A way of life, a day in the life

CAMP RIPLEY - It was like any other day for Pershing Lundberg.

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And like no other. But not necessarily in the spectacular, out-of-the ordinary sense. No, it wasn't as if Lundberg bagged a monster buck in his first Disabled Veterans Deer Hunt at Camp Ripley. As of early afternoon Wednesday, he hadn't even taken a shot with his Parker Buck-Shot crossbow.

That - along with the fact that this was the first time he had participated in this event - was the oddity.

"I shoot it every day," Lundberg, 91, of Brainerd, said of his crossbow.

"If I don't do it every day, I can't pull it back."

Lundberg was one of 52 disabled vets - and one of 26 first-timers - participating in the 17th annual hunt, which runs concurrently with deployed soldiers and kids' hunts at the camp this week. Veterans from around the state with disabilities were allowed to participate in the early season firearms/bow outing.

Pershing Lundberg (left) readied his crossbow as his son, John, looked on Wednesday at Camp Ripley during the 17th annual Disabled Veterans Deer Hunt.

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Which might explain why Lundberg, an avid deer hunter for the better part of his life, was participating for the first time.

"It's for hunters with disabilities," said Lundberg, a paratrooper in World War II until a bad back sidelined him from action.

"I had back problems in the war, but (at the time) I didn't want them to think I was yellow."

Wednesday afternoon, Lundberg and son John, his assistant for the hunt, were hunkered down in their blind just off a gravel road in a thinning strip of forest on the western edge of Ripley. They didn't come back to the mess hall for lunch - they brought their own, John proclaimed. And while the elder Lundberg still gets around the woods like a man decades his junior, he's by no means a hard-core, never-say-quit hunter. While the Lundbergs didn't come in for lunch, they took a nice, leisurely drive in the countryside before returning for an afternoon in the blind.

"It's nice being here," Pershing said of the hunt. "They put a lot of work into this."

They were drawn to this location by an early morning sighting - a spike buck, doe and fawn wandered off the road and into the woods toward where they would set up camp. But Pershing was more amused by another sighting - a group of about five young fox the two spotted not far from their camp.

"I think it's what keeps me going," he said of spending time outdoors.

And hunting. Although bagging a deer seemed to be the furthest thing from his mind.

"I can feel it now," he said of his age. "My shooting's not as good as it used to be. But I hate to give it up."

"He does pretty good," added John, 56.

"This is good for both of us. I learn something every time I'm with you," he said to his father as the two got back to the blind after their drive through the countryside. They planned to hunt through the afternoon Wednesday and to come back Thursday, when the hunt concludes. John said they'll be back at Camp Ripley for a disabled vets' bow hunt in late October-early November and next year for the disabled vets' turkey hunt.

"That's one we're looking forward to," John said of the upcoming bow hunt.

Pershing still seemed to be trying to wrap his mind around the concept of this special hunt for disabled vets. And, despite getting up in years, having his son tend to his needs out here in the wild.

That ultimately may have been the oddity of this day for Pershing. Not unlike his first trip in an airplane after the war.

"My wife and I went to Hawaii and it was the first time I ever landed in a plane," he said.

"I was always used to jumping from them."

BRIAN S. PETERSON may be reached at brian.peterson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5864.