As an Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Hank Ward has seen a lot, but he’ll never forget the first time he saw a moose in the wild, in Wyoming a couple of years ago.
The young bull moose almost stepped on him — but not on purpose, he told Cowboy State Daily.
Instead, the moose was so focused on getting somewhere down a game trail, he didn’t even notice Ward hunkered in some brush near the trail.
Ward, a Georgia resident, was on a hunt sponsored by a veteran-founded group called Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn. The group hosts hunts for disabled veterans in Wyoming and numerous other states.
One of Ward’s best friends, fellow veteran and Georgia resident Chris Clemmens, came out to Wyoming last year on an elk hunt sponsored by Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn.
Clemmens and Ward were together in an armored personnel carrier in Iraq in 2006 and were both wounded when enemy combatants attacked the vehicle with an improvised explosive device. They both were awarded the Purple Heart, one of the military’s highest honors.
They want to keep hunting together through Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn, which depends upon donated hunting tags.
This year the group is seeking 10 donated Wyoming general elk tags for a planned hunt near Turpin Reservoir in the Saratoga area.
Donating Is Easy
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department and wildlife agencies in other states allow residents to donate their hunting tags through reputable nonprofits like Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn.
The group was founded by Jacob DeLong of Springfield, Missouri, who served in combat with the Army’s 1st Armored Division.
Donated hunting tags can be submitted to Game and Fish, which in turn distributes them to his organization and similar charitable outlets, Delong told Cowboy State Daily.
For the 2025 hunts, Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn has access to some private land in Elk Hunt Area 6, DeLong said.
Area 6 is one region where Game and Fish reports that elk herds are well above objective population numbers.
General elk tags are valid in that area, so that’s what Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn is asking people to donate, DeLong said.
General elk tags may be purchased over-the-counter by Wyoming residents, or non-resident hunters.
Army Veteran Tyson Pence of Cheyenne –also a combat-wounded Purple Heart recipient – said that in communities with a Game and Fish office, tag holders can go in the office to arrange donations in person.
Pence works with Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn, helping to coordinate Wyoming excursions for veterans.
Hunting tag donations mean a lot, he said. It’s about much more than just giving veterans an opportunity to hunt here.
Getting into the wild can help veterans heal from their wounds, both physical and psychological, Pence said.
“I feel way more connected to life, and spiritually connected to God, when I’m in the woods,” he said. “There’s definitely a healing process that you go through when you go out – either with friends or by yourself.”
Moose On The Loose
Ward said that during his first elk hunting trip to Wyoming, when he had his moose encounter, he and his companions were hit with an early-season snowstorm.
That pushed the elk to lower elevations, and they didn’t see many. Ward went home empty-handed.
But the experiences here meant the world to him, he said, as he recalled seeing the moose.
“I could hear him coming through the woods. He came through woods just slapping everything. When he walked down the trail in front of me, he was probably only five feet away,” Ward said.
“Seeing a moose in person” for the first time was amazing, he said.
“I don’t think most people realize just how big of an animal they really are,” Ward said.
‘Pictures Don’t Do It Justice’
That experience, and others in Wyoming lifted his spirits, Ward said, and he can’t wait to return.
Things haven’t been easy for him since he was honorably discharged from the Army in 2007. The attack on the armored personnel carrier that he and Clemmens survived left Ward with injuries from shrapnel and smoke inhalation.
He was also diagnosed with leukemia, from radiation exposure in Iraq.
That’s been mitigated into remission through medication but “it doesn’t ever really go away,” Ward said.
The medication he takes has been lifesaving, and the Wyoming landscape is also powerful medicine, he said.
“The country out there is just absolutely stunning. It can’t be compared to anything else in the United States,” Ward said. “I can show my wife pictures of it all day long, but pictures don’t do it justice.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
