SOLON- A clear day, light southeast wind; with temperatures in the low 50s. It would be a great morning for a mid-autumn walk. Not so much for attracting geese to a picked corn field.
A small flock had worked the 30 decoys dotting the corn stubble west of nine layout blinds just outside Solon Oct. 23.
“Two geese were close enough for a shot, but we held up, thinking the group might circle once more,” explained Colton Dall.
It did not. Still, it was not a washout. A couple hunters worked a wooded creek, about 70 yards away, dropping a duck.
Even better, they had spent the morning with family and friends in the outdoors. This morning was dedicated to one who was not there.
Done for the morning, the Soggy Bottom Waterfowlers- as they call their team- yanked corn stalk camouflage from the layouts, pulled decoys and piled into a couple pickups or walked across the field and got rides back to “camp.”
“Camp” was a large garage and driveway in North Twin View Heights, west of Solon. The goose hunters compared notes with another dozen-plus team members. They had better luck on the Coralville Reservoir, dropping a half-dozen ducks. Filing into the garage to fill up breakfast plates, they walked past a 6-foot door poster of the friend, brother and son who was not there. Tanner Wymer died in January, the result of a canoeing mishap on the flooded reservoir about a mile from the memorial hunt.
“It just popped into my head one day, the idea of a hunt to ‘give back,’ to have participants hunt with our team members,” recalled hunt organizer Graeson Dall. “My parents, our team members, Coach (Brad) Wymer (Tanner’s dad) all thought it was a great idea, too.”
“We hunt a lot. We guide other hunters. We are planning on guiding veterans on hunts in the future. We videotape hunts; take part in fundraising events,” listed Dall, a senior at Solon High School.
Dall lined up prizes and a sponsor who donated the layout blinds. Word spread over the last couple months, to the extent that 23 hunters were on the water or in the field? with a dozen volunteers at camp organizing the meal, decorations and program.
“We spent the morning hunting; Tanner’s friends, family? and came back to a meal with more family, to have a good time, to enjoy the day,” reflected Brad Wymer. “Graeson wanted the hunt to be a way for us all to do something fun and honor a great young man who also had a passion for the outdoors.”
Each hunter made a freewill donation to be part of the event. Half of them hunted the day before, too, when a few more ducks were flying. The Soggy Bottom boys lined up boats, hunting areas, blinds and matched up hunters on the land or the water, depending on his or her choice. Many went home with a prize, beyond the bonus of keeping a friend in their thoughts.
“Greason’s initiative to organize this hunt as a way to get us together is much appreciated. He did an incredible job,” underscored Wymer. “Putting money towards the Tanner Wymer Memorial Fund and Scholarship was certainly not expected. Proceeds from the hunt will help out a Solon student pay for their (college) books for a year or help defray tuition costs along the way.”
The Wymer family received support from so many in the Solon community, in the last 11 months. Looking down the road, with continued support, he sees the Fund evolving. “(Perhaps), evolving into more of a foundation with an impact that is more far reaching than providing a handful of scholarships to college-bound students,” offered Wymer. “I do not know what that looks like yet, but do know that I want it to reach and support a wider scope of individuals; in a way, to touch lives the way that Tanner did.”
The Soggy Bottom Waterfowlers, a team of Tanner’s friends, are already touching others lives one hunt at a time.
Learn more about the Soggy Bottom Waterfowlers, a bunch of hardworking Iowa boys who live and breathe the outdoors, at www.soggybottomwaterfowl.weebly.com