A Red River Area Sportsmen’s Club meeting was held at the Wahpeton Community Center on February 20, 2020. Dylan Teberg, Vern Shasky, Brad Glarum, Brad Edwardson, Dave Langenwalter, Paul Sinner, Greg Gerou and Wayne Beyer attended the meeting.
The agenda packet include the meeting agenda, hunting / fishing contest leaders, 2020 budget report and itemized January, 2020 income / expenses report.
Motion-Second-Carried (MSC) – (Shasky, Edwardson) to approve 1-16-20 minutes with the following corrections:
- $1000 Mooreton Pond dock application was not submitted to NDGF.
- Richland County Pheasants Banquet is scheduled on March 7, 2020.
President’s Report
- Nominations for club awards were encouraged and are due by the end of the March meeting.
- KBMW welcomes club member guest appearances anytime to market an activity.
- MSC (Beyer, Glarum) to approve fishing rod and tackle box for Make a Wish Foundation fund-raiser at Wyndmere.
- Mooreton Pond dock repairs are needed.
- Recent Breckenridge survey indicated lack of knowledge about ice fishing. On-line social media like Instagram gets kid’s attention.
MSC ( Langenwalter, Glarum) to approve financial reports.
Jr. Wildlife Club
- Mark Althoff did a great job presenting spear fishing to 14 youths tonight. The crew enjoyed Polish sausage / sauerkraut.
- Funding request letter to Alliance Pipeline was signed by meeting attendees.
- Dakota Territory Gun Collectors approved $250 for youth hunts.
North Dakota Wildlife Federation
- MSC (Glarum, Langenwalter) to write a letter to Representative Kelly Armstrong to support Reinvest in America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA).
- ‘ASK’ signs were available for distribution. Wildlife organization fund-raisers are good sites.
- Joe Keller is attending ‘No Trespass Committee’ meetings in Bismarck.
- Thank you card was received from Executive Director John Bradley.
Renegade Toms
- Club got a camera and turkey call.
- Renegade Toms donated $75 to the Jr. Wildlife Club.
- Leroy Smith and Brad Glarum went to a National Leadership Conference in Nashville, TN. In 1960, 15% of Americans hunted. Now it is 3%. Recruit-Reactivate-Retain. Save the Habitat – Save the Hunt. Wild Turkey Federation has recruited 500,000 new hunters. New theme is “I’m a Conservationist so I Hunt.’
- 140 people attended the banquet.
- 17 guns were available + a youth .22 rifle was donated by Brad and Luke Glarum.
- Wild Turkey Federation has a blow-up air rifle shooting game headquartered in Bismarck.
- Thank-you card was written to the Sportsmen’s Club.
- Next year’s fund-raiser is February 5, 2021.
Archery
- NASP State Tournament is scheduled at Minot on March 20-21.
- MSC (Glarum, Shasky) to donate $500 to Breckenridge Public Schools for archery targets.
Neil Heitkamp Ice Fishing Derby
- Thanks to Frank Stanko / Daily News for covering Ice Fishing Derby.
- 249 kids attended, including 55-68-42 boys and 32-40-12 girls. Ages were 1-5, 6-11 and 12-18.
- Kids got a tackle box with five jigs and two slip bobbers along with other door prizes.
- 53 fish were caught.
- Kids ate 600 hot dogs, 16 dozen cookies and gallons of hot cocoa. Butch Stollenwork collects much of the donations.
- Rocky’s donated minnows.
- Heitkamp Construction crew does a great job. Gary Page and Jon Hegge provided much of the leadership.
- Next year’s Ice Fishing Derby is scheduled on February 20, 2021.
- Christmas trees at the Wahpeton tree disposal site intended for Heitkamp Pond fish habitat need to be picked up by Monday, March 23.
Head of the Red banquet is scheduled on Saturday, March 28, 2020. It is chaired by Brian Gefre.
Tickets were available for an Ice Fishing Derby on Big Pine Lake that benefits high school fishing teams. Heart of Lakes Conference fishing participants increased from 125 the first year to 400 the second year.
ND Game & Fish Department
- Hunter education classes are scheduled at Hughes Shelter on March 23, 24, 26, 30, 31 and April 1. On-line registration starts a month before the first class.
- Dick Bell Catfish Tournament permit application will be submitted.
- 3R (Recruit-Retain-Reactivate) ideas were encouraged by Jeff Long, ND Game-Fish. Brad suggested gopher hunting. Dylan said he and friends could be interested in an early-season Canada goose hunt. Squirrel and mourning dove hunting were also mentioned.
- RRASC did not receive a special big-game allocation lottery license. There were 55 applicants.
- Fishing pier signs were received.
- $7,500 grant was approved to rock rip-rap the shoreline for the Kidder Recreation Area fishing pier. A long process involving the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers permit application is underway. Other permits are needed, too.
ND Sportfishing Congress
- Addressing Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) is its current highest priority and is working with ND Game-Fish.
- Annual meeting and banquet are scheduled in Bismarck on Saturday, April 25th.
Calendar of Events
- March 19th at 6 PM – Jr. Wildlife bird nest box project at Comstock Construction.
- March 19th at 7:30 PM – club meeting at Community Center.
- April 4th – Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation fund-raiser at Wahpeton Events Center.
- April 4th – NDWF quarterly meeting at Valley City and Big Spenders Banquet at Valley City.
- April 13th from 5:30- 9 PM – Jr. Wildlife birding field trip to Prairie Wetlands Learning Center.
- April 16th – Club Awards Banquet at Hughes Shelter.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.