Keith Owen Memorial Deer Hunt for the Mobility Impaired
It was a record year for the Keith Owen Memorial Deer Hunt for the Mobility Impaired.
The annual event – a partnership between Tiffin-Seneca Izaak Walton League and Seneca Conservation District – saw five deer harvested, the highest total taken since the event started in 1999.
Two deer were harvested on Dec. 1, one was harvested on Dec. 3, and two were harvested on Dec. 5.
“Usually, we average about two (per year),” said Larry Manecke, a 60-year Izaak Walton League member who was one of the founders of the hunt. “We’ve been as high as three,” he said.
A total of 18 people with various mobility issues got to hunt at Proving Ground Farm from Dec. 1-5.
"I grew up with an awesome uncle who was born without use of his legs due to spinal bifida. Working alongside the Izaak Walton League annually to put on this hunt is not only important to me but brings me joy to see mobility impaired individuals seizing opportunities to be active, especially in areas of conservation,” said Andrea Smythe, Seneca Conservation District’s Ditch Maintenance Coordinator.
“It's a pleasure for the Seneca Conservation District to help contribute to the Izaak Walton League’s endeavors,” said Smythe, who helps coordinate the mobility hunt.
Manecke said the local league was the first one east of the Mississippi to do a mobility hunt. Members had no idea what the outcome was going to be and didn’t know if it would take off, he said. Since then, many different organizations have picked it up, he said.
Tiffin-Seneca Izaak Walton League operated the first couple of hunts out of the granary. When the barn was torn down, the hunt’s headquarters relocated to the shelter where the crew tried to keep warm with portable heaters. It later moved to its current home in Proving Ground Farm’s activities building.
Tiffin-Seneca Izaak Walton League members feed the hunters breakfast and lunch, and use two trailers to take the hunters to the four blinds located throughout Proving Ground Farm. The deer blinds, which have windows on all four sides, were built in 2022.
If a deer is harvested during the event, Tiffin-Seneca Izaak Walton League members field dress the carcass for the hunter. Next steps are then up to the hunter. “They go to hunts all over the place,” Manecke said.
The event relies on the help of many. Seneca Conservation District allows the use of Proving Ground Farm, Tiffin-Seneca Izaak Walton League sought grant money from Ohio Department of Natural Resources, a farmer donates corn to put in feeders, and people donate food for the week. “You don’t starve to death” out here, Manecke said.
Beth Shank of Newton Falls in eastern Ohio first participated in the local hunt about seven years ago. This marked her second year participating, and she harvested a button buck on Dec. 3. Shank said she likes the drive and scenery associated with the hunt at Proving Ground Farm. “(It) took me about two and a half hours to get here,” she said.
Shank, who is 51 years old, experienced a spinal cord injury from a car accident with friends 31 years ago. The vehicle hit black ice and a telephone pole two blocks from home. A back-seat passenger, Shank broke her back and has been confined to a wheelchair.
Shank was first-runner up for Miss Wheelchair in Ohio in 2008 and 2009. She couldn’t compete in the 2010 pageant because she was pregnant. Her son is now 15 years old. Shank participates in a lot of mobility hunts. She estimated she has harvested 15 deer and seven turkeys, and she hunted an antelope when she went to Wyoming. She said she wasn’t a hunter until she met her husband of 24 years. They have hunted together once. “He’s noisy,” she said.
