Totally blind and wanting to hunt.

I had the honour of making the acquaintance of a gentleman who had been blinded at the age of 20 while working as a lab tech in the US Army Medical Corps. (Silver Nitrate explosion) in the late 1960's. He was a friend of my sister in-law and we shared a love of fishing and compared notes as a couple of ex- army medics.

He accepted his fate with a determination and a courage that inspired me greatly. One of his passions was hunting! He had a rifle that was modified with the scope offset so that his hunting partner could visualize and talk him onto the target. His excellent sense of hearing and smell proved to be a great advantage while hunting!

The post script to this is that after being ignored and disregarded by the US DVA for decades, he was recently examined by a young eye surgeon who performed surgery, retinal re-attachment and cornea transplant... after 35 years he had his eyesight restored.

Can you imagine looking in a mirror again for the first time in 35 years? He wrote a book which chronicles his life journey and its amazing successful culmination.
 
You can access everything on the computer through keyboard shortcuts.. they don't use the mouse obviouslly. And there are programs like 'Jaws' that are used that basically talk to you..
My cousin is blind and he's the most technologically savy person I know
 
If you have the will a technological solution can be found. A year or 2 ago I read about a scope that had a video camera in it. All that is needed is a way of communicating the image to the sighted guide so he can relay the firing message to the hunter.

My wife's late father had been blind since age 21. I'm told that until he was in a major car accident in his 50s with some head injuries, that his situational awareness was close to that of a sighted person after only one familiarization tour. So go for it!
 
A lady I worked with a few years back was married to a gentleman that had lost his sight in an explosion while dynamiting rocks at his farm. He was very capable and "fooled" several people. As an example one day another woman from the neighbourhood approached Judy and said her daughter was telling tall tales or fibs such as saying her father was blind. When Judy said that yes he was totally blind the other lady took offence and said but that can't be "I saw him painting your fence the other day,"


obtunded "s post raises several thoughts. Hard to imagine "seeing "yourself and loved ones after so many years. Hell ,I am at the age where I don't really know who is shaving my face some days. It would make a good T.V. show.
Can you provide us with details as to the author and book title?
 
It's sounding like a very difficult hunt. I guess the same thing that brings the rest of us to hunting is tempting you also. Might i suggest trapping instead?
Not being rude or anything but shot placement and seeing beyond your target to the far reaches of where your bullet will be dangerous is of more concern than the hunt itself.

Keep in mind that YOU are 100% responsable for any bullet fired from your firearm always. I know you trust your hubby 100%
Hopefully you are succesfull in your hunt. I've never heard of a seeing impared person bringing down a big game animal but i bet it'd make headlines.! Good luck.

Mike
 
2 Things , one there are adaptations for the blind so that the "helper" can aim the rifle for her , second and MOST important of all is this . She has me doing the aiming for her , I have to be there , after all she is my wife and momma to my lil ones :) She was just trying to get other ideas and opinions before my little darling gets the nerve to go , mostly , wants and needs the encouragement ;) Trust me she is most capable, and with her hearing , i want to take her along either way , she hears way better than i do , gotta have some advantage to that.
 
He had a rifle that was modified with the scope offset so that his hunting partner could visualize and talk him onto the target. His excellent sense of hearing and smell proved to be a great advantage while hunting!


You know that is the best idea I have heard so far, i wouldn't mind trying that
for her, yes and since she is right behind me atm, and i can hear Jaws as well , you're right a laser site would also be helpful, great i deas guys please keep 'em coming , maybe we all can make this work for her , i'd love to be able to go hunting with her , other than her just sitting in a blind with me , and for those of you in MB you'll prob see her sometime at the selkirk range, since we both members there :)
 
Teach me to leave this for a day before I look in again.:)

Someone asked about blind people and computers, which has been answered. I use a screen reader called "Jaws" to speak what comes acrosss the screen out loud.

I'm totally blind and have been since birth.:)

Obtunded's idea with the offset scope sounds intriguing, as do the videocam scopes. Thanks for the ideas, guys.

And to those who have expressed concerns about safety, mine and everyone else's, we obviously wouldn't do this live until we were sure it was safe. I'm determined, not stupid. *grin*

Oh, and hi, honey.


Char
 
Vic777 said:
Why do you want to do this? Or do you just want to go for a walk in the woods?
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Well,the walk in the woods is nice. But why do you like to hunt? I'm sure it's not purely the sight of spurting blood and the animal falling over?

Char
 
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charvor said:
Well,the walk in the woods is nice. But why do you like to hunt? I'm sure it's not purely the sight of spurting blood and the animal falling over?

Char
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I deduce from your answer, that you don't know, or wont say.
 
Actually, I do.:) My question was merely to make you think about the question you asked, and to think about why you want to hunt, and how many of the reasons have anything at all to do with what and how much you can see, and how much is based on emotion/need/ ... whatever.

Char
 
To make it simple , my wife wants to hunt for the same reasons you or anyone else does, and in this day and age it IS extremely easy to accomplish this , trust me she's no idiot , i was in other forum doing my thing , but i think i'm gonna take a seat here for a bit , this looks like it's gonna be fun. LOL
 
charvor said:
Actually, I do.:) My question was merely to make you think about the question you asked, and to think about why you want to hunt, and how many of the reasons have anything at all to do with what and how much you can see, and how much is based on emotion/need/ ... whatever.

Char
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I never said that I wanted to hunt ....
 
Oh, sorry. You'll have to forgive my presumption. I'm so silly sometimes. *sigh* I figured since you're replying to posts in a HUNTING forum, you'd either be a hunter, or interested in it enough to understand the probable motivations to hunt. If you aren't why are you here?
 
charvor said:
Oh, sorry. You'll have to forgive my presumption. I'm so silly sometimes. *sigh* I figured since you're replying to posts in a HUNTING forum, you'd either be a hunter, or interested in it enough to understand the probable motivations to hunt. If you aren't why are you here?
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Oh, I get it, it's like the Turing machine thingy, and I have to guess whether you're a human or a computer ...
 
All right. Since you seem to demand specific answers, I'll give them.

1: The meat.

2: The thrill.

3: Something to share with my husband and family.

4: It's ... cool.

5: To see if I can do it.


6: To annoy people who think I should be sitting in a corner weaving baskets. [Minor reason, ... most of the time. ... ]
 
You're right, and I'm generally smart enough not to get involved with this kind of hthing.:) Can I blame it on a head ache? *grin*
 
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