December 13, 2024

By Lane Kimble

JOHNSON CREEK, Wis. — If a few pheasants escaped the aim Thursday of hunters at Milford Hills, temperatures in the single digits and a wind chill below zero were an easy scapegoat.

Or maybe it was just the camera guy’s hands shaking… The icy cold, after all, didn’t seem to bother a group of hearty WTBA supporters.

“My back was very warm because I was carrying a lot of birds.  Certainly more than Dick Palecek,” Nate Skarda said with a smile.

Skarda was one of 16 to register for the second-annual WTBA PAC Pheasant Hunt.

Click HERE to view a WTBA PAC Pheasant Hunt photo gallery!

The crowd split into teams of four, working fields by the names of Kansas, Beretta, Ruger, and South Dakota.  Cold faces and fingertips were warmed by a whole lot of jovial competition and dozens of successful shots.

“Great event,” Palecek said.  “It was cold but we were kept warm by all the birds killed.  I’m sure we were warmer than Nate Skarda,” Palecek said while enjoying some refreshments in the club house afterward.

The hunt provided WTBA’s legislative efforts a shot in the arm, too, generating several thousand dollars for the WTBA PAC headed into a crucial state budget year.

Hunters proudly represented companies such as CORRE, Inc., Integrity Grading & Excavating, Johnson’s Nursery, Lunda Construction, Northway Fence, Pavement Maintenance, Inc., Rock Solid Stabilization, R&R Insurance, R&S Equipment Services, Schmitz Ready Mix, and Super Excavators.