Nonprofit To Offer Blind Oklahomans Opportunity To Go Hunting, Fishing

A nonprofit that takes blind people on hunting and fishing trips has started a chapter in Oklahoma and they can't wait to start planning trips locally.

Hunting and fishing aren't the first things Kenny Blair thought he would be doing as a blind man. Since he was a teenager, Blair said his vision loss was slow but consistent.

"I've always wanted to go deer hunting," Blair said.

Lance Mathena became blind suddenly a few years ago, after a neck surgery went very wrong, and killed the connection to his optic nerve.

He said it changed his whole life. He lost his job and his purpose - but that devastation didn't last long.

"The whole idea is to help with blind independence," Mathena said. "To give people a chance to do something they never thought they could do again or do at all."

Mathena started a nonprofit called the North American Association of Blind Sportsmen.

He found guides that would take blind people on hunting and fishing trips and started chapters all over the U.S. Now, Mathena works with a Stroud production company called Deep Fork Productions to film a national show on the Sportsman channel called Adaptive Pursuits.

"We've grown quite a bit, things are rolling," Mathena said.

The hunters and fishers said these guided trips are a way to bring everyone together, with no judgement, just a really good time.

Blair is from Claremore. He said his first trip a few years back changed his life.

"I am amazed and overwhelmed how it has made me feel," Blair said.

"To see that grin from ear-to-ear, it sticks on their faces for hours," Mathena said.

Blair is now the president of the new Oklahoma chapter, and the first fishing trip is in the works right now.

"You find out there is other people that's just like you," Blair said.

Both Blair and Mathena want to remind others: they're people, just as smart and capable as anybody else.

"They look at us like, 'how do you do that?' We do that just like you do," Lance said.

For more information about the North American Association of Blind Sportsmen, click here.