Eric Beggs is a professional home builder but dedicates a lot of his free time to giving Veterans and disabled children experiences they don't normally have access to. He has also done fundraisers to raise money for youth hunts where he is a mentor for hunting trips. Being a very quiet and bashful guy, Eric probably wouldn't even want the acknowledgment but he deserves it. Nominated by Josh Zimmerman

Eric's Story:

Born and raised in Portage County, I have lived mostly around the Bancroft area my whole life. I grew up enjoying the outdoors and my passion for hunting just grew from there.

I got into mentoring hunting trips when some friends from the Waupaca area asked me to help out with a veteran turkey hunt. To this day I remember the first guy that I mentored, his snow pants were so loud when we walked into the woods I thought there was no way we would get a turkey, but we did after a few hours of turkey hunting! From there I kept mentoring for veterans for turkey hunts and eventually got into mentoring youth for deer hunts.

In 2012 I brought our first disabled youth hunter we sponsored and her family for the weekend, after that first year my vision became to expanding it to bringing more youth in the years to follow. So from there forward it grew from 1 too 3, too 7, too now sponsoring 10 youth hunters every year.

We receive most of our disabled youth hunters, as well as our veteran turkey hunters from a foundation by the name of United Special Sportsman Alliance which is based out of Pittsville, WI and is a great foundation to work with. Anyone can donate there and they will ear mark the funds for hunts in Wisconsin or for the funds to be used for specific things.

Since 2018 I have had so many people come forward to make my vision come to life with people donating their hunting land, lodging, money, and especially their time to help take the hunters out on a perfect hunt. We have a special group of volunteers to pick up hunters, drive, clean and process meat, cook, bake and much more. Now we take out 10 veterans for the Spring turkey hunt; the hunters come from all over the mid-west. We also take out 10 disabled kids for the fall youth deer hunt. Through generous donations we have been able to buy and build heated deer stands to give the kids a good hunt. A good stand allows the kids to move around, take a nap, talk if they want, have heat if needed, and even play a game if they choose to.

Both the veteran turkey hunts and disabled youth deer hunts we do are all inclusive as we provide everything for their weekend of the hunt. Lodging, meals, license, firearms, warm clothing, gas, and gift cards. We also process any animals taken during the hunt for them to take back home.

All hunters are able to come and enjoy their hunting weekend as we believe that nothing is impossible, we will custom make anything to make their hunt possible and will provide a great experience for the hunter and their families. For example we converted an enclosed heated shack that we have on a trailer into being wheelchair accessible as we made a ramp to drive up into the shack. We also have shooting apparatus’ so hunters that are not able to use their hands can still shoot a firearm, all they have to do is suck in with their mouth on a straw to fire.

Who's your hero?

My heroes are these special children that I get to meet every year. Every child is special in their unique way. Some of them have had more surgeries than I care to even think about or are battling cancer and have won, and many have more challenges in life than we can even imagine. They fight their battles with smiles on their faces and to hear their laughter on their hunting weekend is priceless. They are the true heroes and their families that care and love them through countless odds that are against them. If we can give them a weekend of excitement, laughter, time away, and some fun. Then we have been successful in making a difference in a child and their families lives as it is a special time for all of us.