As of today we have 39 bear licenses donated to our charity. It has been really exciting watching this hunt come together and grow. Many caring people come forward to help bless the lives of these children and families. There will be a lifetime of memories for all involved. God bless you all!
Brigid O'Donoghue
This article was printed in Friday's WI Leader-Telegram Newspaper:
Program grants outdoor wishes of ill children
Jeff Betlach of rural New Auburn waited four years for a bear hunting permit. Then he gave it away to a 16-year old **** from Junction City he had never met.
Betlach, an advertising salesman for the Eau Claire Press Co., said he was looking forward to bear hunting but not all the effort that goes into establishing bait sites for bears. When a letter arrived asking him to donate his permit so a terminally ill youth could go bear hunting, he agreed.
As of last week, 37 Wisconsin hunters have donated their permits to seriously ill or severely disabled youths from around the country, out of about 1,400 permits issued by the state, said Brigid O'Donoghue, founder of United Special Sportsman Alliance.
That's particularly generous considering some hunters wait up to 10 years to get a permit, she noted.
O'Donoghue, who lives on a cranberry farm east of Black River Falls with her finance, Pete Normington, started the nonprofit organization in the fall of 2000.
A bear hunt is the most common request by the young hunters and also one of the most difficult to arrange because bear permits are hard to get, she said.
An elk hunt is the second most common request, followed by a hunt for white-tailed deer.
Two years ago O'Donoghue had the idea of buying the list of hunters receiving bear permits from the state Department of Natural Resources. Hunters applying for permits have the option of not having their names on the list.
This year she decided that letters to the hunters were more likely to be read if they were addressed by hand. She got help from members of her church, St. Joseph's in Black River Falls. Women in the congregation hand-addressed 1,400 letters.
"I thought if I ended up with 10 kids, I'd be happy. That would be 10 kids with big smiles on their faces. But it turned out to be huge," she said, adding that the hunters "gave with their hearts."
Some bear hunts are done with hounds and some by hunting over bait. In Unit C, the state's southernmost bear zone, hunting with dogs is not allowed and all hunting is over bait, she noted.
For every youth hunter, many volunteers are needed to make the hunt happen, but finding help has not been a problem, she said. "You'd think you'd have to work hard to get helpers, but every year the number grows," she said.
Taxidermists also volunteer to make a bear rug or head and shoulder mount of the animal if the hunter is successful, she said. "I know that it's giving up time in their busy schedules."
The program has grown, providing hunts for disabled and seriously ill children from 34 states, she said. It also works with seriously ill adults and disabled veterans.
O'Donoghue hopes to provide 1,000 hunts or fishing trips a year. "I think we're going to make it this year," she said.
United Special Sportsman Alliance has a good relationship with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes of terminally ill children but stopped offering hunts in 1999 after animal rights groups and sponsors protested.
O'Donoghue didn't start United Special Sportsman Alliance because Make-A-Wish stopped offering hunts, however. Make-A-Wish refers youths who request a hunt as their wish.
"I respect (Make-A-Wish) for their beliefs, and they respect me for mine," she said.
O'Donoghue first arranged a hunt in 2000. It was in Wisconsin at a deer farm for a Texas hunter whose dying wish was to hunt for a big whitetail. That led her to organizing hunts for sick children.
At the time she had never hunted or fished. "I grew up in Milwaukee. I didn't have any interest in it," she said. "Nobody ever took me out there. I had no concept of what I was missing.
"As this charity started growing, all of a sudden the children started asking me questions that I couldn't answer," she said.
Board members of United Special Sportsman Alliance took her hunting for the first time at age 35.
"I've hunted and fished all over America now," she said.
She supported the recently passed hunter mentor bill that allows youths 10 years old to hunt, accompanied by an adult mentor, without having passed a hunter safety class.
O'Donoghue has hunted in other states with youths younger than 10, and they have been safe hunters. Unfortunately, many terminally ill youths don't make it to the age of 12, she said.
Knight can be reached at 830-5835 or
[email protected].
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