Northeast Michigan elk hunt offers lessons in resilience
ALPENA, Mich. (AP) — Half-hidden in the trees, the elk stood still as Chris Tjapkes aimed his rifle, trying to steady his hands.
After a decade of living with Parkinson’s disease, he was used to their trembling.
Even with the help of brain stimulation surgery and medications, the Muskegon man can’t control the shaking that, in recent years, has left him unable to drive or work.
But a recent elk-hunting expedition in Northeast Michigan reminded him that life doesn’t end with a diagnosis, and a failing body can’t stand in the way of a determined spirit.
The 69-year-old still gets excited as he describes forging through undergrowth, despite his weakening body, on a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, The Alpena News reports.
“Don’t give up,” Tjapkes said, hoping his tale would inspire others fighting physical battles. “Just don’t give up.”
When doctors diagnosed his disease in 2013, Tjapkes started to think that maintaining his health wasn’t worth the work medical experts urged.
When he got the word earlier this year that he’d been chosen as one of the lucky few allowed to hunt elk in Michigan’s woods, though, he changed his perspective.
“I said, ‘Woah, man, this is worth it,‘” the cheerful hunter said.
A clergyman for 45 years in Minnesota, Iowa, and Colorado, the Michigan native returned to his home state in 2017 when Parkinson’s disease symptoms progressed and left him unable to work.
He could still get into the woods, though, the avid hunter decided.
An outdoorsman since his first hunt at age 13, Tjapkes decided to try for one of the Michigan Department of Recreation’s much-sought-after elk tags, hoping to recreate the elk hunts he’d enjoyed in Colorado.
After only two or three years of trying, he learned he’d been chosen as...