TALLADEGA NATIONAL FOREST — Steve Weldon is bouncing in his chair as he wheels himself across a green clearing in the Talladega National Forest. The crunching melody of fallen leaves beneath his wheelchair lingers in the air when he stops short.

“There’s some tracks right here,” Weldon says, leaning over to brush away some leaves.

For the first time in his life, Weldon said, his ability to hunt won’t depend on an invitation from a private landowner or an expensive hunting club membership. He won’t be confined to a shooting house, and he won’t ever have to hear again that all the spots on the state’s physically disabled hunting trail already have been booked before deer season begins.

“We are really happy about being able to provide this opportunity for those who really enjoy hunting, but find it difficult to do so because of physical disabilities,” said Earl Stewart, ranger for the Shoal Creek District of the Talladega National Forest.

The Big Oak Physically Disabled Hunting Area – developed through a partnership between the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service – began a year and a half ago with a conversation between a disabled hunter and a state wildlife biologist.

George Harbin hunted for years before both his legs were amputated above the knee and he started using a wheelchair. As a member of the conservation advisory board, he approached Randy Liles, area biologist for the Choccolocco Wildlife Management Area, with his frustrations.

A friend of Harbin’s with a physically disabled son recently had had a bad experience trying to hunt with his child.

Liles and Harbin decided to change things.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources already had a hunting trail for people with disabilities, but Liles said people had to reserve a shooting house, and they are confined to that house. Reservations fill up before the season begins, and Liles said if the weather is bad, that hunter is out of luck.

Liles went to Stewart with the concept of an area where physically disabled hunters could hunt when and where they wanted.

“They’re not given any special privileges because they don’t want it,” Liles said. “They wanted to get away from all the special privileges and be like anybody else. If these guys have got the gumption, if they want to be out there, they ought to have a place to go.”

At this site, Harbin said, there are campgrounds so people can come up on a Friday night and stay until Sunday. There are trails where people can hunt from all-terrain vehicles or golf carts, as well as areas exclusively for wheelchairs.

Harbin already has heard from hunters in Birmingham, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa and suspects the area will attract people from around the state and perhaps farther.

“This is going to be a new-type deal,” Harbin said. “It’s hasn’t been tried anywhere, and we’re going to try our best to make it work. Nobody has this type of program except Alabama.”

Liles knows of a group already that came up from Texas to hunt, and he said many organizations and individuals in and out of the state are watching. He expects more areas like Big Oak will start popping up soon.

“I guess we walked out on the edge of the limb first,” he said.

The area is still a work in progress, and Liles said there are plans to expand it and create more wildlife openings and trails.

A physically disabled hunting permit is required to hunt in the area, which is four miles north of Heflin on Forest Road 548, about 1.5 miles north of Henry Creek Shooting Range.

Weldon, a fire planner for the forest service in Montgomery, would advise any disabled hunter, especially anyone in a wheelchair, to bring a helper if they expect to leave with a deer.

The helper is not allowed to hunt in the physically disabled area, but Liles said one of the reasons they chose the location they did for Big Oak was because there is hunting for non-disabled people just across the road. That way, both people can hunt, communicate by walkie-talkie, and meet up when they need to.

Liles said many of the disabled hunters he’s talked to since the project got under way would like to kill a deer, but they also appreciate just having a place to go into the woods and socialize with friends.

“It’s one of the activities that I can do that I’m almost on equal ground with an able-bodied person,” Weldon said. “It’s getting out somewhere that I wouldn’t normally be able to go and sharing an experience with someone that’s not disabled.”

Even though hunting season ends today and Weldon won’t have time to break in Big Oak until next season, he still looks the part. Dressed in blue jeans, Weldon pulls a camouflage jacket on over his green polo shirt and looks for a good spot. He wheels behind a cluster of brush, and rests the barrel of his .243 caliber rifle on a branch to support his gun, just as he would while waiting for a deer to wander up one of the trails leading to the clearing.

Liles said when he was taking Harbin around, getting his input about what the hunting area needed, Harbin said something that stayed with him:

“I know I’m handicapped, but I don’t need people constantly reminding me I’m handicapped.”

To Liles, that pretty much sums up why it was time for a project like this, and why he’s proud of the way it came together.

About Jessica Centers

Jessica Centers, a University of Missouri graduate, covers health and the environment for The Anniston Star.