Written by Dan Scanlan for the Florida Times-Union.
Retired Army Sgt. Eric Edmundson has been hunting since he was old enough to stand.
Then, on Oct. 2, 2005, an improvised explosive device detonated under his armored vehicle in Iraq near the Syrian border.
But that’s not stopping the 31-year-old North Carolina resident who has continued his recovery and is fulfilling his ambition to hunt the nation’s biggest game. With a Monday send-off at the Jacksonville-based Wounded Warrior Project, Edmundson and his parents set off on a three-month “Grand Slam” hunting expedition in a pickup donated by Under Armour and a trailer by General RV Center in Orange Park.
In a wheelchair and unable to speak due to a brain injury, Edmundson used a computerized voice to thank everyone for allowing him to “start something special.”
“I am very excited and very nervous,” he said. “… I now have been given the chance to go after my Grand Slam list and complete something I have only dreamt about. And through my outreach, I hope to show many others to believe their dreams are possible.”
As wife Stephanie and children Gracie and Hunter stay in North Carolina, Edmundson’s trip will seek out alligator in Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, buck in Texas, bison in Missouri, elk in Colorado, ram in Iowa, antelope in Montana, bear in Idaho and deer in Wyoming. He will do two outreach events with veterans along the way and attend a military reunion in Seattle.
Read the full article at http://Jacksonville.com.
