By Vivien Felker  (originally published in the March-April 2025 issue of Bugle magazine)

Three youth hunters overcome challenges to kill their first deer in Virginia —but not before Hurricane Helene tried to get in the way. 

Hands of a Sportsman, a nonprofit that brings kids with physical disabilities or other challenges hunting, has overcome many speedbumps in its eight years of existence. But Hurricane Helene—the monstrous storm that caused devastation across the southeast U.S. last September—was perhaps the biggest obstacle yet. Still, it didn’t stop a deer hunt in southern Virginia for underprivileged kids.    

Hosted in partnership with local nonprofit Coalfield Special Sportsmen, this inaugural hunt was set to welcome five families, but whipping wind and unrelenting rain kept two families from making the trek north. For those that did make it, the impacts of the hurricane kept things interesting.  

“It rained all week leading up to the hunt,” says Hands of a Sportsman founder and president David Hinceman. “The power was out the first night in the hotel, but on Saturday the rain cleared up for the day and the kids had awesome hunting.”  

Just after daylight on Saturday, 6-year-old Avisha Hart killed his first deer, a whitetail doe using a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle custom built for the organization to be suitable for young hunters. Hinceman has lost track of how many hunters have used it to take their first deer. “Both guides did a great job keeping him patient and making a great shot, and the rest is history,” says Hinceman. They were hunting on the property of Ronnie Blankenship—on one of the first sites elk hooves hit the dirt when the animals were reintroduced to Virginia beginning in 2012. With the hunt overlapping the peak of the elk rut, the hunters got to experience seeing and hearing bugling bull elk in coalfield country.  That same morning, Tyler Quinn from Clinchco, Virginia, pulled the trigger on a great buck on the property of Frank and Fredia Brown.  

After reconvening at lunchtime to celebrate the hunters’ first kills, a crew of guides and a cameraman headed out with the final hunter—Dominic Hilton and his dad from Jonesville, Virginia, to sit in a ground blind for the evening. As daylight waned, Dominic made a perfect broadside shot on a buck. The hunt was free for the kids and their families. Breaks Interstate Park stepped up to provide the hotel stay; Papa John’s donated pizza; and the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors contributed funds for blinds, tripods and adaptive equipment. And RMEF has long supported the program with nearly $80,000 in grants to help fund 18 hunts since 2017. That’s on top of the 1,000 hours that 73 RMEF volunteers have given to help guide hunters and oversee other aspects of the experience. All told, Hands of a Sportsman has hosted 282 families with no signs of slowing down. 

As the organization has grown and engaged more families than Hinceman ever dreamed, he says he’s had mothers cry with appreciation about the impact it’s had on kids who’ve kept getting overlooked. “All their life they’ve been told they can’t do stuff, and we prove them wrong.”