Special Thanks To All Who Purchased Raffle Tickets This Year!  Here are the winners!

• Jay Mathia, Plum PA – Thompson/Center Triumph .50 Caliber Magnum Inline Muzzleloader
• Mark Farrell, Crosby, PA – Winchester 30.06
• Bill Kersey, Clarion PA – $500 Gift Certificate to Sportsmen Outfitters
• Bill Corwin, Blossburg, PA -  $300 Medalist Gift Certificate
• Mark Ziegler, Seneca, PA – $300 Medalist Gift Certificate
• Mike Gampe, Hollidaysburg, PA – Summit Climbing Treestand
• Betty Ergler, Altoona, PA – Guided Fishing Trip on the Susquehanna or Juniata River
• Matt Crow, Franklin, PA – Plano Bow Case
• Alicia Peharski, Croudon, PA – Plano Bow Case

To read the complete list of prizes and sponsors, click here.

Special Thanks to Lebanon Valley Graphics for printing the raffle tickets – (717) 273-7913

MEET ARIANNA EVANS

The Pennsylvania Sportsmen Portal is proud to work with “Hunt Of A Lifetime” and provide a dream come true for a Pennsylvania Resident. This year we will be sponsoring a two very special people named Arianna Evans and Alex Wilkinson. Arianna is from Northwest PA and has Spina Bifida. Arianna’s dream is to hunt for merriam turkeys in South Dakota. We hope you will all take part in helping make Arianna’s dream a reality.

In the coming months we will be raising money through donations and our awesome raffle with some great prizes. If you would like to dontate prizes or money, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@pasportsmenportal.com. Help us make these dreams come true!

Letter From Arianna’s Parents

Arianna was born on February 23, 1994. Prior to her birth, 7 doctors told us that she would never live to birth, let alone through birth. One doctor, Dr. Albright, a neurologist from Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh was the only one who offered a glimmer of hope. In fact one of the doctors was so confident in his prediction that his staff was making arrangements for us to fly to Brazil to have an abortion, because you couldn’t do this in America in the 7th month of pregnancy. Before going to Pittsburgh we believed that something was wrong, in that the baby hadn’t been growing in the womb. The first doctor to break the news to us was a woman radiologist who matter of factly turned to us, looked us straight in the eye and said “Your child has a hole in it’s spine and will never live!” As I already mentioned we looked for other opinions.

In reality all the consistent bad news did was prepare us for a fight, and we’ve been fighting ever since. When choosing a name for this child I looked in a book and the definition for Arianna was: holy one, or from God. That’s all we needed and that is how we’ve looked at her since. Arianna was born with Spina Bifida with a lesion starting at T5, at the time it was the highest recorded lesion of a surviving child. I don’t know, nor do I care, if the record still stands. She has had 12-13 surgeries since; one to close the opening in her spine; a number to place and replace VP shunts; a number to correct urological problems; some to correct orthopedic problems; and one failed kidney transplant. She was born a fighter and a gift and has been inspiring all of those around her ever since.

We have had Arianna in the outdoors since bringing her home from the hospital. We camped and fished and took numerous hikes with her before the age of 1. She caught her first fish by 2. I’ve waded a stream with Arianna tethered in a floaty so that we could tackle smallmouth bass. First canoe trip and first trout by 5. Shot her first bow and gun by 6. We enjoy sharing the outdoors with Arianna and our other children and do so as often as possible. It’s very difficult at times to get Arianna to some of the spots that we want to visit and we expect her to help herself as much as possible. Because of a wonderful family and friends we’ve been able to do more than most. Arianna shared the first day of deer season with me at the age of 11. When I asked her what she thought, she said “This is boring!” I’ll be honest at the time it was. She changed her tune when a big buck ran by. We shared the turkey woods together at 12. In fact, my friend Andy Traister gave up all of his Saturdays that first season. Almost, but no gobblers. Tom Neumann from Penn’s Woods Game Calls has invited us on two hunts to the turkey woods. He has produced one video of our stay in the blind and is working on the second. Tom really admired the efforts that we went through to get Arianna into the outdoors. The way we look at it: The outdoors offer a lot of hurdles that we wouldn’t normally encounter and if we can get around them and help Arianna deal with them we’ll all only be wiser and stronger for the experience.I believe that is where strength and character come from!

Arianna hasn’t been successful as far as filling the game bag yet. We’ve hunted ringnecks behind some incredible bird dogs and she had more shot oppurtunities in one day than I have had in entire seasons. We’ve also hunted squirrel and even deer. We’ve been very successful …

Our fight is not over, as Arianna was diagnosed with chronic renal failure in March of 2006 and given less than a year to live. You can do the math if you want to, but yet another doctor wrong! We expect more surgeries; more bad news; more confident, yet wrong doctors; and hopefully many more years sharing the outdoors.

Arianna is an inspiration and truly a gift from God.

Thanks,

Bill and Laura Evans