Elk Foundation Grants for Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma

MISSOULA, Mont. Elk and other wildlife in the nation?s breadbasket will benefit from $31,343 in new grants from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The grants will help fund conservation and education initiatives in Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Grant amounts are based on RMEF fundraisers held in the respective states.

“Elk Foundation volunteers drove the 2008 banquets, auctions and other fundraising events that made these grants possible. This is where their work begins to transform into on-the-ground conservation benefits, and it’s part of the payday for our supporters who are passionate about giving something back to the outdoors,” said David Allen, Elk Foundation president and CEO.

RMEF grants will help fund the following projects, listed by state:

Kansas – Received RMEF 2009 grants totaling $15,250. Projects include reducing depredation on private land by managing about 200 forage plots covering 750 acres for elk and other wildlife at Fort Riley military reservation in Riley County; enhancing riparian habitat by treating noxious weeds and planting cottonwood, willow and native shrubs on 777 acres at Cimarron National Grasslands in Morton County; and sponsoring Becoming an Outdoors-Woman workshops statewide, Big Brothers Big Sisters Pass It On Outdoor Mentors programs statewide, and Ninnescah Valley Archery Club youth education programs in Pratt County. RMEF partners include the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and other conservation groups.

Nebraska – Received RMEF 2009 grants totaling $8,075. Projects include developing methodology for aerial elk surveys in the western panhandle of Nebraska including Dawes and Box Butte counties; and funding two scholarships for wildlife conservation students at Chadron State College. RMEF partners include the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

Oklahoma – Received RMEF 2009 grants totaling $8,018. Projects include creating forage openings for elk, rejuvenating water impoundments and maintaining firebreaks at Spavinaw Wildlife Management Area in Delaware and Mayes counties; and enhancing forage for elk and other wildlife by prescribe burning 8,195 acres at Pushmataha Wildlife Management Area in Pushmataha County. RMEF partners include the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and other conservation groups.

Since 1984 in these three states, the Elk Foundation and its partners have completed 155 conservation and education projects with a value of more than $9.8 million.

John Frank Receives 2009 Mossy Oak Passion Award

WEST POINT, MS – John Frank was awarded the Mossy Oak Passion Award at the Drury Outdoors annual production meeting in St. Louis, Missouri on September 18 and 19.

Each year, Drury TV Producers from all over the country gather for meetings and an annual awards banquet. Last year, Mossy Oak was honored to participate in the banquet and present the Mossy Oak Passion Award to Steve “Coon Dog” Coon. Continuing the tradition this year, Mossy Oak recognized John Frank.

“The Passion Award is given to an individual that exhibits passion for the outdoors, who always works to their fullest capacity and with great excitement, and strives unselfishly to be the best at what they do,” said Ben Maki, Vice President of Marketing for Mossy Oak. “It’s not about taking trophy animals and having a successful hunt every time they step in the field or get behind the camera. It’s about passion for the outdoors, respect for Mother Nature and unwavering energy in everything they do.”

Frank is from Richland, Iowa where he owns his own flooring company. He has two children. Frank’s hobbies include photography, videography and Harley Davidsons. He enjoys hunting caribou, turkey and whitetail.

According to Frank, “Hunting with my grandfather from age 12 provided the beginning of my hunting interests. My love for the sport has branched from well-trained hunting dogs flushing ringnecks to the gobble of a mature tom on a cool spring morning. In the last decade, my hunting sights have evolved further to include the elusive P&Y class whitetail deer. Photographing buck in velvet combined with shed antler hunting helps me to pattern mature bucks. In the future, I’d like to harvest an elk with a bow.

“Recently, my son started hunting and I love to film him learning to hunt and discovering all the outdoors has to offer,” he added.

For more information on Drury Outdoors, visit www.druryoutdoors.com.

POMA Honors Journalists

The Professional Outdoor Media Association’s (POMA) Pinnacle Award honorees were announced by Tack Robinson, press relations director for Mossy Oak. Robinson presented the awards at POMA’s 4th Annual Business Conference in St. Louis, Mo. earlier this month. Mossy Oak is the presenting partner of the Pinnacle Awards.

POMA’s Pinnacle Awards honor journalists for exceptional achievement in traditional outdoor sports-focused communications, including writing, photography/illustration, broadcasting and pieces focused on wildlife conservation.

“Mossy Oak is proud to be the title partner of a program that not only honors those who excel at their craft but also promotes excellence, honesty and fairness in communications at all levels,” Robinson said.

The 2009 Pinnacle Award honorees are:
Magazine: Richard Bernier, Standish, Maine, “Do I Have What It Takes?” published in Whitetail News

Newspaper/Web: Tammy Sapp of Aiken, S.C. for “Points to Ponder When You’re Up a Tree,” published in The Women’s Outdoor Wire

Photograph/Illustration: Timothy Flanigan of Bedford, Penna. for “Quick Bite – Quick Shutter, Feeding Grouse,” published in Ruffed Grouse Society magazine

Broadcast: Andy Lightbody and Kathy Mattoon, Gunnison, Colo. for “An American Historian and Twilight of a Continent with Gary R. Swanson,” broadcast by Rocky Mountain Television

Conservation: Frank Miniter, Red Hook, N.Y. “The Natural Alliance Vegans Can’t Stomach,” published in American Hunter magazine

“Mossy Oak is deeply committed to POMA and the Pinnacle Awards,” Robinson added. “Traditional outdoor sports writers, illustrators and broadcasters are the lifeblood of the outdoor industry. Through their voices, they engage their audiences, excite and encourage them, and teach them how to hunt, fish, shoot, trap and simply get outdoors.”

This year, POMA’s Pinnacle Awards program will reach beyond the organization by offering partnership opportunities to POMA’s state and regional outdoor communications counterparts.

“State and regional traditional outdoor sports communications organizations may offer their members an opportunity to compete in the international Pinnacle Awards program, through participation in the organizations’ excellence in craft (EIC) programs,” explained Laurie Lee Dovey, POMA executive director.

“Annually, each organization may select a representative from its slate of EIC honorees to represent the organization in the Pinnacle Awards. The honorees from each organization may enter their winning work into the Pinnacle Awards competition, are gifted a one-year membership in POMA and receive some terrific Mossy Oak gear.”

The new partnership is yet another way that POMA is proving its commitment to and focus on its slogan, “Together, we can do great things.”

POMA Mission
The Professional Outdoor Media Association is a group of individual communicators and Corporate Partners who believe in, defend, support and promote the heritage of hunting, fishing, shooting and traditional outdoor sports through writing, photography and other means. By doing so, members hope to educate the general public about these sports and encourage more participation in them. The organization serves the membership by helping members grow professionally, improve their skills, better their working environments and enhance their businesses.

USA Custom Rods Wins “Best Freshwater Rod”

Orlando, FL – USA Custom Rods, of Houston, Texas, has won the “Best Freshwater Rod” award at ICAST, as voted by attending media!

ICAST staff approached USA Custom Rods company representatives late in the afternoon today, instructing them to attend the annual New Products Showcase Awards Reception, to receive an unspecified award. As award winners were announced, USA Custom Rods’ VP of Production, Chris Williamson, accepted the award on behalf of the company, as several company representatives looked on.

Following the reception, Williamson stated: “This is just amazing. I’ve been coming to ICAST for years and years with other companies, and I’ve never won one of these before. I honestly can’t put it into words, I’m overwhelmed.”

Company President, Dennis Ball, added: “For the last two days at the show, people have been coming to our booth and telling us we had the best new product they’d seen here, but I never thought we’d win this award. We’re thankful and humbled, our whole crew is walking on clouds right now.”

Marketing Representative, Todd Coppernoll of the WPM Group, announced: “Minutes after the award was announced, media outlets began contacting me, to line up photo and video shoots at the USA Custom Rods booth here tomorrow. This is electric – the guys produced something new and innovative, and through their voting, industry media has endorsed their work. I’m thrilled for them – they’ve all worked very hard for this.”

For more information, please visit www.usacustomrods.com, or see us at ICAST, in Booth 1620.

SCIF Wins Advance America Award of Excellence

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) & The Center for Association Leadership, Washington, D.C., announced recently that Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) has won an Award of Excellence. SCIF will also be a finalist for the coveted Summit Award to be selected later this year.

Now in its 19th year, the prestigious Associations Advance America Awards program recognizes groups that propel America forward with innovative projects in education, skills training, standard-setting, business and social innovation, knowledge creation, citizenship, and community service. SCIF’s Executive Director John Eichinger and Marketing Director Mark LaBarbera are members of the ASAE, which noted that although the activities of SCIF and other associations have a powerful impact on everyday life, those contributions to society often go unnoticed by the general public.

“SCIF’s Sportsmen Against Hunger program truly embodies the spirit of the Associations Advance America campaign. It is an honor and an inspiration to showcase this activity as an example of the many contributions associations are making to advance American society,” remarked 2008-2009 Associations Advance America Committee Chair Janet C. Gibbs.

Through SCIF’s Sportsmen Against Hunger program, SCI members and chapters in the last five years alone have donated more than 1 million pounds of much-needed high-protein, low cholesterol wild game meat to food shelves, soup kitchens and charities that serve hungry families. Especially in these tough economic times, the donation of over 400,000 pounds of wild game meat in 2008-2009 has made more of a difference than ever. Sportsmen Against Hunger is the original program from which other local and national wild game donation efforts gained their inspiration to launch. To learn more about SCI and the SCI Foundation, visit www.safariclubfoundation.org.

For more information on the Sportsmen Against Hunger program contact Eva Wilson at 520-620-1220, ext. 480.

For more information, contact:

Mark LaBarbera, SCI/SCIF Director of Marketing & Communications, 520-620-1220

The SCI Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization that funds and manages worldwide programs dedicated to wildlife conservation, outdoor education and humanitarian services, including such programs as Sportsmen Against Hunger, Sensory Safari, Safari Care, Disabled Hunter, the American Wilderness Leadership School, Becoming an Outdoors Woman & More and Youth Education Seminars (YES) Outdoors. Call 877-877-3265 or visit www.sci-foundation.org for more.

Mossy Oak Wins Golden Moose Award For Best Commercial

WEST POINT, MS – Mossy Oak, an industry leader in camouflage design and outdoor lifestyle brand, was recently awarded a 2008 Golden Moose Award from the Outdoor Channel for best commercial.

Mossy Oak’s winning commercial titled “Conservation” features Fox Haas, the father of Mossy Oak founder and CEO Toxey Haas, planting and growing oak trees. The message of the commercial is to take care of what we love, and the good that we do will live on long after we’re gone.

“Conservation is important to Mossy Oak and the future of hunting,” said Ben Maki, Vice President of Marketing for Mossy Oak. “And it’s not just about planting trees and managing game populations, it’s also about passing on the love and respect of the outdoors to those that come behind us. That’s what the Mossy Oak brand lifestyle is about and that’s the exact message we wanted to communicate with this commercial.”

Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland, Senior Vice President for Media Services said, “From concept to delivery, building this spot was a great team effort and all the more special because the concept, the talent and the delivery were all done in house.”

“It was an honor to work on a spot that so captured what we as a company are all about, and it’s an even greater honor to have that validated by our peers,” said Kevin Tate, Creative Director for Mossy Oak Productions.

The Golden Moose Awards honor the production teams and hosts of Outdoor Channel’s best and most popular programming of 2008. The annual Moose Awards banquet takes place during the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show each year. This year’s event was in Orlando, Fl., on January 17, 2009 and was attended by an estimated 2,500 industry leaders, TV personalities and lucky fans.

For more information on the Golden Moose Awards, visit www.outdoorchannel.com. For more information on Mossy Oak, log on to www.mossyoak.com.