Hunter, 85, bags two bucks in one hour
For Dick Adlen, 85, age and spinal stenosis no reason not to go hunting
Even William Tel l would’ve been impressed.
Remember the story of the archer who shot an arrow from his crossbow to knock an apple off the head of his son?
He nevermade bigmoney through a sponsorship from the Mott’s applesauce or anything, but at least Mr. Tell lives on in legend.
Here’s an impressive update to that tale. Clinton Township’s Dick Adlen used his crossbow while hunting for white tailed deer in northern Macomb County. He got two bucks within roughly two hours.
Here are a couple important addendums to that story from a couple of weeks back: Adlen is 85 years old. He is non-ambulatory. He is still able to get up from a chair to transfer to a motorized cart.
Adlen has stenosis of the spinal cord. He had an ankle fused decades ago. Those are a couple of items on the list of why Adlen could’ve been talked into inactivity. But he loves to hunt. He used to be a guide in the Grayling area. He also loves to fish.
Disability is not synonymous with sedentary.
“Dad is licensed to hunt fromthe van, but he doesn’t want to do that. My brother and I decided we would get him to the property and take him on his power chair to the little hut that we hunt from,” said his daughter, Dawn Pratt.
The 10-point buck was taken shortly after 6 p.m. The eight-pointer was felled an hour or so later. Adlen had a deer combo license.
“My dad was so excited. He had two cans of light beer and a cigar that night to celebrate,” said Dawn
Pratt, laughing.
When his daughter asked him how he stayed composed when putting the crosshairs on two magnificent bucks in the same evening, Adlen replied: “I have always recalled a quote I learned from Fred
Bear while working at his archery shop in Grayling and shooting with him out back. He said pick a spot on the animal and aim at that; never look at the whole animal. That quote always stuck with me and I use it every time. That’s what I taught you kids to do.
“I was just very happy to have the opportunity to get out to the blind,” continued Adlen.
Pratt’s 12-year-old daughter, Autumn, and her brother, Rick, helped with the hunt, too.
“My daughter could have gone instead of my dad, but Autumn told me that if we could get Pops out to hunt, she wanted him to have the chance. She was so excited when she found out her grandfather had gotten those two bucks. She thought that was so cool,” continued Pratt.
Pratt and her dad were in the blind together that Saturday evening.
“I saw a four-point working through,” she began. “But, out the other window of the hut, I saw another buck rubbing on a tree about 80 yards out. Dad did not see it. It was looking out the otherwindowin the hut. I held up one hand to stop him from shooting.
“The larger one began working his way toward us,” she continued. “The fourpoint moved on and along came the 10-point. Aftermy dad shot, he didn’t move a muscle. He was so composed. I turned and looked at him and said congratulations you just shot a nice buck.”
Less than an hour later, he got the eight-pointer.
“Dad cocked his bow again. We had lots of light left. He had the potential to see another nice buck come along sowe decidedto stay. Fortymore minuteswe looked out the window and saw the eight-point rubbing on a tree. It was probably 50 yards away when dad shot,” said Pratt. “Those two bucks died within 10 yards from one another.”
That’s something for show and tell, isn’t it?