A big buck for Buchberger through Empowered Dream Hunts

By Casey Krautkramer, The Record-Review

David Buchberger grew up in an avid deer hunting family in rural Marathon. He and his 11 siblings were allowed to walk in the woods with their father on the family’s town of Marathon hunting land when they were 12 years old. They couldn’t carry a gun in the woods until they were 16 years old.

Life isn’t always fair and Buchberger was thrown a curveball when he began experiencing systems of MS (multiple sclerosis) when he was 24 years old. He walked with a bad limp in his left leg. Buchberger quit working at Zastrow the Beer Man in 2016 when the tremors in his hands became acute and he could no longer hold onto items. He could also no longer deer hunt.

Buchberger has Primary Progressive MS, which is the worst of the three types of MS. Primary Progressive MS is diagnosed in approximately 10-15 percent of people with MS, according to Mayo Clinic. Primary Progressive MS is characterized by a progressive worsening of symptoms and disability right from the beginning, without periods of recovery or remission.

Doctors don’t know what causes MS and there isn’t a cure for it. The onset of MS symptoms can occur in people of any age but it more likely occurs in people between the ages of 20 and 40, according to Mayo Clinic. People who have MS have lesions in their central nervous system that consists of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. The protective coating of the nerve fibers (myelin) is damaged and lesions occur.

Joe and Laura Ramsey of Mosinee established the non-profit Empowered Dream Hunts in 2007. Joe loved spending time outdoors and hunting but he noticed that there was a need to help people with challenges in life such as a disability or illness, so they too could enjoy the experience of hunting. The Ramsey family works together to find hunting recipients and raise money to cover the costs. They also provide hunting recipients with a keepsake DVD of their hunts so they can forever treasure the experience.

Buchberger was invited to the Empowered Dream Hunts annual fundraising banquet on Aug. 12 at Memories Ballroom in Marathon. It was here that Buchberger was surprised to hear he would be the first recipient for the Empowered Dream Hunts in fall.

Buchberger attempted practicing shooting with an AR rifle on a tripod at Zingers and Flingers in rural Marathon to prepare for his September hunt. This setup didn’t work for him. Fortunately, Joe Ramsey found a 243 rifle with a camera mounted on the scope for David to use.

David’s brother, Joe Buchberger who co-owns Arrow Tap in Marathon, and his good friend, Pat Hurtis of Marathon, helped him bring his motorized scooter inside a ground blind at Wilderness Whitetails in Rosholt. Although the deer are fenced in 360 acres of land, it’s still a similar experience to hunting wild deer in a woods because the people in the ground blind need to remain quiet so they don’t scare the deer nearby. David laughed at something somebody said, which scared away the first buck he saw.

Later, a 16-point buck appeared, but just like hunters experience in the woods, it hid behind trees a few times before standing broadside to give David a clean shot. Joe Buchberger stood behind David videotaping the hunt on his cell phone. After the hunting guide told David to click the safety off the gun, David took one clean shot that killed the buck that was 35 to 40 yards away from the ground blind. David didn’t experience “buck fever” which is when a hunter gets too nervous to pull the trigger on the gun, because he was so focused on his target and accomplishing the task. The buck ran 60 yards before it dropped and the celebration began.

“It was definitely quite an experience,” Buchberger said. “I think it’s amazing that Empowered Dream Hunts does this for people. It was definitely an experience I never would’ve had in my life if it wasn’t for them.”

Joe Buchberger said the “smile on David’s face” after he killed the buck said it all.

“It is amazing what Empowered Dream Hunts all does for people,” he said. Empowered Dream Hunts helps disabled people and military combat veterans experience the thrill of hunting a bear or deer.

Drake Carlson of Marathon, a previous recipient of an Empowered Dream Hunt, joined David, Joe, Pat and others for supper in the hunting shack on the Wilderness Whitetails property after David killed the buck. Wilderness Whitetails caped out the 16-point buck that will get mounted by a taxidermist. David wants to place the buck mount on a wall inside Arrow Tap in downtown Marathon so he and others can always remember his Empowered Dream Hunt.