KAMO – February, 2021 Newsletter
For comments related to this document, contact Mike at brownmtjc@gmail.com

President?s remarks
Hello everyone,
This is KAMO President Mark Walters with my fourteenth February update since being KAMO President. Covid has hurt us, but from what I can see we are close to being ready to getting kids back into the outdoors. I really wish I could tell you more but we have eliminated dues for the year and are just praying that vaccinations work.
On a happy note, as soon as I hit “send” I am getting in my truck with a good buddy and headed to Little Bay de Noc for four days of living on the ice. The guy I am traveling with has been one of my best buddies since high school and has an incredible passion to be outside.
Let?s keep that flame going and hang in there so that all of the hard work that we accomplished does not vanish. As I have said for 14-years, thank you for all that you do for KAMO and the youth of our area!
Mark

Hunter Education – No LTH turkey hunts will be approved in 2021. Persons wishing to participate in teaching another individual how to hunt turkeys are advised to default to the mentored hunting law.
Online only, any age, hunter education has been reinstated through June 30th, 2021.
Both traditional and internet field day classes can resume on April 1st. Non students will have to leave the training area during class (ie, parents would drop off and pick up or wait in their car).
There were 37 internet field days statewide on GoWild and no traditional classes.

Website – We received and paid an invoice from our server host, QTH in La Crosse, for the annual hosting fee of $29.70

B.O.D. Meeting – The next proposed Board of Directors meeting date is Monday, March 29th. Topics could include reviewing the potential for resuming activities, replacement of officers.

Mentor offer
Mike Hodgins has been an active Coulee mentor and has recently moved north. He and his wife found a place in Irma, Wisconsin after a lengthy and competitive search. Their house is situated on about 80 acres of forested land that includes a fish pond. He called to let KAMO know that he is willing to host a mentee/ mentor pair there sometime.

An App for Practical Outdoor Use – Many people of our age and background are probably not comfortable hearing the word ?app?and their name in the same sentence.An app? Me use? Are you kidding?
There are some easy to use, free or cheap apps designed with groups like ours in mind. An app designed for the fishing enthusiast who would like to be in a contest or tournament is Fish Donkey. It is free to kids. If used in a larger format such as a regional tournament there may be a nominal fee, but for a kids group like ours, it?s all free. App use does require that the individual or group leader have a cell phone or tablet onsite to submit pictures and other data.

What potential value does this have for KAMO?

The app would be used to take most of the work out of running a chapter, regional, or state contest. Upon catching a trophy fish or quantity of fish, pictures and measurements are recorded on the app, which has been downloaded on the user?s phone or tablet. Two uses include:

1)A chapter could set up a contest/ tournament for their group or even challenge other chapters to join in. Kids could compete independently on their own or with a mentor. This lends itself well to a kamokid fishing independently or with a mentor. The contest can be ongoing, lasting for days or weeks.

2)The state KAMO could set up a contest challenge to every kid in KAMO for a given time frame / species and issue recognition/ awards.

Fish Donkey is not the only fishing contest/ tournament app out there, but it is probably the most commonly used one because it’s easy to navigate and inexpensive or free depending on the use. Other apps have been developed specifically to get kids interested in being outdoors for many reasons besides fishing.

This could be a means of opening something up a little. If anyone is interested in having some kind of fishing challenge opened up statewide, please let me know (Mike).

Chapter Reports –

Baraboo – Did not meet in February

Coulee – Zoom meeting on January 11th. Discussed president replacement ideas. Came up with a tentative event list and schedule – canoeing, pontooning, archery outdoors, and fishing were also discussed. The parent of one of our Kamokids asked to become a mentor and has done his background check bringing our new mentor total to two so far in 2021.

Yellow River – Having a brat fry fundraiser/ public awareness event on Saturday, May 7th at their local Festival.