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2023 Fall Fnaws Newsletter A FEW WORDS FROM CRAIG It’s that time of year again, and as you read this newsletter, I hope you are planning and looking forward towards a great season! This will be our first venture in getting this newsletter out to our membership via email for those of you that we have an email registered for, so please bear with us. We will be also sending out the traditional hard copies for members who have not provided an email. I realize it has been a long while since my last newsletter, however, not giving any excuses, I too have had a pretty hectic year. It all started with Kyle and I going on a very nice and successful desert muley and Coues deer hunt in Sonora, Mexico with Ubaldo Lopez, who has donated hunts to our annual fundraiser. Both Kyle and I were successful in getting bot a muley as well as Coues deer. This was the second year for me and I must say, Ubaldo’s ranches have a tremendous amount of game, and the food was second to none. As a bonus, we even shot javalinas. So, if desert muleys or Coues are in your sights, you should check out Ubaldo Lopez’s outfit. Late April/early May found Kyle, myself and another Iowa FNAWS member, Grant Stroud trekking down to Argentina on a hunt that Kyle purchased at our fundraiser a couple of years back. We hunter with Catena Safaris and were successful in bringing home water buffalo, blackbuck, red stag fallow deer and mouflon sheep. We even enjoyed a night of hunting one of Argentina’s native rodents, the viscacha, which looks like a cross between a chinchilla and marmot. While in Argentina, we spent a few days in Buenos Aires….crazy city. I would like to tell my liberal friends that they need to visit Argentina if they feel socialism is the way to go. 30 years ago, Argentina was a very prosperous country and socialism took hold. Back in the nineties, one of their pesos was equivalent to one of our dollars….today it’s more like 450-500 pesos to our dollar! What a disaster!! We cannot let this happen to our great country!....nuff politics. June found myself in Alaska hunting for interior grizzly which I purchased at our last fundraiser. Mike Sciotti and his Big Alaska Outdoors run a great outfit and hunting area. I was successful in getting the highly-desired “Toklat” color phased grizzly. Many thanks to Mike and especially my guide, Sky Smith! If Iowa FNAWS is fortunate to get another donation from Mike, look at bidding…you will not regret it!! In July, a large group of Iowa FNAWS members went on an Alaska fishing trip with Jay and Stacey Furney’s Arctic Wolf Lodge. There, we also met Ubaldo Lopes and his wife Laura, and Clive Botha from African Traditions Wines. As always, we had a great time. This trip was also a farewell gift to my daughter and son-in-law Giles. Two days they got back to Iowa, they left for an extended stay to Japan. Kristen was fortunate enough to be chosen to teach English in Japan. Her and Giles will be calling Kobe, Japan, their home away from home, for at least the next school year. I know that I for one will definitely miss Kristen at our annual fundraiser where she and Giles have been volunteering in working, especially with the books and payment desk. Speaking of which, Board member Lonnie Cook’s daughter Lori has stepped up to volunteer in taking over Kristen’s position. So, since the next fundraiser will be Lori’s first at this position, I ask that you be patient when checking out and paying for your purchases. I sincerely appreciate Lori’s volunteering. Regarding our fundraiser, it is scheduled for the weekend of March 22-24, 2024, again at the Sheraton West Des Moines, so please mark it on your calendar. Due to the continued rising costs (Bidenomics), the cost for registration is $75/person. Although we had to raise it, I believe this is still very competitive compared to other shows of our caliber. Among other special hunt auction items, we will be having the Nebraska Bighorn tag back at our show! If you recall, it broke the $300K mark at our show two years ago, so if you know anyone with deep pockets, please let them know. I am told by Todd Nordeen, our Nebraska contact, that there are several book rams running around. ​Iowa FNAWS’ membership roots are very deep and dedicated. This became very evident when we received a substantial donation from Kathy Townsend, in memory of her husband, Butch. Both Kathy and Butch are dedicated members and have contributed to our organization tremendously. Kathy came to our last fundraiser and also to the last Chapters and Affiliates Summit in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and I hope she continues to make her presence in future fundraisers. If you are fortunate to see Kathy, please thank her on behalf of Iowa FNAWS. As a side note, several years ago, I was very fortunate to hunt antelope and prairie dogs with Butch when he had his ranch in Wyoming……what an experience! Speaking of deep and dedicated, Iowa FNAWS’ roots are widespread as well. Iowa FNAWS just received a donation from Frank and Martha Miller, all the way from Greenwood, South Carolina. They sent in a nice check as a memorial for Cyril Elsinger. Cy and Carol were stout supporters of Iowa FNAWS! Sure, miss seeing Carol at the national shows helping out at the registration desk with her vest which was covered with FNAWS and Wild Sheep pins. Fortunately, and due to very successful fundraisers in the past several years, Iowa FNAWS has had the good fortune to be in a very sound financial position which has enabled us to financially assist in many projects. As of this newsletter, year to date in 2023, we have funded $651,255 and our array of funding includes youth engagement, veterans’ programs, and our main focus of wildlife conservation and management with emphasis on wild sheep. The Iowa FNAWS Board has also agreed to fund a $5,000 scholarship to an individual whose studies would revolve around wildlife conservation and management. If you are interested in getting more details on this, please feel free to contact any of the Board members. We will also assist in funding another sheep capture in Nebraska, and continue to be an integral part of Nebraska’s sheep program. During the Summit, we also committed $15,000 towards a capture, research and relocation of Dall sheep in the Yukon. Iowa FNAWS membership continues to be strong and diverse. In addition to our normal membership, as of this writing we now have 272 Life members, a growth of roughly 20 since the first of the year. The last time I checked, we have members from 44 states! Not too shabby for a small organization like ours!! As I mentioned in the beginning of this rambling, I hope you are planning for a great fall. I still have a few trips planned. While you’re reading this, I hoping to be in Mongolia, trekking a couple of “goats”. Then, it’s off to Ireland and Scotland with my bride for some sightseeing…and of course gotta throw in a few days of hunting for whatever they got. Going to round out my year with a trip to Texas and possibly one to Turkey….we will see, if I can get confirmation and if I have any $$$ left. Our next newsletter will have more information and an early bird registration for the upcoming fundraiser. Until then……….. DADS HUNTING BY LONNIE COOK I am sure most of you have a similar story to tell. You grew up with a father that was a hunter and at an early age you trekked what seemed like mile after mile trying to keep up with your father’s larger steps. I grew up on a farm in Northwest Missouri just across the Iowa line close to I-35 (Hwy 69 back in the day). My Father liked to trap fur bearing animals and he enjoyed his coon hounds. I remember those long nights following the sound of the hound’s yelp as they hit a fresh trail. Dad used a kerosene lantern to light our path and once we found the treed racoon, he pulled out his long-barreled flashlight to spot our prey. I once asked Dad how many miles we had walked one such night and he thought for a minute and said 5 to 10. I don’t know if that was true or not, but I do know that we sometimes would be out all night and drag ourselves back to our truck with the dawning. Those long nights were on a non-school weekend. During the week our treks were usually half as long and I was able to get 3 or 4 hours sleep before school the next day. I like many of you, have followed in my father’s footsteps and enjoy hunting as a sport, but also as a food source. I always try to bring back the meat from the wild game that I hunt. Dad never was interested in deer hunting or other big game. For him rabbit or squirrel and maybe a quail or two would put enough food on the table. My father has been gone quite a few years now and I didn’t get into big game hunting until more recently. I often wonder what he would have thought if he knew the hard mountain climbs and all the various locations that I have trekked to find my prey. I know for a fact that he would have been very proud of me. The photo is my Dad in the late 1940’s (before I was born). Money was hard to come by back in those days and harvesting furs helped pay the bills. – LC OLD MAN GETS ​LUCKY by Bob Meduna I love to archery hunt whitetails in Nebraska, mostly for the opportunity to watch deer behavior prior to and during the rut. I don’t kill very many deer with my bow anymore, mostly because I harvest enough meat deer with a rifle and/or muzzleloader later in the season when the weather is cold enough that I don’t have to worry about taking care of the meat immediately. And I use a couple trail cameras just to see what is around but I don’t become obsessed with trying to kill a buck that I get on camera that catches my fancy. I hunt mostly on public land close to my home and any buck that reaches a reasonable size while living on public land doesn’t make many mistakes and often becomes completely nocturnal. These bucks might make a mistake during firearm season (during the rut in Nebraska) but are virtually unkillable with a bow. Except for the buck that made a mistake and walked past my tree this fall. Three days prior to firearm season, a good buck that I had a few trail cam photos of was presumably searching for does a half hour after sunrise walked past one of my favorite stands that I happened to be in. He gave me a 20-yard broadside shot and went 75 yards after the arrow passed through his lungs. He’s by far the best archery deer that I’ve taken in nearly 50 years of archery hunting. Field-dressed weight was 200 pounds with 112 pounds of boned-out meat. What a morning! WALRUS ADVENTURE by Pat O’Neill In July of this year, I flew up Hall Beach, Sanirajak area of Nunavut Territory, Canada (68 degrees 46 degrees N, 81 degrees 13 degrees W) In the Artic. These hunts are booked for 5-day hunts to go out and locate the Walrus and fine a mature one to harvest. Since it's light basically 24 hours day this time of the year, we typically went out between 10:00 - 11:00 am each day after the morning fog burned off. We would stay out until as late as 3:30 am the following morning. The Sun does set around 1:30 am but returns within about an hour or so. On our first hunting day 2, of our group of 5 were successful in filling their tags. We lost the next 2 hunting days due to heavy fog that didn't want to move out. The 4th day turned out to be a great day with our remaining 3 hunters filling our tags. Susan Tuohy from Michigan and an IOWA FNAWS Life Member was the first to fill out today and I was the second one to fill out with a fella from North Dakota tagging out last. This is a great adventure, and I would recommend it to anyone for a different experience especially when the weather here was in the 90 degrees plus range and the high in the Artic was only in the high 40's. The scenery is really something to see with all the wildlife that inhabits the Artic. ​Greenland 2023-Muskox & Central Canadian Barren Ground Caribou by Lonnie Cook Greenland is considered part of North America, even though it is located halfway between the main North America continent and Europe. I am still working on my 29 Big Game Animals of North America and this would be numbers 22 and 23. Greenland is a fascinating country with 80% covered by the Polar Ice Cap. This puts the population down in the southern tip of Greenland. It is the most sparsely populated country in the World with only 55,000 people. It is the largest island in the World and is 3 to 4 times the size of Texas. Seven percent of all fresh water in the World is in the Polar Ice Cap. Greenland is part of Denmark, but has its own self-rule. Ninety five percent of the people on the Island are native Inuits. They depend upon fishing and hunting for their livelihood. There are no flights from the U.S. or Canada to Greenland. In fact, the only access to the island is from either Iceland or Denmark. I chose to fly to Copenhagen. So, my flight plan was K.C. to Toronto and on to Copenhagen. That is around 15 hours from when I got on the plane until I arrived in Denmark. I overnighted at a local hotel to catch up on Jet Lag and the next day, got on an Air Greenland flight and headed back west to Kangerlussuaq and a shorter flight to Sisimiut which totaled about 8 hours of flying. In the airport in Sissimiut I met 4 other hunters that I would be sharing the same hunting camp. Two guys were from New York and the other two were from North Dakota. I got to be good friends with the ND guys: Jake & Danny, who both were bow hunters. We were met at the airport by the outfitter’s wife, Maria, who drove us to the boat docks and we boarded a boat that our main guide Peter was captaining. The boat ride up an inlet took a little over 2 hours. We arrived at camp and met the other 4 guides: Nick, Anis, Jason and Wilhelm. They were all natives of the island. Our camp consisted of wall tents. I had my own tent and there was a tent for the ND guys and one for the NY guys. There was also a tent used for our meals. The guides had their own tents. We were situated along a river whose source was a large lake an hour and a half further inlet. The lake was fed from melting snow and ice from the higher elevation mountains. The days are still quite long even in late August as we were above the Arctic Circle. It is light out 20 hours a day, so after arriving in camp and getting our tents situated and eating a sandwich, we headed out to hunt around 4pm. We came upon a group of 4 Muskox after about an hour of riding the 2 boats. We pulled on shore and made an approach and I was given the opportunity to take the larger bull in the group. It was a 425-yard shot and the first shot was all that was necessary, but I decided to shoot again and this time he went down and stayed down. After photos, the guides made quick work out of caping and cutting up the meat. On the second day, the 2 guys from NY both connected on a caribou and Jake got his caribou as well. The guys from NY didn’t have Muskox tags, so they spent the remaining time in camp fishing for Arctic Char and looking for the elusive white Arctic Fox. On the third day, Jake and Danny both took their Muskox. Now it is day 4 and Danny and I still were on the hunt for our Caribous. Our guides, Peter and Nick, took us to the top of the mountain near the camp and we got on ATV’s and started a long 4 hours of driving and looking for suitable Caribou. At around 4pm we decided it was time to turn around and head back toward camp. We came upon a group of caribou that were feeding up the side of a small mountain and we stopped to glass. One of them looking to be a decent one, I took off with Peter and Danny followed. If we were able to approach where the distance was short, Danny would get an opportunity to take the first shot. If not, then I was up on deck. Nick stayed down at the ATV’s and with his radio was able to communicate with Peter on which direction the caribou were heading. We had to move at a fast pace so we could keep up and try and head them off before they got out of range. We were all out of breath when we topped a ridge and Peter said that the caribou was too far away for Danny to approach, so I got prone with my rifle over the backpack and tried to steady my gun and my nerves. The caribou was on the move and I had no time to use my rangefinder. I estimated him at 200-250 yards and set my ballistic turret. I hit him on the first shot, but he didn’t go down. I shot again and he still didn’t go down, but was standing in one place. Danny came up behind me and I asked him to check the range. He said it was 398 yards. So, I knew that both of my shots had hit him low. I adjusted my turret for 400 yards and made shot #3. This time he was hit in the kill zone and he went down. After photos, Peter began the process of caping and cutting up the meat. Nick drove his ATV all the way up the mountain to reach us. Not sure how he got it up there and I was wondering how the ride down the mountain was going to work out for us. We sent Peter and Danny off to hunt their caribou and pursue the rest of the herd that had went over the top. Nick and I finished up and secured everything on the ATV and headed down. A little harrowing, but doable trip down the slope. When we got near the bottom, we saw another large Caribou. In fact, it turned out to be just a little bigger than the one I just took. Nick radioed Peter and told them they needed to turn around and come down toward us. We kept the caribou in our sights and after 30-45 minutes they made it down and were able to get within 40 yards and Danny made a great shot with his bow to take his caribou. We arrived back into camp around 10pm and by the time we finished supper and did a little celebrating it was after midnight when we all got to bed. This was a typical day in this camp. Dinner usually at 10:30 pm or later, breakfast at 8:00 am. So today is day #5 and the NY boys had an earlier flight and Anis took them to town in his boat and they left around 8am. The rest of us had later flights and we left camp around 10:30 am. Our flight out of Sisimiut was delayed an hour, but we were able to get on our next flight from Kangerlussuaq and make it to Copenhagen that evening. Jake and Danny had made plans to spend 3 extra days in Copenhagen to do a little sightseeing. I had an early flight the next day and decided to sleep in the airport that night. I got in the check-in line at 4:30 am the next day and by the time I went through the check-in process with my firearm and made it through the security line it took me 2 ½ hours. I made it in time to my gate and took the flight this time to Munich, change planes and on to Chicago, change planes and on to Kansas City. My suitcase and gun case never made the connection in Munich and I arrived in K.C. with only my backpack. This is the 3rd time in 2 years where my gun case never made it. So, my suitcase got delivered to the house 24 hours later and as I write these notes, my gun case still shows no sign in arriving today (48 hours later). I need it for my next hunt in 2 weeks to Alaska for my moose hunt. Additional Comments: The Muskox and Caribou cape and horns/antlers get fleshed out at the camp than are shipped to Denmark where a taxidermist does more preparation and eventually ships them to me. This can take 3 to 4 months I am told and then my local taxidermist usually takes 12 to 15 months to get them back to me. The food at the camp was actually pretty good. We had grilled steaks from both the Muskox and Caribou and both were tasty. They mostly have prepared or processed food for the additional items on the menu in the evening and for snacks. In the morning it was eggs, corn flakes and bread with various spreads. Last Words and some extras by Kyle If you have any articles or pictures that you would like to possibly be featured in the next newsletter, feel free to email them to me at kylenakamoto@hotmail.com. As we all head into the 2023-2024 hunting season, I wish all of you good luck. See all of you March 23, 2023 for our 45th banquet! ~ Kyle Nakamoto