KAMO – September, 2022 Newsletter
For comments related to this document, contact Mike

Joe Hunt Updates – Available properties – Madsen (Morse Road) – 2 – 3 hunters, 1 deer each. MacKenzie – up to 4 hunters. The extent to which properties are looked into depends on the demand. How is the demand determined? Demand is based on the feedback the organizers (Bob B. and Rick M.) get from all chapters about who is coming. The sooner you provide those numbers, the more seamless it will be for them. Submitting that info in October would be ideal.

This is a learn to hunt, so participants are novices at hunting this species (deer),but as noted below, they may or may not have purchased a license in a previous year . A training class is required up front led by a hunter safety instructor. If you do a training class in your area, you will need to follow the group?s overall lesson plan to cover three of the four hours. The remaining hour will be delivered the Friday night before Saturday hunting at MacKenzie.

We?ll need one person with some background knowledge of medications/first aid on site that weekend. The cost for lodging each night at the MacKenzie dorms was $15.00 per night per adult mentor and that has been paid for by the individual or their chapter in the past. Participating kids and their families are often covered by KAMO.. Participants will be responsible for setting up their own blinds or stands. If you will be hunting on Friday (the season runs from Thursday – Sunday), Rick or Bob need to know that up front as well.

What is the kid criteria for the hunt? Our rules: At least 10 years of age. Can do the LTH Joe up to two times. Follow DNR criteria.
DNR Criteria: According to Emily Iehl (iehl), DNR Hunting and Shooting Program Specialist, for the DNR, as long as host group fills out authorization to conduct paperwork and receives approval from the DNR, participants do not need a license and can shoot either sex. Important change: It is up to the discretion of the host group to decide whether someone who has hunted in the past and bought a license a previous year could still benefit from a LTH experience as a LTH participant (as long as this isn?t being used as a loophole).
Other important consideration: The LTH participants can shoot either species according to the DNR, but that is also up to the landowner/manager.

Mentors participating in the Joe will need to have a current DNR background to participate. Does the background check you?ve already had for KAMO count? No, not for DNR outdoor skills programs such as the learn to hunt.To learn more about Wisconsin?s Learn to Hunt program see https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/Education/OutdoorSkills/lth

A new revision of ?Background Check Authorization for Educational Skills Programs – 4100 – 217 (R 7/21) is a request for the DNR to run a background check on you and has been sent to the whole KAMO group. Each mentor participating in theJoe should complete one of these. It would probably be a good idea to complete one if you feel you may be involved in an R3 event or Learn To Fish in the future.Once you?ve completed the new version,you won?t have to do one again – it automatically does a new check on you every fifth year.. Do not fax your completed 4100 authorization form – either send a paper copy in the mail using the address on the form or take a picture of the completed document and send to Emily Iehl (iehl)- Emily.iehl@wisconsin.gov (this email address was off by one letter in a group mailing I sent earlier – her name is iehl, not Lehl).

Deer that are harvested during the Joe are taken to the processor on Sunday. If your mentee bags a deer or two, they will not be taking it home or to processing with them. When the processing we?ve arranged is completed, the meat gets divided among all participants, whether they got a deer or not.

Hunter Education – The Wisconsin DNR has been offering a series of webinars that include information about: Mentored hunting, Learn To Hunts, finding a hunter ed class, places to go hunting,etc. These are in line with the recruitment portion of R3 and are available to watch on demand on the DNR?s Learn To Hunt webpage. The October Webinar will be ?Wanna Go Hunting: Where can we practice shooting?? The theme for November – ?Wanna Go Hunting? Who Can we learn from??

The hunter education instructor core is declining as the number of people interested in shooting/hunting is rising. The DNR is trying to address this issue by holding cert/recert classes in a number of areas. The goal was 450 new instructors in the state in 2022. The actual number that were newly certified is under 200 so far this year.

Statistics show that most hunting accidents in Wisconsin are caused by adults – average age of victim is 51 with an average time out of hunter education 20 years. This is another area the DNR intends to address – what kind of retraining do we have to conduct to reverse this trend?.

Contrary to what some believe, all students aged 17 and younger must attend an in person course – a traditional class or Internet Field Day. Students who completed the online firearms safety must go through an IFD – they can not reach certification by attending a field day of a traditional class. Those IFD classes are hard to find in some areas as mentioned in the last newsletter.

As an active hunter education instructor, I (Mike) see that there is a demand for both traditional and online classes. Some instructors will teach only traditional, some will teach only IFD, others have no preference. All feel that having hands on time is crucial.

The largest percentage of people seeking certification for hunter education seem to take the online firearms safety on a home computer and then look for an IFD afterwards. Whether there is an IFD in a given region is a logistics piece the DNR/ instructor groups have to work together to improve. I have seen some of the modules in the online courses and the quality of the visual content is excellent – for example, an online unit may show every step of a cartridge going from magazine to chamber, being fired, then ejected. The IFD is all demonstration and hands on. Whether the IFD equals a multiple session traditional class is debatable, but the IFD is not going away.

President Replacement – Arrangements have been made for ads to be run in future editions of Wisconservation and Wisconsin Outdoor News. Bob Nack (DNR) is involved in putting the word out about the replacement need and has sent that message out in his network.

Financial – We are renewing our liability insurance policy from October 17th 2022 – October 17, 2023. This is a $1715.00 expense and is one reason for our dues amount. Our annual domain fee for the website was $16.88, also from October to October.

Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and KAMO – As a result of the networking Bob Nack has been doing, we heard from Mark LaBarbera, WWF?s Executive Director, about his interest in KAMO and WWF helping each other. His suggestion was to have a Memorandum of Understanding between the two groups, which he offered to write. It includes several things our groups can do to work together to help each other. It has been signed after it was reviewed by the B.O.D. The benefits to our group include more public awareness and getting heads up from WWF about funding sources. The requirements we have are partially filled through statements/ links on our website. If you are interested in seeing this document, please let me (Mike) know.

Midwest Outdoor Heritage Education Expo (MOHEE) – Established dates for 2 expos for 2023- May 10-11 in Milwaukee, the other at the MacKenzie Center in Poynette on May 17 – 18.
This may be good to discuss at the convention – should KAMO have an informational booth there?
Chapter Reports

Baraboo/ Lake Wisconsin – Working together to set up the December hunt. Remember that the reporting of your chapter?s predicted involvement in the MacKenzie hunt to Bob and Rick help them line up more properties/ mentorsif needed.

Coulee – One mentor (Tim) took a family out shooting and scouting a property in Jackson County. This will be the site they?ll hunt during the youth gun deer season. Tim, mentee, and mentee?s dad duck hunted on the youth waterfowl opener.
Another mentor (Randy) is arranging with the families of two newer kids to hunt a DMAP property in Monroe County.

Dodge County Conservation – DCC KAMO participated in a fishing tournament put on by the Friends of Clauson Park on Sept 3rd. There were 60 kids and the 3 that we had on our boat only caught 2 fish. We had a table and gave out 6 door prizes. We did get a few more contacts.
We were able to take 2 lucky kids youth duck hunting on Beaver Dam Lake. One of them got his first duck and first goose. The smile was priceless. .
Sept 18th we had our end of summer party at waterworks Park in Beaver Dam. The weather kept the kids off the lake in kayaks but 15 or so were able to fish,and take on the challenge of a scavenger hunt. Pontoon rides were a hit as well. October is going to be full as well. Keep checking our Facebook page and our chapter tab here on the KAMO website.

Meadow Valley – We had 6 members present at our September meeting.
There was no individual mentoring this past month.
Lots of discussion on how we leverage/engage involvement of former
kids who were mentored by us and now are old enough to mentor on their
own.
Julie mentioned that she now has 30 kids signed up for the fishing club. This only includes grades 9-12.

We discussed the upcoming youth hunt as well as the Joe hunt in
December. We have 2 mentors wanting to go along with 3 maybes.

Northwoods – Hello from Northeast Chapter,
First frost of the year here this morning September 23, We are planning a work/organizing event on October 4th at our storage unit to repair a clay thrower and do inventory for our equipment. Our pheasant shoot is advertised for October 15th, we have 25 birds paid for and several cases of shotgun shells and clays to have fun with that day. I have corresponded with Eskimo to try and procure a hub shack or 2 for our ice fishing events. Good things ahead!!!

Shoot straight and have fun
Johnny Johnson from Florence Wisconsin

Yellow River – Chilly temps and persistent rain showers were not enough to dampen the smiles and enthusiasm of participants at the Central Wisconsin Youth Day held on September 10 in Marshfield. Despite the gloomy weather conditions 116 area children turned out to enjoy activities such as fishing, archery, and .22, muzzleloader, and trap shooting. For many of the attendees this was their first exposure to these activities. Additional attractions included flint knapping, dog training, and outdoor cooking demonstrations, as well as a presentation by a Wood County deputy with her canine “officer.” All attendees were awarded a prize at the end of the day. Our Yellow River chapter informational display was well-attended, with several families expressing interest in participating in future planned events”.

Keith Merkel