The Veterans Airlift Command (VAC) provides free air transportation to wounded warriors, veterans and their families for medical and other compassionate purposes, through a national network of volunteer aircraft owners and pilots. Donna and I got to join the group on the plane ride to the ranch. VAC flights go by the call sign of "Hero Flight," and one of the nice perks is air-traffic control typically gives those flights priority, so they can get in and out of the airports quickly. Jim called his wife on the plane to let her know what had transpired, though he still had no idea where he was going or what he was about to hunt. Despite Jim being in the dark about the trip, he was excited, even though in his words he "hates not knowing."
Upon landing in the town of Uvalde, Texas, Jim was met by Hirt of Veteran Outdoors. Cody welcomed Jim to Uvalde, and informed him that he would be hunting a Scimitar-horned Oryx. For all I knew, that animal could have looked like a shiny unicorn. Jim, on the other hand, knew exactly what it was. In fact, it just so happened to be his dream animal. Louis was also surprised to learn that he would get the opportunity to hunt for a trophy white-tailed deer, since his last hunt with Veteran Outdoors ended the way most of my nights do when I go out hunting for chicks: He struck out!
Upon arriving at the Live Oak Ranch (live-oak-ranch.com), introductions were made to John Hopkins, the ranch owner, who donated the hunt and time at his ranch. Jim also received camouflage gear from Browning and Game Guard, and he was presented with a bitchin 300-caliber Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Edition Winchester Model 70 Classic Super Grade III rifle with a 24-inch stainless barrel and a Nikon scope. (Editor's Note: This is a big-ass gun.)
After Jim got his rifle sighted in, we hopped in the Rangers and busted out to separate hunting blinds where Louis and Jim would hunt while the rest of the crew observed the wildlife on the ranch. Donna was stoked about getting her "trophy" that night. She was sitting in a blind, and as they watched the fallow deer grazing, a young red stag approached them. One of the fallows butted heads with the stag and the stag's antlers flew off. Donna quickly ran out of the blind and snatched up the antlers. I wrestled with the idea of complimenting Donna's rack, but I knew it was a huge possibility that she'd punch me in the face. I certainly didn't want to cry in front of all these tough guys!
Once we were back at camp, we learned that Louis had gotten an opportunity to shoot his trophy buck. As entertainment for the vets, they got the chance to watch me witness a deer field dressed for the first time in my life. Bottom line, it's gnarly! They hung the deer by its back legs in a shack while we all stood around drinking beers. Some guy cut its anus out first, which made me giggle. Then he cut the body all the way down from ass to neck. All the guts stayed in one big piece and plopped into an old aluminum bucket. You could see the intestines, stomach and all its other nastiness. I drifted into crazy-mode and decided it would be artistic to get a photo of me posing with the Bucket-o'-Guts. They all thought I was crazy, but I did manage to make them laugh when I gagged from the smell.
The Live Oak Ranch had given Jim the green light to take whichever oryx he liked. While Jim saw several over the weekend, he was never able to get into position to take down the one he wanted. Jim put it best: "Hunting has been very therapeutic for me. It's really the only therapy that has worked for me. Put me in front of a shrink and I will just laugh at him." Hunting was clearly Jim's place of Zen. Astonishingly, the most amazing part of the trip, for me, was the fact that Jim tolerated my relentless ball-busting without once threatening to kill me. For that, he has truly earned my respect! (Editor's Note: We can't believe Jim didn't kill Calabro either!)