He can't see, but - with a little help - he can still hunt

WEATHERFORD -- Stanley McGowen of Weatherford was getting ready for deer season a few weeks back, sighting in his .270-caliber rifle.

The annual ritual ensures that a rifle is on target come opening day, but McGowan has to take some unusual steps to fine-tune his weapon.

McGowen, an Army helicopter pilot turned history professor, is blind.

People are instantly perplexed or even alarmed that a blind man goes afield with a weapon, intent on killing an animal he can't see. But McGowen said blind people have been hunting for years and are continually developing effective and safe techniques to kill game.

Texas law prevents hunters from targeting game with light beams, whether flashlights or laser devices. But a year ago, McGowen petitioned the Legislature to make an exception for blind hunters and let them attach laser sights to their weapons.

Stories about the bill were soon carried by National Public Radio, ABC News and newspapers nationwide. The bill moved easily through the Legislature and became law in June, despite the early publicity from talk radio hosts, late-night comedians and bloggers imagining a sightless Elmer Fudd stumbling in the woods, shooting at any sound.

"I'm losing my patience with sighted people who have no vision," McGowen said recently. "We've already been hunting for years."

Returning vets

It's hard to gauge the number of blind hunters in the United States.

The recent laser-sight exemption, however, put Texas among 15 other states that specifically let blind hunters use lasers.

Travis Noteboom, spokesman for Oregon-based Crimson Trace "lasergrips," has worked with McGowen to organize hunting trips for disabled veterans.

"Two years ago, we started getting more of the war vets coming home without their sight," Noteboom said. "Then you had all these people laughing when you tell them about blind hunters. Well, I've met with several Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans, and I want these people to go up to these guys and dare say, 'No, you can't go hunting.' I'd just love anyone who doesn't understand this to come out and see how it works."

Friend and spotter

McGowen, a 60-year-old Baird native, is a lifelong sportsman who has been hunting without sight for about seven years.

His original technique involves a spotter who stands behind him and peers into the rifle scope to make sure it's on target.

The spotter tells McGowen when it's safe to shoot.

McGowen recently demonstrated the technique at the Parker County Sportsman Club.

His friend Roger Nelson of Weatherford, stood behind McGowen and quietly told him how to position the rifle: "Up, up, hold. ..."

Nelson's whispers were shattered by the roar of McGowen's .270.

The preferred optic, however, is not a regular rifle scope but one made for pistols, because it provides extra-long eye relief.

McGowen said that because a handgun is aimed with arms extended, a pistol scope works well for the spotter, who is farther from the scope than the shooter is.

The technique isn't perfect, however.

"It takes extra time and coordination to get that field of view," McGowen said. "We've had to pass up a lot of shots."

The laser device, which was also demonstrated, adds precision to the task because the spotter sees a tiny green or red light projected onto the target, McGowen said.

Plane crash

One of his favorite trophies is the Mason County "spike" buck he shot in 2000.

It was his first hunt since he lost his eyesight a decade earlier in the crash of his personal airplane near Salt Lake City.

"We had a power loss on takeoff," he said. "My seat came loose from the rails, and I went into the glass shield of the instrument panel.

"It cut my right eye basically in half. There was not much hope for it. The left eye ended up with total retinal separation. They couldn't do anything with that, either, so I ended up being blind."

And he was without a career.

McGowen had spent 21 years in the Army, first with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. Later he entered flight school and became a helicopter pilot, but the plane crash forced him to retire.

"Initially, there was a lot of depression," he said. "Losing your sight can be like losing a friend or a relative."

But McGowen credited his wife, Jolene, with supporting him and giving him "a kick in the pants when necessary."

She is the director of nursing at Wellington Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation in Fort Worth. Their son, Travis, is an Army sergeant who accompanied his father on safari in the summer.

"I can't say I got over it, but I've learned to deal with it," McGowen said of his blindness. "I just go on and do what I can."

Old sensations

McGowen went through rehabilitation to learn how to get around. Then he became a history professor and author.

He relearned how to fish, golf and even ski.

But hunting seemed out of the question until one day in 1999 when McGowen and friends were discussing gun sights.

Soon they devised the spotter technique, which put him back in the field the next deer season.

Old sensations returned: the excitement of packing gear the night before opening day, the sound of rustling leaves, the wind on his face.

He returned again this season, first to some property in Shackleford County, but he passed on another spike buck. A few weeks later in Mason County, however, he shot a seven-point buck and a 40-pound feral hog.

Although McGowen has regained his ability to hunt, he is in no hurry to kill something.

"The old thought of 'If it's brown, it's down' is not my idea of hunting," he said. "Enjoy the outdoors; it's not the kill, it's the experience."

McGowen works with the Armed Forces Foundation and Safari Club International to help injured veterans and their families experience the outdoors.

Online: www.safariclubfoundation.org

www.armedforcesfoundation.org