Robert Mowen – Nature Man

Bob Mowen there was no Nature Center. Nature classes were mostly taught by Joe Rosen or Skipper Kuklin that consisted of a walk in the woods. An event called “Frank Buck Bring them Back Alive – Day” killed more denizens of nature and taught nothing of nature. Fish and frogs worth 5 points each were easier to catch than chipmunks and bobcats. If you captured an elephant you automatically won with 1,000 points. Identified plants were worth points as well, but most counselors could not identify many. “Abe, don't pick that it might be poison ivy!.” “Okay it's an oak leaf.” “Ugh it's poison oak!” After the 1966 Frank Buck Day there was not a frog left on the water front by the beach. I think that it was the last Frank Buck Day as there was a definite increase of misquotes with the lack of frogs. How do I know the date? My cabin won by correctly identifying nearly 100 plants.

Bob built a program from scratch. The room on the end of the Rec Hall became the Nature Center. The cabinets used for when the room was a craft shop were replaced by benches for aquariums. Nature posters were put on the walls. One year a beehive was installed with working honey bees. The bees swarmed the day before campers arrived. Campers supplied fish for an aquarium. Bob put crayfish to another and minnows called johnny darters to other aquariums. Only Bob fed the crayfish as they tore apart live fish, they did not like dead fish.

Outside of the Nature Center there were ponds connected by streams. The water was supplied from a faucet on the corner of the Rec Hall. The water was aerated by spurting from a fountain and running down a stone column to a pond. The ponds held fish put in by campers. Most fish did not live to an old age in the ponds as at night raccoons came in to catch them.

As the Nature Center developed a number of animals were brought in for the summer. Bob advertised on the local radio for donations.

A local farmer had caught two great horn owls that were devastating his flock of chickens. Bob excepted them and built a cage for them. Campers delighted in feeding them fish that they caught in the lake. It also fascinated them as the owls turned to watch them as they walked around the cage. After about six weeks at camp the owls who did not pay tuition were set free. They hung around the Stratton Lake area until fall.

I wonder how many campers remember Shawn the Faun. The faun deer came to the camp wearing spots by the end of camp the spots began to fade. Bob had to feed the deer with milk from a bottle when it first came. Then he used a special pail with a rubber tit. This kind of pail is used by farmers to feed a cow's calf. Shawn would follow campers around and sometimes interrupted sports on the playing fields. After camp ended Bob asked me to help him take Shawn to a deer farm. I held Shawn as Bob drove his car. Shawn got excited as we began the journey and blessed my legs with warm pee. Then Bob got upset because it was his new car we were in. Shawn lived out her life at a deer farm with her deer family in peace, never chased by a hunter.

Raccoons were getting into the garbage cans by the Mess Hall and making a mess. Bob borrowed a live trap from a local pest eradicator. Baited with fish from the lake the traps were successful. The first catch was a skunk that Bob took into the woods and released. Then he caught a large raccoon. The raccoon was taken to the Nature Center and kept for two days, fed as many fish as it could eat and released. Then another raccoon was caught and displayed. This was the routine for the summer. One raccoon must have liked the Nature Center because he was caught several times.

Corn snakes and buff adders are not all that common in the Waupaca area. Bob displayed one each of them and a grass snake. There was excitement when the corn snake became a mother of baby snakes. This was witnessed by several campers. Fed on crickets and angle worms the snakes did will in captivity and were released near the end of camp.

A baby blue jay fell from a nest and was rescued by Bob. Several campers helped raise the bird until it could fly. It bonded with one camper and would sit on his shoulder as he walked through the camp. One day with no explanation the camper held the bird tight in his hand and broke its neck. I hope that boy got help.

Two young male goats were for sale to be butchered for food. Bob to the rescue! He bought them before explaining to Manny how nice they would be at camp. Manny cast an eye at the goats and said, “You will have to watch them.” A contest was held to name the goats. Sugar and Spice won and the winner got an extra canteen. The campers seemed to enjoy the goats and renamed them Manny's Nannies, although they were really fixed males. You must know what that means. At first things went well but as the goats got used to camp life things got out of hand. Cook out night they thought that a share of the food was theirs. By jumping up on the picnic tables they found that kosher hot dogs, beans, and chips were a great meal. They learned to push cabin doors open and mess around indoors. They thought that they were exempt from hitting the baseball before running the bases. Then they woke the Desnet family at dawn a couple of mornings, then blocked Manny in at the door. An order came down from the highest authority in camp. Lil demanded the goats go. Jane the cook and Renee my wife each got one of the goats. No lawn mower was needed at the Towne's summer home while Spice lived there. Spice and Renee had good times playing in the yard. In the fall he went to the barn on the Towne farm. He was a pet there for about three years when he died from eating burdock which he loved, but it was poison to him.

Every August there is the Perseid Meteor Shower where the night sky is streaked with streamers of light as the meteorites burn up in the atmosphere. Bob always kept track of when the shower would be at its best. Pulling the mats off the rifle range he sat up the perfect way to view meteorites. One or two nights campers who were interested in seeing them laid on the mats until early morning hours.

As there was a number of campers who were interested in the planets, Bob arranged for a camp out at Hartman State Park. The camp site he chose was near the top of a hill in an open field. He came with a telescope that he borrowed from a friend. On a clear cool night, the campers took turns looking at Venus and Mars. Bob gave a lesson on the planets. There was no camp fire and so the campers had on their heaviest clothing. Still there was an air of excitement at what they saw.

The Nature Man took campers to nearby sites where they could see some of the wonders of nature. Trips to bogs to look at plant life in a wet area; Walks to find mushrooms and lichen growing; Showing campers the meat eating sun dews and pitcher plants; Boating to learn of aquatic plants. Capturing and returning to nature different kinds of frogs and turtles the Nature Man was always on the move.

This article misses some of the animals that Bob introduced to the campers I am sure. It only gives a small sample of Bob Mowen's work.