From Deseret News archives:

Hunters' friend instills hope on mountaintops

Published: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 4:06 p.m. MDT
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"It was, for me, the most rewarding experience of my life. I love hunting, and to be able to share this with people who believe they could never go hunting is a feeling I can't explain," he said.

With help from his wife, Tina, and close friend Mike Olsen, he started MTM Hunting (Mark, Tina, Mike), a non-profit organization to offer hunting opportunities to the physically challenged.

This year, he's planned at least 50 hunts. More, if opportunities present themselves, mainly in the area of funding.

Robison holds a fund-raiser every year. Last year he raised around $13,000, "and while that does go a long ways, it doesn't cover everything," he admitted.

Many of the additional expenses, which are sometime sizeable, often come directly from Robison's pocket.

He also found he needed help with the hunting and has a support group of friends and other hunters who have been willing to be involved in the hunts.

He also found he's had to be somewhat adaptive with his hunting trips.

In some cases, special equipment had to be provided. All of those he's taken hunting have been confined to a wheelchair.

All terrain vehicles have proven invaluable. Many of those unable to walk have been able to drive an ATV.

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He has also trained a horse, he explained, "to lie down on the ground to let someone climb into the saddle and then stand up."

He also adapted a saddle with a high back to offer more support to the rider.

One particularly emotional hunt, he remembered, involved a man, Keith Larsen, who was injured and suffered paralysis from the neck down.

"He could move his hands and shoulders a little, but not enough to pull the trigger. He was very depressed at the time. We rigged up a way for him to pull the trigger and took him on an exotic sheep hunt. He had two young sons. He took his 11-year-old on the hunt and that day he got his sheep — 13 months to the day of his accident. Seeing the two of them together was more than we could take. We all started to cry. It was pretty emotional," recalled Robison.

"After the hunt he become more involved in church and started speaking to groups about his accident and the difficulties he faced. He told me that the hunt turned his whole life around. He started back to college and was doing great. A few weeks ago he developed a blood clot and died."

Jason Peel was told by a friend to contact Robison. "He wants to meet you," he was told.

Peel was a hunter before his accident in 2000, when he fell off a ladder and lost the use of his legs. He'd tried to go elk hunting with his dad, but limited experience confined them to the cab of a truck.

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Mark Robison, of Riverton, poses in his family room with several souvenirs of the deer that he and his wife have harvested.

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