Dear Members,

2020 will definitively go down as the year to remember!!  With the COVID pandemic effecting our daily lives and dictating what we could and could do, our world was turned upside down!  With workplaces changing the way we do our jobs, many of us were able to take advantage of what mother nature and springtime had to offer.   We enjoyed getting time to spend in trout streams and evidently to chase spring turkeys.  I often look forward to this time of year to share with others the passion for turkey hunting.  This year I was able double my efforts to take new hunters out to enjoy the turkey woods and a couple of them are excited to go out and hunt turkeys again this fall. I hope you were also able to spend time in the woods, whether on your own or with fellow hunters, youth or first-time hunters.

But soon after that we found out that the NWTF was experiencing financial difficulties, and the Call for All campaign to raise 5 million dollars by the end August 2020 began.  This spawned some of the most unique raffles and fundraising events we have ever seen.  For the first time, we used the internet to reach millions of people for fundraising to help us achieve our goal.  In our own state, I saw chapter after chapter step up to the challenge to donate by whatever means you could, and boy did you ever! When I took over as State Chapter President shortly after COVID hit, I thought this is a heck of a time to be President!  Superfund events are frozen, banquets are postponed, and now we are being asked to give money from what is left of our pre-banquet checking accounts.  How much worse can this year get?  Then I started hearing about chapter after chapter stepping up to donate or hold fundraising events to help raise funds to accomplish our goal of $5 million.  Looking back, I couldn’t be prouder of our members in the way they got the job accomplished.  To date, through either donations or events, we have raised $109,000 and that total is still being updated!

This is why PA is the number one state! It is because of dedicated volunteers like yourself that keep our mission and goals moving forward.  Thank you on behalf of the state board and myself for making this a year to remember!  I know moving forward that we will be okay in whatever 2021 has to throw at us!

While 2020 presented many hardships for us all, I hope that you experienced some positives as well.  Like being able to take others out to enjoy the turkey woods or just being able to spend more time outdoors and enjoy what we as conservationist have worked so hard to improve.

One positive that I experienced is the picture that is with this article.  For one of the fundraising efforts for Call for All, I entered and won a Deep South Florida Gator hunt.  It was donated by a gentleman named Brandon Storey, of Storey Hunts out of Lake Okeechobee Florida.  At first, I wasn’t sure that this was something I wanted to do, but then I thought, when will I ever get to go on an alligator hunt again in my life.  So, I did and the results were a 10’3” alligator and stories to share with whoever will listen to them.  Not to mention I met a fellow NWTF member that is as passionate about the land and the wildlife that it has to offer.

  www.StoreyHunts.com/