Roger Wiltz

By Roger Wiltz For The Daily Republic Tom, one of my sons-in-law from Wisconsin, expressed an interest in a South Dakota pheasant hunt during the days preceding Christmas. The girls offered to keep tabs on a convalescing Betsy during my absence, so I wasn’t going to pass up...

By Roger Wiltz Perhaps because I was an educator most of my working life, one of my favorite quotes comes from W.C. Fields. It goes, “Schools ain’t as good as they used to be and they never was.” There’s some truth to it. Back in the early 50s, we memorized Lincoln’s...

If you're 50 or older, you might remember when Herter's opened a store in Mitchell. That store would pale in comparison to today's Cabela's, but back then it was a very big deal. I still have plastic ammo boxes, fishing lures and reloading components purchased in that store where...

Our daughter Laurie and her family have a second home on Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks. The home is set on the sprawling lake, and a front stairway leads to their partially covered floating dock. The dock includes boats and slips, lounge chairs, sound system, television, fridge, and...

When we moved to Wagner in 1976, I knew about the school system where I would be the new principal for grades seven through 12. Superintendent Dale Hall was a friend, and I knew many staff members. I didn't know about the family physicians Bruce Brookman and R.W. Honke. They worked...

On Thursday morning, June 30, ten Wagner anglers headed for Canada. Our group included Francis Doom, Tom Studelska, Ron Masourek, Jay Wunder, Jordan Wunder, Whitey Tolliver, Branson Tolliver, Roger Schroeder, Austin Schroeder and myself. We took the old Doom van and Jay's Ford pickup....

Sorry, ladies. Today's column is mostly for guys. I think the women, or at least the ones around Wagner, have a pretty good thing going. They call it the Red Hat Society. Unlike Lions or Rotary with their international service objectives, the purpose of Red Hat Society, as I see...

A few evenings ago, Betsy and I walked down to the Randall spillway from the visitor's center to watch the discharge. Someone asked, "Wiltz, what's going to happen to the fish?" I'm no fisheries biologist, but the question is thought provoking. The flooding of our Missouri River,...

In this column two weeks ago, I was very upbeat about fishing conditions on our Lake Francis Case Reservoir. This related mostly to the phenomenal growth I'd observed in walleyes and smallmouth bass since last year. Now, I'm even more enthusiastic than I was two weeks ago. This relates...

On the morning of April 6, Jerry and I were fishing in the boat ramp basin beneath the dam at Pickstown with 16 other nearby boats. I don't mind not catching fish, but when all the other boats are enjoying success with nice walleyes, it bothers me. Such was the case that morning. Whatever...

A warning may be appropriate for today's column. I'm thinking of something like this: The content of the following may not be suitable for children, or don't try this at home. Let's put it this way. If your monthly PETA magazine arrived today, don't read this column. Today's adventure...

Have you ever looked at an issue which you firmly believed in and asked yourself if you were wrong? After reading how our legislators wouldn't even modify our nonresident small game (pheasant) licenses, I asked myself if I was way off on my recommendation to make the license good...

Are the indigenous animals of Africa tougher than the animals of other continents? Or, can the game animals of Africa carry more lead when wounded than other game? This question is often debated, and an amazing number of authorities discuss this topic with an attitude of certainty....

Our state legislators have been kicking around the nonresident pheasant season. Ten days of hunting presently goes with this $110 license. They are thinking that more of these hunters would return after their initial hunt if it were broken down into five two-day parcels instead of...