A dream come true

The stands make it easy for the handicapped to access.

It all started when Greg Peer drove through the Crex Meadows north of Grantsburg, WI and saw signs pointing to “handicapped blinds,” created by Ducks Unlimited.

“I thought, the state has designated areas for handicapped hunts by building roads and trails, but I thought, why not more than just one — why not two at each refuge … Crex Meadows, Amsterdam Slough, and Fish Lake Wildlife Areas?” says Peer.

The idea was simple — “To give handicapped people the opportunities to hunt,” said Peer.

Today, just over four years later, there are two handicapped stands at each of the three locations, all on state and federal land. But Peer and a host of others are not finished — because there is much more to do.

Any good hunter and outdoorsman would know just building the hunting stands wouldn’t be enough. “I knew we were going to need to put in food plots,” to attract the deer and wildlife to the site. So food plots became part of the plan.

What Peer didn’t know was he’d embarked on a long, hard trail before the handicapped hunting stands would become reality.

He was encouraged when Steve Hoffman, then chief officer Crex Meadows and now The St. Croix Area Wildlife Supervisor, reviewed the plan for the three areas and said it was, “Not a bad idea.”

Armed with 36 years on the local Whitetails Unlimited Board of Directors, Peer, Don Chell and Terry Hendrick of the local board decided to take their dream a step further.

“I think it helped that we had been on the board all the years since Whitetails started locally,” Peer said about himself and Chell. “It gave us some pull,” and nine months after the dream was hatched, they were given approval by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

But ideas and dreams go only so far. To blossom, they needed blueprints, a prototype of the finished product — and not the least, the money.

Four of those who helped make the stands a reality were: (left to right) Don Chell, Charlie Slater, Steve Hoffman, and Greg Peer.

Peer found Charlie Slater of Harvey Allen Outdoors. “He builds (deer) stands and he said, “We can do this,” quoted Peer.

Slater wanted to know if someone was already creating this kind of stand. “He scoured the entire country and couldn’t find a single prototype — not one,” said Peer.

“There are no ramp stands in the country. We had to start from scratch,” Peer added.

It took a visit from the State of Wisconsin disabled people, but eventually, “We built a prototype,” and the state professionals “tweaked “ it.

The prototype got sold to a private firm, so Peer’s group built another one. It has a tin roof, thermo-pane windows, and ramp for wheelchairs.

The ramp is 12 feet long and the stand sits 12 inches off the ground on posts. Inside there’s a rubber mat on the floor and there are shooting windows for those sitting or standing.

Once he was about two years into the project, Peer contacted Whitetails Unlimited in Sturgeon Bay and said, “I think I can sell this (idea) to them”. Local Whitetails President Don Chell and Vice-President Terry Hendrick accompanied Peer. “The thing is, we didn’t have the money, but since we were the longest active Whitetails organization with Don and me on the board all 36 years, they listened to us.”

Inside the stand

Explaining there were 110,000 acres to hunt in the area and informing the Whitetails folks Burnett County has the No 1 buck in the United States, namely the Jordan Buck, shot in 1914 near Danbury, helped their cause.

Peer explained the handicapped sites would be on state and federal land. He also presented paperwork from Whitetails Unlimited that says we can do this. He handed them the blueprints for the sites and said, “All I need is the money.”

The sites for the six handicapped stands were all picked out. “We knew where they would go, and we told them would put in good plots (to attract the wildlife).”

The answer wasn’t at all what Peer expected. “I told them about how much money we’d need (about $47,000) and they said, ‘That’s all you want?’.

Originally it was Peer’s idea to phase in the sites over a five-year period.

“We actually got it done in four years,” he said. And today, there are two sites each at the Crex Meadows, Amsterdam Sloughs and Fish Lake.

“All six are in,” said Peer.

While his dream has come to fruition, Peer is hardly sitting on his laurels. He and two others wrote a federal grant for two more stands, including food plots and apple orchards.”

His idea for two more stands rang a bell with the Dairyland Outdoor Retreat Center west of Danbury. “We’ll put two up there,” said Peer. Both now are on the same side of the Tamarack River, about a quarter of a mile apart and the stands will be open to both handicapped shooters and veterans.

Now that they have a design for the stands, and understand the need for food plots and apple orchards, the only thing missing was, again, the money. So Peer went to Superior, WI, where he was able to rustle up the funding.

Now, “We actually have eight stands. I’m so excited we’re making other plans. We’d like to put in cameras to get photos of animals using the food plots.

Meanwhile, Charlie Slater is envisioning a hunt for veterans and the handicapped.

This sign stands at the Crex Meadows in Grantsburg, announcing the new Crex Kitchen and Classroom. Behind it is the old mess hall that will be converted to a game processing center and teaching center for kids.

Education for kids
Any true outdoorsman would know you have to “start ‘em young” if you want to keep the outdoors filled with outdoorsmen for years to come.

At the Crex Meadows the old mess hall became available when it was decided to build a new, more modern facility.

The fact the old building was available was about all Peer needed to continue to advance outdoorsmanship.

The building will be turned into a “game processing center,” and will be used to teach kids how to fish, how to clean fish, deer, and bear and generally to develop the youngsters into complete outdoorsmen.“

All processing for the hunt will be at the Crex,” said Peer.

“This is an opportunity for kids, adults and first-time hunters. And the best part is there will be no charge. It’s the experience of a lifetime,” Peer said, adding, “It’s been a good project.”

About the only time Peer felt worried about the project was when Charlie Slater decided to sell out of his business, creating a void in the creation of the handicapped stands. “I thought that could be problematic,” he said. But since there was a prototype and blueprints, Peer saw his way through.

Eventually, the DNR hired two interns to plant and manage the apple orchards.

Crex Meadows has become the clearinghouse for potential hunters. Handicapped hunters can sign up and hunt for three days at the same site. Since there are six sites they can move from stand-to-stand, hunting for three days each, or a total of 18 days. (To reserve a blind, visit or call Crex Meadows at 715-463-CREX).

“There’s been people in (the stands) every year.” Hunters get a key to sit inside and wait for the hunt to come to them.

The DNR put apples in the middle of a swamp to attract wildlife.

The handicapped stand project, “Has had good support. This is now a model for other parts of the country,” said Peer.

It’s his hope the idea will spread and use the plan to build stands across the nation.

“The handicapped and the veterans — we just want to do what we can for them,” said Peer.