Rollinwild Outdoors

Jacob Morris for SPLIT REED

The deafening ring of that 12-gauge going off, pellets flying, wings beating the ground, adrenaline pumping, the wheels rustling across the leaves with the sound of cracking sticks as Nathan Sanders goes rollin’ wild downhill after the kill. How did we get here? We had the privilege of sitting down with Nathan Sanders of Rollinwild Outdoors to ask him some questions, so stick around because he has a pretty amazing story.

I had the privilege of interviewing Nathan Sanders, who is one of those guys that doesn’t use the circumstances of his disability against him. Getting the opportunity to listen to his story, which is one of those stories that leaves you inspired by his outlook on life-I just hope I can give it the kind of passion through written words that he had in telling it to me first-hand. The very first thing he told me was, “It is a God-story and I could not do it without God, I know that He gives me everything I need whether it is will power, friends, family, or whatever it is to help me get out there and do it, He gives me the strength to work with, that is my tool!” -That is something I can get on board with! Nathan also went on to say, “Hunting and fishing is one area where I feel equal to everybody, like running track, I may not be equal or even walking down the street I may not be equal, but I can throw a fishing pole just as good as you can and I can shoot a gun just as good as you! So, it kind of equals the playing field a little bit”. 

When asked how Nathan got into a wheelchair, he went on to say, “I was born with a birth defect called Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency (PFFD), basically my legs were backward and crocked, and missing some bones. This was in the ’80s and they didn’t have as much technology at that time. So they amputated above the knee when I was around 6 years old. I just learned to live with it my whole life, I used prosthetics up until the end of high school. I was in the marching band and everything but couldn’t get around without using crutches. When I do use prosthetics, they are so heavy and since I don’t have knees, it’s hard because I have to have mechanical ones. You have to trust this piece of metal to not throw you on the ground and I have a history with those pieces of metal throwing me on the ground a lot. I realized a wheelchair would be a lot easier to get around and a lot easier to get things done.”

Where did his love for hunting begin? When asked about it he said, “My hunting experience started at church in a youth group, they had a youth pastor that would take us hunting as a reward if we came to church a certain number of days. My best friend Vance was big into hunting, he was in the same youth group with me. He told me that I needed to give it a try, but I wasn’t big on killing things because my parents didn’t hunt, but I was willing to get out there and give it a try!” I’m so glad he did, because I truly love this quote by Fred Bear, “Immerse yourself in the outdoor experience, it will cleanse your soul and make you a better person.”

 The first time he went out into the woods was definitely one for the books, “They put me at the bottom of a tree on a bucket, I wore prosthetics back then. They told me to sit there and something will come through eventually that I can shoot. Then a fox started coming through, I didn’t know it was a fox at the time and all I saw was an animal with teeth coming toward me! I thought I could take my chances and stay on the ground with the animal with big teeth or I could attempt to climb up that 16’ tree stand right next to me… it wasn’t a hard choice. When my group came back looking for me, I was not on the bucket anymore and they were confused, they didn’t think I could use my upper body strength to get up the tree stand”. It’s funny how fast you can climb a tree when you see an unknown animal with teeth coming right for you. Even now, Nathan uses climbers, ladder stands, and whatever else he can use to get a better advantage point. Because all hunters know, the best advantage for deer hunting is to get elevated. “I do not think just because of a disability, just because I don’t have legs, I should be stuck sitting on the ground”. Thank God for youth leaders and best friends to get you out in the woods. His dad got him hooked on fishing, but it wasn’t anything fancy, as he told me, “just a redneck, tin boat fishing! We just did what we could”.  

You may be wondering how Nathan can use a climber to get 25′ in a tree because I sure was. His friends told him there is no way he can do this without his prosthetics. Like Nathan’s consistent attitude, he responded: “Through God all things are possible, I knew that there was a way and I said let’s get out there, try it before we say that there isn’t a way.” Eventually, they got it to where they could use ratchet straps to help him climb. He attaches himself to the bottom piece and inches his way up the tree! Humorously he added, “I go up the tree until I say, okay this is high enough. What is the worst that can happen to me? I end up in a wheelchair?”

I asked Nathan how he got involved with Rollinwild Outdoors and Nathan informed that he once was going to be a pastor but felt God pushing him to reach more people than preaching in front of the same crowd every Sunday. That’s where his Rollin Wild outdoor channel comes in, “I do not want it to be just a disabled outdoor channel because you already have that kind of channel. Those are inspirational stories where you have 5 minutes of someone hunting and then 20 minutes of them telling a story. I don’t want that, I would rather do 20 minutes of me hunting because then you are seeing me get out there and doing what I love with only 5 minutes of me telling people how God helped me do this. I can’t do anything without Him and I want people to know that you can do it too! All you need it to have the will power to do it. A lot of people want to focus on the disability but I want people to focus more on getting out and trying, I want to be seen more as an equal.” Nathan also would like to be able to use his platform to help disabled people acquire the equipment to get outdoors and share their stories as well. “I want to help other people out because for so long I felt like there was no one there to help me, I want people to have that outlet where they can go to my website once it’s finished to be able to find local teams, wheelchairs they can afford and to have resources for disabled people without having to dig and search google for it.”

The story he was eager to tell us was his first turkey killed up in Michigan with Dem Boyz guide service at the beginning of this year. This is where the start of his Rollinwild adventures began. The preparation for this hunt started back in February at the NWTF Convention in Nashville. At first, they did not think it was going to happen due to the COVID-19 situation and major shutdowns across the U.S. His friend Bradley reached out to Dem Boyz guide service in Michigan to set up a hunt that Bradley and Vance did without Nathan knowing. Nathan told me when his friends called him it was nothing to do with hunting, just asking him if he would like to ride to Michigan with them, and before they knew it, they headed out for Michigan. They traveled without any guns; I suppose his friends didn’t want to give up the surprise just yet. When they arrived, he had to borrow guns from Dem Boyz and Nathan wasn’t familiar with the firearms and didn’t know how the gun would shoot, or how they were patterned, but as he put it, “I was just going with it.”

On the first hunt of the trip “I was put in the blind with one of the guides named Easton”.  After some turkey blind chit chat and sharing their stories, the turkeys started showing up, “We could hear them gobbling, that’s the first time I heard a turkey gobble and I automatically got the jitters. We could hear them strutting and gobbling all around us in the woods.”  When a gobbler finally came within distance, you could probably feel the anticipation in the blind. Nathan recalled, “I was videotaping, and I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t even pick up my gun. I kept the camera rolling, I sat back and watched this tom turkey on a hill about 40 yards away. All I had was a 410, I didn’t know if it could make the shot. It didn’t matter to me I was just enjoying the moment.”

The second day, “The next morning was Saturday, Vance and Bradley both got their turkeys with their guides that morning. Easton and I heard and saw them but weren’t able to get on any turkeys that morning. That evening, Vance, Bradley, and Easton went out with me. It’s kind of difficult to sit 4 people and a wheelchair in a blind together, but we did it, we were packed in there like sardines. That evening the trip was cut short because I wasn’t feeling that well. At that point, I was okay with how the hunt already turned out. In my mind, I didn’t want to be the one keeping us in Michigan or holding us back since both my friends had already killed their turkeys. But my friends reassured me to give it another try in the morning and if we don’t get one by then we will figure something out.”

Day three, it was the last day of their Michigan turkey hunt. Rollinwild outdoors already had some success killing two turkeys while cultivating lasting friendships and eating some good food, the hunt was already a success in Nathan’s eyes. This is where the magic happens, as good hunters know, it’s that now or never situation, “Sunday morning it was just me, Bradley, Vance, and Easton again. It was a real quiet morning in the turkey woods, with very few gobbles. 

Looking back I know God had this all planned out, there was a reason those turkeys did not come close enough and there were reasons I didn’t get the shot. On Sunday evening we met up with the lead guide, he told me there was one spot left and that he felt confident that I was able to shoot my bird and I need to be ready. That evening our guide pulled up with his trailer and the 4-wheelers, everything was just picture-perfect. This time we had two blinds, it was me, Vance, Bradley, Easton, and the other two guides, Billy and Coondog. The whole team was there, we were going to get a bird, I felt it! 

I feel like that’s how God wanted it, me and Easton could have killed one but it would have just been me and Easton. I would have got my first bird with someone I didn’t even know. The other hunt would have been just the 4 of us which would have been good because I wanted to get my first bird with Bradley and Vance. But when all 6 of us came together that was when God wanted everybody to see how good He is. He didn’t want just us to have a story to tell, He wanted 6 people to have that same story as well. 

We had two blinds side by side, me, Vance, and Bradley were packed into the one and the 3 guides in the other. I was sitting back in my chair, I had the gun just sitting on my lap, I knew from watching hunting videos that once the gun moves you better shoot or it is over. I was not going to move that gun until I was ready to make that shot. The guides started calling and within 30 minutes to an hour we could hear the turkeys gobbling, they were coming straight at us! Then all of a sudden, we heard this one loud gobble, we all looked up and saw 3 toms walking straight towards us! I sent up quick prayer saying Lord if you let one of these turkeys come in, I will make sure and put it in the ground! I had my eyes on the big strutting tom in the back. I let the first one walk by, and I could hear the guides in the blind next to us saying “shoot him”, the second one followed I could hear everyone saying “shoot, shoot” because this ones beard was pencil-thin but long! Even the people in my blind were saying “you need to shoot this bird!” But I had my eye on another one, I wanted the big one in the back. When that strutter walked out, Vance told me to shoot, I didn’t have a shot until the turkey took one more step into my shooting lane. I sat up in the chair, pulled the 12 gauge straight up, and went for the shoulder just like in a deer hunt! I was going to make sure that turkey hit the ground!! The gun was loud but the explosion coming out of the two blinds after was even louder! The guys were flipping blinds, hitting me on the back, everyone was excited for my first turkey. I handed the gun off and flew down through the woods in my spartan wheel chariot after my bird, jumping stumps and everything in my way.” Patience is a virtue because, for Nathan, the third time was the charm! Nathans bird measured up with 1 5/8” spurs and a beard over 9” long!

What an incredible story about someone who will always inspire me that with enough prayer and determination, you can do anything. Just remember the next time you are out in the woods, on the water, or just in everyday life and thinking about giving up just remember that 12-gauge going off, the explosion coming out of the blind, and Nathan Sanders Rollinwild downhill after his monster tom turkey!

The video can be viewed here! https://youtu.be/uhAe0FXPmpw