ICONIUM, Mo. | Moments after Travis Waddell, 11, shot his first deer, he hugged his father and burst into an excited account of the hunt.
But it wasn’t the type of exchange you see every day in the deer woods.
Both father and son were using sign language, conversing in the language of the deaf.
“I have been hunting deer for a long time — archery, rifle and black powder,” Tracy Waddell, Travis’ father, wrote in a notepad in answer to a reporter’s question. “When I was 8 years old, I got my first deer, and I remember how excited I was.
“But I don’t think anything can beat this. To be here when your son takes his first deer — and to see how excited he got — that’s something I’m going to remember.”
The Waddells, who live in Olathe, were part of a special deer camp.
Based at a Boy Scout Camp near Truman Lake, the camp played host to nine deaf children — five from the Missouri School for the Deaf, four from the Kansas School for the Deaf — for a two-day hunt last weekend in conjunction with Missouri’s youth deer season.
Coordinated by Craig Jones, a longtime Boy Scout volunteer, big-game hunter and taxidermist from Kansas City, the event was designed to give the kids an unforgettable hunting experience.
Jones situated blinds in different locations on the Scouts’ property a week ahead of the hunt to get the deer accustomed to them. Then the day of the hunt, volunteers took the boys and their fathers into the woods to wait for the deer to appear.
Waddell was one of the lucky ones. He described how the hunt unfolded.
“I was surprised when I first saw the deer walk out,” he said through an interpreter. “When he walked in front of our blind, I was nervous. I didn’t want to miss.
“But I aimed, and I got my first deer.”
Jones watched father and son celebrate and got choked up.
“Something like that makes me happier than shooting a record buck myself,” he said. “Some of these kids have had a tough time.
“But they can come here and be like any other kid. They can go out and have a good time hunting.”
Waddell wasn’t the only one telling stories through sign language in the deer camp.
Noah Fahncke, 11, who lives in rural Miami County, also had quite a tale to relate.
On Oct. 31, he shot at a deer but hit nothing but a tree. Last Sunday, though, he shot a small buck and couldn’t wait to communicate the experience.
“He’s so excited,” said Marty Fahncke, his father, who has normal hearing and is the leader of his son’s Boy Scout troop. “Something like this is great for these kids.
“So many times, they are excluded from activities because they can’t hear. They feel left out.
“But they can participate in things like hunting. Experiences like this are great for their self-esteem.”
Still, there are disadvantages. The children couldn’t hear deer approach, and they couldn’t listen to instructions.
Even the sign language that the fathers used could have spooked the sharp-eyed deer in a normal situation. That’s why Jones provided popup camouflaged blinds to conceal movement.
The strategy must have worked. By noon last Sunday, four of the nine children had taken deer.
There were lots of high-fives and rapid-fire signing as the kids watched volunteers skin the deer and prepare to send the boys and girls home with venison.
“That’s part of it,” Jones said. “We try to teach then all parts of deer hunting — from gun safety to eating what they harvest.”
Now in its fifth year, the special deer hunt already has a history of success. Some of the children who took part this year had been at past camps.
Sponsored by the Heart of American Council of the Boy Scouts, the event provides opportunities on land that isn’t normally open to hunting. And conservation officials say it’s useful because it helps thin deer numbers and keeps deer from overpopulating the area.
Leman Moore, 13, of Martinsburg, Mo., is one of the boys who left the hunt with a smile on his face.
Hunting with volunteer guide Mike Mathis, he took a small buck on the second day of the hunt.
“I didn’t even see a deer last year,” Moore said. “But this year, I got lucky.”
Mathis smiled and put his arm around the boy’s shoulder.
“You should have seen him after he shot that deer,” he said. “He was hopping up and down, he was so excited.
“That’s what it’s all about.”
To reach Brent Frazee, The Star’s outdoors editor, call 816-234-4319 or send e-mail to bfrazee@kcstar.com
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