Retired pastor John Birkhead shuffled quietly in the deer stand as he waited with his companion for the deer to walk through the woods. Birkhead, age 90, was able to go on an assisted deer hunt in late November thanks to a project of Missouri Baptist Homes that links seniors with a mentor to hunt deer in Missouri’s woods.
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Spencer Hutson, a church relations specialist for Baptist Homes and Healthcare Ministries, said the senior “neighbors” (as the residents are called) are led through a training session where gun safety and deer biology is discussed. They are outfitted with a hunting license, outdoor gear and a deer stand that is easily accessible.
On Birkhead’s hunt, they were able to shoot a “button buck” — a young male antlerless deer. The meat was processed and donated to an area family that appreciated the gift of the venison.
Birkhead had been a bivocational pastor and farmer in northeast Missouri until he and his wife, Linda, entered the Baptist senior residential facility in Vandalia. It is one of several BHHM facilities located in Missouri. Most of the campuses have the senior deer hunt program, which has been operating for the last several years.
Rodney Harrison, president of BHHM, helped develop the program with Hutson. Harrison said he remembers taking his father hunting, and he saw the joy it brought his father in his older years. He wanted the neighbors in their facilities to also be able to experience this.
Bill Wright, a retired pastor, resides in the Fredericktown home. He said he cannot hunt like he used to since his heart bypass surgery, and he hadn’t been out for eight years. But he signed up for the hunt last year and harvested a small doe. His mentor was a local pastor in the area near there in Viburnum.
“They put the deer blind on a small wagon in the woods,” he said. A deer came by, and he was able to shoot it. “I stayed warm and dry. There was a portable heater in there if we had needed it. About 4 p.m. that day we took the doe. I didn’t have to lift a finger for anything except to pull the trigger.”
Hutson said the venison can be donated to a local food bank or given to the families of the residents or to a staff member of the facility. The senior hunt is not limited to the facility residents but is also open to seniors in the communities where the BHHM facilities are located.
Taking care of needs
Birkhead helps lead Bible studies for the seniors in his Vandalia facility.
“It is a nice, clean facility,” he said. He also said they like the caring staff there.
Some of the seniors had never hunted before, Birkhead noted. Some have physical limitations, but the mentors help them get into the deer blinds and take care of their needs.
It was muddy the day Birkhead hunted but, he said, “We drove way back into the boonies and stepped right out into the blind.” He has a hip problem, so he was glad he could sit in a camp chair and rest the bolt-action .243 rifle on the tripod. The deer he harvested walked along that section of the farm and was eating soybeans when the shot was taken. He said he thinks it was about 20 yards away.
The National Deer Association assists with the hunting program. The group helped BHHM obtain the blaze orange and camouflage hunting clothing along with training materials. Side-by-side all-terrain vehicles were used to get the residents into the accessible blinds. Guns, scopes, crossbows and tripods were rounded up from area hunters. Mentors from the BHHM staff and area churches assisted these men and women in the hunts. They were able to go out in both archery and gun hunting seasons.
‘Life-changing experience’
“About two years ago, we went on a deer hunt in southern Missouri, and my father harvested his first buck,” Harrison said in a Pathway article in 2023. “It was a life-changing experience. I realized how, at 87 years old, it just gave him a spark.
“I realized,” he said, “that maybe the Lord placed me at Baptist Homes for such a time as this, to be able to help men and women enjoy creation. What’s been amazing about our events is that, many times, we’ve had first-time hunters. We’ve had folks who have never been on a deer hunt, who have never used a crossbow.”
Hutson said there were about 15 hunters participating last year in six locations. He thinks there were eight deer harvested. “It really helps these neighbors feel valued and that they can do things they never thought they could do,” Hutson said.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Some photos and information were provided in cooperation with the Pathway.
