual wheelchair hunt for disabled hunters. Park Manager John Tunge: “I was involved in some other hunts for disabled hunters and after talking to a good friend who was wounded in Vietnam and confined to a wheelchair, he and I discussed the differences between shooting a deer and hunting,” Tunge said. “We set this up as a deer hunt. The hunters are provided a blind and they determine when they hunt.” Tunge noted that due to the infinite levels of disability and the very limited space the hunt was set up for those people who are permanently in a wheelchair. “Those hunters in wheelchairs require some additional assistance and specific accommodations to allow them to participate in a true deer hunt,” he said. Tunge said in order to provide the participants with a quality hunt, they usually tried to accommodate only about five hunters. One of those hunters is Charles Sorenson, Riverdale, who’s been coming out every year since the hunt started.
