BLAZE Magazine Special Edition 2006-2016 | Page 23

crosshairs is picked up on her Smartphone.
“When I found out about the iScope, I bought
one,” Phillip said. “I took her out to see if
she could see with the iScope because she
couldn’t shoot 10 yards before. It worked and
she took her first deer, a doe, at 120 yards at
the Upper State management area.”
Tori added, “On Thanksgiving Day.”
That was just the beginning. Tori bagged a
total of three deer on the hunting trail with
trips to the USA Foundation, Upper State and
Little River State Forest physically disabled
hunting areas, and then she added a couple
more at a hunt sponsored by Southside
Baptist Church in Troy, Ala.
When the Alabama Conservation Enforce-
ment Officers Association invited the Blockers
to the Buckmasters hunt, they didn’t hesitate.
“We saw bucks, does and spikes,” Tori said. “I
saw 20 deer on the food plot.”
“There were a bunch of nice deer in the
field, but they were a little too far,” Phillip
said. “They needed to be a little closer. But
this has been a great experience to come to
a nice place like this and see a lot of quality
deer. Everybody just looks out for you, and
Tori said everybody has been so nice to her.”
Just when it looked like Tori might have
to wait until next time to bag a big buck, a
beautiful eight-point showed up on the last
afternoon of the Buckmasters hunt, and she
made a perfect shot.
From a totally different world is Amberley
Snyder from Elk Ridge, Utah, where her life
revolved around the rodeo circuit as a barrel
racer. On her way to a stock show in Denver
six years ago, Snyder lost control of her
truck. She was ejected and hit a fence post,
breaking her back.
It wasn’t long, though, until Snyder was back
in the saddle.
“I’ve been riding since I was 3,” she said. “I’ve
been rodeoing since I was 7. My accident
happened when I was 18. Four months after
that, I was back on a horse. It was a little
different because of all the modifications.
I have a seatbelt on my saddle. I sit on an
air seat, like my wheelchair seat, and I have
Velcro straps across my legs. And my feet are
rubber-banded into the stirrups.
“I took a break because it was too much
emotionally with my horses. Then 18 months
after my accident, I made my first barrel run.
It was awesome. They (medical experts) said
it was impossible. Loved it. Haven’t looked
back since.”
In fact, Snyder left the Buckmasters hunt in
time to fly back to Utah and participate in
the barrel-racing competition the following
weekend. She runs the barrels almost every
weekend.
As for her hunting experience, Snyder said
she is on a quest to hunt just about every
species available in North America. She’s
already bagged a mule deer that’s hanging in
the family’s kitchen. A pronghorn antelope
mount hangs in her bedroom.
“The first afternoon we saw a lot of bucks, but
they wouldn’t come within 400 yards,” she
said of the Buckmasters hunt. “The second
day we saw a 10-point but we couldn’t get
a shot. We’ve seen deer here and there,
but I want to get one that will make a good
mount.”
Once she gets a suitable whitetail mounted
on the wall, Snyder plans to continue down
her list, which includes elk, bear, mountain
lion and coyote.
“I just want one good one of each species,”
Snyder laughed. “I expect that to take me
several years, and my list tends to grow the
more I hunt.”
Unfortunately, a shot at a trophy white-tailed
buck never happened at the Buckmasters
event for Amberley, so she’s off to her next
adventure. She did go home with something
to hang on the wall, however. Amberley
was presented with the Jimmy Hinton Sr.
Memorial Hunter of the Year Award because
of her inspiration to everybody at the
Buckmasters Life Hunt.
(David Rainer) Amberley Snyder of Utah didn’t have a chance to
take a trophy buck during the Buckmasters event, but she went home
with the Jimmy Hinton Sr. Memorial Hunter of the Year Award, which
was presented by Buckmasters CEO Jackie Bushman, left, and David
Sullivan of Buckmasters’ American Deer Foundation.
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