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Celebrities & Heros Pheasant Hunt The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks partnered with the Pass It On - Outdoor Mentors program to host a Celebrities and Heros hunt at Glen Elder State Park the weekend before Thanksgiving. The 2007 Waconda Lake Youth, Women and Celebrity Pheasant Hunt participants enjoyed the warm weather the Saturday and Sunday before Thanksgiving, but it also had the pheasants flying wild and free. Forty-eight youth, women, celebrities and mentors hunted Saturday morning, Nov. 17, and 29 on Sunday morning, Nov. 18. A total of 16 roosters were bagged on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. The event was hosted by KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks and Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors, Inc. Pass It On works with youth mentoring organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters to provide outdoor experiences for youth and their mentors. Several “Littles” and their “Bigs” participated as well as several local youth and women. The entire weekend event included a pheasant hunt each morning, a free trap shoot for all ages at Glen Elder State Park on Sat. afternoon, and a banquet Saturday night at Downs Memorial Hall. The celebrity list included Ricky Siglar, retired offensive lineman for K.C. Chiefs and Mike Sensibaugh, former defensive back for the Chiefs. Wayne Hubbard, host of outdoor TV show “Urban American Outdoors” attended and filmed the event for a future show. The celebrities began the event with a Friday afternoon pheasant hunt with Eric Vrbas of Outdoor Obsessions guide service, Downs; and then enjoyed a meal at the Hindquarters restaurant in Cawker City. This year, members of the military stationed in Kansas were invited to attend as “Hero-Celebrities” Sgt. Shane Keene and Sgt. Justin Kaub from the KS. National Guard in Topeka had just returned from Iraq in September. Sgt. Gilbert Gonzales who was injured in his second Iraq tour covered the event for the National Guard magazine. Attending from Ft. Riley’s “Warrior Transition Unit” were Sfc. Kevin Wylie, Sgt. Shawn Dunbar, Sgt. John Kompus, Ssg. Hector Rivera, and Pfc. James McDaniel. All but Pfc. McDaniel have recently served in Iraq or Afganistan, and McDaniel will be deployed next year. Many shots were fired at clay targets during the afternoon free trap shoot. From 1:00 to 3:00 pm three mechanical trap throwers were kept busy as the hunters and people from the community came to practice and learn the basics of gun handling and shooting. Hero-Celebrities and Celebrities signed autographs, prizes were awarded, and many tried their luck shooting video targets at the Banquet Saturday night. The crowd gave a standing ovation for the military “Heros” appreciating their service to our country. The meal of beef brisket and pork was provided by Josh Bergerhofer of Kansas City, KS. Organizations such as the Waconda Lake Association, “Waconda Struttin’ Dusters Chapter”, National Wild Turkey Federation, “Waconda Ringneck Chapter” of Pheasants forever, Heart Choices Pregnancy Center”, Beloit, and others provided meals and other assistance. Rusty Eck Ford of Wichita; the Rocky Mt. Elk Foundation; Brush Art, Downs; Sunflower Mfg., Beloit; Cunningham Communications, Glen Elder; Miller Welding, Downs; and Farmway COOP, Beloit; provided financial support. Many, Many local businesses provided prizes for the banquet. Local
hunting participants included Nicole, Michael and Kim Ruhge, Gaylord;
Sierra and Jerri Senger, and Noah Miller of Glen Elder; Joey Nopens
and Luke Chism, Beloit; Anthony Burgess, Mankato; and Quintin Silsby,
Cawker City. Other novice hunters were Jovante Siglar, K.C.; Cody
Heiland, Topeka, and Little Brothers Brandon William, Vontez Curry,
DJ Hall, Preston Rhodes, Colby Evans, and Jack Keating from Wichita;
and Devin Olson, Olathe.
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