Northern Great Plains Region

November/December 2007

Brandon Mason , MDF Regional Director

During the first week in August, I was off to Billings, Mont., to make some final preparations for their banquet that was going to be held on August 18. After some of the work was done, chapter chair John Wilson and I headed to the Beartooth Wilderness to do some scouting for his fall bighorn sheep hunt and to do a little fly fishing. Going to country like that never gets old, especially to this flatlander from North Dakota. We had a great time hiking and checking out the area and talking a lot about the upcoming banquet. Once the banquet rolled around, I was really pumped up about how much work the Big Sky Chapter had put into their banquet throughout the whole year! Having just under 40 people at their first banquet, they sold out this year with around 115 people in attendance. They increased their net-to-gross percentage by 20% and more than doubled their net income from last year! A big hats off to John and Sheila Wilson, Don and Janna Keever, Tom, Tina, and Shelton Hentz, and Matt and Bridget Wagner. Thanks to Don Keever, who has Anglers and Antlers Taxidermy, for providing a first class head mount display and to Jerry Mader for custom making metal table decorations with wildlife scenes on them. The event was a great time and because of these and other hard working individuals, the horizon looks bright for the Big Sky Chapter.

Also in August, the Northern Badlands Chapter in Bismarck, N.D., was involved with two youth days. One with the North Dakota Wildlife Federation’s Youth Conservation Camp and the other with the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Jake’s Day. Both were very well attended and had kids that were excited about hunting and the wild world around them. I had the pleasure of speaking about ‘The Deer of the Northern Great Plains” at the Youth Conservation Camp, while Paul Eslinger and Greg Meyer took on the Jake’s Day with several other hunting and conservation groups. Thanks for your dedication and hard work guys and thanks to all of the groups that formed such great partnerships to make sure that our young people have the same opportunities that we did at their age.

September was spent making some necessary preparations for the upcoming banquet in Dickinson, N.D., on December 8, including getting the banquet tickets printed up. The banquet is the first for the Teddy Roosevelt Chapter. The excitement around the recent acquisition of Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch by the USDA, Forest Service should get everyone in the proper mindset to do great things for wildlife in western N.D. MDF was a supporter of this project, giving $25,000.00 to help make the transfer of land to public ownership a reality. On September 15, a dedication ceremony was held at the Elkhorn Ranch site and also in the historic town of Medora, N.D. Those in attendance included North Dakota Governor John Hoeven, former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer, Keith Trego with the N.D. Natural Resources Trust, Lowell E. Baier, Executive Vice President of the Boone and Crockett Club, Simon Roosevelt, Tweed Roosevelt, David Pieper with the Dakota Prairie Grasslands, Stan Lueck, the Chairman of the Board of Directors for MDF, and the list goes on and on. It was a great event to be a part of and shows what happens when people work together towards a common goal.

I was even able to travel to southwestern Wyoming to hunt pronghorn with my dad Les and my friend Brent Ternes. We had a great time and were able to have a lot of success and a chance to get away from the rat-race of everyday life. I wish the fall lasted for nine months instead of only three!

For tickets to the Dickinson banquet or to see how you can get involved, call Brandon Mason at (701) 527-0609 e-mail me at brandon@muledeer.org and I’d be more than happy to talk with you.