Red Feather hosts Wheelin' Sportsmen

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

Two men--each wizened by a close brush with mortality--have put together an idea with the generous help of local volunteers to give 35 area mentally and physically handicapped adults and children a day of fishing in Red Feather Lakes.

The fourth annual event, sponsored by the Wheelin' Sportsmen in September, was born when Carey Quarles insisted on getting to know Gary Hamilton.

Wheelin' Sportsmen is a program of the National Wild Turkey Federation that enables handicapped men and women to enjoy the out of doors through hunting and fishing.

Quarles, a Fort Collins and Red Feather Lakes resident with a passion for fishing and turkey hunting, explained that a doctor told him he'd probably never hunt again after a bad bout with cancer and other medical complications.

"I vowed then," Quarles said, "that if I could ever hunt again I'd help others who might not be so lucky."

As an active member of the NWTF, Quarles was aware of its program for the disabled called Wheelin' Sportsmen and contacted the federation for names of participants in the area, of which there were only three. That's how he met Hamilton, who now lives in Greeley.

"At first Gary didn't want to meet," Quarles said, "but I was persistent and we finally got together for lunch."

Hamilton said he was paralyzed 10 years ago in an accident that killed his wife. "I was depressed and uninvolved with life," he said. "I just mostly watched the world go by on television, but then I saw something on the Outdoor Channel about Wheelin' Sportsmen and called them up. I'd hunted and fished all my life but never thought I could do that again."

Hamilton and Quarles began finding ways to get others involved in a viable Wheelin' Sportsmen program for Larimer County. Now Hamilton and Quarles are co-chairs of a growing Larimer Chapter, called Longbeards, with close to 80 members. Quarles personally gives a membership to each of the fishing participants.

The fishing program at Red Feather Lakes began in 2002 with 11 participants, Quarles said. According to Steve Murdock, coordinator for Wheelin' Sportsmen in Colorado, the Red Feather fishing day is now their largest event in Colorado. The adults fish on a Friday and the children come up the following Saturday, usually with their parents.

Quarles said if not for the folks in Red Feather Lakes, the event would never happen. Besides donations from the area, there were 33 red-capped volunteers on the lakes to help as needed - baiting hooks, netting fish and making sure everyone had supplies. The Circle of Friends at Chapel in the Pines provided brunch for the participants, and Red Feather Storage and Irrigation, which administers the private lakes, helped get fishing passes at reduced cost. Quarles added that this year the Colorado Division of Wildlife provided 50 new rods for the event from the Anglers Education Program.

Libby Stoddard, parent and family advocate with the Larimer Center for Mental Health, said most of adults and all of the children fishing at the Wheelin' Sportsmen event are clients from the center or from Foothills Gateway Inc.

April Rikhoff at Foothills Gateway Inc., which supports people with developmental disabilities, said clients who go fishing are part of their supported living program. This is a highlight of the year for many, she added.

This 2005 event was dedicated to Lois Stroh, an area resident who gave hours of volunteer time in previous years to these events, and who recently suffered a debilitating stroke.

Quarles and Hamilton continue to push each other, too. In 2004, Quarles challenged Hamilton to achieve a Grand Slam in turkey hunting, bagging one of each of the four kinds of turkey found in the United States. "I thought that would be impossible for me," Hamilton said, "but in fact, it happened, even though I had to fly to Florida to find one of them."