Episode 402: Fighting Irish
Irish Born Bricklayer Achieves American Dream Hunt on Escape to the Wild
By Kate Cywinski
William Higgins appreciates the right to hunt perhaps more than most sportsmen. Born in Ireland, Higgins grew up hunting small game with his dad until guns were taken away from the citizens as a result of the hardship and turmoil in the country. After years of waiting and hoping, Higgins gained U.S. citizenship through a lottery Visa system and moved his wife and five children to Mesa, Ariz., where he believed he could give them a better quality of life. When he came to the United States, Higgins was amazed at the opportunity to hunt on “free” public lands. Having worked as a bricklayer in Ireland, he joined Bricklayers Local 3 and worked his way up to Apprentice Coordinator. When not working, he spends time hunting and fishing with his children.
Arizona is home to the coues deer, which is one of the smallest subspecies of whitetail in the U.S., so Higgins always dreamed of hunting deer with large bodies and antlers. That and harvesting a deer, which he has tried to do unsuccessfully for the past 11 years.
He finally got the chance to hunt bruiser bucks on Escape to the Wild, a TV series of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, VERSUS and sponsoring unions and contractor associations that honors hardworking union members with the hunting or fishing trip of a lifetime. Disguised as a representative from the Department of Commerce, host Tom Ackerman showed up at Higgins’ workplace to shake him up a bit before spilling the beans about his dream whitetail hunt.
“I just couldn’t believe it and was pretty speechless,” said Higgins. “I couldn’t move off the chair. It was a great surprise!”
Before long, Higgins was on a spot and stalk for a whitetail buck up and down the golden hills of South Dakota.
“I have been hunting for a long time and knew that you don’t always see and get the big guys, so it became a running joke that this might become just another ‘willie hunt’ and that I wouldn’t get one,” Higgins said. “But I was having a blast and the entire hunt turned out to be awesome.”
As the days and hours of the trip passed, Higgins wondered if this would be year 12 of going home without a deer, but he knew he would take home great memories on top of a new gun, camouflage clothing, an engraved Buck knife and a free extension of his Union Sportsmen’s Alliance membership.
“I was actually speaking with a group of non-union guys who were shocked that the union has its own hunting club, and I said, ‘yeah, we look after our people,’” Higgins said. “There are a lot of great union guys and gals out there, and they get to enjoy the USA…I think it’s the best thing for the unions to have.”
Does Higgins break his 11-year streak and harvest a buck? Tune in to VERSUS Country on Sunday, January 10 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern to find out.
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See all the photos from the trip in the slideshow below:
