Austin Daily Herald
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Hooked on hunting
A black, mutant-phase ringneck pheasant, a rare genetic, color mutation hangs in Sue Olson’s office at Hormel. She is very involved in pheasant hunting and conservation.
IT TOOK HER 86,000 MILES, BUT SUE OLSON HAS MADE HER MARK AS AN ATTORNEY AND VOLUNTEER Story and Photo by Matt Peterson wenty-one years ago, Sue Olson exhausted Hooked on hunting nearly all of her time pursuing a legal career. Aside from her extensive legal career, Today, she is just as busy as ever and still Olson continues to make time for hunting and working in the same field where it all started. working with dogs. In 1995, she went pheasant And years ago, Olson wasn’t discouraged hunting for the first time — it was also the by the amount of work that was ahead of her. first time she had ever shot a gun. When she That work has made her a corporate attorney started out-shooting most of her fellow trapat Hormel and the president of a Pheasants shooters, she realized she was good at it. A Forever chapter. year later she was doing safety training for In 1989 Olson began working as a paralegal. the DNR. After working for a firm for several years, she “I was hooked,” she said. decided she needed some time away and went Olson belongs to a game farm in to work for Mower County human services. Menomonie, Wis. where she enjoys hunting “I just needed a break,” Olson said. pheasants, chuckars and quail. One of her She worked for human services for a couple takes included a black, mutant-phase ringyears, started at Hormel in 1998 as a secretary neck pheasant, which can be seen in her office in the food service division. at Hormel. After graduating from However, her favorite part Mankato State University in “It’s hard to fit stuff about hunting is the dogs. 1998, she started her pursuit she has done deer in sometimes ... It’s Although toward a law degree. Six months hunting and duck hunting, after starting at Hormel, she just really, really pheasant hunting is her took a position as a paralegal; because the dogs busy, but I like it.” favorite then she began her duration at enjoy it no matter the weathSt. Paul’s Willliam and Mitchell -Sue Olson er or situation. She owns two College of Law. From 2000 to german shorthair pointers, 2003, she commuted from Austin her third recently passed to St. Paul on a regular basis, yet she didn’t away in March from cancer. expect to get into Hormel because they were That passion for dogs and pheasant huntnot hiring for the position she wanted. ing found her another way to get involved in Olson kept a chart of her driving during the community. that transition, and she had drove about 86,000 miles. Getting stuff done “I’d been in the car more than I’d been in Olson is the president of the Mower County class,” she said. “That was hard. ... I’m going chapter of Pheasants Forever. She joined in to get through this week, then the next week, 2003 and has been president for five years. She then the next year.” Her efforts paid off when she landed her and the volunteers at Pheasants Forever have job as a corporate attorney with Hormel in worked to improve habitat in Mower County 2003. She works in a department with others through several land-restoration projects. who are in charge of refining thousands of Furthermore, she is a sponsor for Northern Praire Pheasants Forever in north Iowa. lengthy contracts, every year. The Mower County chapter is one of the Many people, even those at Hormel, do not most successful PF chapters and has raised know what Olson does. “People really don’t know what we do until nearly $1 million the past decade. It will surthey come to us with a problem,” she said. pass that mark if it completes its next land “We have seven lawyers who each cover a cer- restoration project, which Olson expects to happen soon. tain area.” “We have a group of people who want to get Olson is in charge of many contracts, about stuff done,” she said. 4,000 per year. Some of those include contracts The group meets once a month throughout with hog procurement and Jennie-O Turkey. To add to her schedule, she is chair of the the fall and nearly once a week during Minnesota Chamber of Labor Management December, January and February while getcommittee and was also appointed to the ting ready for its annual banquet. Olson now Minnesota Workers Comp. Advisory Council makes quilts for the banquets — another by Gov. Pawlenty. She looks at issues involving hobby —to auction off and raise money for PF. “It’s hard to fit stuff in sometimes. ... It’s worker compensation and labor practices and just really, really busy, but I like it,” she said. how to improve them.
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