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12-12-2008, 10:27 AM
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Special facility accommodates wheelchairs for duck hunting
Steve Waters | Outdoors Writer
December 12, 2008
As one of the best public duck-hunting marshes in the country, Stormwater Treatment Area 5 in Hendry County attracts waterfowlers from throughout Florida.
Now, mobility-impaired hunters can get in on the fun.
The South Florida Water Management District built STAs to filter agricultural runoff before the water is released into the Everglades. An unexpected bonus of the shallow impoundments, which are filled with cattails and hydrilla, is an abundance of blue-winged and green-winged teal, wigeon, pintails, mottled ducks, black-bellied whistling ducks and ring-necked ducks.
The STAs have been open to waterfowl hunting for several years. District governing board member Mike Collins championed the building of blinds for disabled hunters at the STAs and the district just completed a blind at STA 5 that meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
The blind is on the south side of the northeast cell. A ramp allows mobility-impaired hunters to access the spacious blind, which can accommodate two wheelchairs. Avery Outdoors, a Tennessee company that specializes in waterfowl hunting gear (averyoutdoors.com), donated camouflage burlap and die-cut material to make the blind invisible to ducks.
The blind will be available for a total of 14 morning and afternoon hunts starting Dec. 21. Hunts at STA 5 are every Sunday through Jan. 25. Mobility-impaired hunters must meet the standards established by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (visit myfwc.com/ADA/hunters.htm).
There is one catch: Permits to hunt the STAs were issued in August. So a mobility-impaired hunter who would like to hunt ducks would have to hook up with someone who has a permit for an upcoming STA 5 hunt.
Wes Seitz, the public hunt areas biologist for the FWC's South region, said the water management district "definitely stepped up to the plate to get this thing built and they built it amazingly quick" just to get the program going. Seitz said that next season, mobility-impaired waterfowlers should be able to apply for a permit for the blind.
United Waterfowlers Florida, whose mission is to increase duck hunting opportunities throughout the state, is ready to help. Many of the group's members have STA 5 permits and several have offered to take out mobility-impaired hunters.
"Our group can step up and sacrifice a few hunts for those who otherwise wouldn't have a chance to hunt," said UWF president David Lithgow, who is taking two disabled veterans hunting on his Dec. 21 morning permit.
Thanks to the efforts of FWC commissioner Ron Bergeron and South regional director Chuck Collins, the order authorizing the blind allows permit holders to take two disabled hunters and act as their non-hunting observer, helping them get situated in the blind, putting out decoys, calling, and picking up ducks. Regular STA rules state that the permit holder must be one of the two hunters allowed by the permit and the observer can only watch and not help.
Permit holders who have a mobility-impaired hunter in their party can reserve the blind by calling the FWC South region office up to 5 p.m. the Wednesday before the hunt at 561-625-5122.
Mobility-impaired hunters who would like to hunt and need to be paired with a permit-holder, and those with STA 5 permits who want to take out mobility-impaired hunters, can email UWF's Lithgow at dlithgow@bellsouth.net or call him at 561-818-7539.
Steve Waters can be reached at swaters@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4648.
Special facility accommodates wheelchairs for duck hunting
Steve Waters | Outdoors Writer
December 12, 2008
As one of the best public duck-hunting marshes in the country, Stormwater Treatment Area 5 in Hendry County attracts waterfowlers from throughout Florida.
Now, mobility-impaired hunters can get in on the fun.
The South Florida Water Management District built STAs to filter agricultural runoff before the water is released into the Everglades. An unexpected bonus of the shallow impoundments, which are filled with cattails and hydrilla, is an abundance of blue-winged and green-winged teal, wigeon, pintails, mottled ducks, black-bellied whistling ducks and ring-necked ducks.
The STAs have been open to waterfowl hunting for several years. District governing board member Mike Collins championed the building of blinds for disabled hunters at the STAs and the district just completed a blind at STA 5 that meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
The blind is on the south side of the northeast cell. A ramp allows mobility-impaired hunters to access the spacious blind, which can accommodate two wheelchairs. Avery Outdoors, a Tennessee company that specializes in waterfowl hunting gear (averyoutdoors.com), donated camouflage burlap and die-cut material to make the blind invisible to ducks.
The blind will be available for a total of 14 morning and afternoon hunts starting Dec. 21. Hunts at STA 5 are every Sunday through Jan. 25. Mobility-impaired hunters must meet the standards established by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (visit myfwc.com/ADA/hunters.htm).
There is one catch: Permits to hunt the STAs were issued in August. So a mobility-impaired hunter who would like to hunt ducks would have to hook up with someone who has a permit for an upcoming STA 5 hunt.
Wes Seitz, the public hunt areas biologist for the FWC's South region, said the water management district "definitely stepped up to the plate to get this thing built and they built it amazingly quick" just to get the program going. Seitz said that next season, mobility-impaired waterfowlers should be able to apply for a permit for the blind.
United Waterfowlers Florida, whose mission is to increase duck hunting opportunities throughout the state, is ready to help. Many of the group's members have STA 5 permits and several have offered to take out mobility-impaired hunters.
"Our group can step up and sacrifice a few hunts for those who otherwise wouldn't have a chance to hunt," said UWF president David Lithgow, who is taking two disabled veterans hunting on his Dec. 21 morning permit.
Thanks to the efforts of FWC commissioner Ron Bergeron and South regional director Chuck Collins, the order authorizing the blind allows permit holders to take two disabled hunters and act as their non-hunting observer, helping them get situated in the blind, putting out decoys, calling, and picking up ducks. Regular STA rules state that the permit holder must be one of the two hunters allowed by the permit and the observer can only watch and not help.
Permit holders who have a mobility-impaired hunter in their party can reserve the blind by calling the FWC South region office up to 5 p.m. the Wednesday before the hunt at 561-625-5122.
Mobility-impaired hunters who would like to hunt and need to be paired with a permit-holder, and those with STA 5 permits who want to take out mobility-impaired hunters, can email UWF's Lithgow at dlithgow@bellsouth.net or call him at 561-818-7539.
Steve Waters can be reached at swaters@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4648.