(Adam Intro) Thanks for tuning into KSL Outdoors, I’m Adam Eakle. You know if you’ve watched our shows for the past six or seven years, you’ve probably seen the name Mike and Kevin Pritchett. That’s the Pritchett boys out of Spanish Fork Utah, they host the Salem Pond fishing day for the disabled kids and they also do a bunch of turkey hunting as well. Tonight we’ve got something totally different, it’s not turkeys, it’s not fish, but deer, let’s introduce you to 12 year old Tate Davis.
(Tate Davis) I have four frogs and a couple of lizards.
Tate Davis is just like any other 12 year old boy. He likes sports, hunting, and fishing with his family. But Tate has other challenges to overcome, others don’t.
(Greg Davis, Tate’s Father) When he was 22 months old, other kids were playing soccer in the yard and he had his little rake on the side of the road, raking in the gravel and he got struck by a car.
(Greg Davis) From that he received a spinal cord injury at about T-4 and his paralysis that he has is about nipple line down.
(Greg Davis) The doctors I can remember them coming out and telling me that he probably wouldn’t walk again and I said I don’t care, just don’t take him. I didn’t want him to be taken from us.
The Davis family loves the outdoors, and make sure Tate has every opportunity to enjoy it with them.
(Greg Davis) i don’t think he thinks he has any limits because we don’t give him any.
He’s hunted rabbits, even bagged a turkey last year, but Tate was really looking forward to hunting deer when he finally turned twelve.
(Greg Davis) it was his first year to put in for a deer tag and we put all the kids in and none of them drew.
(Adam) and when you didn’t draw? (tate davis) I was disappointed.
That’s when members of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife stepped up.
(Greg) so i was talking with my very good friend Alan Lyle.
(Greg) he said oh there’s got to be a CWMU tag out there available for tate. So he said let me start making some phone calls.
Alan called Ryan Foutz, the Vice President of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. Ryan called Mike and Kevin Pritchett who are known to tackle such a task. Each spring the Pritchett boys take young men and women who face challenges in their lives on turkey hunts. I met these two brothers six years ago on such a hunt. Every year we have a blast chasing gobblers with these kids. It’s the best part of my job covering stories with the likes of the Pritchett boys. They are some of the most giving men I’ve ever met.
(Kevin Pritchett) We had one of the guys ask us if we’d take this kid in a wheel chair, Tate out deer hunting, and we had these CWMU tags and thought what better to give one of those on top of the turkey hunts.
(Greg) they finally got the tag, they made a special trip from Spanish Fork to Saint George, Kevin and Mike Pritchett and Todd. And they came over and presented tate with this CWMU tag.
(Greg) it was going to be on TV and then that they were going to mount it for him and it just got better and better and he has been so excited. Ever since that day, we’ve been looking forward to it like Christmas.
(Gordon Lyle, Family Friend) it’s turn around for Greg, cause Greg and I have done some stuff on Make A Wish foundation for other people and now to have it turn around and happen to him means a lot.
(Adam) Well you’ll want to stick around as we get ready for Tate’s hunt.
(Greg) it’s a buck. (kevin) what is he? (greg) yeah that’s him. Let me see what he is. (adam) he’s a good buck. Great eye guards.
(Adam) That coming up in just a second but first tonights quiz question.
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(Adam) Man you are decked out in Kings camo aren’t you? (dad) yeah he is.
Locally owned Kings camo has outfitted both Tate and his dad for the hunt. The men are almost as anxious as Tate.
(Gordon Lyle, Family friend) mi grande. (adam) big one huh? (friend) I’ve been telling him that all the way up.
(Adam) what do you think about all of this? (tate) yeah, pretty exciting? Cool, yeah. (adam) you been practicing? (tate) yeah.
(Kevin) We’ve got twenty thousand acres all to ourselves so. (adam) lets go. (kevin) lets go do it.
The plan is to spread out and find the kid a shooter buck. Tate, his dad, Kevin and I load up into Kevin’s Landcruiser. We haven’t driven ten minutes when I look out the window and spot a buck looking back.
(Adam) See him right down there?
(Kevin) what is he? (adam) a three by four, or three by three. (dad) yeah he’s a pretty good buck.
(Greg) Yeah but we’ve got to get a better look at him.
The buck is in a perfect position, the only problem is Tate is on the wrong side of the truck to see him. We drive to the head of the draw and Craig lifts his son to drivers side back seat.
(Greg) I think you are going to have to roll up the window still, or is that good. (tate) that’s good. (greg) can you see it.
Because of his disabilities Tate has a permit to shoot from the truck. Tate is set, now we just need to re-locate the buck.
(Adam) I think he’s right there, he just walked into the trees. (greg) yeah, yeah.
(Greg) there’s a deer right there!
(Greg) it’s a buck. (kevin) what is he? (greg) yeah that’s him. Let me see what he is. (adam) he’s a good buck. Great eye guards. (tate) shoot him? (greg) yeah, yeah, yeah. (greg) you’ve got to turn more, you’ve got to turn more. Keep going that way. Ok, right there. (kevin) Ok, there he is shoot him Tate. (kevin) You need the window up? (shot) (greg) Oh, nice shot! (laughing) (adam) I can’t believe that! (greg) You put it right on his neck? (adam) Dude, what are we going to do now? (kevin) oh good job. (adam) that was him. (kevin) that was him. (adam) oh my gosh. (kevin on radio) We are done! (laughs)
(Greg) What are you doing? (tate) you told me to shoot him. (adam) that’s a good buck. (greg) that’s a good buck tate.
(mike) you are kidding me Griswold? (kevin) I’m not kidding, Tate smoked it. (laughs)
(Greg) this is going to do a lot for his confidence and for feeling like one of the guys. He sees me and his brother doing things and this just levels the playing field I think.
(Tate) Pretty awesome. (dad laughs) (adam) pretty good buck! (tate) yeah.
(kevin) Why do we do it? Just because we enjoy the outdoors and hunting and fishing we want to share that with those that don’t have that opportunity.
(Todd Abelhouzen, SFW, EX Advisory Board Member) it’s a great event, it’s a great opportunity for us to be involved.
(Gordon Lyle, Family Friend) sportsmens groups are fantastic and that’s why i like to support all these programs because it’s just not going and killing. They take care of each other, they take care of families, they take care of the animals that we chase.
(Greg) it just gives you a such a good feeling and to know that there is good people out there in the world and that this is a good world that we live in.
(Tag) well team Griswold strikes again, ten minutes into the hunt. (mike) that’s how we do it. (adam) Greg that’s got to be a pretty awesome feeling to watch your son do that? (greg) hey that is. He was pretty bummed out that he didn’t have a deer tag and ten minutes into it. Right off the bat he dumped him. (adam) great job Tate, give me knuckles, nice job. What an amazing morning here in Central Utah. Coming up on KSL Outdoors, we’ll have a wrap up of this years general season deer hunt, we’ll see if your hunt was as good as Tate. That in just a second, but first back to the guys at Fish Tech for tonights Fishing Report.
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