 Welcome to this week's legislative update. I'm Jim Baumgart, co-host to this wonderful program and Annette Bullabush from Elkhart Lake is the other co-host to welcome. It's a nice day to talk about veterans and hunting with heroes and we're gonna do that today. We have two people from our group that spent a little time out at Wyoming shooting animals because they happen to be veterans. We have with us today Gerald Dobbert from Howard's Grove and David Warnke is also from Howard's Grove, both veterans, both disabled. And because of a program you applied and went to hunt for heroes. So anyway, why don't you ask him a couple of questions? Sure, yes, yeah, I'm thrilled to do it. Thank you, Jerry and Dave. I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for being heroes. You told me earlier you both served in Vietnam and that makes you qualified for this program. Thank you for your service. So tell us about hunting for heroes. We see Dave's hat there. Tell us about it. Well, it's a program designed for disabled veterans. They provide you with a guided hunt, antelope in our case. Feed us really well, put us up, room and board. And like I said, couldn't do enough for us. It was almost embarrassing, the amount of attention they put on us. Mahu, Vietta. Well, the hunting for heroes, that's the name of the program, right? That's the name of the program. And they're in Wyoming. They're not in Wisconsin yet, but you'd maybe like to see that. And they're in other states as well? They're in other states, but not necessarily under that name. If you go on the internet, you'll see disabled veterans hunt around the country. The idea is to encourage, to help hunters who may not otherwise have the means or ability to go hunting on their own. So they choose the place. They choose special accommodations if necessary. They provide it all, huh? Everything, there wasn't anything we needed. Well, and it's an appreciation for being a service person. And of course, the disability, they want to help those that would sometimes have a little more difficulty hunting, although these two have been hunting, well, we just lost our quilt. Our quilts, we'll be free to that in a minute. That quilt, by the way, is one of the gifts that you got on your trip there and each one of you got a quilt, one of them made by a 13-year-old. I think Gerald, you got one. Dave's was made by you. There's my guide's daughters. She made quilts. And we'll show that on the next program. We're gonna do one more program after that. Sure. Where did you go out west and then we'll find out how you got a chance to apply to a Wyoming event that for Wisconsin veterans. This hunt was centered in Riverton, Wyoming. And we met there and then they trucked us to a very, very small community called North Portal. Well, it is. North Portal? North Portal. North Portal. And all it is is really a fire station out there, but that's what they used as a banquet hall. They pulled the trucks out and. No, they provided you with hunting licenses? No cost? They would provide us with hunting license, no cost. They were donated by. Other hunt landowners. Landowners. Landowners. And did you have to pay for your own flight out there? We did. Yeah, the transportation out there and back was on us. Everything else was on them. So you had a place, they had a room for you to stay in there with a quality? There's a oil supply company called Stallion that provide house trailers. And these are very plush house trailers. We each had our own bedroom and. TV. All the comforts of home. All the comforts of home, yeah, exactly. So you got down there on a Thursday and then on a Friday they took you out and decided you were guns in or you did? We got in on Thursday. They provided us a hotel room in Riverton on Thursday. Met us for breakfast Friday morning, which they paid for. Took us out to a range, slated our rifles in and then took us to this North portal and signed us rooms and signed us guides. And tell us about the hunt that you both got an antelope which you would not get in Wisconsin. I know that much, right? Well, it's not legally anyway. And that was incredible. Tell us about it. Well, the guy met us before light in the morning and after breakfast went out. He had been out several days before and scouted around and found some animals for us. And there was a large group and he was looking at one antelope and I was looking at the other. So when he said shoot that I did and I shot the wrong antelope. And I have no problem because it was still a nice animal. Later in the day Dave went out and shot the one that I was. You got his animal? I got his. Was it a bigger one? Oh yeah. And they're right. Well, the interesting thing, Nanette, is that once they got the animal, the guy got it at home for you? He did. And you know, you guys know how to do that. You're way too old, dear hundreds. It didn't let you. They didn't let us do anything. They cleaned it up, they skinned it out, they cooled it. They hauled it off to a processing plant. They paid for all that. And they cut them up for steaks and hamburger and whatever you wanted. You just told them what you wanted. And the head, tell us about the head. What happened to that? They took the head and they paid to have a European mount, which is just the skull and the horns. We haven't got it back yet, but I'm not concerned. It's coming. That takes months sometimes. They said they're going to have some high school class do all the skinning around it. Exactly. Clean it all up and everything. Yeah, and then they're going to do that. And then they're going to ship them to us. Wow. And there's no cost to that either. Well, you had the experience of having an opportunity to have a, they had a separate drawing for an extra tag or something. For Mille-deer tag. Mille-deer tag. The banquet Saturday night, they were going to give away four Mille-deer tags. Tell us about the banquet first. It was in the fire station. And there was probably 300 people that came to that. Is that right? They had all these rows of tables set up and stuff and had a big dinner and stuff. And each person got up and kind of talked about their experience in Vietnam. There were more hunters in Vietnam. There was 12 hunters in Vietnam. Right, they have 12 hunters in each of these different areas. And it's not only Vietnam veterans, but it could have been World War II. It could have been there was Afghanistan veterans. There was Iraq veterans there. So it was a whole mix of all different. And they came from all over the country? Right, California. It came from South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, of course. There was one or two from Wyoming. So 12 disabled veterans and all the rest, these 300 people were there to support and thank you. I honor you. One of the really unique things, they held a fundraising banquet in spring last year with the hopes of raising over 15,000. They raised $63,000. Wow, they had to turn people away because there wasn't enough room in this armory just for the banquet to raise the money. Was it an emotional experience? Absolutely, very emotional. I was on an honor flight with my dad, a World War II veteran, and I just remember how emotional. Well, that was about a year ago, wasn't it? Several years ago. It's just, and it should be done. We needed to thank the heroes. How did you guys feel? It was an emotional evening, yeah. Connection. Tears. Absolutely, absolutely. Just the thought of all these people there for the 12 of us is really humbling. Well, I think the least they could do to thank you, but it's awesome. So, I want to interrupt Jim. No, no, I was just going to say this was started by a couple of Wyoming hunters that served one of them in Vietnam, and the other I'm not sure where, but. I think he was in Afghanistan. Afghanistan. And they came back to Wyoming and they decided that not enough recognition has been given to the veterans and they had something to offer and hunting was part of that. And so, your purpose for being here is because you want to promote it. You would like to see, you want people to know that there's an existing program in Wyoming that they can apply for, correct? Correct. Well, they do too, right? Yeah. The Wyoming people want you to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have discussed the fact that we were gonna do a news article in the Chronicle and the paper and this TV show and they said by all means and whatever, however many you can get. So, how do people apply? The easiest is the contact Dave or I and we will put them in touch with. And we're gonna have their phone numbers on this show. Well, and one of them is gonna mention who they should call and that'll go on the screen. Sure. And so, maybe Gerald, you want to be the initial contact or Dave? Doesn't matter. Either one of us, who goes have the contact names out there and... Well, what's your telephone number? I'm at the area code 920-565-4. 773. And it's Gerald Dubert. David. David. Very close enough. And Dave Wonke, and your telephone number is? Area code 920-918-2513. So, if somebody is interested, there are veterans that has 50% or more disability. They could call you and talk to you and if it's interesting to them, you can meet with them and tell them how to get the application form. Absolutely. And because spring, January and February, is the time that they have to start applying, don't they? Well, we put our names out there in January or February, but we didn't hear back from them until probably July or August. Okay. They have to wait until they know how many landowner tags they got. And the drawing for tags isn't until early summer or mid-summer. But that you would tell a person who calls. Yeah. Once they say, okay, we have a tag for you, then it seems like a short period of time between then and the time the season opens and the hunt is, but they keep you moving right along and it's amazing that they can do all this paperwork coordinating with the state and everybody in that short of time. And you'll help them through that project? Absolutely. But you guys shot your antelope on opening day. Yes, sir. That left you Sunday. What did you guys do to twiddle your thumbs in the motel room or what? They had different things you could do. Some guys weren't fishing, walleye fishing. Jerry and I went with our guides and went to do a little prairie dog shooting. They had big prairie dog villages out there, don't they? They do. They had some trap shooting competition set up for guys that wanted to do that. So they had a lot of things for you to do to keep active. And then when you left was about, went on Sunday evening, Monday morning? We left there on Sunday afternoon, late afternoon. I have a friend that lives nearby and we spent Sunday night with him and Monday with him also. And then flew back here on Tuesday. Well, Dave and Gerald, we have to end the program. The net is equal so quickly. So if anybody's out there that's a veteran of any era and you have a disability of 50% or more, please get in contact with Dave and or Gerald and find out if it's something that fits your schedule and your interest and give them a call. And I wanna thank the viewers for coming aboard and learning about hunting with heroes. And thank everybody for coming. Thank you. Till next week. That's a great program. Till next week, this has been a legislative update. Thank you.