KAMO – December, 2025 Newsletter – 3 pages
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President?s message – Hello to KAMO members and friends. This is KAMO President with my monthly section of The Newsletter. First and most important, our dear friend Jim Rydmark, long time Meadow Valley President and KAMO’s state Treasurer has experienced a very serious heart emergency and is currently in a Madison hospital. Please pray and send good thoughts Jim’s way.
I am leaving in the morning for a Mississippi deer and hog hunt, not much of a chance that I will have cell phone coverage until the 12th of January.
Our state meeting will be held on March 28th at Schmeeckle Reserve in Stevens Point. Please make a point of attending, this is where a lot of critical decisions are made for the upcoming year and it is also very nice just to see our members in a group, face to face situation.
The President’s Award will be handed out on the 28th of March as well, please give me ideas on who you think would be a good person to receive it this year.
The ?Joe? was an incredible event once again this year and all of us can be very proud for its success. Thank you one and all for that.
The following is a bit touchy but as everyone knows, my career as KAMO president is winding down as of February 1st.I am not leaving, I love KAMO, but after 19 years, it’s time to pass the hat and find a new face.
As always, thank you very much for everything that you do for KAMO, if you were perched on my tree and overseeing the entire 6 chapter operation you would realize how much we achieve each year!

Mark

State Convention – The Schmeeklee Reserve meeting room (Stevens Point) has been reserved for our use on Saturday, March 28th. Potential topics of that day: State President replacement, Marshfield Chapter dissolution, summer camp?, CWD testing – MacKenzie hunt, fund raising for 2026. Do you have anything to add?

Izaak Walton League Chapters – Do you have an IWL chapter near you? If so, they may be eager to partner with you. They are especially known to have quality shooting ranges they like to share with groups like ours. Beloit, Stevens Point, De Pere, Mantowac, Greenleaf, Benton, and Watertown are all areas that have had chapters.The La Crosse chapter is new – no shooting range yet.

Chapter Reports

Baraboo – The Baraboo River Chapter held our monthly meeting during the Joe Hunt Dec 12th?14th. It was a busy place with 23 youth hunters in the Lodge plus all of the Mentors and support staff. Despite the extreme cold weather 15 deer total were harvested. The Bingo games on Saturday evening were popular again and Jim Braker from Dodge County had a wrapped Christmas Gift for every youth hunter with one of the prizes being a gun! The giant smiles are priceless and the excited screaming never gets old! Mark Walters secured the gun this year for the Blackout game, which was won by the only female youth hunter.

Most of our meeting discussion was related to the upcoming April 1st, 2026 retirement of our club ?Anchor? Rick Miotke. Rick has been a dedicated KAMO volunteer for over 15 years and prior President of our club. He is currently our club Treasurer and KAMO Statewide Board Member. Rick has been the Head Chef and Food Coordinator for the Joe Hunt the past few years and was previously the Huntmaster. Rick has been the Chef and Food Coordinator for the annual camping trip for the past several years as well. Captain ?Wildman Rick? pulling the tube behind his boat for the kids is always the highlight of the weekend. Rick has volunteered countless hours towards getting Kids Outdoors. He will surely be missed and we wish him well in his future endeavors.

We are not holding a January meeting so our next meeting will be Monday February 9th, 2026 at Rivers Edge.

Happy New Year,

greg

Coulee – Looking over archives of our activities over the years, the La Crosse area chapter has logged in over 27,000 hours of time out with kids since 2012.
Randy led the Coulee Chapter group at MacKenzie, accompanying two parents who mentored their own children. One of the youth, Sullivan, won a .20 gauge shotgun, and a parent got one of the adult prizes.
Mike was gone much of December to join his son on an out west odyssey that would last for weeks and include a visit to 11 different National Parks. He is going to try to make up for this absence by pulling together his freshly charged electric StrikeMaster auger, custom made up in the north country tip downs,sled,top secret lures (those we don?t speak of), new FL-18, and boot chains to venture onto and scout a section of Mississippi backwater which will be the site of an upcoming magnum group event (January 17th).

Dodge – December was a great time for KAMO in General .The Joe Hunt had 23 kids having the time of their lives. Our chapter donated 23 presents and one lucky boy won a very Nice O/U 20ga shotgun. ( Sully Subera). Brooklyn Goldberg from our chapter won The KAMO gun in the Blackout Bingo game and it was a very happy Mackenzine center that weekend.
We are having another LTH with Pass it on Outdoors ( Thanks Quinn) for thinking of KAMO and the 6 kids that will experience a Hunt of good times and future memories. I hope everyone had a Great Christmas and a Wonderful New year.
On behalf of everyone from DCC KAMO , A BIG thank you to everyone at the Joe Hunt. Thank You Rick Miotke and all your kitchen team for everything you do, Thanks Kevin Seymour for all your hard work and getting this organized , And Thanks to all the Mentors, without you this would never happen. Last but not least the kids. Thank you for making the weekend safe and fun for everyone. Please visit our Facebook page for pictures and upcoming events , and SHARE it with friends and family. Get a kid outside and see how much fun you can have.
Jim Braker ,
P.S. Our Key was found in our ” Find the Key Challenge ”

Lake Wisconsin – Members of the Lake Wisconsin chapter arranged hunting spots for the MacKenzie hunt and co-hosted a very chilly, but safe, fun for all successful hunt.

Meadow Valley ? Hello from the Meadow Valley Chapter
At the November meeting we discussed the future of the Meadow Valley Chapter; we had 2 primary members step down and I currently hold all 4 officer positions. We plan on holding a meeting in February to discuss the chapter?s future.
Thank you – Jim

Northwoods – Hello from the Northwoods!
Looking back at 2025 it was the most eventful year we’ve had since I’ve been around! Lots of new events, friend groups and partnerships!! We have made a substantial reputation in our bi-state community with Michigan support!
Our fishing event will be held on Feb 14 along with the 101 annual derby, all the proceeds from the derby raffles will be donated to KAMO this year!
Our goal this year is to maintain our event schedule that grew last year and keep doing good things for the community!
Happy New Year to all in our Group!!!

Johnny Johnson from Florence, Wisconsin