The National Wild Turkey Federation’s Marion County Chapter will hold its annual Hunting Heritage Banquet on March 19 at the Magnolia Grille.
Brad McDermit, who along with his wife, Jodie, is organizing the banquet, said doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with the meal to begin around 7.
“We’ve had more than 300 before,” he said. “We normally operate around 250. It will be a large crowd getting together for a good cause, conservation. Conservation of habitat not only helps the wild turkeys, it helps everything else, deer, quail, rabbits – you take care of the habitat for the turkeys, it takes care of the habitat for everybody.”
Tickets are available at nwtf.org. A single ticket is $50 and a couple’s ticket $65. There are also various sponsor and sponsor table tickets available.
“We’ve got a live auction, silent auction, raffles and lots of lots of guns to give away this year,” he said. “It will probably be the most guns we’ve ever given away this year at the Marion County chapter.
The local chapter will also present its annual Brad Griner Scholarship to Elizabeth Sanford of Columbia High School.
“We have guest speakers from time-to-time, but we don’t have one lined up this year,” McDermit said. “Sometimes, we have one show up unannounced – a surprise type thing, but we won’t know about that until the last minute.”
There is a big drawdown at the end for guns.
“We always have four or five guns that are worth anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 that are drawn out for. A lot of times, if people didn’t buy the calls to get into that drawdown, they leave, but many stay to see who gets the guns,” he said.
The National Wild Turkey Federation, a national nonprofit, is working on a 10-year initiative, “Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt.” It’s designed to conserve or enhance 4 million acres by identifying areas of habitat that provide the most positive impact for wildlife and create 1.5 million hunters. Increasing the number of hunters helps pay for 80 percent of wildlife conservation through taxes on guns, ammunition and more.
The federation also proposes to open access to 500,000 additional acres for hunting because the lack of access to hunting lands is a main reason people stop hunting.
Pictured Above: Hal Kittrell, Ken Morgan and Eddie Ray Breakfield listen to Paul Broom speak at a previous National Wild Turkey Federation banquet and auction. | File Photo
