BIRCHWOOD, Tenn. — As we settled into our hunting blind, I turned to Jeff Kuether and said, “I hope this is one of those days you can tell your friends, ‘I hadn’t been in the blind five minutes when a deer stepped out.”
Little did I know the wish would come true.
Jeff is a retired Marine taking part in the annual Whitetails & Heroes Deer Hunt on Hiwassee Refuge. It is a hunt put on especially for wounded warriors, soldiers who were wounded or disabled serving their country. Each hunter was partnered with a “guide,” though the title is loose. We weren’t really guides as much as we were companions – folks who maybe had a tad bit more deer hunting experience, all proud to share the woods with heroes…