Page 96 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2017

SPORTS & OUTDOORS all about the bass
The thought of having a dozen and a half sad-faced kids weighed heavy on my mind as the day for the inaugural Kidz Outdoors Mississippi Bass Tournament approached. Would the kids all get skunked? Would they not
have fun? Or worse yet, would the heavy rains come as they
had a few days earlier? I was plenty worried.
Last year Dr. Don Gaddy agreed to sponsor a Kidz Outdoors hunt on his 160- acre red stag deer farm
in Long Beach. The Kidz organization sponsors adult-mentored outdoor events for children with disabilities. Many special needs children are denied the chance to hunt and fish due to their disabilities, and other families find it hard to afford with the enormous medical treatment expenses they often times face.
Dr. Gaddy invited us
to video the hunt for an episode of our television show, Gulf South Outdoors. There we met Christian, the featured hunter, and Carol and Rick Clark, founders
of Kidz Outdoors. Using a
specially-rigged cross bow, Christian bagged a red stag deer weighing in at more than 500 pounds.
After the hunt, we decided to host a bass tournament
as a first step in forming
a local Kidz Outdoors chapter. My good friends, Clay and Courtney Wagner, graciously agreed to host it on their 75-acre lake in Kiln. This lake is literally teeming with bass. So many that Clay needed to remove more than 1000 bass under 17 inches so the remaining fish population could thrive.
As the sun rose on tournament day, we were blessed with perfect weather and a tournament that
went more smoothly than
I could have hoped. Over
96 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • May 2017
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Kids, KIDZ &B SS
story and photos by Frank Wilem
CHRISTIAN WILSON with his red stag deer weighing over 500 lbs.
BLAKE BROOME from bass club with Austin Waits
DAKOTA HANSEN holding his catch of the day.
MATHEW BOSARGE and Sam Ogarek