This weekend I get to do something fun and hopefully benefit deserving recipients. I’m grabbing a flight to Iowa for the annual “Aiming For A Cure”
upland game hunt. The Aiming For A Cure Foundation is a group of committed individuals with a drive to help children and their families that suffer from various forms of cancer. It’s a worthy cause and one that deserves our attention.

Financial support raised at this function and through year-round fundraising benefits the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Miracle Network. So how does a hunt play into the fundraising? Teams gather to hunt with celebrities from the sporting world and outdoor TV ranks. Yes, I’m considered a celebrity in this case, but I still had to do horse chores before I left home.

Hurry it up Kayser! I know you're a celebrity, but I'm getting tired here.

The high point of the weekend is a Saturday evening banquet complete with an auction and lots of hunting stories. Donors, ticket buyers, auction participants and others all open up their pocketbooks with the proceeds going directly to the foundation, and ultimately cancer patients.

There are numerous sponsors providing donations for this cause, but three in the hunting world I’d like to applaud are Mossy Oak, Hunter’s Specialties  and Winchester Ammunition. The forecast is calling for rain, but it doesn’t matter. Rain or sun, the event is for a great cause.

Mark Kayser

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Growing up in eastern Wisconsin in the 1970s and early 80s we didn’t have turkey hunting at home. Though the family’s small farm shared a line fence with the Kettle Moraine State Forest, wild turkeys weren’t reintroduced there until I was a teenager. A huntable population was years away.

While my dad was my greatest influence in learning to hunt deer, upland birds and waterfowl, we never shared a turkey hunt. (I don’t have a lot of regrets in my life, but that’s one of them.) My turkey hunting education started 26 years ago as a straight-out-of-school associate editor for North American Hunter magazine. In that role I was lucky enough to experience the tutelage of some of America’s greatest hunters – the guys who carried over the turkey hunting skills nearly lost when only a few states retained huntable birds. I’m honored to have shared hunts with Ben Rogers Lee and J. Wayne Fears…

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It’s hard to escape the healthcare fiasco and by the end of the week it sounds like the topic is going to be more explosive than a bottle of diet cola with a package of Mentos added in for spark. I’m not against healthcare reform, but let’s do it in a targeted and phased approach. I am against adding more entitlements to the budget of our country. We’re already broke.
We just don’t know it yet. I hope not, but the country could actually go bankrupt. Nobody will be safe from that train wreck.

That’s why this whole healthcare debate scares me. If we add more entitlements to a budget that’s overburdened and the ship actually sinks, what happens to funding for wildlife? Have you ever thought about that one?

Do you think the government is going to place wildlife funding above funding for entitlement programs in the case of an emergency? Do you think they’ll rob Pitman-Roberson funds, paid for by sportsmen, to fund emergency costs for other programs?

I’m just concerned about what happens in a worst-case scenario and trillions of dollars of debt certainly has to qualify for that doesn’t it? I rely on wildlife and sound wildlife populations for my lifestyle, enjoyment and income. I’m not against helping those that need help, but it’s time we balance the checkbook before we can’t afford to fix the ship. 

Now just go away. We can't afford you any longer.

There is one bright side to this mess. If the federal government no longer has funds for sound wildlife management, maybe the states will get the entire say on what goes on within their borders. I believe Wyoming has a wolf management plan and is ready to step up to the plate for that chore.

Stay tuned and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Mark Kayser

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Though I’m not a big Hollywood fan or movie nut there are movie lines that live in nearly universal humor infamy. In the original “Airplane” Peter Graves’ pilot character Captain Clarence Oveur is seated in the cockpit next to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playing co-pilot Roger Murdock. A young boy – Joey – is visiting the cockpit prior to take off. The captain engages Joey in small talk…

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As spring begins to spread across the country it’s easy to overlook the uglier side of Mother Nature. It’s the side of her that rears her dreadful head in winter. If you don’t believe me, take a hike in your nearest wild area and you’ll see what I mean.

This weekend I spent much of the weekend hiking (imagine that?). While crossing a large field of waist-high grass I came across what I believed was a dead deer. Sage was pooped and riding high in my backpack, but even she knew something was amiss and growled. That’s when I saw the flicker of an eyelid. The yearling was alive!

I couldn’t believe it. The deer was in an emaciated state and its backbone was clearly visible. Despite nearly standing on the deer it never budged. It breathed in slow, laborious gulps and blinked occasionally. Other than that, there was no life left in the poor creature. For a moment I thought about putting it out of its misery. I had my handgun, but passed. First and foremost, it was illegal and secondly, this was part of the circle of life, albeit the gut-wrenching part.

You keep the antlers. I'll keep this tuft of hair and that one, and maybe that one over there and hey, here's another!

Throughout the day I stumbled across numerous deer carcasses or actually the hair from dead deer. Even the coyotes had it tough. They ate it all and hardly left a bone. The final clue as to hard the winter occurred as I was leaving. As I drove past a hay yard half full of round bales an antlerless buck had clamored to the very top of the heap. He was digging for choice browse and as I stopped and watched from 50 yards away he glanced at me and quickly went back to eating.

It’s been a tough winter, but hopefully your neck of the woods is about to get a shot of spring sunshine.

Mark Kayser

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If you followed the news this week you might have read the article reporting the death of young woman in Alaska. People die all the time, but officials in Chignik Bay, Alaska, say Candice Berner appeared to have been mauled to death by animals. The 32-year-old teacher was jogging along a rural road, attacked and her body was drug off of the road. Tracks around the body and drag marks from the road all point the finger to one animal: wolves. 
 
An autopsy noted that there were multiple injuries due to an animal mauling and DNA is being tested to confirm the presence of wolves. Expert testimony will also be sought to help confirm the cause of death. From the sign involved it appears as if up to four wolves may have been involved in the attack.

Wolf attacks are indeed rare, but not unheard of. In 2005 a 22-year-old Saskatchewan man was hunted and killed by wolves. An inquiry indicated the wolves were healthy and also noted that this was the first ever documented case of a human being killed by a wolf in North America. In less than five years we have another fatality. Is this the start of a trend?

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you?

Let’s hope not. I can’t prove the authenticity of this photo, but it was sent to me this winter and shows a wolf with buildings in the background. Friends of mine from the Bozeman area say it is the campus of Montana State University. Regardless of the location, this wolf is certainly not shying away from neighborhood prowling. I don’t know about you, but any wolf hanging out around a city, particularly a noisy campus, is looking for trouble.

I fully know that when you or I go into the woods we have to consider the danger we may encounter on each journey. I also appreciate the wildness factor wolves bring to the woods. That said; wolves are a species with huge potential to impact the environment and deserve to be managed as such.

Mark Kayser

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With the combination of today’s shotshell technology and custom chokes, shooting a shotgun for turkey hunting is much more akin to shooting a slug gun or even a rifle than it is to swinging a scattergun on flying game. Oddly enough the closer the range, the more that holds true.

To me the thrill in turkey hunting is calling a bird into your lap. First turkey I ever killed was taken at 8 steps. He came in strutting, gobbling, dragging his wings and strumming. From that moment I was hooked, and the challenge is all about calling birds close.  Over the years, the distances have stretched to more average ranges. A couple notable exceptions topped 50 yards. One bird fell in a bare dirt field at 60 yards. It was good to have those birds in the bag, but the adrenaline rush wasn’t the same as a bird in close; so close that when he gobbles you feel that vibration right through your own body!

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That's not a turkey. It's Kim Kardashian!

It’s become increasingly obvious on my recent drives through the countryside that a big event is about to take place. Yes, the turkeys are strutting and the morning gobbling is increasingly becoming a common sound at sunrise.

It’s the signal that turkey season is upon us or about to kick off.

In recent years my turkey hunting has focused on my kids and less and less on my personal hunts. There are two reasons for this. First, my kids eat it up. I don’t have to ask my son whether or not he’d like to go turkey hunting. It’s the same answer as whether or not I’d like to be the holder of a $200 million Powerball ticket. Where do I sign up for that one?

While hiking last weekend I asked my 10-year-old daughter whether she was up for a hunt this spring and she answered “yes” without hesitation. She also pointed up into the Montana mountains and said she’d like to hunt elk there as well. That’s my girl!

The other reason my turkey hunting isn’t nonstop as it was a few years back deals with you. Although I don’t have hard and fast research on this topic, it appears as if hunters would rather watch big game hunts on TV as opposed to gobbler guests. Because of that I rarely book TV hunts for turkeys and instead stack my fall with more and more big game opportunities to share with viewers via the tube.

Is this true? You really don’t like to watch turkey hunting on TV? I think we all like to watch a bit of turkey hunting on TV, but when you compare the excitement of chasing something with a bristly beard or something adorned with antlers, most viewers switch channels to the antlers.

Some topics are just more exciting for TV and others should be offered in small doses. I wish they’d follow that rule with celebrities. If I see one more reality show about a no-name wannabe I’m going to unhook my TV from the antenna in my attic. I mean!  

Mark Kayser

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You want to learn to ski, what do you do? You take ski lessons. You’re hoping to shave strokes from your golf game? You seek help from a good pro. You want to advance through the belts in the martial arts? You join a dojo and learn from a Master.

So why is it hunters and clays shooters are so hard headed? A wing shooting school or, even better, a personal coach is the fastest, best and ultimately, most economical way to improve your score in the field and on the range. Yes, I said economical. With qualified instruction it takes less time, fewer rounds, fewer targets and fewer shells to see improvement. A good coach looking over your shoulder will prevent developing poor techniques and bad habits that will take longer and more money to eliminate later on…

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Remember, when I get older you're going to have to carry me.

Some of you probably can’t even remember the days when picking up hitchhikers was acceptable. People routinely hit the road with nothing more than extra clothes in a duffel and their thumb in the air. You didn’t have to worry (at least not as much) about serial killers, rapists and simply “weird folks.”

I worked with an older video photographer (older than me) who routinely discussed his hitchhiking adventures from coast to coast. He enjoyed the freedom, the adventure and most of all, the cost. He didn’t have much money back then so a free ride was greatly appreciated.

I never hitchhiked any long distances. I once bummed a ride from an American Indian after tiring from a long distance canoe trip and hoping to find a ride to my truck. Come to think of it, that guy talked me out of a $20 bill for the ride. I wasn’t hitchhiking. I took a cab ride!

So how does the hitchhiking theme tie into this blog? This weekend we undertook some major hikes. Cole and I scouted elk country on Saturday and found ourselves in the fog at the start of the hike. After wandering up and up we finally stopped for lunch and when the fog lifted we couldn’t believe how high we had hiked. Sage knew. She plopped down and needed a nap. Instead of waiting for her to finish her REM cycle Cole fit her into my pack and off we went. We found the elk we were looking for over the next ridge and quietly exited after noting their location.

The next day Katelyn and I headed to Montana. We were mainly flatland hiking, but it still was tiring for a pup. It didn’t help that the ranch owner showed up with his 6-month-old border collie and the two puppies were a blur of fur for nearly 30 minutes. Needless to say, Sage once again ended up in my backpack. At the rate she’s growing this hitchhiking won’t last for long. At the rate I’m aging I’ll be the one looking for a ride. Do they manufacture baby carriers for adult-sized passengers?

Mark Kayser

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