CALL 911: 2023 SCI Mid-MI First Responders Pheasant Hunt

By Michael Ritchie D.C.

I had a call from a friend and County Sheriff deputy saying, “Doc, I hate to call you on your day off, but my back is bothering me, and I have to be back on duty tomorrow.” I replied, “Would you show up at my house if I have some kind of trouble in the middle of the night if I needed your help?”

The truth is our local EMTs, police and firefighters are standing ready to respond to our call 7 days per week and twenty-four hours per day. So, when Jon Zieman from Mid-Michigan SCI called and asked me to put together a first responders pheasant hunt, I was right on it. The goal was to get 10 people (first responders) to come and hunt at Tails-A-Waggin Acres in Marion on October 22nd in the afternoon. We would need at least 3 volunteers to bring their hunting dogs to guide the hunters. The Mid-Michigan Chapter of SCI would pay the hunting fees and Jon and I would provide a meal after the hunt.

For help in finding good candidates, I contacted “Got your six -veterans: Roscommon Chapter “founder Tim “TK” Kotulak and charged him with helping me choose local candidates. I also talked to friends, patients who were EMTS, firefighters, law enforcement, nurses and more.

I called friends I knew had bird hunting dogs and rounded up three who would volunteer to run their dogs for the event.

Jon arranged things with the hunting preserve for 50 birds to be released for 10 hunters that would be toting shotguns. He also picked up some Jay's Sporting goods hunter orange caps for each hunter.

Each person we hoped to honor appeared to be surprised when chosen. Comments like “I don’t deserve to be honored because I am only doing my job.” were commonplace. Our group of hunters consisted of three Crawford County Sheriff deputies, one Denton Township police officer, a Frederick EMT and firefighter, A Markey Township and Elk Rapids EMS worker, a State of Michigan Corrections Officer, three Veterans of the US military and EMS.

As the day approached, we watched the weather and October weather in Michigan can vary from hot, rainy, to snowy, freezing, and windy. Upon arrival the air was a chilly 40 degrees, mostly sunny with a 10 MPH wind, which is simply perfect for a pheasant hunt. What was less than perfect was the fact that two of the dog handlers had dropped at the last minute through no fault of their own. One had sick children and one had a dog that had been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.

Call 911

Gratefully Jon talked to Dave Badour a Mid-Michigan SCI member and he and his tall five-year-old German Shorthair “Sulley” agreed to be a backup. Additionally, one of our hosts at Tails-a-Waggin, Kris Korreck, volunteered to help us out with his two-year-old female Shorthair “Breena.” This along with Paul Valley of Roscommon and his Brittney Spaniel “Brooke” rounded out our guides and dogs.

John from the preserve talked to the group about basic safety instructions, assigned different fields and the group was broken up between Dave and Paul with 5 hunters in each group. The guides gave the hunters further instructions on how their Dog typically worked in the field.

The group I followed was led by Paul Valley and his Brittney spaniel Brooke. The dry fields made it a challenge for the dogs and the birds acted more like track stars than pheasants. If anyone thought this was going to be an easy hunt, they were wrong. Two birds flew into an area we could not hunt, others were scooting through the tall grass without a shot opportunity. Allen Ballard (Frederick EMS and Firefighter) broke the ice with a beautiful ring neck and two shots hit home after that. By then the weather had heated up and Brooke was getting tired, so we went in to refresh and recuperate and waited a bit to see how Dave’s group fared.

When they returned, they had had more action than we did with one of the hunters scoring on 3 birds and everyone getting at least a poke at a bird. The plan was to send the 3 hunters in our group out with Kris and cover the fields that we already went over because we knew that we had walked past some pheasants. When the group of three officers from Crawford County returned, they had shot 6 of the 8 birds that Breena had kicked up.

The hunters finished cleaning their birds with the experienced hunters helping the first timers through the processing. Afterward we had pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad and chips. Everyone sat around telling hunting stories and teasing each other about missed shots. Some new pheasant hunters vowed to do this again and all of them thanked SCI-Mid-Michigan for supporting this fun afternoon.

Remember to thank EMS, Police, Fire officers in your community for their service. They are often overlooked when it comes to being appreciated.

Special thanks to Chuck and John from Tails-a-Wagging for making this hunt enjoyable. To Paul Valley and Brooke for working so hard to get birds for our heroes. To Dave Badour and Kris Korreck for answering our 911 emergency call for back-up hunting guides. Jay’s Sporting Goods for giving us a discount on hats and ammo. Finally, thanks to Jon Zieman and SCI Mid-Michigan for sponsoring this hunt and letting me be a part of it.

SCI Mid MI: First for Veterans, youth, first responders and of course Hunters!

CAPTIONS for PICTURES

1. Hunt organizer Jon Zieman (Mid Michigan SCI) gets a briefing on the hunters success
2. Crawford County Sheriff Deputies - Chase Lohr, John Klepadlo and Matt Swope went 6 for 8 on pheasants
3. Dan Boehm Elk Rapids EMS collected one for two shots on his very first ever pheasant hunt

4. Allen Ballard scores on a nice ring neck which was his groups first