KAMO April, 2020 Newsletter

 Hello everyone,This is Mark Walters with my section of this month’s newsletter. In a way I am almost at a loss for words. We are a volunteer organization that runs on helping out the general public by providing outdoor experiences which goes against what Covid 19 has created for our society.  Since I came up with the idea for Kids And Mentors Outdoors in the year 2007 it has never been so clear to me how much time I put into KAMO and that is simply because I have probably cut back on my “KAMO Time” about 90-percent since early March.
I do not want to burn people out on something that we cannot do. Our house is in excellent shape when it comes to our finances. Just the week that the world changed I had three KAMO events that I was going to attend.  I believe by mid summer life will be back to normal and we will finish creating the Dodge County Chapter of KAMO which was basically happening.
Over the last 60-days many of us “myself included” have lost a share of our incomes and our retirements.  I have noticed as time passes that a few people are becoming a bit sick of staying at home and watching negative/repetitive news on the tv. I have not let any of the negativity get me down in the least and have stayed very busy and am well aware that all of this is just a period of time.

 Stay active! Be Positive!

Mark

General

Important – Please check the email string for your chapter that appears in the ?sent to?  – are all your chapter?s members on there? Are their addresses accurate? Have you removed people no longer with your group? You are being asked these questions because the answer is ?no? in some cases.

The directory is also a tool which needs periodic revision. If you haven?t checked your chapter?s directory info lately, I can send your chapter?s portion to you, so you can inspect it..Like the group mailing list, it is in good shape generally, but there are some inaccuracies.needs.

The background check process has changed – Our background check company is Intellicorp. They have asked us to process our background checks differently and here?s what that means for you at the chapter level:

To conduct a person?s background check, send Rick the person?s name and email address. An invitation will be sent to the person with a link on it. The person desiring a background check  opens the link provided, enters a 10 digit/ number code (provided in invitation) and name to start. Where a signature is asked for, you do it with the mouse or keypad. The person?s SSN is required. This is not a problem  – the site is secure and only the last 4 digits actually are transmitted, similar to the manner credit card information is handled. The user then transmits this info directly to Intellicorp by pushing a submit button.

KAMO chapters collectively get their liability insurance through SECURA. This company is considered among the best outdoor group insurers rate-wise. Over time, SECURA has excluded an increasing number of coverages. Our insurance agent from Onalaska is going to apply to some other companies this summer in hopes of finding a carrier that might offer fewer exclusions. We?ll also have to decide whether adding ?Directors and Officers? is worth the price.

Hoodies were recently sent out to a couple chapters in both Heather gray and black. There is a remaining stock of neon t-shirts, hats, and Heather gray hoodies, posters, magnetics, and brochures if anyone decides they need something. Contact Mike at brownmtjc@gmail.com

Website

The summer bicycle picture was put back on the front page. We had 92 site visitors to the site this past month (about a third of the normal traffic). 88%. We were billed $60 for some adjustments made to the site – adding an email. Changing pictures 2 x

Chapter Reports

B araboo

This chapter will meet at Kein Seymour?s house on May 11th at 7:00 pm

Coulee – La Crosse

Coulee needs both an archery backstop and a means of carrying around groups of 6-8 fishing rod/ reel sets. We are thinking of a kevlar backstop that could be stored in a tote and then tied to trees or fasteners for use. As for the rod carriers, Cabelas used to sell them, but we heard they don?t anymore. If anyone reading this has any ideas, please contact Mike B.

Meadow Valley – New Lisbon

We had 8 members attend our April conference call meeting.  Actually, we had a couple of more members who wanted to join but the call in number limited them from doing so.  Will need to correct this by the next meeting

Mentoring activities for the month included Bob and Keenan making maple syrup.

Brandon Neilson has joined the club and is our newest mentor.  Thank you Brandon.

Our annual raffle netted $1785.  Thanks to all who supported this effort and purchased tickets.

We had 7 students submit applications for scholarship.  The scholarship committee recommended and the chapter approved awarding Eugene Taylor and Alyssa Froh each a $500 scholarship.  Both have been involved in KAMO and are attending UW- Stevens Point next fall.  

The New Lisbon Sports Cub has agreed to cooperatively help support our planned LTH pheasant hunt this fall.  We will discuss dates and more specifics during next month?s meeting.

Upcoming events include:

June ? Shooting night at NLSC

August  – Conservation trailer at Hustler Fest

October ? LTH pheasant /Deer weekend

Stay Safe

Submitted by Bob Nicksic

Northwoods – Florence

Mick is starting to formulate some options he can present to the chapter members about summer programming, potentially in June and July.

Yellow River – Marshfield

The Yellow River Chapter has had some positive feedback from very patient kids, parents and mentors. I reached out via email early on in this SAH order to assure folks we will be up and running as soon as clearer directives are set forth and got very positive responses. I have been in contact with Rose Reinhart and she is taking a little time to research any grant/fundraising opportunities in our area and we are also still on the docket to team with YouthNet when we get the all clear. Two members of our group with be attending the Whitetails Unlimited Banquet which is rescheduled (for now) to June 25th. We look forward to the opportunity to discuss our group and recruit mentors at that function. We hope all is well with our other Chapters across the State and look forward to being able to share some good times, good stories and positivity with everyone in spite of our current condition…. 

Tradition Forward!

Brad A

 

Miscellaneous

KAMO has a presence on Lake-link.com forums under ?General Outdoor Discussion? ?KAMO?. This blog gets about 1400 views per week at the current use. Apparently, the Lake-linkers think this volume is solid – they have been selling ad space on our blog for a couple years (may be visible just in the mobile version). .Anybody can add to this forum for free. If more people from KAMO used this forum, the views would probably be even higher. If you are not already familiar with this site, it can be a fun place to visit to find out what is going on in the fishing and hunting worlds. 

The Wisconsin DNR site has a mapping tool application that provides a lot of information about the lands and waters throughout Wisconsin. Even a person who is quite knowledgeable about their county will likely be impressed with what they find on there.

My brother discovered that there was a DNR easement through an edge of his 40 in Jackson County by studying the map. He did not consider this as good news, but now at least he knows. He and I have been using the images to determine which bodies of water in the area are accessible through the public trust doctrine, some we knew about, and others are a new frontier. The link to this site:

https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/lands/PAL/application.html