Carl Flemons and Art Bartman are telling that story today after completing an amazing moose hunt near Fairbanks Sept. 9. Flemons, of Summerville, Ala. and Bartman, of Bechtelsville, Pa., are members of the Paralyzed Veterans of America Heritage Fund, which has been organizing Alaska moose hunts for five years. Doug Warren, a consultant for the group, said this month’s hunt was by far the most successful yet.
“Let me put it this way, in five years that makes three (moose),” Warren said last week.
The group organizes fishing and hunting expeditions across the state,
each year bringing paralyzed veterans up to Alaska for the outdoor
adventure of a lifetime.
Things weren’t looking good for the two hunters as this year’s hunt
progressed. After spending a couple days in the bush, the men had yet to
get off a shot. Then, as the final day wore on, everything came
together.
“Here it was, the last day of our hunt...” Flemons recalled.
The men, each accompanied by a guide, split up as the evening wore on.
As the
shadows began to creep across the landscape, Flemons was getting
nervous.
“I asked (the guide) how long before it’s just dark,” he said. “He was
saying like 30 minutes.”
The men decided to move to a different position, so Flemons’ guide drug
the U.S. Air Force veteran more than a quarter mile to a spot where e
they’d earlier seen signs of moose.
As fog rolled across the landscape, a cow moose appeared approximately
280 yards in the distance. Flemons fired, hitting the moose but not
killing it. Then Flemons’ guide shot, followed by another round from
each man.
“He fell and he stayed right there,” Flemons said.
While Flemons was finishing off his kill, Bartman was busy with his own.
Approximately 20 minutes before Flemons’ moose appeared, he said he’d
heard a single round off in the distance. When the two parties met up,
he found out where the shot had come from. Bartman.
“He got it in one shot from 150 yards,” Flemons said.
Bartman was particularly proud of the fact he felled the bull moose in
one shot.
“I know it tickled Art,” Flemons said.
The successful hunt, Flemons said, left both hunters with Alaska
memories they’ll not soon forget.
“This has really been awesome,” he said.
Both men bringing home a freezer full of moose meat, he said, was
actually the icing on the cake. The real thrill was just the thrill of
the hunt.
“We were having a pretty good time anyway,” he said.
Flemons said the only thing that could have made his trip better would
have been to have his wife and twin 7-year-old boys along with him ��”
and he’s already planning to do something about that.
“We’ll all be back up here.”