September 19, 2024 • 43 mins
We’re thrilled to announce the release of Episode 148 of MAC Outdoors with Mia Anstine, featuring the incredible Chad Walliger from Able Outdoors!
Chad is nothing short of inspirational — as a nearly lifelong quadriplegic, he has overcome immense challenges to continue his passion for the great outdoors. From adaptive hunting and fishing to his brand new show on Carbon TV, Chad is pioneering ways for individuals with disabilities to engage in outdoor activities like never before. 🌟
Whether you’re a seasoned hunter, a fan of inspiring stories, or looking to engage with adaptive outdoor adventures, this episode is packed with valuable insights and exciting content!
Don’t forget to catch Able Outdoors on Carbon TV via their smart device app, and visit ableoutdoors.net to support this amazing initiative!
Important Links can be found at MiaAnstine.com
SUPPORT THE SHOW:
Use discount code MACO10 at WSI Sports — https://mia.limited/WSI
Use discount code ANSTINE at Tarnkappe — https://mia.limited/tarnkappe
Mia’s Amazon Storefront — https://www.amazon.com/shop/miaanstine
MAC Outdoors apparel and gear – https://mia.limited/1
Self-Defense Radio Network – https://mia.limited/SelfDefenseRadio
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
She's an award winning writer, a hunting guide, archery and rifle instructor,
keynote speaker, and all around outdoors woman who encourages
you to get outside, hunt, fish, shoot. And savor all that life has to
offer. And now, here's your host, Mia Anstein.
Well, hey. Hi. Hello you all. Thanks for stopping by and tuning in to
(00:21):
the Mac Outdoors podcast. I'm happy that you're here. If it's your first time
tuning in, thank you. I hope you enjoy the show, and if you do,
I hope you'll subscribe for future episodes and and share with friends and
family. For those of you who have been long time listeners, thank
you so much. As always, I do appreciate you being here
today. I have a very special guest that it's my first time
(00:44):
visiting with him and I'm excited to share them with you. But
also, ironically, we link to an old episode, so
if you are cruising along, I hope you won't tap the show notes I do
mention, like tuning into YouTube. Don't do that while you're driving.
You can watch the video on YouTube at a later date if you
want to. There are a couple pictures and videos in there that we do reference,
(01:06):
so you can check those out. But anyways, without
further ado, I hope you enjoy this show and you can reach
us on social media outlets or email contact
I f you have any. Feedback, suggestions or
questions this summer, whether. At the range or in the
field, WSI Sports Hypertech bamboo tanks,
(01:28):
tees and leggings will have you covered. Visit
wsisports.com to support the show and use the affiliate
code maco ten for 10% off your purchase.
All products are proudly made in the USA. WSI is
bringing back pride in America made clothing. Again, that code
is maco ten for 10% off your order at
(01:49):
WSI sports.com. Hey guys, are you looking
for a stylish concealed carry shirt? Check out tarn
Cap gear with print reducing patterns, concealed carry snaps
and minimal branding, tarn Cap's cloak of
invisibility is what you have been waiting for. Visit
Mia Limited Tarncap and use the code
(02:10):
Anstein for 10% off your purchase. Again,
that's MIa limited tarncap and use code
Anstine for 10% off your order. All right,
everybody, I am super excited to have another guest with me today,
and I am ready to learn a
lot about the able outdoors and
(02:32):
Chad. And it's my first time visiting with Chad, so there's so
much for me to figure out and I hope that we can share a bunch
of good news with you. So Chad, welcome to the Mac
Outdoors podcast. Will you please introduce yourself to my
audience? Sure. I'm Chad Walliger. I'm
from Texas. The most important things about me is
(02:54):
I'm a. Almost a lifelong quadriplegic,
and I'm also. I was an outdoorsman first,
so. And when that happened, I didn't want that to quit,
so. And I hate to lose. So I had. I had a lot to do
yet, so I continued my career
in the outdoors, being disabled. And
(03:15):
as it kind of came along. We'll talk about that later. I know.
It just kind of blossomed and grew, and I. Here we are
30 years later on the. On the cusp. Today.
Today's actually the day where we have an outdoor
show premiering on Carbon tv. So it's been a long time coming.
So I've got a couple of degrees. Don't use them very
(03:37):
much. A lot of life in fishery science, I use that because I love
nature. And then I have a counseling degree, which I.
I just kind of use as a hobby.
I like to help people out whenever I can. Some of it's.
Some of it's after they've gone through trauma. Some of it's in the
outdoors when I take them out with me, I think that's the best therapy in
(04:00):
the world, and I'm going to keep doing that and we're going to reach as
many people as we can. So that's basically my whole mantra
right now. Right. So you want to help other people
that have, do we call it disabilities now? I'm an
outdoor writer, and recently the AP style book told me
that I couldn't use special needs. So I take
(04:21):
youngsters from the special education class on
horseback rides, and they say to me, I can't say that anymore. So I'm like,
oh, my gosh. What are the appropriate terms to use for somebody
who's a quadriplegic or if they have some other situation going
on? You're asking the wrong person. Because I'm from the
politically incorrect era. I
(04:42):
think disability is going to be there forever. I know people frown
on handicap. I really. I don't use
that. I've kind of morphed into able sportsmen and
able this, able that. But I say disabled hunters all the
time. I mean, that that's. It's just the disabled hunting
world community. I mean, if. If
(05:05):
you get hung up on word, I tell people what. I don't care what words
you use. It's not going to change my lifestyle any.
So don't. I just don't I don't want to offend you because
I obviously am just meeting you. So I like to figure out the words. And
especially, like I said, we've been doing horseback rides for these
youngsters for quite a while. I mean, for over a decade.
(05:27):
And all of a sudden I saw that news. Like, I can't call them
special needs, but that's their class was called special ed, so I
don't know. But that's a different episode, I
suppose. You get rid of all the words. What are we going to use? I
don't get it. I don't know. But I was
excited when you asked to come on the show because
(05:48):
I work with a lot of different programs with mentoring and helping, and
I used to guide an outfit full time, but now we do a lot of
stuff with veterans, disabled veterans
and different people who need help in the outdoors. So I was excited
that, like, this is your mission and what you want to do.
And today is the debut of the able
(06:11):
outdoors show on carbon tv. So
I'm just super excited. The episode. This episode isn't going to
air for about five or six days. So for those
listening, it's already going to be up there and ready to go. But
you said that you have been disabled for a while, but you were
already a sportsman. I know you're probably going to show it in the show, so
(06:32):
don't give any spoilers, but can you tell us a little bit about how
you came to be the able outdoorsmande?
Sure. Able sportsman.
When I got injured, it was
1986. I was 17
and the Internet was a baby. When I got out, there
(06:54):
was no information on adaptive hunting or fishing
or how to do any of that. So I was like, okay.
I came home on Halloween night. I was like, I told my. I told my
mom, I was like, can I just postpone my senior year of high school
because we got things to work out, hunting and fishing wise. She's like, yeah, sure,
why not? So I took a year
(07:17):
off and did, you know, my dad kind of helped
me. We got out and we went hunting, tried to go
deer hunt, just sitting in a truck. And I kind of
figured I had a stupid little device from the rehab that you wrote
with and it fit on your hand and finger.
And I was like, I think I can pull the trigger with that. So
(07:39):
I've told this story a lot. I tried. It worked. I could pull the trigger,
but it wasn't any good. It seemed like every time we went
out and tried something, we failed, which was. So I love it now
because that's such a rich environment for learning. What
you need to do is to get out there and fail first. But, I mean,
it was trying times in because it. It just seemed like it was so
(08:02):
important to succeed and to just say, okay, I'm going to be able
to do this again. So it wasn't till then, you
know, I'll be laying up at nights thinking, okay, that got close to
working. What do we need to do to fix it? And that just morphed
into creating my own adaptive equipment. And
slow, little by little, the next year, it would. Each
(08:25):
little thing would work. I got the. I got to shoot a deer,
and we. The hardest thing to do was shoot a shotgun. That's kind of my
first love is wing shooting. And I tell people now
that are in the rehab that want to come hunt. I was like, if you
can wing shoot, you can do anything because it's the most difficult,
which I love it the most because it's so challenging.
(08:48):
So we just. After that, I started a
website called follow me outdoors where you had to write the code
and I was copying and pasting code from other sites because I
didn't want to write it all and just started. Started
writing and building that on just stuff that I was doing. And then every once
in a while, a place would pop up that had some adaptive
(09:12):
hunting or adaptive equipment, and I would put it all on one site just
so people could find it. And then I started
going to the rehab to. They called me back in. They were like, our
patients are asking about outdoor stuff, and you're the only one we
know who's doing it. Can you come in and visit? I was like, yeah, sure.
So I would go, I still do that to this day. I go and
(09:34):
mentor people at that rehab, and I get new
recruits that way. So they're just looking for hope. They just
want to know, okay, this is my
injury level, and this is what, you know, they're
like, am I going to be able to do it again? And I'm like, yeah,
yeah, I. There's a way for every
(09:55):
little thing now. I mean, it's been 38 years.
I know. Probably know about everything there is out there, adaptive
equipment wise, and there is something for everyone
if they want to do it. And we have some of the stuff for people
to try. And if not, you know, the higher quad
stuff. I'm very lucky. I'm a c seven quad.
(10:19):
Basically, that means I have triceps, which means life is a lot
easier. I can transfer myself and do. I can
live independently a lot easier. C five. You
lose your triceps. Six and five. So I'm very
lucky. So, basically, I had a lot of help, a really good
support system doing everything I wanted to do. So I have to give
(10:40):
back. I try to give back to everybody else whenever I can.
It's interesting that you say that, because it's been a while back,
but in episode 98, I had a woman on the podcast. Her name
was Lynette, and she was in a
vehicle flipped, and she became. I believe
she was paraplegic. I would have to go back and relisten, and maybe I should
(11:02):
relisten to that episode. But she was looking for
tools for hunting because she was able to
find a chair, which I see in your background there. And for the listeners, if
you're driving, if you hop over to YouTube, you'll be able to see the video.
But she found a motorized chair to help her with an elk
hunt in New Mexico.
(11:24):
Did you. You help her with that? Yeah. That was an able outdoors
show. Oh, awesome. So this is what I was getting
to, is I wanted to ask you that hunt was part
of able outdoors. Yes. I
had a. I was helping a guy who started disabled outdoors
(11:44):
in USA, in Texas, and I went to a banquet there, and
she was there. And she was. She's higher
quad, and she was. She was like,
okay, this is the first time I met her. I was like, all right, what
do you want to do? She's like, I hadn't hunted, like, 20 years,
and I used to love it. And I was like. I was like, all
(12:05):
right, because I was like, this is what we're doing. You know, we're putting it.
We're going to put in as a group for New Mexico because they have special
mobility impaired seasons. So I had about 15
people put in hoping we would draw one or two,
because the odds are hard to draw. And
she drew, and I was like. I was like, okay, lynette, first of
(12:27):
all, I've been putting in for 20 years for this unit that you
drew and never drawn it because it's like the holy
grail. It's like 16 D in the Gila in New Mexico,
and all the elk hunters out there know what that means. And she
didn't. She's never been on a hunt like that. I was like, look, you're.
She's used to hunting deer. Sitting in a deer stand. I was like, it is
(12:49):
not going to be like that. And so we. We got that
outrider USA Coyote and got her out there in the
mountains, and she was. She loved
it, it was difficult. She missed a couple elf, but she finally got
one. That's one of the coolest things in the world is
to hunt elk air
(13:12):
quotes on foot. And that
you'll see in that episode. It'll be out in probably a month
or month and a half. That's one of the coolest
ones. Okay. And so this is so exciting because
it's really cool to connect the dots to who she was speaking
about, which was you and how she came
(13:33):
to that hunt. But so with your whole
able outdoors, you're looking for people to
help. Is that how we're, we're looking at the whole
thing and then that ends up evolving into what now is your tv show?
Yes. Well, I started.
We still do every year now. I started a teal hunt here
(13:56):
in Texas. We have early teal season in September.
I have a group. I'll have as many people as I can get. I've got
people down here will donate duck ponds, and I'll
get as many disabled able hunters around as I
know that want to come. Some of them are new, some of them, it's their
first hunt, and some of them, they've been with me every year. So it's a
(14:18):
real good, it's good to combine everyone because you can
share ideas and it's just a great time to get together.
And from that, you know, I love hosting
that. I get to guide, I've got a gun dog now, so I
get to guide hunters. And that kind
of got me thinking, you know what? The more people I can reach,
(14:41):
how are we going to reach more people? First, it started out
writing some articles that got in mainstream magazines,
just outdoor magazines. And as you know, it's
not easy to get in those unless you kill something
really big. I mean, even if you have a great story, you have to
have, you have to kill a big animal or go on a really cool hunt.
(15:03):
And it. A lot of people are, you know, they don't,
they're missing. I miss people were falling through the cracks. I couldn't
reach them. So it's one of the great things about social media. They. I'm easier
to find and I can, I find people all the time now,
and I'm like, you want to come Hunt? What do you want to do?
What's your disability? What do you need? Where do you want
(15:25):
to go? And I can. I'm lucky. I've just been
hurt so long and done so much that I can. I have
that some, I can just give them the tools and kick them out of the
nest and send them on the other people and say, go do
it. I love that analogy,
coming home with me. So on the
(15:47):
show, somebody just asked me recently, you know, how do you choose people
to go on the show? And I'm like, you know what? That just kind of
happens organically sometimes where I'll like
Lynette. When I met Lynette, she. I wanted to do an elcon
in New Mexico and film that because I knew it'd be super cool.
I was pulling for me in the draw. I didn't get it, but
(16:09):
I knew it'd be super cool just to do that. It would be a great
show, and it was. And we're gonna do it again someday,
because I wanna. I want to stalk an elk on foot with my
bow. And with that outrider. It's. It's a
four electric hub drive, so it makes no noise at all.
And as you know, that's what it's gonna take to get close to an elk
(16:31):
in the mountains. So I've got so many ideas
to use with that. But the
more I got off of the rails, though, just finding
Lynette, and she drew, and I was like, that's gonna make a great show. But
it could have been any number of 15 people, you know?
Or I'll meet someone that I met a guy. He's
(16:53):
like, let's go. He's like, I go every year to Florida, to Osceola
Hunt, and he had been recently injured. I'm like. I was
like, and he wants to do the turkey grand slam. I
was like, let's do that on. On the show. Let's go get all four
eventually. So we did a show out in Florida that we hadn't
produced yet. We filmed it. Just something like that. And
(17:14):
we're going to reach so many people because everybody has a different disability,
and I want to show how they take on stuff,
especially being newly injured, how it's
really difficult for people to come rolling out of the
rehab and go right outdoors and succeed.
You can do it easier now with my help, because I got.
(17:38):
I could tell them what to do and some of the equipment, but I
tell them, I was like, sometimes it's going to take a year or two. It's
going to be a process, especially after, you know, their injuries higher
up. I was like, don't give up. We'll get there eventually.
So that's basically it in a
nutshell. That's. That's why we're doing this stuff. But I love it. I've
(17:58):
always wanted to do an outdoor show. The
outdoor shows, in my opinion, are really annoying
me, just especially when they have someone with a
disability on, because they'll just stick them in a stand and let
them shoot and then pull them to their animal, and that's all they show.
And I'm like, I'm so insulted by that because
(18:21):
there's so much more they could be showing. Like, how did. How
did you do all this stuff? What, I want to see the adaptive equipment.
I want to see the preparation. I want to see what y'all did after,
you know, it. It implies that a
disabled hunter can't do anything but pull the trigger. So that's
the insulting part to me. I'm not really insulted a little bit. I just don't
(18:44):
like that that's the way they've been doing. And I got.
I contacted Ashley, who's my co host. I was like, ashley, we got to do
something about this. I said, I'm 55. We need
to do something pretty quick before I lose my look so we can, you know,
do a show. And she was on board with everything I wanted to do,
so she. She found that our camera guy, and we just went from
(19:06):
there, and that's awesome. I find it so
inspiring. I mean, a lot of what I do is try to inspire other people
and encourage them. And, I mean, what you're doing is
inspiring because you're showing people that they can do more
than just sit in a stand and pull a trigger or, you know,
they're. They aren't just relegated to one area. They can actually go
(19:28):
to an elk and go spot and stalk an elk and stuff like that. And
that's just incredible. And I just am so excited for you
and for the people that may be watching the show through the
show, is that kind of your goal is to show the whole story,
but to encourage people to, to, to get out there?
I mean, is that the main goal? Definitely. And to.
(19:50):
And to see how we do it. That the
house, the interesting part, to me, I love variety,
and I never thought about it before we started filming, but
we started telling everybody else's story.
But our, I mean, we tell ours a little bit, and I'm sure there's gonna
be a couple shows where it's just, you know, it's gonna be my hunt or
(20:12):
Ashley's hunt, but we try to take someone with us, one or two
people, and tell their stories, which is. I love that part. It's
just, it's different every week. I mean, every time we do something, it's going to
be different. I need a balance.
Balance. And, I mean, for you
being able to go out there, I mean, like you said, you were praying that
(20:33):
maybe you would get the elk hunt, but Lynette got it. You still
get to have the experiences through someone else's adventure.
Right? For sure. Just being out there
like, we're art. Our group teal hunt is next
weekend, so I won't be shooting. I'm gonna be out just
running my dog and setting it all up, and we're actually
(20:55):
gonna be. There's a lady coming from Lafayette, Louisiana,
who's higher quad, and she's never wing
shot before. So this is gonna be. This is gonna be a
real challenge for her. So it's gonna be fun for me to get her
to shooting and try to get out there. It's
gonna be tough to get her shooting on one day and then have her hunt
(21:17):
the next morning. But it's doable. But it's just gonna get the ball
rolling for her, and then we'll have. What kind of
adaptive equipment will she need? She'll need.
There's a special shotgun rig called zero
gravity, and it basically takes the weight
of the gun away. So you're just. You're just kind of
(21:39):
swinging it around so you. Because
the higher you go up quad wise, the less
strength you have in your arms. The less strength
you have in your arms. Everything has to be in a little closer to you,
and. And you obviously cannot shoot the gun,
like, normally. Like, hold it, like, once again. Yeah.
(22:02):
If you have triceps, you can do it. But with the zero gravity
rig, it just. It just. It's so awkward. You just
have to get used to it and practice with it. So it's gonna be fun
getting her out. That is cool. I want to watch all the episodes so
that I can show them to my hunter ed students that think they can't shoot
a shotgun. On our very
(22:24):
first show today, we're on turkey hunting, and
there's a kid named DJ, and he's got that zero gravity rig.
You. It's in the show, so you'll be able to go look at it.
And he's trying to shoot a turkey with it. He didn't get
one. Spoiler alert. But he's
going to be one of those guys going to take a while to get him,
(22:46):
because he's not only is he a higher break one,
he can only move one arm halfway.
Well, the other one is really impaired, so. But we'll get
there. We'll get there, and it's going to be great. And I think that's
an important message for people to understand is that it's
hunting, not killing. Otherwise, we'd kill something every time we were out there. Sometimes
(23:08):
it takes a while. And I think a good thing with a turkey
or different birds is you do have, normally, a few opportunities.
So that is welcoming. That's a good thing. And
hopefully being inspired by you, then that
that person will want to keep going and try again, you know? So
he loved it. He loved being out there. And he
(23:31):
actually. This happens sometimes where we'll go on
a hunt with somebody who's a first time post injury, and
nothing will work. And then a couple months later, they'll go.
They'll be hunting, and they'll like, he took a deer that first
fall after I brought him some little. The basic
nothing, cheap equipment. I was like, here, you try with this. You start with this
(23:53):
before you buy something expensive. And he actually killed a deer
his first time out, but wing shooting is really tough for
him. But he loved being out there, just like we did. We saw
turkey. He was like, this is the coolest thing.
And he's been on my teal hunt. He's gonna get. He's got
a pressure wound right now, which will lay you up for six months to
(24:15):
a year. So I tell everybody. I tell,
like, take care of your skin. You know, get out as much as you can.
Take care of your skin. Those are two huge things.
It's tough. It's tough to lay in bed, to be stuck in bed for, especially
when you're a young man or young lady. Yeah.
I cannot imagine. But I think it's great what you're doing. I was
(24:37):
going to ask you, you mentioned your co host a couple times, and
you said, ashley. Is that Ashley Lundwell? It is.
Oh, okay. I think I set y'all two
up for. Did y'all ever get together
for a podcast? Um, we have not. I mean, I've known
Ashley for a long, long time, and I haven't seen
(24:59):
her in a while. But when you said Ashley and you have
Abel outdoors, I'm like, it must be Ashley Lundwell.
I should have her on, though. Is she a Diana award winner? And she's
done a lot with the hunting industry. I don't think. I
don't think she is. Okay, we'll have her on the show and visit with.
She got in the hunting after her injury. Yeah. Because
(25:23):
of her husband. So she. I kind of drug her
down here to go on our teal hunt. Whenever we filmed it, she was
like, I don't want to shoot shotgun. I was like, yes, you do. Come down
here. It's fun. So she. She. She loved
it. She brought her daughter, too, for this, the first episode
you'll see tonight. Her daughter's precious, and
(25:44):
she was her. I don't want to spoil everything for you, but
it. It's just cool to get the family involved, you know? You never know
which way it's going to go, and that's the way it went. So
we like that. That's fun for me. We just get out there and do it
and see what happens. Oh, that's awesome. I love it. Get out there and do
it. Woman power on the show. I was like,
(26:06):
ashley, you're it.
I said, everybody's gonna think we're married. But, no, she
lives up in Cody, Wyoming. Mm hmm. Yeah. And I've seen the. I
want to say that that might be. The last time I saw her was at
the Wyoming women's antelope hunt. It's been a while.
Like eight years. Eight or nine years ago, because
(26:28):
sometimes. She gets to host a
naval huntress on that, and I'm like, that would be an awesome
show. So that's. That's. It's on my list.
It's on my list to go up there or just send.
Send our camera producer guy up there and let her. Let
him film a show up there with Ashley. That is so cool. And where
(26:51):
are you located? I am an hour southwest
of Houston, Texas. Houston, okay.
Right. Nice. Which. Which is
why you've got teal season coming up. The teal hunt must start,
like, September. 14 this year, 14th.
Yeah. See, I used to attend a group hunt, and that was my
(27:12):
birthday present to myself because my birthday is September
16, and so every year, I would go on this women's hunt for the
early teal. And if. For the listeners, if you have not hunted teal,
it is awesome. They're super fast flyers. So I'm. I can't wait
to see a show about teal hunting, but down there,
it just a totally different environment than where I am in Colorado
(27:35):
or maybe where Ashley is in Wyoming. Different type of hunting.
So I can't wait to see that. With that will. You'll be
using this zero gravity rig, and that'll be in the
show? Well, we.
It's not in. It is in the teal hunt show because
DJ's. DJ's in it. So it's in that one, too.
(27:56):
You'll be able to see it. It's not my design. I ripped it off from
a guy in Wisconsin that it came up on my Facebook, an
older man, because I was trying to figure it out for years how
to do it, and we came up with a couple of different ways that
worked, but I wanted a compact way that
kind of fit on your chair. And he had it, you know? You know, when
(28:18):
I saw that, I, like, hear the angel singing, I'm like, dude, I
need your number. I need to, I need to. I was like, will you make
me one of those? He's like, he's like, sure, I'll make one. I just need,
like, you just pay for the materials. I said, good,
I need one. Because my guys down here that are recreated, they need to
have it. They need to be able to put their hands on it. So
(28:40):
he had a cool. He was. He pheasant hunts with it. I'm going to
say, let me. His name is Clifford Pfeiffer,
so shout out to him, because if
he ever sees this, I don't know if he does, but he's
helped a lot of people already, and he doesn't even know it. Oh, I bet
he. I bet he has an idea. But it'd be awesome if he.
(29:02):
If he can see your show and even see how far it's
going and how many people he's helping. I think that is so
outstanding. It's incredible. What are, what other hunts
do you have coming up this fall? Oh, my God.
I was on. It's. It's all bird hunt. I missed all my draws. I've
been, I've been drawing, putting it for Utah because disabled
(29:24):
outdoorsman USA has a Utah chapter. And those
guys, they hunt. They hunt big elk and big
mule deer. They're legit, you know, and I want to go shoot a show
out there so bad. And I keep missing, but I'm getting close. I
have about seven points built up, so it's about to
happen, and so I miss that.
(29:48):
I happen to be on a podcast with a guy who's a goose
hunter up in western New York state, and he's like, why don't
you come up and goose hunt with me? I was like, well, I can't come
in September, but because they have an early season that where
they shoot all the local birds. And he's like, oh, what? The second season is
at the end of October, the last weekend. That's when we get the migrant birds
(30:09):
down. I was like, done. I was like, I'll find somebody to drive up there
with me. I. I've always wanted to go after those big Canada geese. And
I have a young pup in training who I'm gonna
go get next weekend just so he can hunt. Teal. It's gonna be his
first hunt, and he'll be. He'll. I'll be able to take
him maybe if I want to, because, you know, they go to. They go to
(30:31):
boot camp for six months. Right. He's
only been there about two and a half. But I'm gonna. He's ready. He
can go hunt. He just, you know, he can't do the special stuff,
but I'm gonna take him with me. I might take him up there,
too. I've got an older girl who's my superstar
dog, so she'll be going for sure. But that, that's probably the
(30:53):
biggest hunt. You know, I love big
game. It's just harder to draw. I've been building
up points in Wyoming. People. People get in touch with
me all the time. They're like, okay, how do we go big game hunting out
west? I like, well, you either got a buy landowner
tag if you got a lot of money, or you're going to be putting in
(31:14):
the draw and just trying to draw and. And wait
so that sometimes you got to buy your time and analog. I love
Antelope because it's a little easier to draw if you want to
go, especially in Wyoming. There's some places you can draw almost every
year and go DIY. Yeah.
New Mexico's. Some places are a little easier. It just
(31:36):
depends on what people want to do. They want to just go after
something and be able to go hunt, which some, sometimes I do,
too. I'm like, let's just. Let's just go antelope hunt in Wyoming. I don't care
if it's going to be a big one or not. Let's just go. Or do
you want to go after a big one? And so then, you
know, you have to know kind of where to put in and who to go
(31:58):
with and all that. All that cool stuff. All that stuff. And
so generally, when you're going, are you going DIY or are
there outfitters that are helping you or how are you working that out? Both.
In New Mexico, there's a guy named Dustin Berg, and he has
a cool organization called Global
(32:20):
Opportunity Unlimited. And so he,
if you draw or if you need any help out there in New Mexico, he's
the guy. He has friends who will help guide, you
know, that's what he does. He takes people hunting free of
charge. They do stuff in the off season. They just go mountain
biking and they go fishing. He does so much cool
(32:41):
stuff. I'm like, dude, I don't have time to do all that in Texas,
mainly because we got a lot of private land and you have to get permission
to do all that cool stuff. But I was like, you. You do
way more than I do. I just been doing it longer. But
he. I want to get with him and go do a show with him.
Probably. It's either going to be a hunt or a fishing trip or
(33:03):
both. Because they fish those big deep lakes in
New Mexico and the mountains, catch those giant lake trout and
stuff. Like, I got it. We can do that. That'd be super cool. And do
you fish a lot? I should. I don't
get to do it as much as I need to because we're
close to the coast, so. I grew up fishing the saltwater.
(33:26):
I like fishing the gulf. Yeah, we had a trip
planned, deep sea, but I had to cancel. But I definitely want to
film that because it's a whole different set
of adaptive equipment to get out there and catch those big fish.
Right. But it's cool. There's a guy
and, you know, Cabo San Lucas, if you go up on the
(33:48):
inside, on the sea of Cortez, there's a c five quad. His name
is Baja Larry. And he has his completely
accessible operation. Boats, everything
and lodging. He's got his own little private beach
there. And they do offshore. So I want to go.
I got big plans. I need to get some sponsors so we can go do
(34:10):
all these cool shows and show people what's out there. You know, some of
them you have to travel to do, but, you know, some of them are
free local stuff. You know, it's going to be a mix of
everything. Absolutely. And so do you currently have any
sponsors or are you doing this all just on your own? We've had
a few along the way. So now carbon tv,
(34:32):
hopefully, will give me some more firepower where I can get some
more. Yeah, there's a. We've
had. We've had something to just keep us going. Keep us going for a
couple years. So now. Now after today,
I'm going to be really hitting the. Hitting people up,
I imagine. And I imagine you need to, because it's not that that
(34:54):
costs money. I mean, it's not free to do everything. Even if you
have a guide helping you that's going to volunteer, you still have to travel,
and you have to get food. And, I mean, there's a lot that goes into
that. So I hope that you will get some sponsors so that you
can keep the show going. I mean, it's hugely important. So that
reminds me. I know you're. You're hooked up with Beretta. I need to get with
(35:16):
Beretta because there's. There's only a couple of shotguns that I
really like that really work for, for someone in
my position. You know, it's
browning and berettas. They're really super cool, and they.
I. We grew up shooting shotguns, so. But
any, you know, whoever wants to get out there, you know, whoever it
(35:38):
is, we'll make it work. But those are my top two to start out
with, so we'll see. Wish me luck.
I am wishing you luck. I'm rooting for you because I think it's
something that, as I said, it's so exciting to.
Not only when I've learned that somebody is doing something, because
there's a lot of people who don't have anything
(36:00):
restricting their bodies and they have a hard time getting out there to go hunt.
So it's like if you have this challenge and you're overcoming it,
you're creating devices to overcome it. Like, I think that is
outstanding. And I hope that it'll inspire everybody, you
know, not just somebody who has a disability, but when
you're, when you're doing all this creating and, and
(36:22):
obviously, like with Clifford Pfeiffer and getting ideas
from him, what kind of things do you have that are available
with the people you're taking out? There's.
I have a bite trigger, which, you know, a lot of this
stuff, it's not really for sale. Like, you can't go on Amazon
and get it. There's a. For a long time, people were not
(36:44):
making the bite triggers, which there's a sip and puff trigger.
There is a company called beadaptive that makes that.
It's. It's kind of. It needs to be a little more reliable.
But it's. It's like the only one available. If
you need that, that's for higher quad. And then there's bite trigger,
which I had, a friend of mine just started making that, and I was like,
(37:06):
I need one just to have on hand. So either
it's just like a bicycle brake. You're biting down, and the part that
would work, the bicycle brake is on the trigger guard and the trigger.
So you just work it that way, or somebody sitting next to you can
operate the trigger. You're just. You just operate the gun part.
So we have that. And I've made a device.
(37:28):
It's. It's a. It's just a trigger puller that
fits on the back of my hand and the back of my trigger finger. I
don't know if you can show that in the camera just because I can't move
my. I don't have any grip at all. If you're a quad, you usually
don't have any grip. So the guy took away my
trigger finger from me. I just got it back from him
(37:51):
over the course of like ten years. I took a
prototype and finally went to a
orthotics doctor, and I kind of drew on my hand. I was like, this is
what I want. Making something out of, you know,
he was good. You know, he's going to make something out of hard plastic and
reinforced wire and velcro because I was using tape
(38:12):
and leather and. And tongue depressors
and metal. And it was. Well, I was just tired of messing with it. And
so he, from there. Now, one of my buddies that
I mentored, he's like me now. He's gonna. He's ten
years in and he's. He's gung ho hunter. He's gonna.
He's gonna carry my torch when I'm gone. And he's.
(38:34):
He's welder. So anytime we get to. We get
together. And I was like, okay, we need to do this. We need to make
this. So we get together and make stuff on our own,
or we'll take a product out there and make it a little better. So we
got together on my trigger puller and found someone
to carbon 3d print carbon fiber
(38:56):
it. So that's a lot easier. Now we can print them for people
who need them. So that's a. That and a chest
strap. Just a simple chest strap so you don't fall on
your face when you lift a gun up. It's hard to. Hard to wing shoot
that way. Oh, that makes sense because we don't. Have any trunk
support usually. And even a lot of paras,
(39:18):
if you broke your back and it's higher up on your back, you still
don't have the trunk support. So you need like a chest strap to be able
to be able to wing shoot. I mean, shooting a rifle
is a lot easier because you usually have a rest and you just roll
under and shoot it that way. So shotgun
is. Shotgunning is my favorite. Obviously. I like
(39:40):
the challenge now. That's why bow hunting was so much fun,
because it was way more challenging in a chair. And do
you have devices for bow hunting as well? Same
ones pretty much. You know, some of the tripods
have gotten a lot better because they have that. You
just have that squeeze handle and you can move it wherever you want it and
(40:02):
let go and it's there and it's a little easier to move around.
We, we made some little semicircle
pvc stands that will fit inside of
a pop up line, which is, it's perfect for a bow because you can just
scoot the bow across the top wherever you want to move it.
So that really helps out. And that's cheap.
(40:24):
So sometimes we can get by on the cheap. We're going to do
it. Absolutely. I just think it's
outstanding. So tell us a little bit more about
the debut of the show, where we can watch it, maybe where we
can support it, and where we can find you. You can
find me on ableoutdoors.net.
(40:46):
that's the main, our main spot on the net.
And now carbon tv. We're on there
today. If you just searchable outdoors, you probably just. If you go on the
carbon tv site, you're going to see us because they're going to do a little
promotion for us for a while and either
download the app on your phone or if you have a smart tv. I think
(41:08):
it's one of the apps. It's just a free app on there and you
can find it. We have a YouTube channel. I
dabble in what you do. I do some podcasts every once in a while,
which is because I'll meet someone who's done a spectacular
hunt or something, and I have to have them on.
I used to write stories. There was a guy
(41:30):
who, high quad electric chair, went up to the Northwest Territories
and caribou hunted. Ooh, cool. Pulled him around in a
little cart behind a four wheeler. I was like, that is cool. I need to
write your story. I want to go do that someday with the
Outrider because it'll make a heck of a show to go
pull off a hunt like that and just,
(41:52):
just stuff like that. We're gonna. We got some. I got some big
ideas on the horizon just. Just
to make it interesting, because I think it's interesting to everybody. I
would love to watch it just to see how. How that's possible. Because some
things I see, I'm like, you'll see in the teal hunt
show, I was like, how in the world do you do that? But it's
(42:14):
doable. It's doable. It's doable
if everybody's able. I think it's outstanding. As I said, I
can't imagine all of it. And it'd be awesome to be a fly on
the wall in some of your adventures because I know you have had some great
ones and you're going to have even more and you've experienced a lot of them
with other people. So I think it's so awesome. But
(42:36):
I also wanted to let the listeners know if you go to
ableoutdoors.net, there's also a donate button where you
can help support the show. So I think that is an
important thing to help keep the show going. I know you're
just getting started, but hopefully we can get some more seasons under
there for you and for ashley. And I
(42:58):
will put a link in the show notes to your website
and also to carbon tv. So if there's anything
else you would like to add before I let you go.
Yeah, you come down here and teal hunt with us anytime you want. You can
come on our disabled group hunt and just be participating
with us. That'd be pretty cool. Awesome. I would love that.
(43:21):
Thank you for the invite. Yeah, I appreciate you
coming on the show and sharing this with my listeners. And
I look forward to seeing you in person, maybe on a teal hunt or
maybe at one of the trade shows in this coming year. Oh,
let's do it. I'm looking. My pleasure, Mia.
Hey, this is Lloyd Bailey, the armed Lutheran host of the armed Lutheran
(43:43):
radio podcast, reminding you that the podcast you're
listening to is a proud member of the self Defense radio network.
Check out all the great content@selfdefenseradio.net. dot.
She's an award winning writer, a hunting guide, archery and rifle instructor,
keynote speaker, and all around outdoors woman who encourages
you to get outside, hunt, fish, shoot. And savor all that life has to
offer. And now, here's your host, Mia Anstein.
Well, hey. Hi. Hello you all. Thanks for stopping by and tuning in to
(00:21):
the Mac Outdoors podcast. I'm happy that you're here. If it's your first time
tuning in, thank you. I hope you enjoy the show, and if you do,
I hope you'll subscribe for future episodes and and share with friends and
family. For those of you who have been long time listeners, thank
you so much. As always, I do appreciate you being here
today. I have a very special guest that it's my first time
(00:44):
visiting with him and I'm excited to share them with you. But
also, ironically, we link to an old episode, so
if you are cruising along, I hope you won't tap the show notes I do
mention, like tuning into YouTube. Don't do that while you're driving.
You can watch the video on YouTube at a later date if you
want to. There are a couple pictures and videos in there that we do reference,
(01:06):
so you can check those out. But anyways, without
further ado, I hope you enjoy this show and you can reach
us on social media outlets or email contact
I f you have any. Feedback, suggestions or
questions this summer, whether. At the range or in the
field, WSI Sports Hypertech bamboo tanks,
(01:28):
tees and leggings will have you covered. Visit
wsisports.com to support the show and use the affiliate
code maco ten for 10% off your purchase.
All products are proudly made in the USA. WSI is
bringing back pride in America made clothing. Again, that code
is maco ten for 10% off your order at
(01:49):
WSI sports.com. Hey guys, are you looking
for a stylish concealed carry shirt? Check out tarn
Cap gear with print reducing patterns, concealed carry snaps
and minimal branding, tarn Cap's cloak of
invisibility is what you have been waiting for. Visit
Mia Limited Tarncap and use the code
(02:10):
Anstein for 10% off your purchase. Again,
that's MIa limited tarncap and use code
Anstine for 10% off your order. All right,
everybody, I am super excited to have another guest with me today,
and I am ready to learn a
lot about the able outdoors and
(02:32):
Chad. And it's my first time visiting with Chad, so there's so
much for me to figure out and I hope that we can share a bunch
of good news with you. So Chad, welcome to the Mac
Outdoors podcast. Will you please introduce yourself to my
audience? Sure. I'm Chad Walliger. I'm
from Texas. The most important things about me is
(02:54):
I'm a. Almost a lifelong quadriplegic,
and I'm also. I was an outdoorsman first,
so. And when that happened, I didn't want that to quit,
so. And I hate to lose. So I had. I had a lot to do
yet, so I continued my career
in the outdoors, being disabled. And
(03:15):
as it kind of came along. We'll talk about that later. I know.
It just kind of blossomed and grew, and I. Here we are
30 years later on the. On the cusp. Today.
Today's actually the day where we have an outdoor
show premiering on Carbon tv. So it's been a long time coming.
So I've got a couple of degrees. Don't use them very
(03:37):
much. A lot of life in fishery science, I use that because I love
nature. And then I have a counseling degree, which I.
I just kind of use as a hobby.
I like to help people out whenever I can. Some of it's.
Some of it's after they've gone through trauma. Some of it's in the
outdoors when I take them out with me, I think that's the best therapy in
(04:00):
the world, and I'm going to keep doing that and we're going to reach as
many people as we can. So that's basically my whole mantra
right now. Right. So you want to help other people
that have, do we call it disabilities now? I'm an
outdoor writer, and recently the AP style book told me
that I couldn't use special needs. So I take
(04:21):
youngsters from the special education class on
horseback rides, and they say to me, I can't say that anymore. So I'm like,
oh, my gosh. What are the appropriate terms to use for somebody
who's a quadriplegic or if they have some other situation going
on? You're asking the wrong person. Because I'm from the
politically incorrect era. I
(04:42):
think disability is going to be there forever. I know people frown
on handicap. I really. I don't use
that. I've kind of morphed into able sportsmen and
able this, able that. But I say disabled hunters all the
time. I mean, that that's. It's just the disabled hunting
world community. I mean, if. If
(05:05):
you get hung up on word, I tell people what. I don't care what words
you use. It's not going to change my lifestyle any.
So don't. I just don't I don't want to offend you because
I obviously am just meeting you. So I like to figure out the words. And
especially, like I said, we've been doing horseback rides for these
youngsters for quite a while. I mean, for over a decade.
(05:27):
And all of a sudden I saw that news. Like, I can't call them
special needs, but that's their class was called special ed, so I
don't know. But that's a different episode, I
suppose. You get rid of all the words. What are we going to use? I
don't get it. I don't know. But I was
excited when you asked to come on the show because
(05:48):
I work with a lot of different programs with mentoring and helping, and
I used to guide an outfit full time, but now we do a lot of
stuff with veterans, disabled veterans
and different people who need help in the outdoors. So I was excited
that, like, this is your mission and what you want to do.
And today is the debut of the able
(06:11):
outdoors show on carbon tv. So
I'm just super excited. The episode. This episode isn't going to
air for about five or six days. So for those
listening, it's already going to be up there and ready to go. But
you said that you have been disabled for a while, but you were
already a sportsman. I know you're probably going to show it in the show, so
(06:32):
don't give any spoilers, but can you tell us a little bit about how
you came to be the able outdoorsmande?
Sure. Able sportsman.
When I got injured, it was
1986. I was 17
and the Internet was a baby. When I got out, there
(06:54):
was no information on adaptive hunting or fishing
or how to do any of that. So I was like, okay.
I came home on Halloween night. I was like, I told my. I told my
mom, I was like, can I just postpone my senior year of high school
because we got things to work out, hunting and fishing wise. She's like, yeah, sure,
why not? So I took a year
(07:17):
off and did, you know, my dad kind of helped
me. We got out and we went hunting, tried to go
deer hunt, just sitting in a truck. And I kind of
figured I had a stupid little device from the rehab that you wrote
with and it fit on your hand and finger.
And I was like, I think I can pull the trigger with that. So
(07:39):
I've told this story a lot. I tried. It worked. I could pull the trigger,
but it wasn't any good. It seemed like every time we went
out and tried something, we failed, which was. So I love it now
because that's such a rich environment for learning. What
you need to do is to get out there and fail first. But, I mean,
it was trying times in because it. It just seemed like it was so
(08:02):
important to succeed and to just say, okay, I'm going to be able
to do this again. So it wasn't till then, you
know, I'll be laying up at nights thinking, okay, that got close to
working. What do we need to do to fix it? And that just morphed
into creating my own adaptive equipment. And
slow, little by little, the next year, it would. Each
(08:25):
little thing would work. I got the. I got to shoot a deer,
and we. The hardest thing to do was shoot a shotgun. That's kind of my
first love is wing shooting. And I tell people now
that are in the rehab that want to come hunt. I was like, if you
can wing shoot, you can do anything because it's the most difficult,
which I love it the most because it's so challenging.
(08:48):
So we just. After that, I started a
website called follow me outdoors where you had to write the code
and I was copying and pasting code from other sites because I
didn't want to write it all and just started. Started
writing and building that on just stuff that I was doing. And then every once
in a while, a place would pop up that had some adaptive
(09:12):
hunting or adaptive equipment, and I would put it all on one site just
so people could find it. And then I started
going to the rehab to. They called me back in. They were like, our
patients are asking about outdoor stuff, and you're the only one we
know who's doing it. Can you come in and visit? I was like, yeah, sure.
So I would go, I still do that to this day. I go and
(09:34):
mentor people at that rehab, and I get new
recruits that way. So they're just looking for hope. They just
want to know, okay, this is my
injury level, and this is what, you know, they're
like, am I going to be able to do it again? And I'm like, yeah,
yeah, I. There's a way for every
(09:55):
little thing now. I mean, it's been 38 years.
I know. Probably know about everything there is out there, adaptive
equipment wise, and there is something for everyone
if they want to do it. And we have some of the stuff for people
to try. And if not, you know, the higher quad
stuff. I'm very lucky. I'm a c seven quad.
(10:19):
Basically, that means I have triceps, which means life is a lot
easier. I can transfer myself and do. I can
live independently a lot easier. C five. You
lose your triceps. Six and five. So I'm very
lucky. So, basically, I had a lot of help, a really good
support system doing everything I wanted to do. So I have to give
(10:40):
back. I try to give back to everybody else whenever I can.
It's interesting that you say that, because it's been a while back,
but in episode 98, I had a woman on the podcast. Her name
was Lynette, and she was in a
vehicle flipped, and she became. I believe
she was paraplegic. I would have to go back and relisten, and maybe I should
(11:02):
relisten to that episode. But she was looking for
tools for hunting because she was able to
find a chair, which I see in your background there. And for the listeners, if
you're driving, if you hop over to YouTube, you'll be able to see the video.
But she found a motorized chair to help her with an elk
hunt in New Mexico.
(11:24):
Did you. You help her with that? Yeah. That was an able outdoors
show. Oh, awesome. So this is what I was getting
to, is I wanted to ask you that hunt was part
of able outdoors. Yes. I
had a. I was helping a guy who started disabled outdoors
(11:44):
in USA, in Texas, and I went to a banquet there, and
she was there. And she was. She's higher
quad, and she was. She was like,
okay, this is the first time I met her. I was like, all right, what
do you want to do? She's like, I hadn't hunted, like, 20 years,
and I used to love it. And I was like. I was like, all
(12:05):
right, because I was like, this is what we're doing. You know, we're putting it.
We're going to put in as a group for New Mexico because they have special
mobility impaired seasons. So I had about 15
people put in hoping we would draw one or two,
because the odds are hard to draw. And
she drew, and I was like. I was like, okay, lynette, first of
(12:27):
all, I've been putting in for 20 years for this unit that you
drew and never drawn it because it's like the holy
grail. It's like 16 D in the Gila in New Mexico,
and all the elk hunters out there know what that means. And she
didn't. She's never been on a hunt like that. I was like, look, you're.
She's used to hunting deer. Sitting in a deer stand. I was like, it is
(12:49):
not going to be like that. And so we. We got that
outrider USA Coyote and got her out there in the
mountains, and she was. She loved
it, it was difficult. She missed a couple elf, but she finally got
one. That's one of the coolest things in the world is
to hunt elk air
(13:12):
quotes on foot. And that
you'll see in that episode. It'll be out in probably a month
or month and a half. That's one of the coolest
ones. Okay. And so this is so exciting because
it's really cool to connect the dots to who she was speaking
about, which was you and how she came
(13:33):
to that hunt. But so with your whole
able outdoors, you're looking for people to
help. Is that how we're, we're looking at the whole
thing and then that ends up evolving into what now is your tv show?
Yes. Well, I started.
We still do every year now. I started a teal hunt here
(13:56):
in Texas. We have early teal season in September.
I have a group. I'll have as many people as I can get. I've got
people down here will donate duck ponds, and I'll
get as many disabled able hunters around as I
know that want to come. Some of them are new, some of them, it's their
first hunt, and some of them, they've been with me every year. So it's a
(14:18):
real good, it's good to combine everyone because you can
share ideas and it's just a great time to get together.
And from that, you know, I love hosting
that. I get to guide, I've got a gun dog now, so I
get to guide hunters. And that kind
of got me thinking, you know what? The more people I can reach,
(14:41):
how are we going to reach more people? First, it started out
writing some articles that got in mainstream magazines,
just outdoor magazines. And as you know, it's
not easy to get in those unless you kill something
really big. I mean, even if you have a great story, you have to
have, you have to kill a big animal or go on a really cool hunt.
(15:03):
And it. A lot of people are, you know, they don't,
they're missing. I miss people were falling through the cracks. I couldn't
reach them. So it's one of the great things about social media. They. I'm easier
to find and I can, I find people all the time now,
and I'm like, you want to come Hunt? What do you want to do?
What's your disability? What do you need? Where do you want
(15:25):
to go? And I can. I'm lucky. I've just been
hurt so long and done so much that I can. I have
that some, I can just give them the tools and kick them out of the
nest and send them on the other people and say, go do
it. I love that analogy,
coming home with me. So on the
(15:47):
show, somebody just asked me recently, you know, how do you choose people
to go on the show? And I'm like, you know what? That just kind of
happens organically sometimes where I'll like
Lynette. When I met Lynette, she. I wanted to do an elcon
in New Mexico and film that because I knew it'd be super cool.
I was pulling for me in the draw. I didn't get it, but
(16:09):
I knew it'd be super cool just to do that. It would be a great
show, and it was. And we're gonna do it again someday,
because I wanna. I want to stalk an elk on foot with my
bow. And with that outrider. It's. It's a
four electric hub drive, so it makes no noise at all.
And as you know, that's what it's gonna take to get close to an elk
(16:31):
in the mountains. So I've got so many ideas
to use with that. But the
more I got off of the rails, though, just finding
Lynette, and she drew, and I was like, that's gonna make a great show. But
it could have been any number of 15 people, you know?
Or I'll meet someone that I met a guy. He's
(16:53):
like, let's go. He's like, I go every year to Florida, to Osceola
Hunt, and he had been recently injured. I'm like. I was
like, and he wants to do the turkey grand slam. I
was like, let's do that on. On the show. Let's go get all four
eventually. So we did a show out in Florida that we hadn't
produced yet. We filmed it. Just something like that. And
(17:14):
we're going to reach so many people because everybody has a different disability,
and I want to show how they take on stuff,
especially being newly injured, how it's
really difficult for people to come rolling out of the
rehab and go right outdoors and succeed.
You can do it easier now with my help, because I got.
(17:38):
I could tell them what to do and some of the equipment, but I
tell them, I was like, sometimes it's going to take a year or two. It's
going to be a process, especially after, you know, their injuries higher
up. I was like, don't give up. We'll get there eventually.
So that's basically it in a
nutshell. That's. That's why we're doing this stuff. But I love it. I've
(17:58):
always wanted to do an outdoor show. The
outdoor shows, in my opinion, are really annoying
me, just especially when they have someone with a
disability on, because they'll just stick them in a stand and let
them shoot and then pull them to their animal, and that's all they show.
And I'm like, I'm so insulted by that because
(18:21):
there's so much more they could be showing. Like, how did. How
did you do all this stuff? What, I want to see the adaptive equipment.
I want to see the preparation. I want to see what y'all did after,
you know, it. It implies that a
disabled hunter can't do anything but pull the trigger. So that's
the insulting part to me. I'm not really insulted a little bit. I just don't
(18:44):
like that that's the way they've been doing. And I got.
I contacted Ashley, who's my co host. I was like, ashley, we got to do
something about this. I said, I'm 55. We need
to do something pretty quick before I lose my look so we can, you know,
do a show. And she was on board with everything I wanted to do,
so she. She found that our camera guy, and we just went from
(19:06):
there, and that's awesome. I find it so
inspiring. I mean, a lot of what I do is try to inspire other people
and encourage them. And, I mean, what you're doing is
inspiring because you're showing people that they can do more
than just sit in a stand and pull a trigger or, you know,
they're. They aren't just relegated to one area. They can actually go
(19:28):
to an elk and go spot and stalk an elk and stuff like that. And
that's just incredible. And I just am so excited for you
and for the people that may be watching the show through the
show, is that kind of your goal is to show the whole story,
but to encourage people to, to, to get out there?
I mean, is that the main goal? Definitely. And to.
(19:50):
And to see how we do it. That the
house, the interesting part, to me, I love variety,
and I never thought about it before we started filming, but
we started telling everybody else's story.
But our, I mean, we tell ours a little bit, and I'm sure there's gonna
be a couple shows where it's just, you know, it's gonna be my hunt or
(20:12):
Ashley's hunt, but we try to take someone with us, one or two
people, and tell their stories, which is. I love that part. It's
just, it's different every week. I mean, every time we do something, it's going to
be different. I need a balance.
Balance. And, I mean, for you
being able to go out there, I mean, like you said, you were praying that
(20:33):
maybe you would get the elk hunt, but Lynette got it. You still
get to have the experiences through someone else's adventure.
Right? For sure. Just being out there
like, we're art. Our group teal hunt is next
weekend, so I won't be shooting. I'm gonna be out just
running my dog and setting it all up, and we're actually
(20:55):
gonna be. There's a lady coming from Lafayette, Louisiana,
who's higher quad, and she's never wing
shot before. So this is gonna be. This is gonna be a
real challenge for her. So it's gonna be fun for me to get her
to shooting and try to get out there. It's
gonna be tough to get her shooting on one day and then have her hunt
(21:17):
the next morning. But it's doable. But it's just gonna get the ball
rolling for her, and then we'll have. What kind of
adaptive equipment will she need? She'll need.
There's a special shotgun rig called zero
gravity, and it basically takes the weight
of the gun away. So you're just. You're just kind of
(21:39):
swinging it around so you. Because
the higher you go up quad wise, the less
strength you have in your arms. The less strength
you have in your arms. Everything has to be in a little closer to you,
and. And you obviously cannot shoot the gun,
like, normally. Like, hold it, like, once again. Yeah.
(22:02):
If you have triceps, you can do it. But with the zero gravity
rig, it just. It just. It's so awkward. You just
have to get used to it and practice with it. So it's gonna be fun
getting her out. That is cool. I want to watch all the episodes so
that I can show them to my hunter ed students that think they can't shoot
a shotgun. On our very
(22:24):
first show today, we're on turkey hunting, and
there's a kid named DJ, and he's got that zero gravity rig.
You. It's in the show, so you'll be able to go look at it.
And he's trying to shoot a turkey with it. He didn't get
one. Spoiler alert. But he's
going to be one of those guys going to take a while to get him,
(22:46):
because he's not only is he a higher break one,
he can only move one arm halfway.
Well, the other one is really impaired, so. But we'll get
there. We'll get there, and it's going to be great. And I think that's
an important message for people to understand is that it's
hunting, not killing. Otherwise, we'd kill something every time we were out there. Sometimes
(23:08):
it takes a while. And I think a good thing with a turkey
or different birds is you do have, normally, a few opportunities.
So that is welcoming. That's a good thing. And
hopefully being inspired by you, then that
that person will want to keep going and try again, you know? So
he loved it. He loved being out there. And he
(23:31):
actually. This happens sometimes where we'll go on
a hunt with somebody who's a first time post injury, and
nothing will work. And then a couple months later, they'll go.
They'll be hunting, and they'll like, he took a deer that first
fall after I brought him some little. The basic
nothing, cheap equipment. I was like, here, you try with this. You start with this
(23:53):
before you buy something expensive. And he actually killed a deer
his first time out, but wing shooting is really tough for
him. But he loved being out there, just like we did. We saw
turkey. He was like, this is the coolest thing.
And he's been on my teal hunt. He's gonna get. He's got
a pressure wound right now, which will lay you up for six months to
(24:15):
a year. So I tell everybody. I tell,
like, take care of your skin. You know, get out as much as you can.
Take care of your skin. Those are two huge things.
It's tough. It's tough to lay in bed, to be stuck in bed for, especially
when you're a young man or young lady. Yeah.
I cannot imagine. But I think it's great what you're doing. I was
(24:37):
going to ask you, you mentioned your co host a couple times, and
you said, ashley. Is that Ashley Lundwell? It is.
Oh, okay. I think I set y'all two
up for. Did y'all ever get together
for a podcast? Um, we have not. I mean, I've known
Ashley for a long, long time, and I haven't seen
(24:59):
her in a while. But when you said Ashley and you have
Abel outdoors, I'm like, it must be Ashley Lundwell.
I should have her on, though. Is she a Diana award winner? And she's
done a lot with the hunting industry. I don't think. I
don't think she is. Okay, we'll have her on the show and visit with.
She got in the hunting after her injury. Yeah. Because
(25:23):
of her husband. So she. I kind of drug her
down here to go on our teal hunt. Whenever we filmed it, she was
like, I don't want to shoot shotgun. I was like, yes, you do. Come down
here. It's fun. So she. She. She loved
it. She brought her daughter, too, for this, the first episode
you'll see tonight. Her daughter's precious, and
(25:44):
she was her. I don't want to spoil everything for you, but
it. It's just cool to get the family involved, you know? You never know
which way it's going to go, and that's the way it went. So
we like that. That's fun for me. We just get out there and do it
and see what happens. Oh, that's awesome. I love it. Get out there and do
it. Woman power on the show. I was like,
(26:06):
ashley, you're it.
I said, everybody's gonna think we're married. But, no, she
lives up in Cody, Wyoming. Mm hmm. Yeah. And I've seen the. I
want to say that that might be. The last time I saw her was at
the Wyoming women's antelope hunt. It's been a while.
Like eight years. Eight or nine years ago, because
(26:28):
sometimes. She gets to host a
naval huntress on that, and I'm like, that would be an awesome
show. So that's. That's. It's on my list.
It's on my list to go up there or just send.
Send our camera producer guy up there and let her. Let
him film a show up there with Ashley. That is so cool. And where
(26:51):
are you located? I am an hour southwest
of Houston, Texas. Houston, okay.
Right. Nice. Which. Which is
why you've got teal season coming up. The teal hunt must start,
like, September. 14 this year, 14th.
Yeah. See, I used to attend a group hunt, and that was my
(27:12):
birthday present to myself because my birthday is September
16, and so every year, I would go on this women's hunt for the
early teal. And if. For the listeners, if you have not hunted teal,
it is awesome. They're super fast flyers. So I'm. I can't wait
to see a show about teal hunting, but down there,
it just a totally different environment than where I am in Colorado
(27:35):
or maybe where Ashley is in Wyoming. Different type of hunting.
So I can't wait to see that. With that will. You'll be
using this zero gravity rig, and that'll be in the
show? Well, we.
It's not in. It is in the teal hunt show because
DJ's. DJ's in it. So it's in that one, too.
(27:56):
You'll be able to see it. It's not my design. I ripped it off from
a guy in Wisconsin that it came up on my Facebook, an
older man, because I was trying to figure it out for years how
to do it, and we came up with a couple of different ways that
worked, but I wanted a compact way that
kind of fit on your chair. And he had it, you know? You know, when
(28:18):
I saw that, I, like, hear the angel singing, I'm like, dude, I
need your number. I need to, I need to. I was like, will you make
me one of those? He's like, he's like, sure, I'll make one. I just need,
like, you just pay for the materials. I said, good,
I need one. Because my guys down here that are recreated, they need to
have it. They need to be able to put their hands on it. So
(28:40):
he had a cool. He was. He pheasant hunts with it. I'm going to
say, let me. His name is Clifford Pfeiffer,
so shout out to him, because if
he ever sees this, I don't know if he does, but he's
helped a lot of people already, and he doesn't even know it. Oh, I bet
he. I bet he has an idea. But it'd be awesome if he.
(29:02):
If he can see your show and even see how far it's
going and how many people he's helping. I think that is so
outstanding. It's incredible. What are, what other hunts
do you have coming up this fall? Oh, my God.
I was on. It's. It's all bird hunt. I missed all my draws. I've
been, I've been drawing, putting it for Utah because disabled
(29:24):
outdoorsman USA has a Utah chapter. And those
guys, they hunt. They hunt big elk and big
mule deer. They're legit, you know, and I want to go shoot a show
out there so bad. And I keep missing, but I'm getting close. I
have about seven points built up, so it's about to
happen, and so I miss that.
(29:48):
I happen to be on a podcast with a guy who's a goose
hunter up in western New York state, and he's like, why don't
you come up and goose hunt with me? I was like, well, I can't come
in September, but because they have an early season that where
they shoot all the local birds. And he's like, oh, what? The second season is
at the end of October, the last weekend. That's when we get the migrant birds
(30:09):
down. I was like, done. I was like, I'll find somebody to drive up there
with me. I. I've always wanted to go after those big Canada geese. And
I have a young pup in training who I'm gonna
go get next weekend just so he can hunt. Teal. It's gonna be his
first hunt, and he'll be. He'll. I'll be able to take
him maybe if I want to, because, you know, they go to. They go to
(30:31):
boot camp for six months. Right. He's
only been there about two and a half. But I'm gonna. He's ready. He
can go hunt. He just, you know, he can't do the special stuff,
but I'm gonna take him with me. I might take him up there,
too. I've got an older girl who's my superstar
dog, so she'll be going for sure. But that, that's probably the
(30:53):
biggest hunt. You know, I love big
game. It's just harder to draw. I've been building
up points in Wyoming. People. People get in touch with
me all the time. They're like, okay, how do we go big game hunting out
west? I like, well, you either got a buy landowner
tag if you got a lot of money, or you're going to be putting in
(31:14):
the draw and just trying to draw and. And wait
so that sometimes you got to buy your time and analog. I love
Antelope because it's a little easier to draw if you want to
go, especially in Wyoming. There's some places you can draw almost every
year and go DIY. Yeah.
New Mexico's. Some places are a little easier. It just
(31:36):
depends on what people want to do. They want to just go after
something and be able to go hunt, which some, sometimes I do,
too. I'm like, let's just. Let's just go antelope hunt in Wyoming. I don't care
if it's going to be a big one or not. Let's just go. Or do
you want to go after a big one? And so then, you
know, you have to know kind of where to put in and who to go
(31:58):
with and all that. All that cool stuff. All that stuff. And
so generally, when you're going, are you going DIY or are
there outfitters that are helping you or how are you working that out? Both.
In New Mexico, there's a guy named Dustin Berg, and he has
a cool organization called Global
(32:20):
Opportunity Unlimited. And so he,
if you draw or if you need any help out there in New Mexico, he's
the guy. He has friends who will help guide, you
know, that's what he does. He takes people hunting free of
charge. They do stuff in the off season. They just go mountain
biking and they go fishing. He does so much cool
(32:41):
stuff. I'm like, dude, I don't have time to do all that in Texas,
mainly because we got a lot of private land and you have to get permission
to do all that cool stuff. But I was like, you. You do
way more than I do. I just been doing it longer. But
he. I want to get with him and go do a show with him.
Probably. It's either going to be a hunt or a fishing trip or
(33:03):
both. Because they fish those big deep lakes in
New Mexico and the mountains, catch those giant lake trout and
stuff. Like, I got it. We can do that. That'd be super cool. And do
you fish a lot? I should. I don't
get to do it as much as I need to because we're
close to the coast, so. I grew up fishing the saltwater.
(33:26):
I like fishing the gulf. Yeah, we had a trip
planned, deep sea, but I had to cancel. But I definitely want to
film that because it's a whole different set
of adaptive equipment to get out there and catch those big fish.
Right. But it's cool. There's a guy
and, you know, Cabo San Lucas, if you go up on the
(33:48):
inside, on the sea of Cortez, there's a c five quad. His name
is Baja Larry. And he has his completely
accessible operation. Boats, everything
and lodging. He's got his own little private beach
there. And they do offshore. So I want to go.
I got big plans. I need to get some sponsors so we can go do
(34:10):
all these cool shows and show people what's out there. You know, some of
them you have to travel to do, but, you know, some of them are
free local stuff. You know, it's going to be a mix of
everything. Absolutely. And so do you currently have any
sponsors or are you doing this all just on your own? We've had
a few along the way. So now carbon tv,
(34:32):
hopefully, will give me some more firepower where I can get some
more. Yeah, there's a. We've
had. We've had something to just keep us going. Keep us going for a
couple years. So now. Now after today,
I'm going to be really hitting the. Hitting people up,
I imagine. And I imagine you need to, because it's not that that
(34:54):
costs money. I mean, it's not free to do everything. Even if you
have a guide helping you that's going to volunteer, you still have to travel,
and you have to get food. And, I mean, there's a lot that goes into
that. So I hope that you will get some sponsors so that you
can keep the show going. I mean, it's hugely important. So that
reminds me. I know you're. You're hooked up with Beretta. I need to get with
(35:16):
Beretta because there's. There's only a couple of shotguns that I
really like that really work for, for someone in
my position. You know, it's
browning and berettas. They're really super cool, and they.
I. We grew up shooting shotguns, so. But
any, you know, whoever wants to get out there, you know, whoever it
(35:38):
is, we'll make it work. But those are my top two to start out
with, so we'll see. Wish me luck.
I am wishing you luck. I'm rooting for you because I think it's
something that, as I said, it's so exciting to.
Not only when I've learned that somebody is doing something, because
there's a lot of people who don't have anything
(36:00):
restricting their bodies and they have a hard time getting out there to go hunt.
So it's like if you have this challenge and you're overcoming it,
you're creating devices to overcome it. Like, I think that is
outstanding. And I hope that it'll inspire everybody, you
know, not just somebody who has a disability, but when
you're, when you're doing all this creating and, and
(36:22):
obviously, like with Clifford Pfeiffer and getting ideas
from him, what kind of things do you have that are available
with the people you're taking out? There's.
I have a bite trigger, which, you know, a lot of this
stuff, it's not really for sale. Like, you can't go on Amazon
and get it. There's a. For a long time, people were not
(36:44):
making the bite triggers, which there's a sip and puff trigger.
There is a company called beadaptive that makes that.
It's. It's kind of. It needs to be a little more reliable.
But it's. It's like the only one available. If
you need that, that's for higher quad. And then there's bite trigger,
which I had, a friend of mine just started making that, and I was like,
(37:06):
I need one just to have on hand. So either
it's just like a bicycle brake. You're biting down, and the part that
would work, the bicycle brake is on the trigger guard and the trigger.
So you just work it that way, or somebody sitting next to you can
operate the trigger. You're just. You just operate the gun part.
So we have that. And I've made a device.
(37:28):
It's. It's a. It's just a trigger puller that
fits on the back of my hand and the back of my trigger finger. I
don't know if you can show that in the camera just because I can't move
my. I don't have any grip at all. If you're a quad, you usually
don't have any grip. So the guy took away my
trigger finger from me. I just got it back from him
(37:51):
over the course of like ten years. I took a
prototype and finally went to a
orthotics doctor, and I kind of drew on my hand. I was like, this is
what I want. Making something out of, you know,
he was good. You know, he's going to make something out of hard plastic and
reinforced wire and velcro because I was using tape
(38:12):
and leather and. And tongue depressors
and metal. And it was. Well, I was just tired of messing with it. And
so he, from there. Now, one of my buddies that
I mentored, he's like me now. He's gonna. He's ten
years in and he's. He's gung ho hunter. He's gonna.
He's gonna carry my torch when I'm gone. And he's.
(38:34):
He's welder. So anytime we get to. We get
together. And I was like, okay, we need to do this. We need to make
this. So we get together and make stuff on our own,
or we'll take a product out there and make it a little better. So we
got together on my trigger puller and found someone
to carbon 3d print carbon fiber
(38:56):
it. So that's a lot easier. Now we can print them for people
who need them. So that's a. That and a chest
strap. Just a simple chest strap so you don't fall on
your face when you lift a gun up. It's hard to. Hard to wing shoot
that way. Oh, that makes sense because we don't. Have any trunk
support usually. And even a lot of paras,
(39:18):
if you broke your back and it's higher up on your back, you still
don't have the trunk support. So you need like a chest strap to be able
to be able to wing shoot. I mean, shooting a rifle
is a lot easier because you usually have a rest and you just roll
under and shoot it that way. So shotgun
is. Shotgunning is my favorite. Obviously. I like
(39:40):
the challenge now. That's why bow hunting was so much fun,
because it was way more challenging in a chair. And do
you have devices for bow hunting as well? Same
ones pretty much. You know, some of the tripods
have gotten a lot better because they have that. You
just have that squeeze handle and you can move it wherever you want it and
(40:02):
let go and it's there and it's a little easier to move around.
We, we made some little semicircle
pvc stands that will fit inside of
a pop up line, which is, it's perfect for a bow because you can just
scoot the bow across the top wherever you want to move it.
So that really helps out. And that's cheap.
(40:24):
So sometimes we can get by on the cheap. We're going to do
it. Absolutely. I just think it's
outstanding. So tell us a little bit more about
the debut of the show, where we can watch it, maybe where we
can support it, and where we can find you. You can
find me on ableoutdoors.net.
(40:46):
that's the main, our main spot on the net.
And now carbon tv. We're on there
today. If you just searchable outdoors, you probably just. If you go on the
carbon tv site, you're going to see us because they're going to do a little
promotion for us for a while and either
download the app on your phone or if you have a smart tv. I think
(41:08):
it's one of the apps. It's just a free app on there and you
can find it. We have a YouTube channel. I
dabble in what you do. I do some podcasts every once in a while,
which is because I'll meet someone who's done a spectacular
hunt or something, and I have to have them on.
I used to write stories. There was a guy
(41:30):
who, high quad electric chair, went up to the Northwest Territories
and caribou hunted. Ooh, cool. Pulled him around in a
little cart behind a four wheeler. I was like, that is cool. I need to
write your story. I want to go do that someday with the
Outrider because it'll make a heck of a show to go
pull off a hunt like that and just,
(41:52):
just stuff like that. We're gonna. We got some. I got some big
ideas on the horizon just. Just
to make it interesting, because I think it's interesting to everybody. I
would love to watch it just to see how. How that's possible. Because some
things I see, I'm like, you'll see in the teal hunt
show, I was like, how in the world do you do that? But it's
(42:14):
doable. It's doable. It's doable
if everybody's able. I think it's outstanding. As I said, I
can't imagine all of it. And it'd be awesome to be a fly on
the wall in some of your adventures because I know you have had some great
ones and you're going to have even more and you've experienced a lot of them
with other people. So I think it's so awesome. But
(42:36):
I also wanted to let the listeners know if you go to
ableoutdoors.net, there's also a donate button where you
can help support the show. So I think that is an
important thing to help keep the show going. I know you're
just getting started, but hopefully we can get some more seasons under
there for you and for ashley. And I
(42:58):
will put a link in the show notes to your website
and also to carbon tv. So if there's anything
else you would like to add before I let you go.
Yeah, you come down here and teal hunt with us anytime you want. You can
come on our disabled group hunt and just be participating
with us. That'd be pretty cool. Awesome. I would love that.
(43:21):
Thank you for the invite. Yeah, I appreciate you
coming on the show and sharing this with my listeners. And
I look forward to seeing you in person, maybe on a teal hunt or
maybe at one of the trade shows in this coming year. Oh,
let's do it. I'm looking. My pleasure, Mia.
Hey, this is Lloyd Bailey, the armed Lutheran host of the armed Lutheran
(43:43):
radio podcast, reminding you that the podcast you're
listening to is a proud member of the self Defense radio network.
Check out all the great content@selfdefenseradio.net. dot.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.