Mossy Oak is Jonathan Cermak’s favorite brand of camouflage. The company’s marketing slogan—It’s not a passion, it’s an obsession—seems to have been written with Jonathan and his father, Dan, in mind. The Cermaks have two driving passions that border the obsession: hunting and law enforcement.
Jonathan openly admires his father and has wanted to follow in his footsteps since his earliest memories. In 1995, Jonathan went deer hunting for the first time on family property in Leelanau County, Michigan. With his dad sitting right next to him the then 14-year old hunter pulled the trigger at 7:15 on the opening morning of the firearm deer season, successfully bringing down a 5-point buck. Just like his big 6’7” dad, young Jonathan was now a successful deer hunter. How cool was that?
In 2002, Jonathan was in his junior year of college pursuing his degree in criminal justice and dreaming of soon entering the Police Academy. He was even working in the corrections field as a resident coordinator at (KPEP) Kalamazoo Probation Enhancement Program, an incarceration-alternative program for non-violent drug and alcohol offenders.
On December 19 of that year, Jonathan was driving home from his job when his world literally came to a crashing halt. At 11:20 p.m. a vehicle driven by a drunk driver crossed the center line of the road and struck Cermak’s vehicle head-on. Instantly, a young man’s life became drastically altered because of a selfish, criminally violent act of another.
The crash shattered Jonathan’s pelvis, hip and femur and broke his tibia, fibula and both ankles. Other injuries included a collapsed lung and traumatic brain injuries, which caused a stroke that partially paralyzed the left side of his body.
After years of rehabilitation it is now mostly certain that Cermak will not have the use of his left arm. His dream of becoming a police officer like his father, uncle, aunt and cousin will not materialize, because he is not able to meet the physical requirements demanded by the job. The thoughtless drunk driver who sentenced Jonathan Cermak to a lifetime of restrictions and discomfort received one year in jail and five years probation.
Fast forward to the spring of 2009 where Jonathan was once again sitting alongside his loving father, trying for yet another hunting first. On opening morning of turkey season three toms responded to the hunters enticing calls and came into their decoys. At the count of three, both men shot and the father-son team scored a turkey hunting double.
In September, the compromised shotgunner was lying flat on his back in a southern-Michigan cornfield when he successfully took his first goose. His repetitive stories from this single hunt displayed the passion and excitement that burned brightly within the 28-year-old man.
I entered Jonathan’s hunting world when my new friend told me that he had not shot a deer in 12 years and none since his accident. On the first Saturday of the southern Michigan muzzleloader season (12/5/2009) we went to a cut soybean field in Calhoun County. As I gathered my gear, I watched the anxious hunter put on his coat, uncase his gun, strap the gun over his head and place his bagged chair over his 6’5” frame. He performed all of these tasks, with one-arm. The chair was a necessity because elevated stands are no longer an option with limited use in his left leg.
When we made it to the spot where we were going to sit Jonathan realized that he’d left his shooting stick in the truck, another necessity for the restricted hunter. I volunteered to retrieve the stick and as I retraced our steps my hunter eye could not help but notice the drag marks in the snow from Jonathan’s left leg.
We set up in a thicket of autumn olives that bordered the field. As we sat and waited, Jonathan kept his left hand tucked into a muff filled with hand warmers. In the last minutes of shooting light three does entered the field to feed. Cermak rested his .50 caliber muzzleloader on his monopod shooting stick and shot at a broadside doe standing 60 yards away. The startled deer came running straight at us with her white tail waving high in the air. The doe had been missed cleanly. The monopod combined with the excitement of it had made for a shaky situation. I promised a return trip.
On New Year’s Eve we returned to the same spot, this time armed with a 12-gage Winchester shotgun and a brand new Primos shooting stick. At 5:00 p.m. six does entered the field. For no apparent reason they started to run off. The last one dwarfed the other ones and I “blatted,” which successfully stopped them. With a rock-steady rest, Jonathan took aim at the big doe bringing up the rear of the pack and fired a lethal slug from 85 yards away. She ran for another 60 yards and then crashed into the snow. Jonathan developed a quick case of the “perma-grin” that marks all happy hunters. The twelve year deer drought was over.
Seven years ago a drunk driver stole a young man’s dream of becoming a police officer. Jonathan Cermak is currently making the most out of a bad situation. Displaying fortitude and courage, he has fought his way back and is currently a case manager for Calhoun County Community Corrections. Many of the clients who report to him do so for alcohol-related offenses. He carries an awesome attitude and is a living example of how selfish behaviors can drastically affect innocent lives.
By the grace of God, Jonathan’s hunting dream lives vibrantly on. The gift of hunting is a wonderful thing. If you want to know what passion looks like just look at the broad smile adorning the Mossy Oak clad hunter in the picture accompanying this story. Happy hunting my friend, you inspire many.
Editor’s Note:
Jerry Lambert of Battle Creek, Michigan (jerrylambert44@gmail.com) is a regional pro staffer for Mossy Oak and a freelancer writing regularly for the state publication Woods-N-Water News. His work has also appeared in Whitetails Unlimited and North American Whitetail.
“This story about Jonathan Cermak, a young man who was hit by a drunk driver seven years ago and subsequently suffered a stroke that left him with limited use of his left leg and no use with his left arm, is inspirational, to say the least,” said Lambert. “Cermak is certainly a Mossy Oak hunter who displays a passion for hunting and living life."
