Challenge The Outdoors, Inc. January 2016
CTO President Message – Jim Adamovich
Thanking all volunteers and Committee chair people. Because of your dedication to this organization, we have been blessed with a very good year!
Please remember the fundraiser event (see details noted below) is coming up on April 2nd, 2016 and it will be only successful with your help of volunteering.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to ALL!
Holiday Party –Judy Paluch
We are going to have our annual party on Tuesday, February 27, 2016. Since we tend to have bad weather this time of year, we decided to have it in February to see if we can drive more safely and without frustration. We will be sending out a Holiday letter later this month with more information. We hope to see you at the Clintonville Lanes & Banquet Hall, 250 County Road I for the party.
Annual Fundraiser at J&H Game Farm -- Mark Baehr
It’s already time to start thinking and planning for our biggest fundraising event of the year and it’s not even 2016 yet! This coming year, CTO, Inc. Annual Sporting Clays Fundraiser sponsored by J&H Game Farm is set for April 2nd, 2016. Mark your calendars and please come out with family and friends to take part in making this event a great success again this year. The success of this fundraiser goes a long way in determining what we as an organization can accomplish throughout the year in way of sponsoring over 10 hunting, fishing & other outdoor sporting activities each year as well as our sponsorships and projects that help get more people outdoors.
The Fundraising Committee is seeking assistance from all of our members and friends by doing anything they can to make this fundraiser a success! We need help with selling raffle tickets, asking for and getting raffle prizes, and helping with the day of the event. A list of where help will be needed will be posted at our Holiday Party on February 27th and in a mailed letter in early March. We will be collating these letters at the party and raffle tickets and request letters will be available there as well. Much more information will be coming in our March Newsletter. If you have any questions, please contact committee members:
Rita Adamovich at: (920) 722-2090 or
Karen Baehr at: (920) 766-9218
The Fundraising Committee thanks you in advance for your support!
Request from the BOD to the CTO membership- Chuck Duffeck
We have been seeking recommendations for the investment of capital funds that CTO has accumulated. We would like to hear from the membership with ideas for capital projects.
We have heard from a few members that have requested the purchase of things such as a pontoon boat, land and building, adaptive equipment, or donations to community projects. We would like to hear from more members and want you to know we will consider all ideas. This is a great opportunity to have the money spent on things that the club feels will be needed. Please contact any of the board members with your idea and request.
2016 Calendar of Events & Contact Person
January
12 11:00-11; 30 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game, Jim Adamovich
19 6:00 Board Meeting To be Announced, Jim Adamovich
February
9, 11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
16, 6:00 Board Meeting To Be Announced
27,11:00-4:00 Holiday Party @ Clintonville Bowling Alley, Judy Paluch
March
6, 8:00 Pheasant Hunt @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
10, 11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
17 6:00 Board Meeting To Be Announce
31, 9:00 Preparing for Fund Raiser @ J&H Game Farm
April
1,Setting up for Fund Raiser @ J&H Game Farm
2, 7:00 Fund Raiser @ J&H Game Farm Karen Baehr, Carl Gierke, Jim Adamovich
3, 9:00 Time for Clean-up Fund Raiser @ J&H Game Farm
12, 11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
??? Archery Shoot To Be Announced, Cliff Pheifer
19,6:00 Board Meeting To Be Announced
May
10,11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
13-15 Turkey Hunt @ Christus Memorial Camp, Clintonville, Cliff Pheifer
19,6:00 Board Meeting @To Be Announced
June
6, Fishing @ Shawano Lake, Jim Adamovich
9, 11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
16, 6:00 Board Meeting @ To Be Announced
??? 9:00 Chasing Rainbows @ Wilderness Springs Trout Ranch, Cliff Pheifer, To Be Announced
25-26, Renaissance Fair, Egg Harbor, Steve Harvey
July
2-3, Renaissance Fair, Egg Harbor, Steve Harvey
??? Lake Michigan Fishing Chuck Duffeck To Be Announced
12,11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
19,6:00 Board Meeting @ To Be Announced
??? 4:00 14th Annual Membership & Voters Meeting and
6:00 14th Annual Recognition Banquet Rita Adamovich, Karen Baehr, To Be Announced
August
9,11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
16, 6:00 Board Meeting @ To Be Announced
??? 9:00 AM Chasing Rainbows @ Wilderness Springs Trout Ranch, Cliff Pheifer
September
10, 9:00- 3:00 J&H Game Farm Annual Youth and Ladies Day
13,11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot @ J & H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
??? 11:00-? Outagamie County End of Summer Picnic, Karen Baehr, Rita Adamovich
20, 6:00 Board Meeting @ To Be Announced
20,8:00 Shoot till you Drop @ J & H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
October
1-2, Special Disabled Deer Hunt @ Lessor Town Hall, Pat Nieuwenhuis
11,11:00:1130 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
18, 6:00: Board Meeting @ To Be Announced
23, 8:00: Fall Pheasant Hunt @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
November
8,11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
15, 6:00 Broad Meeting @ To Be Announced
December
13, 11:00-11:30 Tuesday Shoot @ J&H Game Farm, Jim Adamovich
20, 6:00 Broad Meeting @ To Be Announced
Check calendar @ www.ctoforme.org for other dates click on the date for more information about these events in the newsletter.
Contact Phone Numbers:
Jim and Rita Adamovich 920-722-7090
Judy Paluch 920-336-1934
Karen Baehr 920-766-9218
Pat Nieuwenhuis 920-398-3987
Carl Gierke 920-986-3272
Steve Harvey 920-855-1978
Cliff Pheifer 715-412-1707
Chuck Duffeck 920-378-3519
Montana Mule Deer Hunt 2015---Steve Lang
I recently had the opportunity to go on a disabled Mule Deer hunt in Montana with Beaver Creek Rendezvous (www.beavercreekrendezvous.com/). The hunt consisted of six disabled hunters, running from Oct 22-26, and they have access to over 100,000 acres. So it is unlikely that you will see another hunter unless it is at the hunting lodge. Beaver Creek Rendezvous covers all the expenses once you arrive at the lodge, and I had to cover the expense of the Mule Deer tag and the fuel to get there.
My companion on this hunt, was my longtime companion Jess. In the lodge, there are 2 separate rooms for couples, or women, to stay in away from the main sleeping quarters for privacy. There are also a variety of electrical outlets for any devices needed for sleeping, breathing, or otherwise.
We arrived in camp on Thursday Oct. 22nd around 1:30 in the afternoon and were met by a great smiling group of men, women and children. This was only a sign of things to come. Everyone jumped in to help unload our belongings and show us to our room and around the lodge. The lodge was rustic, but yet modern with the up-to-date amenities one could ask for. Everything was one a single level, has a roll in shower, and 2 wheelchair accessible bathrooms. The rest of the day on the 22nd was basically just getting to know people and getting accustomed to our new surroundings. We did see a couple of Mule Deer does that evening, and they were only about 80 yards from the lodge!
On Friday the 23rd, it was finally time to start getting things down to business. It had rained overnight and became windy, but that didn’t stop their enthusiasm for having us around. We went to the sight-in range they have to make sure nothing happened to our scopes while traveling. We took some sponsor of the hunt pictures, then it was off to the little nearby town of Ekalaka to see some sights. It was like looking at an old western with the town. There were phone booths, dirt roads, and people shaking hands everywhere when they meet you (even if they didn’t know you). They even have a museum there with full size skeletons in it! Not bad for a town with roughly 20 combined houses in it. That evening there was a gathering at the lodge and this was the 1st opportunity for me to meet who would be my guides (Blaine, Blake, Gary & Bud) for the weekend and also which ranch I would be hunting on. It was a great way for me to personally thank everyone involved.
On Saturday the 24th, not only did I get out hunting, it was also opening day for the general public to hunt as well. So I knew the meaning of the ranch owners closing their ranches off to let the disabled in 1st. I woke up around 4:30, since breakfast was at 5. And soon afterwards they had me loading up and into the truck and on my way to the roughly 15,000-acre Ranch where I’d be hunting. After about a 15-minute ride, we meet the ranch hand and he took us to where they’d been seeing some mullies. They went ahead and set up a pop-up blind and I started to wheel my chair across the bumpy field. It didn’t take long and Blaine said that he was going to carry me across to the blind. I was skeptical because as many of you may know, I’m not the lightest person at around 230lbs. But he had me grab him around his shoulders/neck and he carried me like a backpack across the field and up a hillside to the blind. To put it simply, I was amazed. That morning we seen 4 whitetail (2 small buck) and 13 mullies (3 buck), but nothing close or that stood out. So we would wait. We were going to have some lunch and then go back out hunting when the ranch landowner insisted that we were going to be coming over to their place for a brunch style meal right away. Like I said, they are extremely nice, and super generous in Montana. Really a different culture there, one I really enjoyed and loved to be around. So we all had lunch with the ranch owners, I got to learn about the history of the ranch, the town, and the formation of the country in the area as a whole. It was a great learning experience. After we finished eating, we continued hunting, driving around, trying to spot something bedded down in the timber at the base of the mountains during the warm daytime hours. We seen a few mullie does and a couple nicer whitetail bucks, but I really wanted a mullie, even if it was a smaller one since I’d never harvested one before. Finally around 3pm, we set up in a new area with the pop-up blind and waited for the evening action to start. It didn’t take long and we started to see some deer, but we only ended up seeing a small whitetail buck and a bunch of mullie does.
So onto Sunday the 25th, we parked the truck on top of the highest mountaintop we could get to. We could see for miles. We seen mullies and whitetails moving around us, but no bucks. It was the most frustrating thing to be honest. Finally after about an hour, I spotted 2 small mullie bucks fighting, but they were over 1000yds away. Soon after, Blaine spotted a buck, then another, and then it finally ended up being 7 bucks in all. This time they were only 660yrds away. We watch them for roughly 2.5 hours and they wouldn’t move with the winds. So we had to come up with a game plan to try and get one. We knew there was 1 real big one, 2 nicer ones and 4 smaller bucks in the group. We came up with the plan that Blake would backpack me down this rocky, step mountain we were on and try to get within 400 yards if possible, while Blain and Bud (who I might add is over 70 years old and in great shape) walk around opposite sides of the mountains where the bucks are bedded down in hopes of pushing them up the draw towards me where I can get a shot at them. The walk for them had to be about 3 miles each. While I got onto Blake’s back and Gary carried my gun and rifle stand, the walking for Bud and Blain began and the hunt was on. I may not have been walking, but I was smiling all over because I felt like I was on a true western hunt. Almost like you see on those TV hunting shows. We made it down the hill safely, to about 430 yards from the deer, and Blake said that he wanted to get me closer yet. So I climbed back onto his back and he carried me another 70 or so yards down this rocky hill before stopping one last time and steeping up for what I hoped would be my first shot at a mule deer. With Gary’s help, we got my gun rest ready, Blake ranged out all the marking pointed we could find. The deer were now only 360 yards from us. After about an hour of sitting and waiting, it was show time. I saw 4 deer start running behind of the mountains. Good thing Bud was there to redirect them and they came storming over the hill right towards us. It was the 4 smaller ones and there was no sign of the bigger ones. The 4 bucks quickly went into a deep ravine right next to us and we couldn’t see them, even though they were only about 80 yards from us. It was nerve wrecking to know I was that close, but couldn’t see them. We kept looking for the bigger ones, but still nothing. Finally, Gary tapped Blake on the shoulder and pointed that the 4 bucks were coming out of the ravine and they were only 55 yards away. I quickly grabbed the gun out of the gun rest, turned to my left, and fired a shot at the second one in line. It was also the second biggest one of the group, the biggest one was standing with a pine tree in front of it. But also, they were only 15 yards from making it over a small ridge in the mountain and being gone. So a quick decision had to be made. The shot hit and right on target. But then something happened that you only see in movies. The Mule Deer busted right through the pine tree it was standing next to and ran straight for us. Its leg swinging in the air from the shoulder being busted from a perfect shot through the heart. The guides yelling, “it coming right at us, SHOOT IT!” So with another shot into its chest, the mullie went down less than 20 FEET from where we were sitting on the ground. It was definitely amazing and heart pounding!
Overall, I may not have shot a shoulder mounting mule deer, but I had a western hunting experience that I have long craved for since I was a kid watching hunting shows on TV. It’s something I thought would never happen, especially once I was in a wheelchair. I don’t care about the size of the rack, but I do care about the experience and who I get to share those experiences with. Jess and I had a great time. It’s something we will never forget! The people there are amazing, the hunt was amazing, and the views were amazing. If someone wants a true western experience, I would recommend this hunt to anyone! Cost of a license is high, it’s farther to travel, but the memories and experience are priceless!!!
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