HOWARD — Buckhaven Learning Center is an organization that promotes hunting and veterans, particularly wounded veterans who want to adapt themselves to civilian life again through participation in an outdoor sport such as hunting.
“Buckhaven is a nonprofit organization,” said Ben Householder, the founder of the group. “Our main objective every year is that we bring in 12 combat wounded veterans from anywhere in the U.S. We take applications online and we do a lottery draw in June. We bring these guys in for an all-expenses-paid three-day deer hunt. We pay for lodging, food, clothing, their crossbows, everything.”
“We want the soldiers to ease back into the transition of the civilian world,” said Householder. “Many veterans have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). We have some guys who have much more severe injuries. These guys, they stay attached to us once they leave. We seek to change each and every one of their lives in some way or another.
“I’m a veteran myself. When you come back from something like that, you feel left out. You feel like people look down upon you as if you are a different person. What we do for the veterans is that we help them see that they are still normal, just like everyone else in the civilian world. This event lets them know that they are still welcome and people still have their back.”
The Buckhaven Learning Center (which recently had a location change) is mainly known for the hunting trip that they do each year for a select few wounded veterans, but the organization is also known for promoting the outdoors and outdoor sporting events such as hunting and fishing to the wider community and to the youth of the community.
“The hunting trip is the main event that we do as an organization, but we also try to get involved more locally,” said Householder. “We had a fishing day at Foundation Park just a couple of years ago. We bought fishing poles and had kids out for a free day of fishing. Three years ago we made a move from Loudonville, which is where we were at for 12 years, to Mount Gilead to the Handlebar Ranch. It was a new setting.”
How does the non-profit organization receive the necessary funds to be able to accomplish the wounded veterans hunt each year? The organization relies heavily on a fundraiser and through community donations for the organization to be able to fund the hunt and other future events.
“The banquet that we have every year is our main fundraiser,” said Householder. “We don’t have any income other than the donations that we receive being a nonprofit organization. Last year’s four-day hunt that we did for the disabled veterans cost about $23,000. That’s in the ballpark of how much we try to raise each year for the hunt.”
The hunt is a very special event for those disabled veterans who are chosen for it via a lottery. The hunt is truly all-expenses-paid and Buckhaven will even go a step further than that and pay for any adaptive equipment that the disabled hunters may need to have a safe, successful and fun hunt.
“The only thing that the hunters are responsible for regarding the hunt that we do every year is getting to the hotel in Mount Gilead and getting home,” said Householder. “We take them hunting the first night they get here after they have lunch and meet with the game warden in order to understand the Ohio rules and regulations for hunting. We have anything that we need to handle any adaptive equipment for the hunters who have very serious physical disabilities. We’ve even had a guy who was completely blind who hunted with a spotter.”
