KAMO – July, 2023 Newsletter – 3 pages
For comments related to this document, contact Mike

President?s Remarks – Hello KAMO members and friends of KAMO,
This is KAMO President, Mark Walters with my monthly report.
Folks I am headed to Canada as soon as I write this and about al I have
to say is this. I have never seen so many KAMO chapters achieving so
much at the same time as I do right now. We are a well oiled machine and
in the state of Wisconsin we are very good at helping our states youth
participate in outdoor experiences.
Everyone can be very proud of that fact! Thank you very much,

Mark

Upcoming Youth Seasons – Waterfowl – September 16th – 17th, Gun Deer – October 7th and 8th,
Antlerless / Mac Kenzie – December 8th – 10th.

Note that a planning meeting for the Mac Kenzie hunt (the ?Joe?) is scheduled in Baraboo on September 11th.
It would be helpful for the Joe Hunt planners to have some estimation of how many kids and mentors might be coming to this year?s hunt. Also, background checks required of the mentors take up to two months to process, so if you have someone mentoring that hasn?t had the DNR Authorization for Activity applied for, which is the background check specific to that hunt, let me (Mike) know, and I can electronically forward you the latest revision of that document. If you could discuss at your next meeting who you might be sending to this hunt, that would be great.

Clothing Donations – Two chapters – Dodge and Coulee, both have a substantial amount of donated hunting clothing in storage. If you have someone in your chapter in need of some kind of outer hunting wear, let Jim Braker and Mike Brown know that, and we?ll see if we can connect you with it. During the pandemic, many people cleaned out their closets and donated stuff while at the same time, our chapters were not giving donations out like usual, thus the inventory explosion..

Chapter Reports –
Baraboo – The Baraboo River Chapter held our monthly meeting on Monday July 17th. We delayed the meeting by 1 week due to the Sauk County Fair and a couple of members unable to attend. We held our meeting at Kevin Seymour?s outdoor campfire. We reviewed our successful annual campout from June 23?25th where we were joined by the Dodge County KAMO Chapter and had 10 kids. Boating/Tubing and water fun were quite popular during the 90 degree heat wave. We made Dutch Oven cobbler, had a bean bag tournament, and enjoyed Cozy?s pizza for Saturday supper. Of course it rained come Sunday morning, so we packed up wet and everybody was gone by 10AM.
Our group reported over 200 hours in the past month of volunteer work to get Kids Outdoors. We also reviewed our fundraiser raffle from last month where we raised $1,480 to get ideas on any improvements.
Our next meeting is Monday August 14th. We would like to invite any other Chapter members to our September 11th meeting where we will start planning the Annual Joe Hunt for December 2023. (Learn to Hunt at MacKenzie Center)

Thanks,
Greg

Coulee – Fritz took some of the KAMOKIDS from his neighborhood to Rezin?s Cranberry Marsh east of Tomah to engage with the DNR?s goose banding efforts there. The geese lose their flight feathers for a brief period of time each summer. Researchers take advantage of the ability to herd them onto land where nets are waiting. The birds tolerate being handled and banded. This is a phenomenal experience for the kids, especially if they get to handle the birds. Maybe it is going on in your area in June or July.
Fritz also took two kids and an adult out on Lake Onalaska and poled them around some channels while they stood in his Sneakeasy craft and casted. The kids often give advice on where some fish may be hiding, and sure enough, they are right!
Group met on the evening of July 11th to discuss upcoming pontoon and potential for hunting outings. One mentor participated via phone, the first time a member has been trolling the Black River while joining a meeting. And the fish were biting. Inspired by the trolling mentor, Mike took a kid fishing on the Black River on the evening of July 17th where walleyes and smallmouth bass were caught while trolling..
Around 100 people came in for our pontoon rides on the Black and Mississippi Rivers the evening of July 18th. 10 pontoon owners met boarders at the Clinton Street Landing and gave them a pleasure ride that night and later met a couple mentors on July 25th for a pontoon driver appreciation pizza party at the Robin?s Nest on French Island. Coulee has plans to return to the Best Dam Fishing Float in August.

Dodge County Conservation – Ending the month of July with a Bang. We are taking a Bus full of Kids to the Fond du Lac Dockspiders game on Sunday the 30th. We are also trying to do more 1-1 mentoring adventures as well. August is going to be busy. Participating in National Night out which is a big PR event for Our KAMO chapter. Another Hunter’s safety class is posted as well for the end of the month. Thanks To Modern Gaming for there in kind donation on behalf of The Late Carl Backhaus. . A special Shout out and thank you to the Bentz family and Karen Bentz and Whitetails Unlimited for there wonderful Donations as well. Big Things are always happening with Dodge County Conservation KAMO. Watch the website and Facebook page. . One more thing. Thanks to the Group of people that makes this tick. We have a great thing going and I couldn’t have done it without everyone one of you.

Jim B

Meadow Valley – We had 5 people attend our meeting with 1 guest.Our focus the past three months has been working on baiting bears in conjunction with the LTH Bear program sponsored by the DNR. Dylan and Chase and Bob along with James Newlun who is mentoring this group on bear baits and how to set them up. The club purchased trail cameras for the boys for them to monitor the bear movements. As of this writing, we are anticipating we will get 2 LTH bear licenses for a late August hunt. Aaron, Bob, Chase and Dylan listened in on the DNR
LTH webinar to fulfill training requirements. Bob will be conducting the mandatory hunter safety training for the boys prior to the hunt. Many thanks to James Newlun who is spearheading this effort. Mark Sampler (Junior High/High School Principal) has volunteered to take over the advisor roll for the New Lisbon fishing club. Bob, Aaron and Craig are to meet prior to next months meeting to discuss the KAMO scholarship process.
Bob
Northwoods – Hello from the Northwoods Chapter,
Our hooked on fishing event was successful with the biggest turn out we had in several years, extra boats were called upon to help out. We have received several donations recently and are looking into a large hub style ice shack for our ice fishing event. We will also be purchasing shotgun ammo for the fall trap shoot which will be on October 14th. Good things ahead up here, enjoy the rest of the summer!

Johnny Johnson from Florence Wisconsin.