A memorable spot on the 'Bragging Wall'

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Evan Brannock poses with his first black-tailed buck.Courtesy / Evan Brannock

October 08, 2009

By Mark Freeman

Mail Tribune
776-4470
mfreeman@mailtribune.com

Thumb-tacked to the "Bragging Wall" at Sportsmen's Warehouse is a photo of a rather under-whelming black-tailed buck, a little forked-horn deer held up by a man whose smile is wider than the deer's antlers.

"It wasn't huge, but I wasn't going to pass it up," Evan Brannock says of his first buck. "I was thinking that it'll take a while to find a deer I could actually get to."

Bowhunting can be tough with a back wracked by an incurable disease and a perpetual need to keep the bow from thumping the side of your wheelchair.

But that's exactly what the 28-year-old Brannock overcame Sept. 24 while creating what might be the year's best hunting story to adorn the store's famed wall.

Despite suffering from spina bifida that has confined him to a wheelchair for life, Brannock joined the 9 percent of successful bowhunters by bagging his buck during a hunt outside of Wimer.

Brannock, who works in the store's gun department, regularly places pictures of customers' deer on the Bragging Wall.

Finally, he tacked up one of his own.

"When I put my picture up there, the guys were pretty proud of me to get my first deer," Brannock says. "It was all pretty exciting. It's one of the most fun things I've ever done."

Outdoor pursuits have been tough for Brannock, who does his best not to let his birth defect limit his horizons.

He can use crutches at his Medford home, but spends most of his days in a wheelchair.

"I'm pretty mobile," he says. "I have issues sometimes about getting around obstacles."

He's fished for salmon and sturgeon, and recently took an affinity to archery, shooting in an indoor league last year at DewClaw Archery Supplies in Medford.

He's even tried hunting turkeys at his family's rural Eagle Point property, missing a tom and a jake last season.

"Getting a buck, though, is one of the things I've always wanted to do," he says.

Coworker Jim Piotter knew of Brannock's dream, and had a hand in making it a reality.

A store customer invited Piotter to hunt deer on his property — a four-acre parcel that backs up onto federal Bureau of Land Management lands rife with blacktails.

Piotter thought it would be perfect for Brannock.

"I knew this kid was working real hard to try to bowhunt while dealing with being in a wheelchair his whole life," Piotter says. "I just knew he always would have a hard time accessing a spot to shoot a deer and be able physically to deal with a deer. I knew that, if I could, I should help him out."

The pair scouted the property and discovered a few bucks.

Brannock wheeled out into the woods along a firebreak, pausing along a game trail while waiting for one of the bucks to show itself.

Nervousness and excitement gave way to focus when the forked-horn appeared.

"It kind of came natural once I saw the deer," Brannock says.

He pulled the arrow back, making sure the bow didn't whack the wheelchair and spook the buck.

"Shooting from a wheelchair isn't that difficult," he says. "It's like shooting from a kneeling position.

"I just relaxed and let the arrow go," he says.

The buck never knew what hit him.

"It sort of all fell into place," he says.

Brannock crawled in the dirt to join Piotter in skinning and gutting the carcass.

There, he realized that he, too, is a hunter now.

"Everything about it was so much fun that it definitely makes me want to do it again," Brannock says.

Even now, when Brannock wheels past the Bragging Wall and spies his photo, the whole thing seems a bit surreal.

"I like just the fact that I actually got myself out there and did it," he says. "I know able-bodied people who won't go out and do it. Not me. Even if I need help, I'll ask for it, whatever.

"I'll always find a way to do what I want to do," he says.

Brannock says he'll find his way back into the field later this month, bow in hand, hoping for another first — a tom turkey.

And that tom will find its way onto the store's Bragging Wall, as well.

"I'll take a shot at one this year, if one gets close enough," Brannock says. "Even if it's not a huge one, I'll put the beard on the wall, just to say, 'I did it.' "

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com.

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