The Arizona Elk Society recognizes the need to provide opportunity for these veterans so they may once again enjoy hunting in the great outdoors. As an organization with Hunting Heritage as part of our mission we have an excellent opportunity to give back to the military community in a meaningful way.
As avid outdoor men and women we recognize the void in many veterans’ lives when they returned from duty with injuries that have impacted their ability to enjoy their favorite outdoor hunting activities. Our goal is to provide good opportunities for these men and women to get them back into the woods, able to enjoy the Hunting Heritage of Arizona.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department offers a very successful tag transfer program allowing a donated tag to go to a qualified 501c3 organization. The qualifying organization can then offer the tag to either children with life threatening illnesses or a disabled veteran that qualifies. There are numerous organizations working with children and the AES will continue to support these programs as they have in the past. The AES believes there is a need to offer more opportunity to the disabled veterans of Arizona.
We are looking forward to an exciting year of opportunity and growth to help our well-deserving Heroes and invite you to join us in partnership to make it happen. Answer the Call and Partner with us for HEROES RISING OUTDOORS® … For more information about Veteran Participation, Tag Donation, Volunteering or Guiding, Sponsoring or Donating to support this amazing program for our Heroes. Email us with any questions: hro@arizonaelksociety.org
“We don’t want to provide a ‘one and done’ experience for our Heroes. We want to keep the passion alive and keep the Veterans going. That’s why we are partnering with other groups to help make this happen.”
—Steve Clark, AES Executive Director
HEROES RISING OUTDOORS Hunts For Heroes was formed to provide residents of the State of Arizona, who are severely injured service personnel the chance to get out and participate in activities that they may have felt that they would never be able to do again due to their disabilities. We focus solely on putting these wounded Veterans in a beautiful outdoor setting and giving them the opportunity to heal while enjoying the Hunt. Arizona’s great outdoors is some of the best therapy these warriors will find.
The Arizona Elk Society originally developed the HUNTS FOR HEROES® now HEROES RISING OUTDOORS® program in 2015, as an opportunity to provide FREE big game hunting experiences for Arizona’s wounded veterans. Disabled veterans that participated in the program were individuals who met qualifications outlined by the Arizona Game & Fish Department’s (AZGFD) Big Game Transfer Tag program.
This program legally allows tag owners to donate their tags back to AZGFD, which enables them to give the tag to a qualified 501(c)(3) organization who can then transfer it to a disabled Arizona Veteran. AES has partnered with Arizona’s outfitters, guides and volunteers and various conservation agencies to provide hunting experiences that enables Arizona’s Disabled Veterans… our Heroes, to fulfill their dreams and help them ‘Heal Through Hunting’. Since our founding, the AES HEROES RISING OUTDOORS® has provided over 800 experiences for our Heroes for big game hunts including elk, deer, big horn sheep as well as many small game hunts.
Veterans attending these hunts and getting this ‘experience of a life time’, have expressed how it has helped them to heal ‘inside’ and for many it has given them a new-found purpose and passion of experiencing the outdoors.Since the exponential growth in 2019, we have provided over 600 experiences for wounded Arizona Veterans. This included providing everything the Veteran needed for the experience, from food, to outfitting, accommodations and the tag.
As more and more Heroes came through our HEROES RISING OUTDOORS® program, they expressed their appreciation for the experience and shared their desire to continue to be involved in the hunting heritage of Arizona, learn more about conservation, and participate in other outdoors opportunities.
‘Answering the Call’ of our Heroes wanting to ‘rise up and experience the outdoors’ we then rose to the challenge and formed “HEROES RISING OUTDOORS” to encompass new opportunities. We are looking forward to an exciting year of opportunity and growth to help our well-deserving Heroes and invite you to join us in partnership to make it happen. Answer the Call and Partner with us for HEROES RISING OUTDOORS® … For more information about Veteran Participation, Tag Donation, Volunteering or Guiding, Sponsoring or Donating to support this amazing program for our Heroes.
Arizona's conservation leader