United Bowhunters Of Pennsylvania
Disabled Hunters Program

Hunts

Tom Weaver & Jeff Beers - 2001

Jeff Beers and Tom Weaver were kind enough to write a few words about their 2001 hunting trip to share with us their experiences at the Pine Acres Plantation located in Estill, S.C..

Hello,

My name is Tom Weaver and was one of the hunters awarded the hunt to South Carolina.

The hunt was a great opportunity to spend some quality time with my brother and all the people involved were great..... the food was good and the lodge was comfortable but the weather was just to hot for me....... as for the days of hunting I don't know what to tell you other than the land was great but I didn't see a deer for the whole hunt.... but I did see some turkey.....

Even though I was unsuccessful I am just glad that there are organizations out there like yours to give the opportunity for physically challenged sportsmen the chance to go on a hunt.... cause most of us don't have the funds to be able to do it on our own...... keep up the good work and good luck to next years physically challenged sportsmen...... once again thank you..

Tom Weaver
Reedsville, PA

This past October (2001) I was given the opportunity to go on an all expense paid bow hunting trip to Estill, South Carolina through the generosity of the United Bowhunters Of Pennsylvania. Here is how things unfolded on that hunting trip.

I am an above the knee amputee of the left leg and have been an archer for 15 years. When I was given the opportunity to hunt for whitetails outside of Pennsylvania I jumped on it and was fortunate enough to have been able to bring my 17 year old nephew along for the ride and hopefully help me drag a nice deer out of the woods.

The first day started with our arrival at the Copeland family's Pine Acres Plantation located in Estill, S.C.. The plantation is located on roughly 1000 acres of beautifully maintained property wooded with pines, oaks and maple trees. Access roads criss cross the property giving quick and easy passage from one hunting area to another. After meeting and greeting the other hunters Brady Copeland, owner and operator of the plantation, discussed the game plan for the hunt. He had 7 box blinds and a number of ground blinds set up on his property which he felt would prove to be successful. With that, we dawned our camo and headed out to our spots. It was 3:30 pm and I was set up in a ground blind located on a main trail with a huge rub on a tree 20 yards away. As I got settled in all I could imagine was the size of the buck that could've made this rub. Hunting in S.C proved to be quite a challenge. The temperature was in the 80's , the mosquitoes were hungry, and I was their food. The heat was compounded by the fact that we were in an enclosed ground blind. Sweat rolled down to the tip of my nose and I had to laugh because I would still rather be out hunting in this kind of heat than be at work! The evening came to a close without seeing a single deer but I was excited because we still had 2 more days of hunting left.

The second day started out with Brady asking me if I wanted to go to the same blind or try another one. I told him that since I didn't see anything there in the evening maybe they were moving through that area in the morning. It is amazing how dark it can be when you zip the door shut in a ground blind at 6:00 am. I could not even see my hand in front of my face! It was much cooler in the morning, about 62 degrees. I knocked my 2413 gamegetter tipped with a Magnus broadhead and waited in anticipation of seeing something at dawn. At 9:30 am I heard some noise coming from behind me. I slowly moved in my chair to look out the window to my right to see a doe making her way to me at 35 yards. She didn't see me but suddenly she changed direction and over the hill she went. At least I got to see one! At breakfast we discussed the fact that no one had been seeing any deer and we were all trying to figure out why. Brady approached me after breakfast and told me that he felt the deer may not be moving much because of the heat. He asked me if I would object to using a rifle for the hunt in the afternoon because he had a box blind stand that he felt could allow me to see some deer but they would be out of bow range. Reluctantly, I set my bow down and picked up my nephews 30-06. After squeezing of 2 rounds and hitting the target perfect at 100 yards we were off to the box blind stand. The mercury was starting to rise again and combined with the huge breakfast we had was causing me and my nephew to get sleepy. I fought it and let him crash out for a little bit. Good thing I did because at 11:45 am I saw some movement at 70 yards in front of me. I woke my nephew up only to have him say to me in a groggy voice, "Blast him Uncle Jeff"! I smiled and told him to wait a minute. It was 2 spikes and they were making their way across in front of me. As they were crossing they were also sparing with each other. At 1 point they turned, faced each other, rose on their back legs and head butted each other. What a sight to see! Brady told us that he wanted bucks with antlers at least as wide as the ears and doe to be taken on this hunt. With that in mind, I knew that these 2 playful spikes were out of the question. As I lowered the rifle I noticed some movement coming from behind them. I could see some larger antlers on this buck! I raised the rifle and scoped the buck to see a beautiful 8 point with his head lowered as if to say, "you 2 spikes go ahead and play but I am the dominant buck around here". My heart pounded in my chest as I looked around for the perfect location to take the shot. He was walking slow and powerful and I decided that I would lead him on the other side of a large oak tree. As he walked behind the oak I clicked the safety off and prayed that he would stop on the other side of the tree. As he came back into view on the other side of the tree he stopped. I took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and squeezed the trigger. With 1 shot he was down. I made my way over to him, got down on one knee and gave thanks. We took him back to the main lodge and dressed him only to find out that the shot took out both lungs and his heart in one movement. Again, I was thankful for a quick and humane kill.

I was the only hunter out of 4 to get a deer on this hunt. This is my second deer and the first buck I have ever harvested. I would like to extend a sincere thank you to all involved with the United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania for making this hunt a memory that will last a lifetime.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey M. Beers

I have enclosed a picture of me, Brady and my deer for you. I have the camo hat on and Brady has the red hat on.