On January 6th, 2020, Waseca, Minnesota Police Officer Arik Matson's life was changed as he was shot in the head in the line of duty.

This tragic event has not only had a tremendous impact on Arik but it’s also affected his wife and two children. During his recovery, he was transported to many different hospitals and eventually settled in Nebraska for the remainder of his recovery.

While he’s making tremendous progress and is physically healing quite well, there is one thing he is missing (aside from doing the "normal" things a husband, father, and officer enjoys), and that is being outdoors. He has missed one of his favorite pastimes, hunting specifically.

This is where Hometown Hero Outdoors steps in. We offered him the trip of a lifetime - one of his choosing wherever he wanted to venture. After a long debate with himself between a bear hunt in Canada or a waterfowl hunt, he ultimately settled on waterfowl hunting. However, he didn’t want to hunt just any waterfowl. Instead, he set his sights on the prized King Eider, and there is no better place in the world for that other than St. Paul Island in Alaska.

HHO has pledged to make this hunt happen for him in order to give him another thing to look forward to through his recovery process. We’ve recruited Rogue Productions to document Officer Matson's recovery and journey to Alaska. In turn, we will be producing a documentary in cooperation with Rogue that will be released in late 2022.