Box Seats for the Big Game

One disabled hunter's dream helps many.

STORY BY P.J. PEREA
PHOTOS BY CHAS. J. DEES

I have hunted in many different blinds over the years—everything from a simple mud hole dug in the middle of a cornfield to railroad tanks cleverly buried in a hillside. I've heard manyhunters boast about how nice their blinds are and that I should visit them. When I did, beds turned out to be straw-filled plastic bags, and cook-stoves ended up being coffee cans with charcoal briquettes. So I was a little skeptical when Warren Ilges told me about his club's deer hunting condos.

Ilges explained that the elaborate blinds were a product of his disability and his desire to share his hunting experience with his son. Ilges suffered a major injury to the discs in his back in 1984 and, as a result, has reduced mobility. Traditional hunting became a troubling and oftentimes painful experience. While he loved to hunt, he had a hard time battling the elements and staying comfortable. At that same time, his son Dustin wished to spend more time learning about his father's love of the outdoors.

Members of the HIGGDISAW hunting club prepare the ATVs for the day's hunt.

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A 32-foot tower with all the amenities of home overlooks the hunting club. Dustin Ilges (above) awaits a deer.

The club owns a hydraulic lift wagon that makes transportation for wheelchair-bound hunters passible.

"He was only three years old and wanted to accompany me on my outings," recalled Ilges, "But, I wanted my son to be safe." So he decided to build blinds that would not only accommodate his disability, but also be safe and comfortable enough to suit the needs of a rambunctious 3-year-old boy. He built large 6-foot wide by 6-foot long by 6-foot-tall blinds and equipped them with every comfortable amenity he could fit into the cube. "People kept telling me that I wouldn't see any deer, because the blinds were so large and obvious," said Ilges. But the deer became used to them. And many deer were harvested by Ilges and later by Dustin, then six years old.

January 2002

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Norman Ferrier, a disabled hunter from Tamms, is very grateful that he can hunt at HIGGDISAW hunting club. Otherwise, he could not hunt at all.	Warren Ilges relaxes in his custom blind that serves as the command center of the club.

"If I never got to go hunting again, watching my son take his first deer would be enough," said Ilges.

With the obvious success of his blinds, Ilges decided to expand the horizons of his hunting endeavors and offer the use of his unique blinds to others with disabilities. In 1998, Ilges and a group of disabled hunters founded a non-profit organization called HIGGDISAW hunting club. The HIGGDISAW hunting club caters specifically to physically challenged hunters. With access to more than 400 acres of hunting property, the club offers many options to those with a variety of disabilities.

Features and amenities found in some of these blinds include: wheelchair accessible ramps, rubber-coated sealed roofs, sliding windows, heaters, propane camping stoves, teakettles, food shelves, clocks, carpeting, card tables, games, indoor and outdoor thermometers, AM/FM radios, first aid kits, battery-powered TVs, two-way communicators, built-in porta potties, rear-view mirrors, reclining bucket seats, reading materials, cots, louvered blinds, Christmas lights for the holidays and an infrared game finder for locating shot game. For safety's sake, all the blinds are properly vented for good air circulation. The club also has a hydraulic-powered wheelchair lift for a wagon to bring hunters to their blinds and a number of four-wheel drive Honda ATVs for those who can ride without assistance. The blinds are better equipped than some college students' apartments.

"It's a lot of fun to share your passion with someone who really enjoys it," said Ilges. "For many of these guys, it was depressing to have a deer season come and not be able to go out hunting because of their disability. This hunting club makes a lot of people very happy."

Those interested in learning more about the facilities at the HIGGDISAW can contact Warren Ilges at (618) 594-4302 or e-mail him at higgdisawhuntingclub@msn.com.

What's in a Name? HIGGDISAW is a strange name, but there is an explanation for the name. The club's title is the first letter from each of the last names of the founding members. Dustin Ilges put together the name and it just stuck. H for Joe Hall I for Dustin Ilges G for David Gooden G for Billy Gundlach D for Neal Dailey I for Warren Ilges S for Will Swepker or Brian Simonton A for Mark Akins W for Dennis Wilkins or Kenny Wilkerson

Show us yours So do you think your hunting blind measures up to the deer and turkey condos found at HIGGDISAW Hunting club? Send in a photo of your blind for consideration. We'll be publishing photos of these marvels of engineering and ingenuity in a future issue.

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