Good friends helping one another

An Outdoorsman’s Journal

Hello friends, This week’s column is a bit different than normal, but it once again shows you there are a lot of good people out there.

Just over a year ago I received a very nice letter from Charles and Kathie Stelzner, who live in Howards Grove and read this column in The Plymouth Review.

I started communicating with the Stelzners, who have been walking this earth a solid seven decades and it was obvious that we were going to become friends.

Even though we had never met they sent my daughter Selina a very nice gift when she graduated from high school.

Last July I finally met Chuck, as I call him, when he asked me to come to Camp American Legion and take veterans fishing. Chuck and Kathie do their best to help Camp American Legion and I spent three days rooming with him and, with great pride, I took vets fishing in my boat.

Rodney Bensley owns Roosters Run Pheasant Preserve, which is located near Fox Lake. Nine years ago, my then pup Fire had a break down when her mate Ice passed away from lyme disease.

Fire was nine months old and the day Ice passed away she became very ill and went into a serious depression. Over the next 60 days I tried getting her out of it and wrote about our situation.

Rod, as I call him, reached out to me and said he thought he could help. Over the next three months I would bring Fire down to Roosters Run and we worked with Fire with live pheasants and chukars. Long story short, Rod Bensley really helped to pull Fire out of her funk.

Back in April of 2015 Rod invited Selina and I down to Roosters Run where he let Selina participate in the youth turkey hunt on his property. On literally the last minute of the last day a big tom came into our spread and Selina knocked its lights out.

For Selina’s high school graduation party Rod drove all the way up from Fox Lake with the tail to her turkey on a wood carved plaque with the date of the harvest. Rod also gave her the rights to harvest 10 pheasants at Roosters Run.

Back in October I was duck hunting with Selina and, as usual, her 12 gauge that I had purchased brand new failed to work, even though I had it rebuilt three times.

When Chuck and Kathie Stelzner read that column, they called me up and told me to bring Selina over to Howards Grove that they had a gift for her.

So, I made arrangements with Rod to do our pheasant hunt over the course of two days. First we went to the Stelzners’ home for an excellent dinner and a very nice visit. At that time Chuck gave Selina his Remington 1187 that is literally in mint condition.

That same day we drove over to Roosters Run to try it out. Rod hunted with us both days and we had Fire and her pup Ruby who, considering the low amount of upland bird hunting that they do, are both pretty good at it.

Roosters Run covers over 200 acres and is a real nice place to go for a walk with a gun in your hand.

When Fire flushed the first rooster Selina dropped it with her first shot. When Ruby flushed the next rooster Selina dropped it with her first shot.

By the time we were done shooting for the day Selina had dropped four pheasants with five shots.

That night we headed over to Burnett for supper and the next morning we sent six more pheasants to the frying pan.

This summer Chuck and I will be back to Camp American Legion. Selina is back at UW-Stevens Point and, sometime in the future, I will be doing some form of dog training or taking a kid hunting at Roosters Run.

I have no desire to retire!

Sunset