General Outdoor Discussion
Kids and Mentors Outdoors (KAMO)
KAMO held its "Joe Hunt" over the weekend of December 9,10, and 11th. The hunt is headquartered at the MacKenzie Environmnetal Center near Poynette. The mentor/ mentee pairs stay in the dorms there, eat their meals and socialize in the lodge. They hunt both on the MacKenzie grounds and several DMAP landowner properties in the area.
This year, there were 18 kids and even a couple adults hunted for the first time.
Eleven deer were taken. A local wildlife biologist was one of the novice hunters. He stayed throughout the weekend and aged each animal, removed their lymph nodes for CWD testing, and helped us through the forms, which include the GPS coordinates of the harvest site.
A story will be written about this in the next Outdoorsmans Journal, which is written by Mark Walters since 1989 and contains interesting tales of his experiences.
You my wonder how a buck was harvested during the anterless deer season. The answer is that the KAMO group runs this activity as a Learn To Hunt.
Learn to Hunts (LTH) are novice hunter expriences run by host organizations. An LTH, a DNR program, can be run in or outside of a regular season, no license needed by mentee, no hunter ed required by mentee. Mentee must be mentored. It is a chance for the novice to see whether they enjoy hunting before making decisions about buying equipment, etc.The (DMAP) Deer Management Assistance Program is also a DNR thing that allows landowners ro have some deer harvested off their property in exchange for some perks.
KAMO is starting to operate more fully. Here are a couple things from the La Crosse area chapter:
Hello KAMO Fans,
This is the first complete activity listing in two years! If interested in attending, please contact the lead person listed under that event well in advance. This allows us planning time. We create an “interested in activity” list.
We need people participating in our stuff whether they are officially in our group or not.. Feel free to share with others.
Saturday, April 2nd - Internet Field Day (hunter ed/ firearms safety) - Onalaska American Legion. 7:40 - 1:30. Intended for kids who want to participate in shooting sports and/ or hunting. Must be registered and have completed an online course in advance. Lead - Mike - [email protected]/ 608-799-5037.
Saturday April 2nd or 30th - Nature Connection Days - Norskedalen. Ages 5-9 - 11:00 - 12:30/ Ages 10 - 15 - 2:00 - 3:30 PM. Lead - Kati - [email protected]/ 608-393-8703. KAMO covers the fee for all KAMOKIDS.
Thursday, April 14th - Trip to the Best Dam Fishing float. This is a kids day off from school. Equipment provided. KAMO has a group rate and pays the fee. This is a great scenery, wildlife and fishing experience. Usually start in mid-morning, but Fritz will let you know.
Lead - Fritz - 608-799-7533.
The Coulee KAMO has recently taken groups fossil hunting and squirrel hunting.
We are going tubing at Whitetail Ridge at Fort McCoy.
Also, we are supporting a local WIFA team (high school aged ice fishing competitors) with equipment and chaperoning.
We could use other adults to help with the chaperoning - it should be a lot of fun.
If you live near Marshfield, Beaver Dam, Baraboo, Poynette, Florence, New Lisbon, there are opportunities there as well. Visit kamokids.org to find out.
The power of engaging kids on a trip that would seemingly be boring - ice fishing. It doesn't hurt to have a drone either.:
Currently there is a lack of Wisconsin Interscholastic Fishing Association (WIFA) teams in western Wisconsin. This is a high school aged kids group that gets kids outdoors.
Check out studentfishing.com and be part of the change!
I would like to start a team in the Coulee Region.
KAMO Parent Letter - September
KAMO Fans
Our group currently has most of its operations shut down. Our fall hunts will not be held.
Some mentors have been teaching internet field day hunters safety classes.through the DNR. These are the demonstration classes that are required after a person has completed the online course. We have taught four in Onalaska and the next sessions will be held in Arcadia. The October 3rd Arcadia class is full, but we will offer an additional session on Friday, October 9th.
These classes are in huge demand with fewer instructors in the state offering them. People have been traveling to our classes from as far away as 240 miles to take them. They are operated under Covid protocol and are condensed down to four and half hours.
There may be some opportunity to take families out on the Best Dam Fishing Float below the Dresbach Dam. Families would have to bring their own children and arrange to meet us on site. We have no active plans for this, but a trip could be arranged. We have to keep the participant numbers low. There is a lot of space on the float to spread out. If you go on your own, it gets expensive.KAMO gets a discount rate.
If you are up for a family get out of the house drive, elk can be seen in numbers in southern Jackson County. They are concentrated in the area where County O meets Arrow Road east of Millston. You could do a Google on the Woods and Meadows game farm,which is just north of this intersection to get your bearings. A section of O south of this intersection is a great viewing spot as well. The elk are entering their mating season.Bulls are bugling, sparring, and harassing the cows. This viewing is an early or late in the day event. Binoculars and spotting scopes are useful as the animals are often in large fields.
This elk viewing trip could be combined with a camping and/or fishing trip. The lovely McMullen Park facility west of Warrens, about a dozen miles below the elk area, offers camping sites. There is fishing in two bodies of water at the park and several bodies of fishable cranberry flowages in the Warrens area. If anyone reading this is curious about the general overall cranberry flowage public access, I have a document that can help with that.
Know anyone who needs the hunter's education internet field day class? This is the one day demonstration and testing that follows the online course.
We can also help certify new instructors.
We are offering them this fall. For more info, they appear on the GoWild.wi.gov site under student - enroll - Hunter Internet Field Day (IFD).
I have been teaching hunters education for decades and was a skeptic about the online class leading to the one day field day. I thought I would certify for it since so many people were asking about it. After seeing how well it works, it has been the only format I teach in anymore. One and done.
The classes will be held in an outside location on Brice Prairie on Saturdays.
KAMO is not the actual sponsor.
Fishing is not only acceptable, but encouraged as long as people maintain the social distancing guidelines. With that in mind, I have been out a few times. Mississippi River fishing is tough right now, so I headed to a Jackson County property with my brother. We drove separately.
By luck the portion of the flowage we went to was inhabited by hungry and aggressive crappies. The ice had not been off this water body very long. Fish 9 inches and below were released and there were still 26 to clean.
It is KAMO's intention to teach families both how to fish and places to go (see next post).
I had a nice fish picture, but have had trouble uploading pics on here lately??
During this period of time when we our movement is more restricted may be a great time to view and study the Wisconsin DNR's Mapping Application Tool. It is free, comprehensive, and kept up to date. It is one of the most impressive resources for the outdoors person of my lifetime.
It shows places to go hunting and fishing, some of which you are probably not familiar with. Just to get the satellite view of the bodies of water in your county makes it worth a look. My brother found that there was a DNR easement along one side of his property into a state natural area by viewing it.
Here's the link to the app. If you try it out and have any problems using it, you can pm me and maybe I can help you.
If you want to do a deeper dive, there are apps that give landowner information and also have a navigation feature. These involve cost, but are reasonable.
This class was cancelled! KAMO and the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association are hosting a hunters education internet field day in Onalaska on April 4th. This is an opportunity to get a kid certified before turkey season the following weekend. Also,if there are any instructors who would like to get certified in IFD, this class can serve as an apprenticeship towards that. The GoWild site student - enroll has details. Like it or not, IFD is where the demand in the future is headed. I was an IFD skeptic I got the certification and have run a few classes and saw how well it works. It's all hands on except for the written test.
