NATCHEZ &8212; The fulfillment of a life-long goal sauntered in front of Blase Gaud/&8217;s deer stand three weeks ago.

And it took four prompts from hunting buddy Eddie Foley before Gaud/ fired the long-awaited shot, but he got it.

&8220;Twenty-five years it took us to do this,&8221; Foley said Tuesday. &8220;Talk about determination, just year after year after year.

&8220;To have gone this long (without killing a deer), now it&8217;s all the more precious to me. It&8217;s one more goal that he accomplished.&8221;

Gaud/, a quadriplegic since age 17, died Sunday.

Foley was a Cathedral High School teacher, but he never taught Gaud/.

Not long after the football accident that broke his neck, Gaud/ got a visit from Foley and a group of students. The topic of hunting came up, and Foley made a promise.

&8220;I said when you feel like you are ready, I don&8217;t know how we&8217;ll do it, but we&8217;ll go (hunting),&8221; Foley said.

About a year later, the duo and the Gaud/ brothers rigged their first contraption.

&8220;There was a shotgun in front of him, and we literally tied a string on the trigger and the other end was in his teeth,&8221; Foley said. &8220;That&8217;s where it started, and through his engineering mind and his friends he developed different methods of being able to fire his gun without his hands.&8221;

The challenge, over the years, was creating a method that allowed more than one shot at a time, Foley said. That success finally came through a bike handle-brake firing mechanism that Gaud/ leaned his chin against.

His arsenal also included a series of blow tubes that would move the gun from side to side, up and down and fire.

Gaud/ made annual hunting pilgrimages from his New Mexico home to Natchez and Foley&8217;s land.

&8220;I don&8217;t know which one of us looked forward to it the most,&8221; Foley said. &8220;He wanted to spend every minute in the woods. One of my greatest experiences is just knowing him.

&8220;If I spent money, it was on something that would help (us) get that deer.&8221;

Gaud/ got his deer, but Foley got much more, he said.

&8220;I was always totally intimidated by people who were handicapped,&8221; he said. &8220;But over the years I just became comfortable with him.

&8220;He&8217;s kind of like an octopus. He just sort of slowly brought you in and instead of sucking blood he nourished you. He gave instead of taking away.

&8220;I don&8217;t know how our relationship turned into what it was. I can&8217;t say it was like a child or a brother, but I don&8217;t have another one like it. And it&8217;s something I&8217;ll cherish for the rest of my life.&8221;