Please be aware that Outdoor Buddies will be following all state and local guidelines for our events. If you have a fever or other flu-like symptoms, have traveled out of state in the past 2 weeks, or have been in close contact with anyone testing positive for COVID-19, please do not attend these events. Furthermore, if you are in a high-risk category, carefully consider your risk before attending.

We will be continuing to update our events and precautions as the situation develops. Thank you for your patience, optimism, and understanding. Hope all is well with you and yours!

Outdoor Buddies has limited hunting opportunities. To request a deer, elk or pronghorn hunt slot please click on one or more of the links below and fill out the requested information.

Requests received by 2/28/22 will have priority over those received after that date.

Participants in Outdoor Buddies sponsored big game hunts must be registered members of Outdoor Buddies. Registration must have been completed prior to being considered for a big game hunt.

Participants are expected to provide their own transportation to/from and during the hunt, unless other arrangements are made in advance, and pay personal expenses including required licenses. Outdoor Buddies will provide a location to hunt and an able-bodied helper/guide.

If you are selected for a hunt with Outdoor Buddies on private property, returning to this property for a future hunt without our approval is strictly prohibited. This action may disqualify you from any future hunts with Outdoor Buddies.

All Outdoor Buddies sponsored big game hunts are “No Smoking” activities.

The Outdoor Buddies Big Game Hunt Committee will review all requests received and you will be notified if you were selected or not via email.

If you are selected for a hunt slot, we will let you know what hunt unit to apply for. If you draw a license from the state we will work with you to schedule the details of the hunt. Please do not apply for a license for your requested hunt until your hunt is confirmed.

If you are selected for, and accept a hunt with Outdoor Buddies and then cancel, you will not be eligible to hunt with Outdoor Buddies the following year. Please note – we will review all cases and will not apply this rule to valid medical or health related issues.

Applicants may designate an area where he/she would prefer to hunt, however it may not be possible to schedule that location due to the limited number of opportunities at each hunt location. Please note - by selecting "no preference" on your hunt location, you will increase your odds of being selected for a hunt.

It's almost that time of year again! The 2022 Outdoor Buddies Annual Raffle fundraiser will begin in the first quarter of the year, details to be announced shortly. Tickets will be available online and at in-person sales locations (to be announced). Winners will be drawn at the annual clay shoot on August 6th in similar fashion to the 2021 raffle.

Thank you for your continued support of Outdoor Buddies and its mission to bring people with mobility impairments into the outdoors. None of these programs, events, memories, and experiences would be possible without you.

Details will be announced in upcoming newsletters.

My experience and encounters with the American pronghorn (antelope) started in the 2016 youth season. I’ve been lucky enough to harvest 6 animals from the Outdoor Buddies managed property outside of Fort Collins Colorado. It was my first pronghorn hunt and it started off as good as a person could ask for. A mere 2 hours after my arrival I had an animal in my crosshairs and on the ground. There are not too many easier hunts in my opinion. While that hunt was very circumstantial and a stroke of luck, I personally believe that this is the ideal youth hunt. In the few hours I was hunting I still learned an unbelievable amount of stuff.

The learning started with the classic ‘sight in’ (before the hunting where you sling a few rounds down range before trying to get on an animal) where I learned the importance of a slow steady trigger squeeze and learned how to control my breath. Once that step was done, we continued on to the final shot in which the training paid off. Another thing I learned is that after the animal is harvested is when the work starts. The real fun starts when you can learn all of the millions of ways there are to field dress an animal. After all of that is said and done, you get to sit back and eat a delicious dinner of food you harvested yourself.

If you've read this far into the article let me leave you with this, I highly recommend this hunt to any youth outdoorsman or any youth that is thinking about taking part in what this beautiful state and fantastic organization has to offer.

Visit our website at Outdoorbuddies.org to learn more about our youth big game hunts.

I have been fortunate to be involved with Outdoor Buddies since 2017, both as a volunteer and a participant. Since I was 17 years old, I have been dealing with paralysis of my lower legs and a host of other neuromuscular problems including weakness, hand tremors, and pain. I consider myself lucky since I am still able to walk (albeit with the use of leg braces), work as a physical therapist, and live a relatively normal life all things considered. However, hunting has become increasingly difficult over the past few years, and I am very grateful to be able to experience hunting with the help of Outdoor Buddies.

This past year, I was blessed to be selected for a deer hunt near Westcliffe. Throughout the experience, Rob was my able-bodied guide and helper. After applying unsuccessfully for my tag, I was able to get the proper hunting license through the mobility impaired hunting program through CPW. With tag in hand, I eagerly looked forward to the hunt! Rob did a great job communicating with me and offered some great suggestions on lodging in Westcliffe, near where our hunt would take place.

It was a long work week, and Friday night I headed out to stay the night in Westcliffe before the hunt at first light the following day. When morning came, we met up with Patrick, the other local volunteer helping out with the hunt, and headed for the spot they had picked out. It was the perfect spot, and an area where Patrick had seen does moving through every morning and evening. However, on that particular morning the deer had other plans. We didn’t catch sight of anything—nothing moved while we watched and waited. After the sun had climbed higher in the sky and “prime time” was over, we decided to go check a couple of other spots to see if we would get lucky and spot some does. Although we didn’t see deer anywhere else either, it was great getting to see the area and take in the views.

Rob and I grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local restaurant, and then it was back out into the field. As the afternoon wore on, we made a stop at one of Rob’s favorite fishing spots to explore and see the sights, and stopped by Patrick’s again to sit on his porch and look out over the scenery. After swapping some stories and discussing the suspicious absence of deer, we headed back to the spot where we started to try and catch the does as they moved around sunset. At first, it seemed like we wouldn’t see deer in the evening either. We had already begun discussing plans to come back in the morning when Patrick started making his way towards us in his truck. As he looked at the approaching vehicle, Rob spotted movement in his rearview mirror. Luckily, we were in radio contact with Patrick and told him to stop. The does were moving in right behind us!

I quickly checked the time—we had 5 minutes of shooting light left, and they were less than 100 yards away. I quickly dialed my scope down to its 100 yard zero, got in position, and waited for the lead doe (the largest of the group) to present a shot. When she finally quartered away, I took the shot and saw her go down immediately on impact.  We gutted her by headlamp and used Rob’s homemade winch system to pull her up into the truck. She rolled in a cactus when she went down, so we found our

selves picking spines out of our hands for the next few hours, but it was worth it!

Before long, we were back at Rob’s house and made short work of quartering out the doe. Rob and Patrick were both great guys to hang out with on the hunt, and they put in a lot of work to increase our chances of success. I returned home the next morning with a cooler full of wild game and good memories from the hunt. I am very grateful for the chance to hunt and harvest wild game, even despite my mobility challenges, and it’s all thanks to Outdoor Buddies and guys like Rob and Patrick. Thanks, for a great hunt!

Avgolemono, meaning egg (avgo) and lemon (lemono), is a Greek chicken soup that’s creamy without the use of dairy. Eggs and rice thicken it and give a silky texture that is to die for on a cold winter day. Actually, it reminds me a lot of the Vietnamese rice porridge I grew up eating, except the tartness of avgolemono might make you pucker. That leads to my next point: Traditional recipes for avgolemono call for copious amounts of lemon juice. I’ve cut down the amount of citrus in my recipe, but if you’re looking for more excitement in your life, add as much lemon as your tastebuds desire.

The fun part about this recipe is that you’ll learn how to temper, which essentially means bringing two different liquids to a similar temperature in order to incorporate them in the end. Dumping cold-whisked eggs into a simmering pot of soup won’t give you avgolemono—instead, you’ll get something closer to egg-drop soup. By bringing the egg up to temperature slowly, you maintain a smooth texture.

In a medium stock pot, combine pheasant, water, onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 1 ½ hours or until pheasant legs and thighs are tender. Skim off any foam.

Drain stock and discard solids, reserving the pheasant. Once cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones and set aside. Return stock to the pot with bay leaves, diced carrot, and long-grain white rice. Cook for 30 minutes or until rice expands and becomes tender.

In a medium mixing bowl, vigorously whisk three eggs until they're slightly foamy and the whites are completely incorporated. To temper the egg mixture, take a ladle of hot soup and slowly incorporate it into the egg in a small stream while whisking constantly. Do not add hot soup too quickly to the egg or it will scramble. Continue to do this until the egg bowl feels hot. When it does, it's then safe to pour the egg and soup mixture into the pot with the rest of the soup.

Add as much shredded pheasant as you like back to the pot, as well as lemon juice to taste. Season with salt and pepper and discard the bay leaf. The soup will thicken, so keep extra stock on hand to thin it out if needed. Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil on top.

Meetings are held from 6:30pm-8:30pm at the locations and dates below.