KAMO – June, 2023 Newsletter – pages
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President?s Remarks – Hello to all members and friends of KAMO,
This is KAMO President Mark Walters with my monthly report. This is perhaps the most active month I have seen for our KAMO chapters in 10-years and our stick with it persistence is really paying off.
First the bad news and it really is not that bad, I was majorly hacked last week and really feel foolish as I actually spoke with the hackers as I thought they were from Windows Security Team.
I have received communication from KAMO members that they have had emails sent to them that were supposed to look like they were from me asking for money, don’t fall for it!
Anyways back to the good news TOM ST CLAIR of the Meadow Valley Chapter has been our State Treasurer for a very long time and as of this week is being replaced by Jim Rydmark of The Meadow Valley Chapter. Thank you Tom, you have been flawless at the task! Thank you Jim for stepping up to the plate.
Speaking of the MVT, they are on a roll and have a super cool project with 2 young hunters who are strong members of their chapter. They are running bear baits and have the kids signed up for a Learn to Hunt which is going to be very cool to observe.
It has been just over a year since I lost my soulmate Michele Chiaro. I deal with her loss on a daily basis and I want to thank the Northwood’s Chapter for giving me a check for 2 apple trees in her honor.
The Baraboo River Chapter held their annual camping trip on Castle Rock Lake. I was in Canada but I believe The Dodge County Chapter joined them.The Coulee Chapter is on a total roll with MIke Brown and company. I am thinking The Northwoods Chapter has had or is about to have their annual Hooked on Fishing event.
Last but not least, at our state meeting in March, Kevin Seymour of the Baraboo River Chapter became our new Huntmaster for The Joe. It was agreed that in Aug or Sept that The Baraboo River Chapter would be the meeting place for a rep from each chapter to plan The Joe. Kevin,
Rick, Greg, please get this info out “meeting date” it is pretty important if you want to realistically assign tasks to other chapters.
That’s about it folks, congrats, we are kicking butt!
Mark
Treasurer – During the month of July, the state treasurer position will shift from Tom St. Clair to Jim Rydmark. What this means for you is that you will have a new person/ address to send your dues and financial reports to. For those chapters that took KAMO hoodies, t-shirts, and hats with them from the convention, you are supposed to pay for those to the treasurer as you use them. T-shirts and hats – $10.00, hoodies – $27.00.
Fishing Challenge – Month of July
Scoring options:
Total length of fish/ # of participants
Largest: Northern, bass, walleye, crappie, perch,bluegill
Prize options: Given by individual chapter
______ Rod and reel combo _______ Tackle box w/ lures
______ Gift Card ________ KAMO hat/ t-shirt
Fish should be measured on a bump board with mouth closed, nose against edge, tail pinched together. A mentor in the particular chapter should record the applicants names and measurements.

Chapter Reports –
Baraboo – The Baraboo River Chapter held our monthly meeting on Monday June 12th at the Upham Woods Education Center in Wisconsin Dells. Craig Boehlke is the Operations Manager there and hosted the meeting in the new Upper Dells Research Center building. It was the first visit there for several of us and everyone was impressed with the facilities. They are currently running their summer camp and we enjoyed seeing several groups of kids participating in outside activities. We are looking forward to planning some future events/activities at Upham Woods. Our small group reported almost 200 hours of One on One/KAMO time over the past month.
The Dodge County KAMO Chapter had 3 mentors attend our meeting as guests. They will have 3 mentors and 5 kids joining us for the Annual Camping Trip June 23?25th. We will be camping at the Juneau County Castle Rock Park with a projected 19 total participants. The Park is doing major renovations, so we will be camping in a different area with no electricity this year. Grilling and Dutch Oven cooking will be part of the menu plan. Rick has agreed to bring his new boat and we are planning for some tubing for the kids.

The fundraising raffle came to an end and we drew 3 lucky winners during the meeting. Matt F. took the YETI cooler. Brad M. took the Marlin .22 and Jon H. ended up with the HR.243. Thanks to all that purchased tickets. We raised $1480 on the 3 donated prizes.

Our July meeting will be held one week later than normal due to the Sauk County Fair. Our next meeting will be July 17th at 7pm.

Thanks,

Greg
Coulee – Three mentors participated in the local Saturday, June 3rd river clean-up off locations on Lake Onalaska and the Clinton Street Bridge. A mixture of KAMO followers and the general public were the participants. Pictures went on Coulee?s Facebook page.
The Bugs, Bugs, and More Bugs event was held on June 13th at Vets Park in West Salem. 17 kids, 7 parents, 2 mentors, and 5 volunteers were present. Dan Jackson, the Audubon Society?s bird and insect fanatic, led the outing with instruction and then the kids went out with nets and captured both dragonflies and some exotic damselflies that aren?t seen in the area very often. We finished off with a picnic lunch and a final look/ talk about the species that were caught near the local pond.
We decided to make an effort to get out on the fishing float more this summer and so, trip 1 on Friday, June 16th, three mentors took a parent, her son, and four other kids to the Best Dam Fishing Float (BDFF). One of these 3 mentors brought 3 kids back and forth from his Lake Onalaska home – Pool 7 through the lock into Pool 8 to access the float. This boat used was his home built Sneakeasy, which has quite a story behind it. Google Fritz Funk boats. The fishing was slow, but the kids all caught something. The scenery was spectacular as usual.
One mentor, another adult took 8 Boys and Girls Club kids and two staff fishing on trip 2, June 27th also on the Best Dam Fishing Float. The June 28th trip 3 outing planned there with the Good Fight Community Center for June 28th was canceled due to air quality alerts. There are floats up and down the river, but the BDFF is the upper Missippi?s premier unit. The owners are good to us, giving a steep discount and insisted on rigging the rack of poles we bring over with their ?top secret? float rig.
Scott ran a booth at the West Salem Rod and Gun Club Kids Day event on Saturday, June 17th.
Scott and Mike took a brother and sister to the silhouette range at the Holmen Rod and Gun Club on the evening of June 20th. Safety instruction followed by all 4 shooting at a variety of forms/ distances. This is one of the funnest forms of shooting with .22’s and we used up a lot of our older rounds. Mike still brings the rifle he was given for his 10th birthday. These kids expressed enthusiasm for hunting in the fall.
Our pontoon event is scheduled for Tuesday, July 18th. We have begun advertising and planning for it.
Mike

Dodge County Conservation – DCC KAMO had a pretty good month. We had a combined chapter camping weekend at Castle Rock Camp grounds In Juneau county with the Baraboo gang. 8 boys and 1 girl enjoyed themselves and Thanks to Rick Miotke with the boat tubing was the hit of the weekend. Check out our Facebook page for pictures. We also helped out with the free fishing day that the Beaver Dam Lake improvement put on at Edgewater Park in Beaver Dam. 110 boys and girls split up into groups and went to 10 different stations each lasting 15 minutes each to learn everything Fishing. Fish ID, Live Bait, Artificial Bait, Fish Cleaning. etc, When they ended each child got a free fishing rod, a bag of goodies and some Bait. Many stayed to try their new rod and some fish were caught. Would like to thank Jay Newton From Whitetails Unlimited for their donation and the rod and reel combos as well. A trip is planned for the end of July to Fond du Lac for a Dock Spiders baseball game. Also another hunters safety class will be Taught in August as well. Get a kid outside and watch what happens. Jim Braker
Meadow Valley – We had 7 members at our May meeting.
James Newlun is working with 2 Bear LTH participants. They are running baits on Wednesday?s and Friday?s. The kids are very excited. Our group committed to assist James with this hunt providing we receive the LTH tags. This is a fantastic opportunity not only for the kids but mentors who would like to learn more about bear hunting.
Update from Eagle Scout project ? Dominik. Very productive and all tasks were completed. Bee habitat, culvert installation, created trails and built a shooting bench.
Discussed the opportunity for fishing near New Lisbon flowage late July or early August. Discussed the need for boater safety. Dylan was going to create a group chat for the fishing club.
That is all ? Thanks
Jim
Northwoods – Hello From the Northwoods,
We have our summer Hooked on Fishing event planned for Saturday July 8th with advertising in the newspaper and radio along with flyers. This event has been ongoing for over 20 years! Our group has been blessed with some nice donations recently and will be updating some fishing and ice fishing gear. We have had a discussion about a fire pit get – together for this summer yet also. Our secretary Natasha has been keeping things current on our website too, check us out! Keep doing good things folks and enjoy the rest of summer!!
Johnny Johnson from Florence Wi.