4th Prize
Vanguard Deluxe or SUB-MOA Rifles (7 awarded)
Farrell Maier, Oklahoma
“My hunt would be a two week trip to the mountains of Colorado where you can’t find another human being for 50 miles or more. The water is crystal clear and the air is so crisp your lungs can’t get enough of it.
The hunt would be for elk or moose and I would like for my friend, Gerald Lovell, to be with me. I’m not as experienced as Gerald Lovell and he would be perfect for a hunting partner.
Gerald and I both work at a rural hospital in Eastern Oklahoma in one of the poorest counties in Oklahoma. Getting the time and funds to be able to do such a hunt are just a pipe dream that won’t probably happen for us.
Gerald gives his time to help poor and handicapped kids do target shooting with small caliber guns and bows. He tries to raise money for these shoots, but when the funding comes up short, he uses his own money and his wife never complains. If it were not for Gerald Lovell many poor and handicapped children would never know the pleasure of target shooting with a firearm or a bow.
Back to the hunt. I can visualize Gerald, myself, and a few others putting up tents to make camp by a lake or stream that is so clear that you can see the fish swimming in it. We might even be able to catch a few fish for dinner. I can smell the coffee over the open flaming fire. Shaving this week or next probably won’t happen and we will walk out of the woods looking a bit like mountain men.
The hunt would hopefully end in an elk or moose fully dressed out ready to go into the freezer and enjoyed the next year until another hunt. It will be hard to come back to the hustle and bustle of civilization with all the honking horns, people in too big of a hurry, television telling of all the murders and bad things for the day, news about the war, list of things to fix, and knowing your time with nature and peacefulness will have to wait until the next time (if you can get the time and funds for next time).
As much as it would be a dream come true for me, the person who really deserves to go is Gerald Lovell in Stigler, Oklahoma. I appreciate being considered, but please highly consider Gerald Lovell as the time he spends with poor and handicapped children is really deserving of a dream hunt.”