Something wonderful is happening in the far reaches of Northeast Wisconsin. In fact, it’s quietly been happening every year for the past decade. Pat Novesky — a Conservation Warden with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources — used his skills as a hunter and hunting outfitter to organize a bear hunt for some local kids.
The annual hunt has since expanded to guiding kids from the Catch a Dream Foundation an organization that grants hunting and fishing wishes for children battling a terminal illness, and more recently to also include children from Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.).
Children have come from all over the United States — including Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana — and been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the sport of hunting. The costs for transportation have been covered by the foundations and/or local donations. For the first time, Novesky is speaking publicly about his off-duty work to help kids, and what he’s saying might inspire similar efforts in your area.
Top-Tier Hunts
“We’ve kept this event quiet for several reasons,” Novesky explained. Doing so “makes the hunt a relaxed event and all about the kids and their families, they are the VIP for the week. Everyone who helps out is here because they want to help, not because of any other reason. The group of guides and others who help out are volunteering their own time and that makes this more of a family oriented event with no interference from anyone who may have an outside agenda, or trying to attach their name to something for personal gain.”
Though most — if not all — the hunt is cost-free to the young hunter, they are not given a cut-rate experience. These are all-inclusive five-day fair chase hunts with experienced guides and good accommodations.
“They are hunts that even an accomplished hunter would pay top dollar for; add to that 100 percent success to date and taxidermy included, this is an awesome opportunity for a child who has as interest in hunting,” Novesky said.
One family invited this year was the family of fallen officer Paul Stuckey, a Louisiana Game Warden who lost his life in 2011. Wife Kim and sons Nathan and Matthew got the phone call back in June 2014 telling them they were invited.
Fourteen-year-old Nathan received the offer to hunt black bear, while 18-year-old Matthew — who wants to follow in his father’s footsteps as a Louisiana Game Warden — received an invite to work side by side with Novesky during the Wisconsin bear season opener.
Nathan’s guide was Oneida County Wisconsin Deputy Sheriff Mitch Ellis, and at 1500 hours on opening day Nathan was posing for pictures with the bear he harvested minutes earlier. Both the Stuckey boys were still kept plenty busy as they also received a guided waterfowl hunt, in which Matt harvested his first Canadian Goose.
A young girl from Tennessee who is battling cancer was working on fulfilling her own dream. A deer hunt was put together, and she went home with a nice 10-point buck still in velvet.
A Team Effort
“People always call this ‘my hunt’ but I get far too much credit for this event,” Novesky explained. “I could walk away from it tomorrow and the team of volunteers would be able to keep this event going. We have several people from our local community who make silent donations — people help us out simply because they want to, and don’t want any recognition for their efforts. They make this hunt as successful as it is.”
The goal of Novesky’s annual hunt is to be able to provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience for deserving children who are not content sitting in front of the computer or television. “We look for kids who have a strong interest in the outdoors and use our event to further that interest. All our hunters come here with prior hunting experience and hunter education, so we are building on skills and interests they already have.”
The biggest obstacle, Novesky said, is getting their hands on bear tags for these deserving kids.
“Bear tags in Wisconsin are on a lottery system and there is over a 10-year wait to draw a bear license in our part of the state. Wisconsin allows an adult who was successful in the bear lottery to transfer that tag to a youth under 18, so we rely on those tags for these hunts. Nathan Stuckey’s tag was donated to him by a local deputy sheriff and I’ve donated my own license to give one of these children an opportunity. I always like to put the word out to people who are in our lottery for bear licenses, we almost always have child from one of these foundations looking for a bear tag and it just takes a signature to give it to one of these kids.”
