KAMO – October, 2025 Newsletter – 4 pages
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President?s message – This is Kids And Mentors Outdoors President, Mark Walters
with my monthly report. I will start out with the fun that I had while helping 2 kids harvest deer during Wisconsin’s Youth Deer Hunt! First it was Bennet and then Kensie harvesting whitetail on Saturday and Sunday and what was really cool was that both of them used rifles
that they had won at The Joe.There is no feeling like watching a young hunter harvest a deer due to a mentor’s help.
On a serious note, and I actually hate to write this, but it isa must,In February I will have been President of Kids And Mentors Outdoors for 19 years, which is KAMO’s entire existence. I took a leave when Michelle passed away in June of 2022 but actually didnt.
Folks, I am 64, I have a very demanding job timewise. Last night I returned from a 13 day adventure to Montana. Tonight I will attend the Baraboo River Chapters meeting in 2 days I am going on a two day bow hunting trip, I will be home for 24 hours and I leave again.
I am also a small but very active hobby farmer.
Another major time taker is that I am also the President and cofounder of NOAC which is Necedah Outdoor Adventure Club.In our 3year existence, we have created an ice skating rink with lights, a beach and very nice picnic area and this year we built a disc golf course. I
do a lot of the maintenance on the beach and rink.
The straw that broke the camel’s back is that since July, on 4 separate occasions, people that I am very close with have had serious conversations with me about slowing down.
For about 5 years I have known that I was not doing a good enough job to be KAMO’s President and I have reached out to all KAMO members with this.I honestly feel that like in any form of
leadership, change is a good thing and this time I really mean it. KAMO is an incredible organization that does a lot in a year’s time,we have some serious problems in member recruitment and in large part that is due to the fact that the percentage of people that volunteer has dropped significantly since 2006 when we started KAMO.
In short, I want to be a KAMO mentor/member and would be willing to be on the BOD but as of Feb 1st, I no longer will be KAMO’s president. I am asking that everyone discusses this at upcoming meetings and someone steps up to the plate and fills this position.
The task is not as difficult as it may seem, be a leader, not a boss, make sure KAMO stays financially solvent, attempt to get to know as many members as possible and in return have a great feeling of pride for what you are accomplishing.
I will help with this change, I will delay my departure if we find someone and they need more time. Thank you for letting me have the honor of being your President since day 1

Mark

MacKenzie – Learn to Hunt – A few years ago, the Wisconsin D.N.R. changed its LTH rules to make them easier. They decided to let sponsoring groups decide who could come to their hunts and how often. There used to be a limit of LTH?s a person could come to, causing our group to accommodate both LTH and regular mentored hunters. We now run all our mentees as LTH participants.
LTH participants must attend a four hour pre-hunt class run by a certified hunters ed instructor, , they must have a mentor, their hunt does not have to be during a regular season (that?s for safety reasons -our group is the only one out here. The participant does not need a license.
The idea behind the LTH is to let an individual experience hunting to see if they enjoy it without having to buy expensive equipment and without knowing someone who is already a hunter that would be willing to take them for the first few times. The LTH has no upper age limits, so it is a useful option for adults as well. For example, Becoming An Outdoors Woman (B.O.W.) uses LTH?s regularly to introduce adult women to fishing and hunting.

Facebook – This time of year posts come in regularly. So far, we have put about 40 posts on the KAMO state website since May 17th. That seems pretty solid at 2 posts per week.
What about January, February, and March? – times when we are relatively slow. This winter might be a time to write something inspirational for someone who is viewing our FB page to learn or realize about KAMO. How rewarding it is to watch the kids grow, what a learn – to – hunt is and how successful yours was, what a chapter has done for a community, how good it is for kids to be outside, a collage of pics from the past year, etc.

Clarification on youth ages/ youth hunt guidelines – Wisconsin youth 17 years of age and younger may purchase discounted licenses. This has led some people to think that the youth hunts are for kids up to 17. This is not true, however. The upper age limit is still 15. A few people have mentioned that the ages have changed for hunting mentees. According to the DNR R3 person, the age is still capped at 15 and there has been no consideration to change it.

Pre MacKenzie Hunt 3 Hour LTH – Saturday, November 15th, 9:00 am – noon. New Lisbon Sportsmans Club. W7311 Ceylon Road, Mauston, WI. If you want to bring a kid to this, please let somebody helping run it know in advance.

Chapter Reports

Baraboo – The Baraboo River Chapter of KAMO held its monthly meeting on October 13th at Rivers Edge in the WI Dells. We continued to discuss Joe Hunt preparations and it sounds like all needed positions are covered. There are 20 kids registered so far and we have a limit of 25 maximum. Looks like our Chapter will have 2 kids and 2 mentors along with Rick M. helping out in the kitchen and Kevin S. being the Huntmaster again. Bingo prizes were discussed, and we have begun gathering. Mentors/Other Chapters–please bring along any outdoor type prizes to the Joe Hunt. We plan to have at least 1 prize per child, and it sounds like the Dodge County Chapter had a nice donation of prizes. It was decided to hold a Hunters Attic again due to popular demand, so if you have outgrown clothing or un-needed gear please bring along to donate. Tables will be set up in the side room.
Our small group reported almost 100 hours of working to get Kids Outdoors in the past month. This was Joe Hunt preparations and the Youth Waterfowl hunt September 20th and 21st. Our group got 3 kids out for both Saturday and Sunday hunts. The boys got a few shots and harvested 2 large geese. It was a good lesson on why they call it ?A Wild Goose Chase? but with the help of the dog the boys did retrieve it. It was good to see all the smiles
Our next meeting will be November 10th at Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center and the Joe Hunt will be December 12?14th at the MacKenzie Center.
Happy Fall. It?s the Best Time of the Year!

Greg

Coulee – On Thursday, October 2nd, four mentors, 4 parents, and 8 kids met at Pettibone Park on October 2nd for fishing. We set up on an east side lagoon dock because of low water. The bluegill fishing was amazing, making it one of our best fishing outings ever. For 2 of the fisher kids, it was their first ever fish. We set up a fish cleaning demonstration station and some parents took a crack at cleaning bluegills. Towards the end, we washed our hands and had hot dogs, Gatorade, and chips. This was a homeschool group that was enthusiastic about the outing and will likely be knocking on our door again.
On Sunday, October 5th, 3 mentors and two kids went to the West Salem Rod and Gun Club for a pre – MacKenzie LTH safety and range instruction. These two kids would take 4 deer between them the following youth gun deer hunt weekend . Three does and a trophy 8 point buck. Pictures of the successful hunters are on our Facebook page.
Mike helped the Field to Fork DNR guy run a hunter ed class at the Omni Center on Saturday, October 25h. He then went to the West Salem Rod and Gun Club range with a parent and his two sons to do the Mac Kenzie the LTH pre-hunt class. There were deer feeding on the range the entire time we were shooting and they showed no response even to the report of a .243. We were treated to the sight of a trophy buck in the beam of the headlights as it crossed the entrance road to the club on the way out.

Dodge – Hello KAMO!
DCC KAMO had a busy month. With the Youth Deer Hunt and 4 KAMO kids getting deer. We hosted Pumpkin bowling at Fall fest in Downtown Beaver Dam with lots of interested people asking about what we do. A Big thank you to everyone that helped that day. Over 9000 people were estimated to be downtown and we gave away over 3800 bags of candy and the best trick or treating stand in town. Lots going on and We also hosted the 3 hour Learn to hunt class for the Joe Hunt. A special thank you to Northern Trails meat market for their donation of venison ends and Randy From Pumpkin center sportsman’s club for the use of their clubhouse and Shooting range. We are having a Learn to hunt Pheasant hunt Saturday Nov 8 with 12 kids signed up. Pictures and activities all posted on our Facebook page. Get a kid outside and see what happens.

Jim Braker

Lake Wisconsin – As I sit 25ft up in the tree writing this, the Lake Wisconsin chapter had some active members this month. One mentor and mentee Wyatt have had some time out waterfowl hunting this month. He has killed 7 ducks so far. Also mentee Lyla was able to kill 2 deer during the Wisconsin youth deer hunt and is looking forward to keeping the momentum going for the Joe hunt. She is a first year hunter. We also have had some range time with some mentees to get them ready for Joe hunt. Other than trying to track down more land for the Joe, that has been about it.

Good luck to all hunters

Bring on Sweet November

Derek