Regional Reports
September/October 2008
- Don Brown
Northern California Regional News - Fawna Gregory
Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas Regional News - Scott Hampel
Report from the Rockies - Ken Hand
Oregon Regional News - Ron Knapp
News from the Northwest - Brian Lake
Southern California Regional News - Mike Laughter
High Desert News - Brandon Mason
Northern Great Plains Region
News from the Field
By Bob Meulengracht
Congratulations
By now most of us know when and where we are going to hunt this fall and we have most likely learned of our individual draw results. Recently four extremely lucky individuals were notified that they had been drawn for what could be considered a “hunt of a lifetime.” Let me explain. Many of you who have attended the National Convention and some of MDF’s banquets have witnessed the sale/auction of statewide or special hunt permits. Over the years MDF has sold these permits (tags) for many states, including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. I am sure that many of you, much like me, have thought what it would be like to have one of these coveted permits but know that unless I win the lottery or somewhere out there a very “rich uncle” has left me an inheritance that I don’t know about, I understand that my odds of getting my hands on one of these permits is slim. You notice I did not say that I (or you) have zero chance and that is because a few of the states have provided the opportunity for people like me to win one of these tags through a raffle/lottery/drawing. Two states that have raffles are New Mexico and Colorado and recently the winners were drawn for the “New Mexico Lt. Governor’s Statewide Deer Enhancement License," two Colorado Statewide Deer Licenses and one of the Colorado Statewide Pronghorn Licenses.
Congratulations to Tim Thead, of Georgia, the winner of the New Mexico Permit, Jim Single of Pennsylvania and Jerry Graves of Colorado (winners of the Colorado Statewide Deer permits), and Lance Barron of Colorado (winner of the Colorado Pronghorn permit). Gentleman, I want to wish you the best of luck on your hunts. We look forward to stories and pictures in future issues of MDF Magazine. I would like to pass on a little piece of advice that I gave a friend of mine, who was the lucky winner of one of these tags a few years ago. After his hunt he told me that I gave him one of the best pieces of advice prior to his hunt which I will now share with each of these lucky winners – “Don’t load your gun until you are ready to shoot!” Good luck and Congratulations!
Workshops, Workdays and Trapshoots
Summer is always a busy time of year. Chapters are hosting banquets, Regional Director(s) and State Chair(s) are planning and hosting workshops and scheduling workdays and some even throw in a fun day at the Trap Club.
In early June, Regional Directors Brandon Mason and Ron Knapp along with their families traveled to western Montana to take part in the Montana Volunteer Workshop at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. Montana State Chair Dan Dellinger and Ron Knapp did a great job of putting this together again. Ray Rugg, long time MDF member, chapter chair, state chair, and now member of the Board of Directors talked about updates to how chapters can spend some of their fundraising dollars. Brandon spent some time discussing some new innovations to working with the various banquet documents that we have. Steve Knapp with the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) discussed how the MDF has been able to partner with them on a couple of different easements in the state and some potential easement opportunities that may be coming up in the near future. He did a great job explaining how the whole process works and how MDF can partner with them to conserve mule deer habitat for future generations.
July 19-20 was the second annual Rocky Mountain Regional Workday at Radium State Wildlife Area in Colorado. There were 34 people, including MDF volunteers from the Pass The Buck Chapter (Silt/Rifle, Colo.) Buckhorn Chapter (Eagle, Colo.), Mile High Chapter (Denver, Colo.), Northern Front Range Chapter (Greeley, Colo.), High Mountain Chapter (Walden, Colo.), Midwest Chapter (Wisconsin), MDF Board of Directors, MDF Staff, and CDOW Staff participated in this event. The goal was to provide volunteer labor to assist the CDOW by hand cutting/removing pinion and juniper trees. This will restore mule deer habitat with native brush and forbs beneficial to a deer’s diet. Over six acres were treated during this weekend. Thanks to all of those that attended and made this a great success.
June 21 found Regional Director Mike Laughter, MDF Vice President of Marketing Ray Crow, and Director of Field Operations Bob Meulengracht in Brigham City, Utah, for the MDF’s first ever Utah state wide trap shoot. In the beginning it was fairly evident that we might just be a little out of our element in trying to produce this style of fund raiser. But our minds were put at ease after meeting with members at the Golden Spike Trap Club. This facility is one of the finest and most well-run clubs around, with groomed lawns and club members there to aid and assist less experienced shooters. With these fine people there to help, how could MDF lose?
Credit for our success was in large part due to the efforts of the trap club as well as the MDF volunteers. MDF was represented by five Chapters from around the state. This was a unique event for MDF, something a little different that reached a new crowd. It was fun to watch everyone participate throughout the day and as family, friends and the first time shooters (including Meagan Rumph – MDF Office Staff) all having a great time. With the success of this event, be sure to mark your calendars for next year with the date tentatively set for June 7. Special thanks to The Golden Spike Trap Club in Brigham City, Utah - You guys are great! Mike Laughter would also like to thank some of the people, for which, this event would not have been possible, Davis County Chapter Volunteers, Cindy and Gary Dobyns and Jeremy Snitker who spear-headed the event. Also, congratulations to Jeremy for winning the grand prize of a Fort Knox gun safe.
Meetings
June 29 through July 2, found Director of Field Operations, Bob Meulengracht and Regional Director, Scott Hampel at a meeting of the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA) in Estes Park, Colo. Even though many of the states in this Association are outside of mule deer territory it was interesting to hear that these states experience many of the same problems that the western state have. Discussions included: energy development (specifically alternative energy, i.e., wind farms); invasive species; flooding; youth in the out of doors; hunter retention; threatened and endangered species, etc.
During the second week in July, Regional Director Brandon Mason and President/CEO Miles Moretti attended the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) meeting in Rapid City, S.D. Acting as the liaison between the WAFWA’s Mule Deer Working Group and the MDF, Brandon was able to take part in the final planning stages for completing the Habitat Guidelines for the remaining ecoregions. These guidelines are intended to be an all encompassing starting document for planning mule deer management projects for each ecoregion that covers mule deer range from Alaska to Mexico. These guidelines will be available to order from the MDF website soon and are extremely valuable tools in helping land managers effectively manage for mule deer in their states/regions.
July 27 – Aug 1 found Director of Field Operations Bob Meulengracht back in his old college stomping grounds of Durango, Colo., for a Fish, Wildlife and Energy Working Group meeting. Two tours were taken to look at the impacts of oil and gas development in the four corners area. One was with Andy Holland, Terrestrial Biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife in the HD Mountains of Colorado and on the Southern Ute Reservation. MDF has over the last couple of years assisted Andy with financial support for his study of the effects of oil and natural gas development on mule deer in this area. It was good to get out and see how our funds are being utilized and also to one of the most beautiful parts of Colorado in the summer.
Banquets and Other Fundraisers
As always we have a few banquets that have happened and some that are coming up this fall.
Regional Director Fawna Gregory would like to welcome Larry and Jessi Swanger as the new Chapter Chairs for the Winnemucca (Humboldt County) Chapter. When Larry and Jessi were approached about taking over the chapter, they were very excited and have taken the task on with great enthusiasm and energy. Larry and Jessi have been involved with Ducks Unlimited in the past and will bring a renewed freshness to the chapter. Also, thank you to Donna Hogg for taking over as the Finance Chair. Donnas’ experience as a bookkeeper will be a great asset to the committee. If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact Jessi at 775-421-3327or by e-mail at 3nvhntrz@gmail.com. Larry and Jessi have also started working on a banquet in Denio on January 24, 2009. Working on one banquet is a lot of work, but doing two at the same time takes great organizational skills and dedication. The Winnemucca banquet will be September 6th at the Winnemucca Convention Center.
There have been some date changes to two banquets. The Sierra Nevada Chapter (Carson Valley) has been changed to September 20. The Ladies Luncheon in Reno has been changed to September 27.
The newly formed chapter in Quincy (Plumas County) held their first raffle for a gun at the beginning of the summer. They sold out of tickets in just a few weeks. One of the committee members donated a handmade picnic table to be raffled off and tickets were sold at the Plumas County Picnic in June. The committee has raised close to $2,000 with these raffles. This is just a small view of the enthusiasm that the community has toward the first MDF chapter in Plumas County. This chapter is made up of some great ladies and gentleman who want to give back to wildlife and will hold their first annual fundraiser on February 21, 2009.
Regional Director Brian Lake would like to report that things have changed at the San Joaquin Chapter of MDF since last December. The banquet tripled in size, going from a cozy 42 to 150 plus in attendance. Committee Chairman Rob Nielsen and his small committee really pulled it together to a top notch event. Rob and Brian would like to thank John and Theresa Terry as well as Kim McDaniel for their help and support. Rob has already started planning for next year, so please save the date of Father’s Day weekend 2009.
Congratulations to Lou Wright and his committee for a successful first year event at the Placer County – Lincoln annual fundraiser on July 19, 2008. When ticket sales started out slow, Chairman Lou Wright second guessed his date, but just two weeks before the banquet, ticket sales skyrocketed to over 150. The Banquet was held in Loomis at the historic Blue Goose Packing Shed. The committee had a youth drawing for the eleven youth in attendance for a .22 rifle. All kids received a MDF hat and/or MDF tee shirt. Brian and Lou would like to recognize this new committee (Chairman Lou Wright, Allen Thomas, Matt Stover and Larry Newby) for their outstanding hard work and dedication to MDF.
June 11, Regional Director Ron Knapp could be found in Tri-Cities, Wash., to start a new chapter. Ron is looking forward to working with a new committee to help and teach them as they work towards their first banquet on Feb. 25, 2009. If you are interested on helping the committee, attending the event or giving a donation please contact Travis Cram at 509-521-6534 or Eric Neild at 509-528-9620.
Then for Ron it was on to Bozeman, Mont., for their second annual fundraiser on the 14th. With about 280 in attendance they raised their net dollars by about $12,000 over 2007 with a banquet efficiency of nearly 70%. Thanks to Dave Rickett, Don Jones and the rest of the committee for a great job!
June 28 it was on to Moses Lake, Wash., for their first banquet. This was by far the smallest banquet Ron had ever been the RD for; however, we did make some money and a $500 Conservation Partnership. Looking forward to great things in the future for this committee, lead by Patrick Turner.
Regional Director Mike Laughter found his banquet season draw to a close during the third quarter of the year. May 31 found Mike and Utah State Chairman, Wayne Winsor, in the home stretch of banquet season and in Wasatch Co. Utah, for their third annual banquet. Their event was another in a long line of successful banquets this year. Though they had to be imaginative when trying to stuff 110 people into a room better suited for 75, the excitement filled what little space was left. Great job and special thanks to Jeff Rasband, Paul Kendall and Jeff Wade. Jeff Wade owns and operates the Mt. Land One Stop in Heber City, Utah, and advertised with our MDF logo and banquet information on his big digital sign for weeks leading up to the banquet at no charge. Thanks Jeff.
Mike and Wayne were then off to the Southern end of the state for our last Utah banquet of the year. It would be the Red Rock Chapter of St. George, Utah’s fifth annual event which was a great way to end the year with yet another great banquet in the books. Special thanks to Lynn and Georgette Haas for their friendships as well as their commitment to mule deer.
Thanks
Just a short note of thanks from Regional Director Don Brown. Living in California has been a challenge for the last month. Some days the smoke from the forest fires has been so bad you could not go outside. 100 plus degrees and thick smoke are not a great combination. After the first evening of lightning strikes there were over 1,100 fires burning. Now many of the small fires have burned together to form a larger fires. Last week Don was in Scotts Valley west of Weed, the morning was fantastic – clear blue skies you could see for miles. Don was able to see black-tailed deer and watch trout rising in the small lake we went in for lunch and everything changed the smoke came in from the Happy Camp fire. You could not see a quarter of a mile. This fire went from 9,000 acres to 50,000 acres in 48 hours. These fires (much like those in Yellowstone in the late 1980’s) will probably not end until winter comes, as the worst of traditional fire season is still on the horizon. All of MDF would like to give a great big THANK YOU to all the fire fighters working so hard to save the homes and property throughout the west.