The Kerrobert & District Wildlife Federation started back in 1981 under the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, which was established in 1929.

The local KWF has always consisted of longtime members, though those numbers are starting to dwindle as they unfortunately lost a few different original members in a short time.

The local group out of Kerrobert is coming off their annual supper and awards night, and we caught up with KWF President Rob Cholin to discuss the January 21st event that featured recognition for local hunters and anglers, along with a wide variety of wild-meat sourced dishes:

A night meant for celebration ended up on a bit of a somber note, as the group lost a day one member in Joe Dubielwicz:

The West Central region has always been home to wildlife enthusiasts who are involved with their local SWF entities. These groups give back to their communities in the form of conservation, and the late Dubielwicz often provided that and more for his fellow KWF members.

"(Joe) was an inaugural member. He was a member of the club since it's inception in 1981," said the KWF President Cholin. There isn't a spot on the Chair that Dubielwicz didn't hold, and as he got older there wasn't really any sign of the Kerrobert man slowing down.

"President, Secretery, Treasurer, all that sort of good stuff. As he aged and what not of course his physical attributes got less and less, but he was always down at our clubhouse getting the coffee on, sweeping the floor, doing the dishes. Anything he saw out place he put back into place."

Cholin had to chuckle when mentioning Dubielwicz's other important job that never got missed; providing the eats for every meeting.

"He cooked sausage for us every meeting that we had. That was his job, and he enjoyed it," recalled Cholin, "Very much enjoyed the camaraderie."

Cholin said that during Dubielwicz's younger years some of his biggest accomplishments in conservation revolved around tree planting. A true outdoorsman.

Even with those days far behind him, "JLD" as the group called him is going to be greatly missed. Very few members are left when it comes to the original crew, as Cholin revealed that Dubielwicz wasn't the only member they lost.

"It was kind of a rough go here. Including Joe, we lost three important members in 36 hours. Thursday, Friday, and the Saturday morning of our supper."

Cholin shared that in Dubielwicz's case, he still had a seat reserved at the supper. 

"We thought it was pretty appropriate that with Joe in the hospital, he was so looking forward to the supper, but then when he realized he couldn't make it he said, 'It doesn't matter, the guys will bring me stuff when I get home'."

Dubielwicz's absence was just one that lead to a lot of tears on the night according to Cholin, but the show went on and another successful wildlife supper is now in the history books.