MANHATTAN, Kan. -- After all Lou Schuknecht has been through in the past few years, maybe he was due for a day like Saturday.
Schuknecht's health has degenerated to the point where he can hardly walk -- the result of problems with his heart, knees and back. But there he was Saturday, hunting deer again.
And shooting one of the biggest bucks in the woods.
Just a couple of hours after he used his cane to hobble into a camouflaged blind during a special hunt at Tuttle Creek Lake, he was posing for pictures with the 10-point buck he shot.
"I had visions of doing all kinds of things when I retired," said Schuknecht, 72, of Hoyt, Kan. "But my health wouldn't let me.
"My body is shot. There's no way I could ever go deer hunting on my own.
"But an event like this, it gives me that chance to get out again. This is the first buck I've ever taken.
"And to do it when I'm in the shape I'm in, well, it feels real good."
It was that kind of day at Tuttle Creek Lake, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and the Riley County Fish and Game Association put on a special hunt.
The event, which coincided with the first day of the Kansas deer season for youth and hunters with disabilities, has taken place for eight years now.
But the Sept. 11 hunt may have been the crowning moment for the longstanding program.
Not long after 27 youth and hunters with disabilities joined their volunteer guides and scattered to hunting stations in the Manhattan area, they began finding success.
By midmorning, nine hunters had shot deer -- a record day for the hunt.
No one was more excited than Schuknecht. He still remembers last year's hunt, when he sat for hours and failed to even see a deer, let alone shoot one.
But this year's hunt was different. Sitting with volunteer guide Wade Greif, he watched as a big buck walked out a thicket and into a clearing. Schuknecht waited for the right moment, then squeezed the trigger. And he had his deer of a lifetime.
"I started hunting deer about 10 years ago," he said. "But with my health as bad as it is, I haven't been able to get out that much.
"A program like this is fantastic. It gives me a chance to do something I wouldn't be able to do otherwise."
Harold Arnett, 68, of St. George, Kan., echoed that thought.
He too has endured plenty of hardship. He has suffered three heart attack and two strokes. And before that, he was a POW in the Vietnam War and wondered if he'd even survive.
But Saturday, all of that was forgotten. With his guide, Tony Rock, at his side, he watched as a doe came out of the end of a corn field and into a clearing.
When a shot rang out, the deer went down. And Arnett had the venison he was savoring.
"I like eating this venison," Arnett said. "It's especially good as chili meat."
The younger members of the hunt also enjoyed memorable days.
Deer hunting for the first time, Ashton Kahle, 14, of Wamego, Kan., took a small buck. Not long after, he was using his cell phone to text friends and send them pictures of the deer.
"On my first deer hunt, we were out three days and I didn't take my deer until the last evening," said Ashton's father, Brian Kahle. "He goes out, sits a couple of hours and gets one."
Ashton smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm already tied with my dad for the number of deer we've shot."
Dad laughed and explained.
"I'm new to this myself," he said. "I've only been deer hunting for two years.
"That's why programs like this are great. It gives kids like Ashton a chance to learn from experienced hunters."
The process begins when young hunters up to age 16 and hunters with disabilities fill out applications. The field is then pared down to about 30, and volunteer guides and landowners are recruited.
Wooden blinds are built for some fields, popup blinds are put out in others. Then the hunters and their guides are off to the woods for a two-day hunt.
"It's all about opportunity," said Steve Prockish of the Corps of Engineers, one of the organizers of the hunt. "A lot of these kids have never hunted deer before.
"When they get out there, they don't know what to expect. But once they take their first deer, you can tell that it means a lot to them.
"They get excited, and we do too."
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