Mule Deer Foundation and Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife Set All-time High Records at the Western Hunting & Conservation Exposition
The Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) and Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife (SFW) put together a record-breaking event for this year’s Western Hunting & Conservation Exposition (WHCE) held Feb. 11-14, 2010, at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. Exhibit hall attendance exceeded 25,000, and daily seminars and evening events were at capacity, entertaining well over 3,500 people.
The sale of more than 60 big-game tags raised over $10 million for wildlife conservation. The Utah Statewide Mule Deer tag brought an all-time high of $260,000, and the Arizona Statewide Mule Deer tag sold for a record $177,000. Hunters had the opportunity to purchase or enter drawings for tags worth over $2 million. More ...
Praise and Thank Yous for the 2010 National Convention
Salt Lake City, UT / Feb. 11-14, 2010
"I would like to start out by saying I was thoroughly impressed with the Western & Hunting Conservation Expo and the Mule Deer Foundation's Member Awards Brunch this past weekend. I have hunted mule deer all my life in western Nebraska and am thrilled to be associated with the MDF organization." – Mike Covalt
Country star Jo Dee Messina performed Friday night and donned a pair of
MDF antlers!
According to Regional Director Mike Laughter, a number of volunteers were "stand outs" at the 2010 Convention.
He notes, "This is the core group (listed below). There were probably double the ones listed that spent time in the booth during the week."
- Wayne Winsor – Worked in membership booth all week and helped with all three
live auctions and VRN. - Cindy Mosteller – Worked in registration all week and in the MDF office leading up to convention. Tooele Co. Chapter.
- Jim Mosteller – Worked in the membership booth all week and helped with all three live auctions. Weber-Davis Chapter.
- Gary Dobyns – Worked in the membership booth all week and helped with all three live auctions. Weber-Davis Chapter.
- Misty Frampton – Worked in registration all week and in MDF office leading up to convention. Tooele Co. Chapter.
- Jeremy Zumwalt – Worked for weeks leading up to convention and helped with all three live auctions. (Involved with all chapters in Utah.)
- Greg Zumwalt – Worked for weeks leading up to and including convention loading and unloading. Tooele Co. Chapter.
- Britney Zumwal – (Pregnant) Worked all week in the membership booth selling memberships. Tooele Co. Chapter.
- Art Craker – Helped set up VRN and worked in the membership booth. East Valley Chapter (Arizona).
- Jon Nestor – Helped with moving and all of the auctions. Pass the Buck Chapter (Colo).
- Katie Luthy – Helped in the membership booth all week as well as VRN. Sheridan Chapter (Wyoming).
- Baline Porter – Helped in membership booth all week. Weber-Davis Chapter.
- Dan and Judy Dellinger – Worked MDF merchandise all week. (Montana).
- Ron and Stephaney Bishop – Worked MDF merchandise all week. Twin Falls, Idaho Chapter.
- George Quarter – Worked MDF membership booth all week. (California).
- Cheryl Crow – Worked exhibitor check in and signed people up for next year all week. (Utah).
- Jake Olsen – Worked membership booth all week. (SLC)
- Mitch Dyson – Worked membership booth all week. (SLC)
- Judy Knapp – Worked MDF office all week.
Kids in the booth selling memberships (all under the age of 17, All from Utah) were:
- Sarah Laughter
- Meghan Laughter
- Jessica Porter
- Colton Porter
In MDF's Membership booth during the WHCE, there were 265 memberships sold, with 10 life members!
2010 National Convention
Salt Palace Convention Center
100 South West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
This year will be a little different, with only two organizations hosting this great event. MDF will be hosting two banquets.
On Friday our Conservation Banquet will be dinner and an auction, followed by entertainment by Jo Dee Messina.
On Saturday the Finale Extravaganza Banquet will feature our Premiere Auction Items, a guest speaker, and entertainment by Josh Turner.
Both of these concerts will be in the ballroom and should be very exciting!
The MDF Tenth Anniversary Celebration will be a brunch on Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and is FREE to MDF Members this year, thanks to Midway USA!
Midway USA Underwriting MDF Volunteer Recognition and Life Member Event at WHCE
Midway USA has agreed to underwrite the MDF Volunteer Recognition and Life Member event at the Western Hunting & Conservation Expo (WHCE) on Sat., Feb. 13, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event will now be FREE to all MDF regular members and Lifetime Members. If you have already paid, we will give you raffle tickets or you can just have your $25 be a donation to MDF.
Please let other MDF members know this, and help us get the word out. If you register online for the Expo at www.hunt.expo.com this event is listed as the MDF 10th Annual Convention Celebration.
If you are only coming for this one event, you can call Rachel at the MDF National Office 801-47-3344 and register. Please don’t just show up, as we’ll need a headcount prior for food, seating, etc.
We have a great line up of awards and prizes. We hope to see you there!
Other News
MDF Board of Directors Meeting
USA Olympic Training Center
Colorado Springs, Colorado
The MDF Board of Directors recently held their fall '09 Board meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Board spent the day touring the USA Olympic Training Center and meeting with members of the USA Shooting Team. MDF has teamed with USA Shooting to work together to promote both organizations.
Buddy Duvall, Marketing Director for USA Shooting, was the MDF Board’s host while we were at the Olympic Training Center. Board members had the opportunity to shoot with current Olympic Team members and members of the Junior Olympics team. It was fun watching these young athletics show Board members the correct way to shoot competition air pistols and air rifles. A fun shooting competition was held among Board members and MDF staffer Eric Tycksen, COO, won the overall score. Steve Boero was the top scoring Board member.
USA Shooting will once again have a booth at the WHCE in Salt Lake City in February. USA Shooting will be involved in several of the WHCE activities. Olympic athletics who won medals in Beijing, China, last year and previous Olympics will be present. Take time to come to the Expo and meet these exceptional athletes – you won’t be disappointed.
MDF and USA Shooting will be auctioning a special gun with both organizations’ logos during the Saturday Night Gala Event at the WHCE.
MDF and USA Shooting will be working together on several exciting promotions in the future.
Photo Collage by Kathi Corder.
Previous MDF Conventions
2009 National Convention
Post-Convention Details
- Message from CEO Miles Moretti
- MDF Conservation Award
- Volunteer Recognition Night 2009
- Utah Statewide Deer Tag
- 2010 Booth Application and Exhibitors Map
- Visit MDF's 2009 Convention Home Page
2008 National Convention
Post-Convention Details