MACON, Ill. (WAND) – Every week shooting enthusiast Rachel Owens takes aim at targets even though she cannot see them. Rachel is blind.
“I was born with ROP,” Rachel told WAND’s Doug Wolfe. “Which stands for retinopathy of prematurity.”
The bottom line, Rachel can’t see the targets she shoots at each week at the Bullet Trap in Macon south of Decatur.
The inability to see has never discouraged Rachel. A bit of curiosity about her father’s sport led to her desire to shoot.
“My dad used to go hunting and eventually I started asking him about it,” Rachel explained. For each shot she takes her dad gives her instructions. “My dad tells me up, down, left, right. Fire.”
She cleans and loads her own gun, a .22 caliber revolver. When shooting she holds the gun in front of her and her father standing directly behind to help her locate her target.
“My dad has been working with me, so I will eventually be able to hit it without assistance,” Rachel said. “I know I’ve gotten better since I first started.”
