The most sickening hunting article in MT paper - PLS COMMENT!

November 3, 2008

How nice, the "disabled" murderer gets to be chauffeured around a canned hunt in a motorized vehicle. How impressive his will to still get out every year and slaughter as many animals as possible, in spite of his disability. How very charitible of these LOSERS who put on a hunt just for the "disadvantaged" hunter.

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/11/03/news/local/18-despite.txt

Despite hunting trip that led to amputations, Billings man eager for sport

By BRETT FRENCHOf The Gazette StaffKen Kukus still loves to hunt, even though the sport led to the amputation of his legs below the knee three years ago.'I cope with it,' said Kukus, 55, of Billings. 'I don't let it bother me.'During the 2005 hunting season, Kukus was trapped in a bad snowstorm in the Castle Mountains near White Sulphur Springs. His pickup got stuck and then quit running. For four days he was without heat, huddling in the pickup. He weathered the cold as best he could, rationing what little food he'd brought. On the fourth day, searchers found him thanks to a hunter's tip.

Trapped in a stormAlthough Kukus suffers from muscular dystrophy, at the time he was able to get around with leg braces. But the cold took its toll on his legs during the snowstorm, consuming them with frostbite. Doctors had to amputate both legs below the knee.Kukus is now confined to a motorized wheelchair, yet he's still never missed a hunting season.'I've been out every year since,' he said. 'I've had my ups and downs, but I've got my antelope every year.'Kukus' attitude about hunting has never wavered, said Dave Smith, Kukus' friend and fellow hunter and angler.'It's made him a lot better hunter,' Smith said. 'I think it's made his life seem more important.'Kukus' 74-year-old mother, Irene Johnson, had called out search and rescue when he didn't return in 2005. She said she still worries when he travels to go hunting.

Fully equipped'But he's 55 years old,' she said. 'And he has more hunting equipment now than the store itself.'This year, Kukus may have hit the big game jackpot. For the opening of the rifle season, Kukus was invited to the Beaver Creek Rendezvous, a hunt held for disabled hunters. The hunt was created eight years ago and provides access to 100,000 acres of land near Ekalaka.In two days, Kukus shot a mule deer buck and two does with his 7mm-.08 rifle.'We probably saw more than 300 deer, mostly bucks, and about 30 does total,' Kukus said.Six hunters and their companions are invited to the rendezvous each year, which was created by ranch owner Leonard Livingston, who has multiple sclerosis. The hunters are housed, fed and shuttled to the deer. All they need to provide is a deer tag. There was also an auction and live music, Kukus said, along with prizes for all of the hunters.But it's the wild game

that attracts the hunters, and there were plenty of deer to go around.'I've never seen so many bucks in my life,' said Smith, who accompanied Kukus on the hunt.Because Kukus is handicapped, he's been authorized by the state to shoot from a vehicle - one that is now much more reliable than the one he got stuck in, his mother said.And although Kukus can't drive, Smith is happy to help out.'He counts on me to do a lot for him, which I don't mind at all,' Smith said. 'For seven years we've been fishing and hunting together.'Although he filled three deer tags, Kukus was still champing at the bit to hunt more. On Oct. 28, only two days into the season, he and Smith traveled to the Jordan area to hunt elk on a ranch that caters to disabled veterans. Kukus met the rancher while pheasant hunting and was shown the 300 head of elk grazing in the rancher's pasture, not far from the barn.Thanks to the rancher's

generosity, this season Kukus is fairly confident he'll be able to fill his cow elk tag, as well.Contact Brett French at french or at 657-1387. The Billings Gazette,

STAPLES supports this:

November 4, 2008

With attitudes like his, what chance do they have...and on top of it he says there were 300 buck and maybe only 30 does, and he killed two of them. Creep.

- Shannon Morgan

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Monday, November 03, 2008 11:06 PM

The most sickening hunting article in MT paper - PLS COMMENT!

How nice, the "disabled" murderer gets to be chauffeured around a canned hunt in a motorized vehicle. How impressive his will to still get out every year and slaughter as many animals as possible, in spite of his disability. How very charitible of these LOSERS who put on a hunt just for the "disadvantaged" hunter.

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/11/03/news/local/18-despite.txt

Despite hunting trip that led to amputations, Billings man eager for sport

By BRETT FRENCHOf The Gazette Staff

Ken Kukus still loves to hunt, even though the sport led to the amputation of his legs below the knee three years ago.'I cope with it,' said Kukus, 55, of Billings. 'I don't let it bother me.'During the 2005 hunting season, Kukus was trapped in a bad snowstorm in the Castle Mountains near White Sulphur Springs. His pickup got stuck and then quit running. For four days he was without heat, huddling in the pickup. He weathered the cold as best he could, rationing what little food he'd brought. On the fourth day, searchers found him thanks to a hunter's tip.

Trapped in a stormAlthough Kukus suffers from muscular dystrophy, at the time he was able to get around with leg braces. But the cold took its toll on his legs during the snowstorm, consuming them with frostbite. Doctors had to amputate both legs below the knee.Kukus is now confined to a motorized wheelchair, yet he's still never missed a hunting season.'I've been out every year since,' he said. 'I've had my ups and downs, but I've got my antelope every year.'Kukus' attitude about hunting has never wavered, said Dave Smith, Kukus' friend and fellow hunter and angler.'It's made him a lot better hunter,' Smith said. 'I think it's made his life seem more important.'Kukus' 74-year-old mother, Irene Johnson, had called out search and rescue when he didn't return in 2005. She said she still worries when he travels to go hunting.

Fully equipped'But he's 55 years old,' she said. 'And he has more hunting equipment now than the store itself.'This year, Kukus may have hit the big game jackpot. For the opening of the rifle season, Kukus was invited to the Beaver Creek Rendezvous, a hunt held for disabled hunters. The hunt was created eight years ago and provides access to 100,000 acres of land near Ekalaka.In two days, Kukus shot a mule deer buck and two does with his 7mm-.08 rifle.'We probably saw more than 300 deer, mostly bucks, and about 30 does total,' Kukus said.Six hunters and their companions are invited to the rendezvous each year, which was created by ranch owner Leonard Livingston, who has multiple sclerosis. The hunters are housed, fed and shuttled to the deer. All they need to provide is a deer tag. There was also an auction and live music, Kukus said, along with prizes for all of the hunters.But it's the wild game that attracts the hunters, and there were plenty of deer to go around.'I've never seen so many bucks in my life,' said Smith, who accompanied Kukus on the hunt.Because Kukus is handicapped, he's been authorized by the state to shoot from a vehicle - one that is now much more reliable than the one he got stuck in, his mother said.And although Kukus can't drive, Smith is happy to help out.'He counts on me to do a lot for him, which I don't mind at all,' Smith said. 'For seven years we've been fishing and hunting together.'Although he filled three deer tags, Kukus was still champing at the bit to hunt more. On Oct. 28, only two days into the season, he and Smith traveled to the Jordan area to hunt elk on a ranch that caters to disabled veterans. Kukus met the rancher while pheasant hunting and was shown the 300 head of elk grazing in the rancher's pasture, not far from the barn.Thanks to the rancher's generosity, this season Kukus is fairly confident he'll be able to fill his cow elk tag, as well.Contact Brett French at french or at 657-1387. The Billings Gazette,