True Grit: Stories of Wounded Hunters Overcoming the Odds

After suffering a severe spinal injury during a car wreck, Colten Martyn made being able to shoot his bow again a primary recovery goal. (Image provided by Colten Martyn)

Imagine believing that you might never hunt again. Not because you don’t want to, but because you've suffered such traumatic injuries that your body might never regain the physical capabilities required to be in the field. No more climbing into your stand or pulling the trigger on that big buck you've been after for weeks. No more traipsing through the spring timber in search of an elusive gobbler or rising from a blind on decoying ducks. These three stories are about hunters who found themselves right there, following life-altering injuries, but who defied the doubt, pain, and physical limitations and all managed to return to the hunt they thought was forever lost.

TO SHOOT A BOW

Colten Martyn has considered hunting his main passion since he was 4 years old. But he feared he’d never get to hunt again after a horrific car accident in 2020 severely damaged his spine, causing limited use of his arms and hands and no use of his legs. During the days that followed in the hospital, Martyn struggled to come to terms with his future as a quadriplegic and what that meant for his future as a hunter.

“After my car wreck, I remained in the hospital for six months,” Martyn says. “During that time, I did a lot of sitting and thinking, trying to figure out what I would be able to do and not be able to do as a result of the injury. I thought a lot about how it would affect my life.”

When his physical therapist asked him what he most wanted to be able to do, he told her he wanted to be able to shoot his bow again.

“She looked at me and laughed and said, ‘Don’t you want to be able to feed yourself?’ I told her, ‘If I can shoot a bow, I should be able to feed myself as well.’”

Knowing that his son desperately wanted to hunt with his bow again, Martyn’s father got to work rigging up an old camera tripod to hold his bow. Martyn’s cousin also gave him a Draw-Loc that converts a vertical bow into a crossbow of sorts, by holding it in the drawn position.

Martyn took his biggest buck ever using modified equipment three years after his life-changing spine injury. (Image provided by Colten Martyn)

“When my dad came out of the shed with the apparatus he made with the tripod and the Draw-Loc to hold my bow, I knew I’d be hunting again,” Martyn says. “If someone could draw the bow for me, I could aim and pull the trigger when the time came. We kept modifying the equipment to make it better and easier.”

Through all of it, Martyn said he managed to keep a positive outlook and a good sense of humor, and he credits that for being able to return to hunting. “I never really gave up on the idea of hunting again. People say I’m crazy for being so positive, given my situation. Sure, it sucks, but no matter what, I figured I’d still be able to hunt. I’d just have to do it differently and with more help. That was the biggest thing. I hated asking for help, but I’m fortunate to have a very good support group with my friends and family. My girlfriend has been amazing and my buddy, Brandon, has been there for me since the day I left the hospital. After a traumatic event, your true friends really stand out.”

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Thanks to Martyn’s optimistic attitude, drive and the support from his friends and family, he put an archery tag on a buck four months after leaving the hospital. He then received a new Action Track chair that allows him to navigate rough terrain and was able to use it to tag along on a mountain lion hunt.

Martyn is one of only a few quadriplegic hunters who’ve taken a bull elk with archery equipment. (Image provided by Colten Martyn)

As time passed, he and his dad continued to tinker with the bow holder. They switched from the old tripod to a Bog Treepod. A friend of his designed a 3D printed bracket that mounts to his bow’s stabilizer. The new setup gave Martyn even more confidence.

Last year, using the setup, Martyn managed to put his tag on a giant 6x6 bull elk, making him one of the few quadriplegic hunters to take a bull elk with archery equipment.

He continued to add nice bucks to his tally over the following three years and managed to score his biggest buck ever last fall, a 170-inch velvet-racked monster that he’d patterned for weeks near his home in Alberta, Canada. The buck was featured on Realtree’s Rack Report last September.

“It was an unreal experience. I didn’t think it was going to happen. Because I’m unable to move and change location with ease, I was stuck waiting for him to come to the perfect spot and he did. I was able to line the shot up perfectly. It was a huge accomplishment, but honestly, the first deer I took after my accident was an even bigger accomplishment.”

It’s hard to top a once-in-a-lifetime deer, but Martyn has more goals to accomplish. He said he hopes to draw a moose or archery antelope tag.

“Either hunt will be tricky, but to take either animal with a bow would big!” he says.

SEARCHING FOR SUNRISE

Marcus Gwin served three tours during the war in Iraq as a combat engineer. It was his job to search for IEDs. During his missions, he was shot and suffered injuries caused by two explosions, but he says the mental trauma has been the toughest to overcome.

After suffering injuries from two explosions during his tours in Iraq, Marcus Gwin found hope again through hunting and fishing. (Images provided by Marcus Gwin)

Gwin says hunting and fishing have always been a part of his life. It’s his passion. But after returning from his tours with multiple physical injuries and severe PTSD in 2006, there was a time he thought he’d never enjoy the outdoors again. In fact, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to continue living.

“You get really close to the people you serve with — the people you sit next to on the planes and in the Humvees. They’re your brothers and sisters in uniform. They become like close members of your family,” Gwin says. “When you see those people you care about get taken away from you, it plays with your head. Anyone who’s spent any time in a combat zone can tell you that the mental toll is tough. And if they say they’ve never once thought about taking their own life, they’re lying.”

After returning to the states, Gwin says he went through some very dark days during which time he became a functioning alcoholic. He says he knew he needed to find a healthy outlet.

“I loved hunting and fishing, and with my wife’s encouragement, I became determined to figure out a way to enjoy those activities again where we lived in Florida,” he says. “I went back to what I always knew, which was the outdoors. There’s something about sitting in the woods during deer season and hoping that big buck comes in range and that you might get the opportunity to take him. You can hear everything in the woods, like the deer crunching in the leaves. You have that anticipation. It’s an adrenalin rush. It gets you in tune with God and reminds you that he created all of this for us to enjoy. It’s the same thing with bass fishing. You get to hear the world wake up. You get to see the sunrise.”

But his physical injuries mean he can no longer climb into a treestand or hike long distances to a hunting setup like he once could.

Gwin says many of the guys he fishes with are veterans and understand the physical and mental challenges he faces each day. (Image provided by Marcus Gwin)

“I underwent a number of surgeries for knee and back injuries caused during the explosions. And, I had a very painful recovery from surgery to remove the bullet that lodged in my armpit after getting shot in the chest. My arm was immobilized for a long time. My injuries have caused some limitations. I now deer hunt out of ground blind. It also takes me a lot longer to get to my setups than it once did, but once I’m there, I’m golden. I will often leave home a lot earlier in the morning than most hunters leave for their stands, so that I can get there in plenty of time before the sun comes up. The same goes for bass fishing tournaments. I get started early in case I’m having mobility issues that day.”

Gwin says he still faces some mental struggles. In fact, there’ve been times when he’s thought about selling all of his hunting and fishing gear.

“Then I start looking at other people who are worse off than me. I’d see them at the local greasy spoons in Missouri where I once lived. There’s one guy in his 80s who fought in World War II who still got up at 4 a.m. to go deer hunt. He inspires me. I know if he can do it, I can too. In addition, 95% of the guys I fish with in Florida are marine or navy veterans. They’ve been through the same type of things I’ve been through. Their camaraderie helps me. Support from others is so important. My wife knows how much hunting and fishing means to me, and she’s encouraged me to get out there and enjoy the activities.”

HOPE THROUGH THE OUTDOORS

Gwin says Tron Peterson and his ministry, Peterson Outdoor Ministries, has played a big role in getting him outdoors again.

Peterson Outdoor Ministries provides outdoor recreation therapy for injured and recovering veterans and their families, as well as youth and adults with disabilities and serious illness.

Jeremey Cabiness credits Peterson Outdoor Ministries for providing him with hope after suffering a traumatic brain injury from an explosion during his tour in Iraq. (Image provided by Jeremey Cabiness)

Peterson says thousands of service members, veterans, first responders and individuals with disabilities have attended the ministries’ events, including deer, turkey, waterfowl and predator hunts, as well as fishing excursions and faith-building retreats.

“I created Peterson Outdoors Ministries to fill a need in the lives of our returning injured service members and those with disabilities,” Peterson says. “In 2005, the military hospitals and warrior transition unit hospitals were filling up with injured service members. Many had received life-altering injuries that left them unable to enjoy the outdoors, and I wanted to provide them with the opportunity to get back outdoors regardless of their injuries or limitations.”

Peterson says he teamed up with an adaptive equipment company and could not only provide the hunting or fishing experience for them but also had the ability to provide the adaptive equipment to get them back outdoors.

“The goal was to provide a faith-based hunting and fishing program that would allow the individuals and their families the opportunity to be ministered to in one of the hardest times of their lives in hopes to deter these service members from thoughts of suicide. I wanted to give them something that would encourage them and bring hope, healing, and restoration to their lives. I felt the combination of faith and the outdoors would be just what many of them needed, so I set out to do that in 2006. It was my heart’s desire to make a difference in any way I could,” Peterson says.

OUT OF THE DARKNESS

Jeremy Cabiness also credits organizations such as Peterson Outdoor Ministries for giving him hope through the outdoors.

Cabiness, who joined the military in his early 20s, suffered a traumatic brain injury from an explosion during his tour in Iraq.

He describes the days right after his injury as “the dark period.” He says he eventually woke up in Germany where things got clearer for him.

After his injury, Cabiness says he thought he’d never hunt again, but returning to the woods has provided him with hope and healing. (Photo by Jeremy Cabiness)

“I made it back to the states and started physical and occupational therapy,” Cabiness says. “There was a time I thought I’d never be able to hunt again. It brought up a lot of anger. But getting back into the outdoors helped to put a lot of that anger away.”

When he moved back to his home state of Florida, a chaplain that he met through the Fisher House Foundation, which provides free homes for military families and veterans to stay in while a loved one is hospitalized at a VA or military medical center, got him involved in some hunts and different activities.

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“The first hunt I attended after my injury was for turkey in Savannah, Tennessee,” Cabiness says. “I felt as if it opened me back up to the outdoors and made me feel like I was alive again, especially because I got to share that hunt with my older son, who was 9 at the time. It was an experience I’ll never forget.”

Cabiness says he’s especially grateful to his good friend who makes sure he is able to hunt during the season.

“He does a lot with me and for me. It’s hard for me to be by myself. I’m not supposed to drive,” Cabiness says.

He says if it wasn’t for people like his friend and Tron Peterson, who’s invited him to hunt at Peterson Outdoor Ministries on several occasions, he wouldn’t be able to go.

“I was able to kill my first deer after the accident at Tron’s lodge. I missed him the first shot and managed to kill him with the second shot. It was very exciting. It helped me realize that I can be blessed and anything is possible. People like Tron and my friend have shown me that there’s always someone willing to get you out there to hunt.”

Cabiness says since his injury, he takes nothing for granted.

Cabiness says he’s grown a new appreciation for simple outdoor pleasures since getting injured. (Photo by Jeremy Cabiness)

“I appreciate just going out and sitting and not seeing anything. When I was young and before getting injured, I would have complained. Now, I just enjoy the little things, like a wood duck flying overhead.”

For many wounded hunters, returning to the woods is a powerful step toward healing. These three wounded hunters have each accomplished more and come further than they ever thought possible through hope, determination, perseverance, and faith. In the face of unbelievable challenges, they were not defined by what they lost, but by the strength required to return to the sport they love.