Heroes are Out There - The Story of Veteran Outdoors 2009 Raffle

BY KEVIN C PAULSON

December 18, 2009

Every day as a part of my job I get a chance to talk to people that I consider real heroes. Some of them are amazing veterans who put thier life on the line for our country and some of those are folks who are battling for conservation and habitat and some of those are working to protect our youth and teach them the traditions that we all have for the outdoors.

At the RMEF Convention I had the opportunity to meet Harold Hurst and I knew in my heart that this man was a hero. He told me about his company Stedi-Stock and I fell in love with his product. As well he told me how he keeps all of the production in the USA because he was a veteran himself in Vietnam. After several conversations we had the opportunity to work together with an advertisement for HuntingLife.com. We had lots of conservations and I got to know a little bit about Harold and the more I got to know, the more I liked.

Harold had the opportunity this year to go on a hunt with Jim Zumbo and some disabled veterans in Alaska for bear and wrote a fantastic story about the expereince of getting to hunt with these heroes who gave up a part of thier body for our country in thier service for this great country of ours.

Harold goes to a lot of shows across this country and walking down an aisle one day he had the chance to meet Wes Higgins and Cody Hirt from Veterans Outdoors. They were holding a raffle for a Critter Getter Jeep to raise money to take wounded veterans out hunting for thier television show. Tickets were a $100.00 and Harold did not think twice and opened up his wallet and whipped out a fresh bill and walked away pleased that his investment was going to help some American Veterans. Now Harold leaves an amazing impression on all who meet him and Cody, Wes, and Brad certainly knew they were dealing with a pretty great person and they were excited to be able to use some of Harold's product the Stedi-Stock to film with and give to the veterans.

Well that is certainly not the end of the story.

At the end of thier fishing tournament in San Leon these guys were pretty excited when they got to pull the ticket for the Critter Gitter Jeep Giveaway. They pulled out Harold Hurst's ticket and smiled ina knowing way that Harold certainly was a disserving winner of this great hopped up jeep. They hatched a plan and since they were headed to South Dakota for a Wounded Veterans hunt the next week they called up Harold and asked him if they could stop by to pick up some product to take with them on this hunt. Harold agreed but said he had to hunt and would not be back until Sunday night so they agreed to meet after dark.

The guys were pretty excited and they trailered up the Critter Gitter and towed it out to Harolds home that Sunday night with the VO truck. They met up with Harold and discussed the Stedi-Stocks and introduced Harold to Pat who was a US Army Helicopter Pilot who was shot down and crashed in Iraq and was going on the hunt with the crew. They then asked Harold what he thought of the jeep. He said he liked it and had even bought a raffle ticket for the jeep and assumed they were delivering it the lucky winner.

They handed the keys over to Harold and told him he was the winner. Harold was speechless and they filmed his great expressions and the many Thank You's. He got in it and drove it around the block a few times and he then told them he needed to confer with his lovely wife Deb and partner because Harold wanted to donate this jeep back to Veteran Outdoors to continue to raise money for the projects they were working on. Of course Deb agreed immediately because that is just the kind of people the Hurst's are.

Cody told me in an email, " His selfless acts still continue to this day as he turned the tides on all of us by refusing the jeep and instead gave it back to Hunts For Heroes to raffle again so that we’re able to continue helping his brother’s in arms. There wasn’t a dry eye around…this was a complete surprise and shock to all of us!

Harold and his wife Deb have helped out more people than they will ever know with this act of kindness…their generosity will enable Hunts For Heroes’ Veteran Outdoors to continue to provide a platform for our country’s heroes to tell their stories in their own words and will allow us to continue taking these deserving veterans on adventures."

My hats off to all of these great individuals... Harold Hurst, Wes Higgins, Cody Hirt and Brad and Pat...They are all heroes in my book along with the soldiers and veterans who have served our great military for 100's of years and continue each and every day in our country and in lands far far away. I am honored for the opportunity to tell this great story, I am honored to have gotten to talk with Cody and I am honored to know Harold and Deb Hurst. Harold you are a great man and your actions make a difference, I am proud to know you and YOU INSPIRE ME!!! -

Please go out and support these great people and thier organizations for helping to take Veterans Outdoors: