Meet Gabe Patterson, a Conservation Officer with the DWR.
A man with a big heart and even bigger sense of humor.
(Gabe Patterson, DWR Conservation Officer) (nats opening door) (gabe) Hello, are you Jonathan? (john) I am. (gabe) How are you? (john) good. (gabe) I’m Gabe Patterson with the UDWR, I’m a conservation officer. (john) hi. (gabe) I have a few questions for you. Wondering if we can come inside and maybe ask you a few questions.
(Gabe Patterson) Did you go on a deer hunt last year. (john) I did.
(Gabe Patterson) Do you have anything you want to tell me about that?
Gabe is grilling 16 year old Jonathan Bowen. A young man who has been fighting for his life for over five years.
(Kelli Bowen, Jonathan’s mom) It’s lasted a long time and it’s hard to say when it will be over.
Jonathan has been diagnosed with diabetes. He’s had kidney cancer, lung cancer, has undergone multiple chemotherapy and radiation treatments, even a bone marrow transplant. This kid has gone through a lot.
(Gabe Patterson) You’ve got two options. Option one, is you can take these, you can put them on you and we can go down and have a talk. (gabe) Option two, you can promise to meet me on the afternoon of Sept 30th, down in Southern Utah on what we call the Johnson’s CWMU (gabe) accompany us on a big bull hunt. (gabe) you like elk? (john) yeah. (gabe) does it sound better than wearing these? (john) yeah! (family laughs) (gabe) coming along for a ride on an elk hunt. (john) yeah! (gabe) we’d like the tag to be in your name. (john) ok. (family laughs) (gabe) sound good. (john) yeah.
(Kelli off camera) You know every time you’ve wanted to go on a deer hunt or something you have always been in the hospital.
(Kelli Bowen) And this is just the coolest thing. That you finally get to go on this hunt.
(mark hugs gabe) Thank you so much. So awesome you do this.
The man behind this hunt is Bob Thomas, a landowner on the Johnson CWMU. Bob and Gabe have done this hunt twice before, each time, they’ve picked a young hunter who has dealt with struggles in their lives.
(Gabe) I call him Bob hunting Clause Thomas. He’s an amazing guy, he’s going to be on the hunt with you.
A lot of people stepped up to make sure Jonathan had a hunt of a lifetime. Click the video to see how this amazing day came together.
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