Saturday, February 6, 2010 Banquet

The annual Arrows & Antlers banquet was another great success.  As is tradition, the banquet was held on the Saturday of super bowl weekend, February 6, 2010.  All of the members and guests that were present enjoyed the hunting stories and hanging out with fellow hunters.

As usual, the food was incredible, thanks to Gary Merkes and chef Steve Johnson. This year’s menu featured a variety of venison, elk, bear, turkey, rabbit, pheasant, duck, and walleye.  And we washed it all down with 4 – ½ barrels of beer.

Despite the economy, we had another great year of generous sponsor donations and door prizes.  The Hoyt Alpha Max bow was won by Fran Kilian, and the Muzzleloader raffle was won by Jeff Hemp.  Rob Hill of Nature’s Image Taxidermy donated a free head mount again this year, and Randy Holguin was fortunate enough to win that drawing.

We also raffled off $2,500 in cash prizes.  Those winners were: Mark Cuff ($300), Chase Peterson ($300), Ron Schimmel ($300), Tommy Kempfer ($400), David Liebenthal ($400), Dean Vogel ($400), and Terry Grossman ($400).

The winning buck entries were: 1^st place – Dan Hanson (182 5/8), 2^nd place – Danny Hellenbrand (166 4/8), 3^rd place – Brian Srb (138 7/8), 4th place – Kevin Moreland (137 6/8), 5th place – Tommy Kempfer (126 6/8), 6th place – Dan Herzberg (109 5/8), and 7th place – Scott Johnson (107 3/8).  Matt Woller also entered a buck that scored 88 6/8.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that the dues for next year are due by August 1^st, otherwise your membership is forfeited to a new member.  The waiting list is ever-growing, so please get your dues paid as soon as possible.  Thank you to all of those members that paid for next year at the banquet.  Also remember that guest spots for the 2010 banquet are reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis, for $25 each, paid at the door. Due to capacity, we can only have 25 guests… and NEW THIS YEAR, each member can only bring one guest, until we reach our 25 guest limit.  If you are interested in reserving a guest spot, please contact Gary Merkes at (608) 837-7813 or gary@arrowsandantlers.com, or contact Tommy Kempfer at (920) 723-2140 or tom@arrowsandantlers.com.

Thank you once again to all the members and sponsors who help make our annual banquet as anticipated and exciting as it is each year.  We look forward to another great year of hunting and fellowship!

The boys in the food line.	Filling up their plates.
Enjoying the food.	Food and hunting stories.

The 2009 Season Buck Entries

From left to right: Brian Srb (3rd), Dan Herzberg (6th), Scott Johnson (7th), Peter Maestri, Kevin Moreland (4th), Danny Hellenbrand (2nd), Dan Hanson (1st), Matt Woller (8th), and Tommy Kempfer (5th).