Dream Shot: Tough Teen Tags Trophy Elk
Chip Madren (left) and his father Ken pose with a 6x6 trophy bull elk Chip shot Tuesday on Ben and Debbie Hogevoll’s ranch outside of Siletz. Two years ago, a brain tumor and the surgery to remove it left Chip legally blind and unable to walk. (Photo by Ben Hogevoll)
By Larry Coonrod
SILETZ--Watching from a few hundred yards away, the action unfolded slowly for Chip Madren’s father, Ken. The huge branch bull appeared in the field, disappeared into the fog and reappeared near the tree where his 15-year-old son waited in a tree stand.
Before Chip could line up for a shot, the bull and a couple of cows with him started acting suspicious.
"I thought uh-oh, we're busted," Chip said. "He ran a little bit and turned head on. I could only see chest, and then ran another 10 yards and turned broadside. I knew I had the shot."
In the final moments of legal shooting light Tuesday, Chip downed a 6X6 trophy bull that many hunters spend a lifetime dreaming about.
A very relieved and tearful Ken raced down to the tree stand after the hunt to congratulate his son.
"This is the thing we love to do together, and I had no idea whether or not what we've done together before would happen again," he said. "So to have this happen and have it come off successfully is great. It's a pretty regal return to the outdoor realm."
An avid hunter since age four when he would join Ken dove hunting, the Sandy Springs, Ga. youth bagged his first deer at age 10. But two years ago a brain tumor and the surgery to remove it left the athletic Chip legally blind and unable to walk.
"When he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, all bets were off. Survival was a question," Ken said.
Chip spent six months in a hospital bed and couldn't talk for 10 months.
"I thought I would die the first night," Chip said.
Although his vision has improved somewhat, it is still limited.
"What he's had to do, I can't really describe," Ken said. "Learning to walk again is hard. He had to learn how to control his breath."
While at the Children's Healthcare Hospital in Atlanta, a social worker told the Madrens about the Outdoor Dream Foundation. Founded in 2004, the Anderson, South Carolina-based ODF has provided fishing, hunting and even Alaskan dog mushing adventures to hundreds of children.
Foundation director Brad Jones said ODF receives about 40 applicants a year and has never turned down a request from a child with a terminal or life-threatening illness. Jones' father, Harold, is the real-life "Coach Jones," portrayed by actor Ed Harris in the 2003 movie "Radio."
"When you are in a situation like Chip's, they're trying to grant a life wish because there is a need," Ken said.
The Outdoor Dream Foundation contacted the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to help set up Chip's dream of elk hunting, which in turn contacted Ben and Debbie Hogevoll. This is the second time the Hogevoll's have opened their 158-acre ranch outside Siletz to the Outdoor Dream Foundation. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the local Lincoln County chapter helped cover expenses, and the Toledo Elks Lodge donated the use of their Siletz campground to set up a real elk camp for Chip, Ken, and family friend Rick Carpenter.
"Every time it got tough, this was sort of the carrot out there that got us through I don't know how many hours of therapy," Ken said. "These nice things that are done are powerful fuel. If it's what you like, it's what you live for, and this is what he likes."
Chip, a crack shot before the tumor, hadn't fired a gun in almost two years until last June when he started practicing with a .22 at close range before working up to hitting targets at 90 yards with a high-powered rifle.
"I couldn't even see through the rifle scope two years ago," Chip said.
"We had no idea what was going to happen. Chip's vision has been very much of an enigma, and it's been very much a miracle," Ken said.
If there was anyone as worried as Ken about whether the hunt would be successful, it was Ben Hogevell who would be in the tree stand with him.
"He's been dreaming about this for so long. It'd be horrible if he didn't get anything," Ben said.
With Chip unable to climb, Ben rigged a pallet on his tractor to lift him up - "a Kubota elevator" he calls it.
The morning after the hunt, Chip, Ken and Rick were at Oregon Coastal Cutters in South Beach talking to Eric and Cindi Clark about processing what will end up as about 225 pounds of meat.
"It's not just about the horns with Chip," Ken said. "Chip is into cooking. When he was 10, his Christmas wish was a side of beef, and he got it. It was a big deal for him to go to the processor and talk to him about how he judges meat and get it done our way. I wasn't allowed to talk. Chip was working the provisioning."
Chip is already planning his menus. "I'll probably do some steaks wrapped in bacon," he said. "I'll do some with some special rubs - me and dad make some special concoctions."
Al Bohm of Elk City Taxidermy is mounting the trophy bull for Chip.
Chip's next goal is to hunt pronghorn antelope. And while that adventure may be a ways off, Ken thinks his son will return to the Georgia woods with him.
"Everybody wants to know Chip's prognosis," Ken said. "Well, we don't know. Anything could happen. I think he'll walk. How far? I don't know. He's got tremendous determination, and that's been the key. That and prayer."
In the meantime, Chip and his family have started a nonprofit - Chip's Nation - to raise funds to help other families dealing with devastating children's illnesses, with the main benefactor the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta cancer center.
"We were carried through our 180 days in the hospital by our community," Ken said. "They really rallied around us, fed us, raised money. I wasn't much of a charity taker, but I had to come to grips with that pretty quick because everyone genuinely wanted to help. Saying no out of pride would just deny somebody something they really wanted to do. Charity runs this country."
Contact assistant editor Larry Coonrod at 541-265-8571 ext. 211 or larry@newportnewstimes.com.
