| Veterans: Sergeant First Class Jerad Eldred |
Veteran Outdoors had the opportunity to surprise another well deserving veteran this week. Sergeant First Class Jerad Eldred joined the list of a growing group of honored guests to be the subject of the show. Traveling from Raleigh, North Carolina, Jerad was unaware of the excitement which lay in store of him at the amazing 3700 acre, JDB Ranch in Menard, TX. The ranch, owned and operated by the Brown Family and Brown Distributing in Austin, TX, was represented by Hunter Brown, National Accounts at Brown Distributing Company, and Ronnie Keith, Branch Manager, of La Grange who generously hosted the Veteran Outdoors staff and provided their guiding expertise. Also joining the hunt was Texas Country Music Artist, Kyle Park, who has been involved with Veteran Outdoors since the beginning.
Kyle was excited about the opportunity of coming along on this adventure and sharing in the company of good friends and meeting one of our nation’s heroes. Kyle said that he is happy to be able to help and support the cause and honor our veterans in his own special way by writing and playing the theme music that concludes each episode of Veteran Outdoors Arriving at the JDB Ranch, Jerad was given more details about this adventure and Hunter surprised us all by allowing Jerad the opportunity to harvest any trophy whitetail buck on the ranch with no size limitations! Jerad was taken back by the beauty the Texas Hill Country and the almost endless possibilities of monster bucks which roamed the ranch. At the lodge, Jerad received a set of Camo donated by Game Guard, and a Howa .308 rifle dipped in Game Guard Camo by West Texas Hydrographics. Jerad wasted little time and shot his trophy the first morning of the hunt guided by Host Cody Hirt. A perfect shot took down a beautiful 7 ½ year old, 17 point buck which scored a 163 on the Boone and Crockett scale; the 2nd largest buck EVER harvested on the ranch since its ownership!
He was also presented with a quality hunting knife donated by Bear Claw Knife and Shear, Love Hirts designed a custom Hero Cross and Jerad was also told that his deer would be processed by Highland Lakes Processing and mounted by Blanco County Taxidermy at no cost to him. Jerad’s involvement in a long career with the Army has led him to experience the best and worst in humanity. Serving as a Combat Medic during five deployments has served as a catalyst for Jerad to devote his life to helping his fellow brothers in arms which in turn has presented him with the opportunity to pursue his degree in medicine. Jerad has suffered a number of injuries during his combat service and has been awarded some of the nation’s highest honors and we were blessed to have shared such an amazing experience with such an amazing Hero! We can’t thank you enough for this amazing opportunity. Without the help of folks like you, we couldn’t afford to take these deserving veterans on adventures of this level. We will forever be grateful and we are always here if there’s ever anything we can do for you! From the bottom of our hearts…THANK YOU AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU!!!
