Editors note: This story has been heavily edited since it was first published on Saturday, Jan. 28. Since then, the Journal has learned that a number of assertions made by one of the Hunt for Heroes participants were false. This version has edited out all references to that individual.
For the past five years, Bob and Terri Luna of Colorado Hunting Expeditions in Dolores host the Mark Ecker II Memorial Hunt for Heroes. The Hunt for Heroes brings veterans from all over the country to the area to hunt wildlife.
The event receives support from local businesses, landowners, hunting guides and other members of the community. Safari Club International and the National Rifle Association also support the event.
It was more than five years ago when Luna got a long-distance phone call from a man who wanted to come hunting in Colorado. The man told Luna that he was a soldier and he was calling from Ramadi, Iraq.
No ones ever called me from Iraq before, Luna said.
Luna grew excited and told the soldier that he could help. He also mentioned that there were a few more elk tags left.
Within a few days, the Lunas had eight hunters and their families planning for what would become an institution.
I told him, Bring em on. Thats when I called Mark Steinke of the NRA, Luna said.
Steinke, a senior NRA field representative of field operations division in Alaska and former Colorado field rep., jumped at the chance to work with veterans.
This is huge, Steinke told Luna.
The NRA held chapter meetings and established that if they got funds together they could send a handful of selected veterans to Colorado, and have the hunt donated.
We were proud to help them out with a little hunting and tell them thank you for all the things theyve done to honor this country. You can come here, shed some tears, shake some hands and we say thank you, Steinke said at the welcoming ceremony at Kokos on Jan. 14.
Luna said its a small way to show appreciation to the veterans. Mark Ecker, one of the original eight hunters, came to Colorado from Iraq after losing his legs in a roadside bomb explosion. He made an impression on the Lunas and everyone else involved. He was later killed in an accident and the annual event bears his name.
Its about these guys, right here, Luna said from his lodge. This January, five hunters came to Dolores for the elk hunt, guided by local volunteer guides. They stayed at the lodge, ate Terri Lunas homemade meals, shared stories and photographs, and went on hunts every morning until they all filled their tags.
A WAY TO GIVE BACK
Local guide and volunteer Tim Kline lost his grandson five years ago in Iraq when he was killed by a snipers bullet.
After doing this for five years and you have the opportunity to meet some of these guys, you end up making new friends, but you also have a chance to give something back. Say thank you for what theyve gone through, Kline said.
Thats what doing this is all about. Im 67, and I hope I can do this for a lot more of my years, he added.
Former Marine Gary Whitnack of Ridgecrest, Calif. spoke about coming to Colorado with emotion and enthusiasm. The 64-year-old veteran was badly wounded in Vietnam, spending 10 months recovering in the hospital before retiring from the military in 1968.
It was not a popular war, when I got home it was not good. For the longest time, if anyone asked, I told them I was in the Coast Guard, Whitnack confessed.
He says troops always need to be supported.
Whether you believe in whats going on, or not is not the plight of the soldier, the Marine, the sailor or Air Force men. We just do our job. We do what were told and try to stay alive, Whitnack said.
He said that the Lunas and the sponsors of the hunt are the true patriots.
They put their money where their heart is, and what this does is really helping us. It tells us that some people care, Whitnack said.
Darren Ellsmore is one of the sponsors and perhaps the man most responsible for this years hunt. Ellsmore is president of RGS Labs, a producer of racing caliber auto wax. He is also a host/hunting guide on cable television. Ellsmore said he became interested in wounded veteran hunts when helping secure a special wheelchair for a man disabled in Afghanistan. The wheelchair allowed the veteran and his son to hunt wild boar.
His son was glowing and he was glowing. I thought, I want to do this. It made it so much greater than anything else Id ever done, he said.
When he found out about the Hunt for Heroes said it sounded like the opportunity of a lifetime.
Ellsmore, a father of five who lives in Pagosa Springs, said he was honored spending time with the veterans on their hunts, whether to hold their rifles, spot animals, or just talk and listen.
Its such an amazing feeling when you see these people, he said.
Ellsmore donated $30,000 to the NRA to purchase the hunt for the veterans.
Reach Brandon Mathis at brandonm@cortezjournal.com