Donate 2011 Wisconsin Bear Tag

[Mike Foss]

I am looking for a generous person to donate (act 59) there Wisconsin 2011 bear tag to a young hunter that is battleing an illness. Please contact me if interested. Thanks

[huntinnurse]

I sure hope someone will do this for you. And I hope that person comes from this forum. Challenge is on guys, who will step up to the plate and give this young person the hunt of their life? You will be a better person for it!!!!!

[Carol]

SPORTS-OUTDOOR
“9-24-2007 BEAR IT”
ELLIS OUTDOOR

Mike Foss, to anyone who has had the chance to walk the big forest with him near Washburn on Lake Superior, looks a little like the bears he chases. Foss spends much of his time in bait pits. He’s big and dark and burly…and tough. Until he starts to talk about kids like Megan Engblom, a feisty, fun 16 year old from Mora, Minnesota in remission from leukemia, or Michael Ederer of Kaukauna, Wisconsin who celebrated his 18th birthday in bear camp still weak from the chemotherapy treatments fighting Ewing Sarcoma.



Ask Foss about these kids who he donated bear hunts to and any expectations for a bite or a growl turn to something softer with the first word. The big bear transforms into Teddy Bear. Well, certainly into Care Bear. He pauses during an interview to compose himself with the words, “The kids….wait...I might cry.” Then he leaves the table and for a few seconds, does just that.
“I’m helping these kids because it feels good,” he continues. “They may never have the opportunity to do it again. If someone wants to donate their tag to kids like these, we will donate the guiding and our time. It does take money though. It would be nice if businesses or people would want to sponsor these hunts for sick kids.”

There exists in Wisconsin a special regulation that allows the successful bear harvest applicant to transfer the license to a youth hunter. Although there are so many applicants for the bear hunts that a harvest tag comes around only once every six or seven seasons, many hunters do just that. When the kid who would like to hunt is facing a potentially life-threatening illness, the youth transfer under Act 59 comes easy.

Jeff Schumacher knows the feeling. Schumacher and Michael Ederer’s father Terry work closely together as electricians at Thilmanys LLC Paper Mill in Kaukauna. Schumacher had drawn a harvest tag for the 2007 hunt, but he was also keenly aware of the stressful journey an entire family takes when a son or daughter is fighting a disease like Ewing Sarcoma.

“I saw what Terry (wife Chris) and his family were going through,” Schumacher said. “I was grateful my family never had to go through that. I knew Michael liked to hunt and I was aware of the youth transfer program. I knew if Michael was healthy enough to go that I was going to donate the tag to him. I hope he has a long and happy life of hunting.”

Terry said that Schumacher’s reaction reflected how other people too respond to the family. Even the doctor at the clinic who was scheduled to treat Michael on a day that conflicted with the bear hunt, adjusted to ensure Michael could participate.

“Michael was supposed to go to the clinic tomorrow,” Terry said in bear camp. “The Doctor said `you’ve got to go bear hunting’ and postponed the treatment until Monday. Jeff donating his hunt was awesome. It’s hard to put into words.”

Michael Ederer sat at camp breakfast with the other hunters, a certain tension growing in the hours before the first vigils on bear stands scattered over miles of Lake Superior country. Although still a bit weak from therapy, he looked forward to the possibility of tagging a bear with his 30-06. He was also relaxed in his discussion of his own journey facing cancer.

“I had a pain in my side, real bad one night about one year ago,” said Michael Ederer, who participated in football and track at Kaukauna. “The doctor said it was sport’s injury. It went away but then came on real hard. I came back to the doctor and he said it was a pulled muscle. The pain was constant and I knew it wasn’t normal. We went to the right doctor, he took an x-ray and he said he never saw something like that before. We went to Appleton; they took a biopsy and sent it to the Mayo Clinic.”

“I was diagnosed with cancer in January and have to have chemo therapy on and off every three weeks. I had surgery to remove three, seven-inch pieces of rib that they replaced with gortex. It feels the best it’s felt in a long time.”

This reporter had the privilege of sitting on stand with Megan Engblom and her family. A large, enclosed box stand also comfortably seated parents Dave and Tina Engblom, sister Sheila, 18, and Uncle Greg Lukecart.
Megan’s harvest tag was donated by Harold Frank of Oshkosh through Kippenberg Creek Kids, a non-profit organization led by Larry and Lorri Beyer that provides outdoor adventures at no cost for children and their families with life-threatening illnesses. Outdoor Allure of Washburn donated the living accommodations for the Engblom family while they hunted bear. Weeks before the bear hunt, Megan concluded her treatment for Leukemia diagnosed three years before at age 13.

“She was never sick before but she came out of the barn just shivering,” her Mother Tina said. “I called school and they said a lot of kids were out with the flu. She started having hallucinations that night. I said this is no flu. A tiny fester on the end of her finger at the hospital hours later was going up her arm. The infection was so bad and white blood count so high that they said she maybe would have had two days to live without treatment. You hear of this, but you never think it will happen to your family.”


Megan held vigil out the window of the stand for six hours while family members waited with video equipment at the ready. In camp, she and sister Sheila had shadow boxed and threw verbal jabs at each other, the assaults not for one second able to disguise an extraordinarily close sisterly and family bond. Meagan too walked barefoot in the camp creek, finding a bit of irony in the entire idea of being in the northern forest at all.

“First I couldn’t go in the woods at all because breathing the outside air might lead to infection,” she said with the same attitude that probably scared the leukemia away. “Now here I am bear hunting.”

13 of 17 hunters in the Mike Foss camp had filled tags by September 22. Michael Ederer, after seeing 13 bears but holding out for a larger animal, was returning to camp with his parents September 24. Megan scored on day two. The .270 round dropped the 165 pound boar in its tracks.

“I knew I would take the first legal bear that came in,” she said. “This isn’t a contest.”

No this is life. And if it’s measured in courage, Megan and Michael are standing in the winner’s circle.


Contact Licensed Bear and Deer Guide Mike Foss and Northern Wisconsin Outfitters at 1-715-373-0344

[dan]

Thanks for posting that Carol... Mike sure has a big heart. Its to bad it takes so long to get a bear tag in Wisconsin. I wish they would take some of the tags out of the draw for hunters and give them to these kids who might not, or should I say probably won't live long enough to draw a tag...

[solocam88]

Thanks for posting that Carol... Mike sure has a big heart. Its to bad it takes so long to get a bear tag in Wisconsin. I wish they would take some of the tags out of the draw for hunters and give them to these kids who might not, or should I say probably won't live long enough to draw a tag...

X2 They should be able to reserve some for these kinds of situaions.

[huntinnurse]

Even tho none of us is guaranteed to finish the breath we are currently taking, I sure hope someone realizes one of these kiddos probably will not have the opportunity to buy points til they get a tag. Please, I hope someone here shows an altruistic heart and becomes someone elses hero!!!!!! I have never applied for a Wisc Bear tag or I would give mine in a heartbeat!!!!!!

[Black Squirrel]

Does anyone know if you donate, do you have do donate all your points, or can you donate just what is needed? I have 10 points and might be willing to donate, if I can keep any left over points.

[huntinnurse]

Great question Squirrel. This could be a way to get that tag for a youngin' s dream hunt!!!!! Maybe someone could call the DNR and ask!!!!!

[Wrinkleneck]

I would donate mine in a second, but I checked today and I only have 5 points. If 5 points were enough to get a tag, the tag would be donated to a great young child to fill a dream for them. Maybe next year if not the following year for sure I should have enough to get a tag!!

[Black Squirrel]

I just called the DNR, and they said you actually have to apply for, and purchase the kill tag. If and when you get a kill tag, you then fill out a transfer form, and transfer the kill tag. So you are not, and cannot transfer points. In other words you would use all your points.

[Mike Foss]

Black Squirrel can you e-mail your phone number, I would like to talk with you. Carol, thanks for posting that story. Unfortunatly those two beautiful kids are no longer with us today , it tears me apart ever time I think about it but I am also thankful to have met them and their family and was able to take away the pain that comes with there illness if only for awhile. Hug your kids and family, let them know they are loved.

[Schultzy]

Mike,

You are truly a great person. I commend you for all that you do. This thread you posted Is what your all about. I would share a camp with you any day. Hope something good comes out of this thread.