Northern Great Plains Region

January/February 2008

Brandon Mason , MDF Regional Director

What a blessed fall we’ve had! I hope that each of you has been able to get out and enjoy the outdoors this fall and chase a critter or two. As I mentioned in my previous regional write up, I was able to go to Wyoming in September and shoot a nice pronghorn buck and doe. In my home state, October and November have been bountiful to say the least. I was able to purchase several extra doe licenses, including pronghorn, mule deer and white-tailed deer, and fill all of my tags! We won’t have to worry about going hungry anytime soon. In fact, these times of high deer numbers, especially white-tailed deer, allow folks like me to harvest more deer than we can eat to give to butcher shops that collect venison for programs like Sportsmen Against Hunger. There are so many needy people in our own communities that truly appreciate the gift, and it helps control the deer populations as well. I would encourage everyone to see if a program like this exists in your area and become a part of giving to your fellow man.

The fall wasn’t only filled with hunting trips, though. Over the first weekend of October, I spent time at the Rocky Mountain Discount Sports store in Gillette, Wyo. I was able to talk to many sportsmen about the MDF and also talk to people about starting a chapter in Gillette. The week of Dec. 17, we are going to be having an organization meeting about starting a chapter in Gillette, and my hopes are high to get a chapter off the ground there. Thanks to everyone at the store for making me feel welcome and for being willing to help MDF grow in the area.

In late October, plans were to have a volunteer workshop in western North Dakota. We were going to tour some of our projects that we have going on, camp out in the badlands, and inform people from our new committees that have been set up about general MDF information and how we can all work together to help the resource. Unfortunately, we had to postpone the workshop until late spring in 2008 due to several cancellations from people planning to attend. If you are interested in being a part of the workshop in the spring, give me a holler and I can inform you on the details of the event.

On my way to go deer hunting in the badlands of western North Dakota in early November, I was able to meet with many of the gentlemen who are helping put on the First Annual Banquet in Dickinson, N.D., for the Teddy Roosevelt Chapter on Dec. 8, 2007. Those in attendance included Ty Dressler, Pat Lothspeich, Bill Schaller, Harlan Rebsom, Darcy Kramlich, Russ Walsh and Tate Miller. We ironed out more of the details and made our final plans for spreading the word about the banquet. The Teddy Roosevelt Chapter needs more volunteers to make the chapter grow, and we welcome anyone who wishes to give some of their free time to “Conserving the Deer of the West.”

Much of my time in late November has been devoted to helping the Teddy Roosevelt Chapter get prepared for the banquet and talking to people throughout Wyoming in Gillette, Sheridan, Cody, and in the Black Hills of South Dakota about starting new chapters of the MDF. On the horizon for 2008 are banquets in Bismarck, N.D. on Feb. 23, in Minot, N.D. on March 1, several sport and gun shows to attend, and hopefully we’ll have banquet dates soon for the new chapter possibilities mentioned above.

For tickets to the Bismarck, Minot, or other banquets in the Northern Great Plains or to see how you can get involved, call Brandon Mason at 701-527-0609 or e-mail me at brandon@muledeer.org. I’d be more than happy to talk with you.