KAMO Newsletter for August, 2018

Hello everyone,

This is Kids And Mentors Outdoors president Mark Walters with my
monthly report.
KAMO is I believe settling into a very comfortable place. Tom St Clair is now our treasurer and I want to give a sincere thanks to Tony Biasi for his years of service and also for agreeing to stay on as Tom’s assistant.
The Indianhead Chapter hit a rough patch but Jim and Floyd and
their crew of volunteers have really done an excellent job this summer
and I saw a couple of really cool write-ups in The Ladysmith News to
prove that.
The MarshPoint Chapter also hit a rut and I made a decision that
I was going to do my best to fix what needed fixing even if it took a
lot of time and some of my KAMO energy. It is premature to say how that
is going but we have a meeting on September 4th at the Wood County
Historical Society on September 4th in Marshfield at 6:30 and it looks
like we may have a pretty decent turnout and most importantly we have
found some people that can get things done that really want to see
MarshPoint work. In reality I believe it will be a one year project to
get MarshPoint rocking and rolling but very worth the time and energy.
KAMO now has a bill board that is placed near interstate 90/94 and
highway 12 and 16 near Wisconsin Dells. This sign is beautiful and I
want to thank Rick Miotke for origanally contacting Dave Gawronski of
Gawronski Sign in Reedsburg. Rick was going to let us put the sign on
his property but state law would not allow it. I started
communicating with Dave in April and Dave had the sign made at his own
expense “which is a wrap” and this wrap can be moved to vacant signs
that Dave has.
Folks our sign was a matter of reaching outside of the box and
developing a relationship with someone. I am trying to figure out a way
to reward Dave Gawronski and at this point he has no desire for a
reward. We can make KAMO bigger and better, we just have to stay on a
steady and POSITIVE path!
As always I want to thank all of you for everything that you do for
KAMO!
Mark
KAMO Mentoring Tip of the Month

September is probably the biggest month of change for men and
women that enjoy the outdoors. On September 1st our Early Goose Season
starts as well as Wisconsin’s 7-day Teal Season.
Another outdoor experience that can really be fun is that our hook and
line sturgeon fishing season starts and catching a 50-pound sturgeon
with a fishing pole can be an incredible experience.
Try doing this in a canoe if you really want to go for a wild ride.
September is also when our black bear season starts as well as
Wisconsin’s bow season for whitetail deer. If you really want to
challenge yourself, give ruffed grouse hunting a try. Even if you do not
harvest a grouse, the walk in nature is an excellent experience.
On Saturday, September 29th our duck season opens and on September 15 our Fall Turkey Season also opens. We lose a lot of daylight and the air temperature makes some major changes during the month of September and in this whirlwind month of change, fishing in Wisconsin is usually incredible in September as fish put on the feed bag for a long
winter under the ice. No matter what you choose to do try to spend time in the
outdoors during September and I am sure that you will find it was time
well spent.

Mentoring Tip offered by Mark Walters

No News from the Baraboo River Chapter this month, but see Mark?s comments on the billboard!

News from the Coulee Chapter:

Coulee?s mentors have been continuing our fishing trips by request experiment. These have been popular among our kamo families and also are getting the attention of groups we partner with such as BBBS. The river has finally receded to a stage of 5 feet for the first time in 2018 making finding some fish easier and someone has been out every week on the trips.
A mentor who tests water quality in his role at the U.S.G.S. has offered to take groups out by request to sample local waters. He has taken out a group since the last newsletter.
We had an informal pizza/ beverage gathering on July 25th at Tim Collins riverside home deck to reward the individuals who volunteered their time and pontoons in July at our public pontoon ride event. Four mentors and seven pontoon owners were there.
On Saturday, August 18th, Mike took a small group to Goose Island where we set up up canvas painting and fish casting stations. The painters drew pictures of the backwaters with the Minnesota bluffs in the background to produce some nice art work. For one family that has lived in the area long term, it was their first ever trip to Goose Island Park.
One mentor and several KAMO families attended the Day at the Lake event along Neshonac Lake in West Salem on Sunday, August 19th. This is pretty much an outdoors carnival with some of the kids going out fishing on the lake and all the kids participating in games. This event was put on by the Sara Hougom Foundation, a group with which we have been rubbing shoulders recently that focuses on kids.
Our group has a trap/ pigeon shoot on Saturday, August 25th and is sponsoring a class at Brice Prairie on August 25th and 26th in which participants make botanical paper – that made up of locally gathered materials for the non-hunters. We are gearing up for the upcoming duck season by getting kids and adults from other groups to help us out.

Submitted by Mike Brown

News from the Indianhead Chapter:

Two mentors, 3 kids, and a Trooper of a Grandma canoed 15 miles down the Chippewa river in Sawyer and Rusk counties, camping overnight on a Friend of KAMO?s land. Caught sturgeon, bass, catfish, and redhorse. Paddled through an afternoon of rain, upwind, easier and drier the next day. Had a Blast. Kids loved it. Great article in the Rice Lake Chronotype on this trip and on KAMO in general. http://www.apg-i.com/rice_lake_chronotype/news/outdoors/tradition-forward/article_e5ac615c-9b11-11e8-b270-873ba41e1f87.htmlLouis and Jim took 22 kids from China out fishing for bluegills on our new (to us) pontoon boat, many fish caught, kids and their directors loved it. Floyd helped 50 kids shoot archery at the Rusk County Fair over two days. Jim and Floyd worked with about 40 girl scouts at their camp at Trails End. Jim took a kid pontoon boat fishing on Amacoy Lake, one 2 inch bluegill caught, one anchor lost to a fish crib; could have been worse on a windy stormy day.
Hope to take some kids turkey hunting this fall.

Submitted by Jim Kurz

No news from the Lake Wisconsin Chapter.

News from the Marshfield Chapter:

As you know we are just starting a long project to become a
viable KAMO Chapter. Our meeting location has been changed to
Marshfield instead of the Meade Wildlife Area in an attempt to have
more people attend our meetings. It really would appear that some
very interested people may help create this chapter and we all know that
it will take time.
Our meeting for September will be held in Marshfield at the Wood
County Historical Society at 6:30 p.m. on September 4th.
Spread the word and wish us luck!

Submitted by Mark Walters

News from the Meadow Valley Chapter:

We had 8 members present along with 2 visitors from Marshfield ( former Marshpoint chapter members).
The 2 visitors were invited to attend our meeting to learn more about KAMO and how a successful chapter operates . Overall, it was a good meeting for them as they got answers to many of their questions as well as additional contacts to reach out to. Several of us volunteered to attend the next meeting in Marshfield.
We had 3 mentoring activities this month involving fishing and food plot work.
We discussed mentor recruiting and believe we may have 2 new mentors who would be willing to help.
Aaron discussed the possibility of hosting a youth deer hunt in October on his property. All liked the idea and decided to host the October meeting at Aaron’s house to finalize the activity.
Other activities discussed:
Wood duck houses
Woods and Meadows pheasant hunt

Submitted by Bob Nicksic
News from the Northwoods Chapter:

Meeting held August 15th…one absent.
Had a wrap up session on our kid’s fishing outing, held on July 14th. We had 27 kids attend this year for a free day of fishing from pontoons, prizes and tee shirts and a lunch from our grill master. A fine day with plenty of volunteers and great community involvement.
Held our senior fishing event on August 20th, with 14 men and women from our local nursing home in Florence. Fishing, lunch and tee shirts were provided to all. Again, if you haven’t tried this one, think about it…truly a fun experience.
And lastly, we put together plans for our pheasant shoot in October. Another fun day…unless you?re a pheasant or sporting clay.

Till September,

Northwood Chapter Mick