KAMO September, 2024 Newsletter – 4 pages
For comments related to this document, contact Mike

President?s message – This is Kids And Mentors Outdoors President Mark Walters with my
monthly report.
On September 9th, 14 members of KAMO representing five chapters met in Wisconsin Dells to plan the annual “Joe Hunt” and also to discuss other matters that are important for KAMO.
One subject would be doing a major improvement for our facebook page which to be honest for the state part of KAMO is not active. We made the decision to find a person that would be interested in monitoring and adding to the fb page for a monthly wage. This could be a young person looking for some cash or anyone with the skills and ambition to take on this project. I have learned first hand how much can be accomplished with an active fb page and urge anyone reading this to think of someone that we could find to take on the job.
The Joe is one week earlier this year and we really need to get the word out on that. I recently spoke with someone at a wedding that is a good sized volunteer for that hunt and he had no clue about the date change.
Our raffle went well but could have been better, what went a bit worse than expected was that a few members did not pay attention to emails where their unsold tickets could have gone to chapters that sold theirs early in the summer, that will not happen next year.
In closing, I had the honor of being with 2 KAMO kids and assisted with them harvesting their first waterfowl. I will be with these kids this weekend for the youth deer hunt and always look forward to these experiences.
As always, thank you for everything that you do for KAMO!

Mark

Joe Hunt – Planning for the 2024 Mac Kenzie hunt (the ?Joe?)

The annual Joe Hunt (Learn to Hunt?deer) at the MacKenzie Center will be December 6th?8th. We are flexible but looking at 20 kids max this year. November 1st will be the deadline to have the Mentor list completed. Kevin Seymour will again be the Huntmaster while Bob Brodeur will be the ?Land Manager/Hunt Site? Coordinator. Jeff, Patty, and Rick M. will be our Chef?s for the weekend. Please reach out if you have questions or need forms.

The state went through our mentor list and found that 14 mentors are not LTH background checked. Those people had a form sent their way electronically. Please check your email, including SPAM, to see if you were among those on this list.

We currently do not have a statewide 3 hour LTH class arranged. Some chapters have either done their class or have arranged to have one. If one is needed for your chapter, you will need to set one up. A certified hunter ed instructor must lead the class and adhere to a lesson plan. That consists of discussing deer behavior, habitat, and strategies for hunting and then range shooting, preferably with the youth using the same firearm they will be hunting with. If you are not sure what your chapter is going to do about this class, please contact Mike Brown.

Mentors must turn in a new combo Mentor /Novice Hunt Application form to Kevin Seymour by October 15, 2024, and also make sure mentee and parents are made aware of requirements, forms, training and range times/ locations.

Mentees do not need a license – they will be provided with a tag by the hunting supervisors.

A volunteer is still needed to collect dorm fees.to collect dorm fees

Chapter Reports

Baraboo – The Baraboo River Chapter of Kids and Mentors Outdoors held our monthly meeting on September 9th, 2024, at Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center. We were joined by several guests from 4 other KAMO Chapters, President Mark Walters and Vice President Mike Brown for the State Raffle drawing and planning of the upcoming Joe Hunt. 5 lucky winners listed in order were drawn. 1. Dave G ($2500). 2. Mike G. ($2000) 3. Randy H. ($1000) 4. Pam L. ($500) and 5. Steve T. ($100) Thanks to ALL for selling tickets for the State Fundraiser and to Bob Brodeur for taking charge of this Raffle.
Our small Chapter did report 155 hours of getting Kids Outdoors in the past month mainly with fishing, camping, and planning for the Learn to Hunt. Our Chapter gratefully accepted a $500 donation from the Lake Delton Sportsmen’s Club (Thanks Craig). The Baraboo River Chapter recently updated our website and if you have any pictures to add please send them to Rick Miotke at ramiotke65@gmail.com. Our Chapter has linked our page to the local community page (Baraboo United) and Mark is highly encouraging all Chapters to post positive messages on Facebook to advertise our events/fundraisers/programs. The State KAMO website & Facebook does need some updating and Mark is putting out a ?Help Wanted? ad looking for someone to take this responsibility over. We further discussed putting out a ?Help Wanted? ad for a Grant Writer for our organization. This does NOT have to be a KAMO member, and we could offer some type of financial payment to a qualified applicant.
The WI Youth Waterfowl Hunt will be September 14th & 15th and a few members have plans to take kids out. Several members attended the State Waterfowl Expo on August 24th in Oshkosh and all were impressed with the entire barn of Youth Activities. There were over 6100 attendees at this 1-day event and we talked about having a KAMO booth or display at the 2025 Expo, which will be held Friday August 22nd and Saturday August 23rd, 2025. We also discussed having a booth at the MacKenzie Center Outdoor Education Expo in 2025.

Our next meeting will be October 14th at Rivers Edge in Wisconsin Dells.

Coulee – Labor Day Fishing float small group outing. A light kid turnout, but new families. It also gave Fritz and Mike a planning opportunity in the float mini – lodge.
September 8th Pettibone Park – KAMO/ Big Brothers/ Sisters Fishing event. Fishing was slower than our previous Pettibone outings, but the weather was fantastic, as it has been for most of our September outings.
September 14th – scouting – blind placement on Coulee?s go to Monroe County DMAP plus a new farm property down the road. The farm property is in the central forest zone and the residential/ wooded property is in the Central Farm zone. September 21st – Pre youth gun deer hunt LTH at West Salem Rod and Gun Club. September 27th – make up range day for the youth gun deer hunt for 1 participant who missed the original offering.
Kati took four participants through ?Forest Bathing,? also known as Nature Immersion at Myrick Park and the participants got the ?total vibe?.

Dodge County Conservation – DCC KAMO had a busy September . We took kids out for the Youth Duck hunt. A Special Thank You to Mike P and Rob G for taking 2 kids out on the island for the youth hunt. We also had a Punt Pass and Kick event that was held at the local High School . 50 kids participated and boys and girls from 5 different age groups all had fun and medals were handed out for 1st -3rd places in each age group. We will be busy in October as well . The Youth Deer hunt and teaching another hunters safety class will have our Mentors busy throughout the month. We are also holding a 3 hour Learn to Hunt Class on Oct. 20th at 9.00 am until Noon at Pumpkin Center Sportsmans Club. This will be for the Kids that will be Participating in THE JOE hunt in December. Lots going and you can always find out what we are doing on our Facebook page or our Chapter tab on the website.. Get a Kid outside and see what happens.

Jim B Pres.

Meadow Valley – Meadow Valley Chapter Learn to Hunt bear was successful.
KAMO Night out event went well, may have gained a mentor.
KAMO Raffle:
Ticket Sales: $8,675.00
Pay out: $6,100.00
Net gain $2,575.00

Thanks,
Jim

Northwoods – Hello From the Northwoods!
Our pheasant hunt is scheduled for October 12th and we have a record 13 kids sign up already! Usually we have 15-20 and most kids just show up the day of. We ordered a hundred winter chooks 50 orange and 50 black for the fall hunt as well as our winter ice fishing event. Also a new charcoal grill has been purchased. Our fundraising level has stepped up again with the TOC Tavern On Central will be sponsoring a booze wagon raffle for us for the Super Bowl. Tickets will be the same as our state raffle at 3/$10. The owner said she runs one in her other bar down south for the VFW and it usually clears north of $3000. Do we have a raffle ticket company or should we find our own? All good things from the Northwoods!!!

Johnny Johnson from Florence, Wi