 Welcome to this week's legislative update. I'm Jim Baumgart co-host along with Nanette Bullabush from Elkar Lake Yes, out in the farm country out there. Yeah, it's great to be in Sheboygan the city And we have an interesting program called hunting for heroes and we have two of the heroes with us that qualified to be considered heroes for a Wyoming hunt and we'd like to Let the public know that it's available to other veterans who are Disabled and we're going to get into that and with us. We have Gerald David from Howard's Grove and David Warnke of Howard's Grove both Vietnamier veterans are you? Yes. Yeah, so you saved us served over there and The kind of weather that is warming around where we have a little different temperatures here in Wisconsin Yeah, well, thank you very much and we're going to find out more about hunting with heroes So, thank you. It's just great to be here Jerry and David. It's great to have you here I am surrounded by heroes all three of you are veterans including Jim First I'm going to ask you to tell us about your service. What what was your service and when did you serve? And then I want to ask about hunting with heroes I'm a Navy veteran. I was a Navy corpsman assigned to various naval and Marine Corps units and I was Served from 66 to 70 and I was in Vietnam 69 and parts of 70 I was in the Army. I served from 70 to 73. I was in Vietnam for a little over a year I was with a engineering company we built roads and Several times or probably once a month I hauled supplies up to fire bases on the command Cambodian border Got back. I finished my service down at Fort Blitz, Texas Thank you. Thank you both for your service. I'm sure there are lots of stories They're just without even getting into hunting, but we're here to talk about hunting. So tell us what is hunting with heroes? hunting with heroes is a organization The part we were in bed then is based in Wyoming They have two different locations and two different groups of hunters came out We were based out of Riverton, Wyoming, and it was 12 disabled hunters with us The other group was out of a small town called Lysite and they had another 12 in each chapter. So this was an all-expense paid Trip except for transportation as I understand it and for how long was it and when was it? Well, the hunt is is basically a two-day affair Opening weekend of the of the season we Got there on Thursday Friday they met us for breakfast took us all to a range shot our rifles and then took us to and signed us guides and lodging and Fed us constantly Made you feel like heroes well They went above and beyond It was embarrassing the attention they put on us and And they gave you this quilt. Here's an IQ. Yes, we have a This is the time for someone made from Wyoming and you got to stay. Yes. This is it was my Guides 12 year old daughter that made that that right and I was walking up They had a whole bunch of quilts on tables and each veteran went up to pick up Quilt She said come over here. I got a quilt for you. Oh So she had to be her quilt that she made that that quilt had won first place in the county fair and the state fair and Hopefully we'll have that on The screen after a while because I think we have a picture of that and on the back There's lots of word including thank you for your service for your valid great for your courage Pretty awesome. Yeah, that I take a lot of time because my wife does useful quilts for the search and Those things take time to put together. Yes, they do. This is a separate organization Separate from the hunting with heroes called quilts of Valor and they're a national People who make quilts for I think I read they've made over 60,000 quilts that read that right National organization for veterans. They're all handmade. They're all different. They're all unique So the the the Wyoming group Heroes hunting was heroes brought together Communities they brought together the people that make the quilts and the guide services and everything to make this all work These are all volunteers. I mean nobody's double-grit salaries Some of those ships, haven't you? And I as I understand it no disability is too great for them. They will accommodate you They will accommodate whatever your disability is we've we One of the hunters was legally blind. He was able to see through his scope on a rifle But he had trouble getting around they had two individuals one was a double amputee from Iraq or Afghanistan and they provided him with a tracked wheelchair Got him around he got his antelope the other gentlemen had a Leg amputated the week before the hunt He had to still been in a lot of pain But they provided him with a tracked chair And he also shot an antelope Um, I think there was 24 hunters total between the two places and they went 24 hunters came home with an antelope Now the um the facts that they had to Apply it which means you had to meet some standard and being able to show that they're 50 percent disabled You get that from the veterans administration. Yeah, you'll need to take A world's letter. It's what it's called from the veterans that Tells them what percentage you're disabled and they have to be a minimum of 50 percent disabled Yeah, well that and that's father was a world war two veteran in a couple years ago. He Was provided a a trip out to the honor flight. Honor flight. It was the Ozaki Stars and strike So there's some very nice things that take place. I know the The muskies Fishing group takes a group of about a dozen veterans out every every fall to fish muskies So there are other things going on but people that want an experience hunting antelope or elk can look at this matter of fact My guess is that if they have any interest they should give you a call Absolutely more than more than happy to set up a hunt. I have no desire to go on another hunt I mean it was great. I'd love to do it, but I think if We did ourselves or maybe cutting somebody else out And what is it like to hunt in wyoming as opposed to say wisconsin? Yeah, they don't have trees out there I lived there for three years. I remember the lack of trees and the terrain, but you tell me What did you like about it? It's it's wide open You get to see lots of animals you get to do make lots of stocks and Decide some of them are successful and a lot of them aren't So it's just a different completely different hunting that was got I remember the sky feels closer Something this you see many more stars and it's just uh, I mean it's the west. It's the old west We've got the cowboy boat. You can just you can see forever Why don't we before I forget Gerald why don't you give Your telephone number and that'll show up on the screen after a while so that you want to apply because that's the whole reason You're here, right? Yeah, you want to promote the program because they've asked you to do that and you volunteer Absolutely another volunteer Yeah, I'm at 920 565 4773 and if for somebody has questions they can call you and absolutely Dave My phone number is area code 920-918-2513 And how much did this cost, right? The hunt itself was completely free Human boards were provided Guide was provided a volunteer guide Meat processing was provided Having the Head mounted was provided. The only thing it cost us was transportation from Wisconsin to Wyoming did you have your meat shipped back or did you drive Well, we fortunately went back two weeks later on a separate hunt Not associated with this and we picked up meat then and brought it back So you went out for a mule deer or about white tail deer We did and the accommodations it was in a tent in a sleeping bag Oh, I mean there's a company called stallion oil supply donated trailers That they put out in the oil fields More than comfortable trailers and The figure I heard was it cost stallion $30,000 to provide these trailers. Yeah And they they've been doing this now every year for a number of years Providing that I'm aware of it. It's about it's about five years. Is that right? It might be it might be four But it's it's not that old. Yeah so no You said they they had Some events for you you came out there on a Thursday and then you decided in your rifles on friday But friday evening and saturday evening you had some gatherings Friday friday evening we met With they introduced our guides to us They introduced all the hunters to everybody it was there was a couple hundred people at that event and fed us really well Saturday night they held another banquet and they must have been 300 people at that one And again fed us really well And at that time this Quilts of valor people were there and presented us with quilts and They had Drawings and they provided us each each hunter got a gift package with knives and sunglasses and cooler bags and Just lots of stuff and emotional experiences. I understand absolutely. They were all thanking you and saluting you Absolutely. Yeah So it's something that somebody especially they feel very Intense about their experience in the service and and would like to Experience something special For a veteran. This would be something they should consider. Absolutely. Yeah Triple the lifetime Well, we can't beat that can't beat that The people that began the Process I have it written down here. I want to give them some credit Dan Kura it was a graduate from OCS and a Vietnam veteran and Colton Sasser Who was wounded in afghanistan both while in natives and when they came back They there was a quietness and they wanted to do something special for those veterans that have served and that were Disabled There's there's one other gentleman who's known doesn't appear on their brochure That we dealt with out of riverton and his name is dan coil and he's a lifelong Wyoming resident and was Organized our group. Well, and and the hunting was on heavily on private property, although some was on public property through the It was a mix of private and public. Yeah. Yeah, so everybody teamed in Yeah, absolutely a whole lot of people coordinating this to make it happen It's awesome. So the most important thing you want people to know about this It's it's it's a threadable lifetime and We would like more people to apply and we will help them in any way we can to Set this up the and and you've heard it here They're willing to help the net and I are trying to promote it for these gentlemen And so I want to thank Gerald David and Dave Warnicke for their service and the effort of You to provide help for the Wyoming people to be able to have more veterans to enjoy an experience of a lifetime. So Until next time this has been Legislative uptake Thank you. Thank you