70 Seasons Contest Winner

Texas Hunter is happy to announce the winner of our 70 Seasons Contest and the Wrangler Ground Blind that comes with it - Mike and Kenzi Burnside!

Mike has gone to great lengths to give his daughter the best experience possible while hunting. A scope-mounted camera relays everything Mike sees to a tablet in front of Kenzi where she can see the hunt as he does from their pop-up blind. When Kenzi sees a buck she wants to take, Mike takes aim, Kenzi’s mother Janet flips the air actuator safety and helps her with the vacuum air actuator attached to the rifle. Kenzi then sucks on the air tube to take the shot.

In a true testament to parental love, Mike and his wife have provided Kenzi the opportunity to harvest numerous deer on their 80-acre Oklahoma hunting ground.

When asked how a new Texas Hunter blind would change their hunts in the future, Mike responded with the following:

“Kenzi can't move her toes or rub her hands together like an average person can. She is affected by cold more than normal, but she has a very high pain tolerance. High winds like we have here in Oklahoma blow right through fabric blinds and are another obstacle to her enjoying the hunt, especially when dealing with temperature swings, or let alone when we have rain or moisture present.

Having a ‘controlled’ environment, where we can have a small heater if needed, will make hunting much more enjoyable for her. Also, having a hard sided blind that will help reduce noise levels will make it easier when we have 3 people in the blind as part of Kenzi's hunting team. We have to whisper to each other about what is coming and if she wants to take a particular deer, which adds to the challenge of beating a deer's senses.

This Wrangler blind will help Kenzi and us in all aspects of her being more comfortable and successful while hunting.”

There is one aspect of their hunt, however, that we at Texas Hunter felt we could improve. While Kenzi has several different wheelchairs that help her cross different terrains, none would fit into the blinds they’ve hunted - resulting in Mike carrying her in and out of the field each time. After talking with Mike, we realized our blinds are no exception to that. So, to ensure Kenzi is as comfortable as possible, Texas Hunter is sending the Burnside family a custom Wrangler Ground Blind with a door wide enough to accommodate Kenzi’s wheelchair.

This extraordinary story is one of many we feel fortunate to have had sent to us, and we couldn’t be happier to offer our winner, the Burnside family, a new way of hunting. Thank you to all who took the time to submit and share their stories, we couldn’t imagine a better way to celebrate 70 Seasons of Texas Hunter.