Elk NetworkA New Year Means New Goals

Volunteer News | January 21, 2020

It’s a New Year, a new decade in fact, which means it’s a perfect time to make your plans for elk hunting and RMEF volunteering in 2020! Here are a few New Year’s resolutions from RMEF staff and volunteers to get you thinking about yours.

Elk hunting New Year’s resolutions:

“I hope to finally draw an elk tag in Arizona after waiting 9 years!”

—Volunteer Regional Chair John Tuter

“I have a daughter turning 10 years old, and she’s ‘so ready to hunt,’ as she puts it.  I want to get her into the woods and hunting in 2020. I’d also like to harvest my first big game animal as a resident of Montana, preferably an elk.”

—RMEF President and CEO Kyle Weaver

“My goal is to expand my knowledge of ways to prepare wild game.  There is nothing better than eating meat I harvested.  Elk is my new favorite, and I want to continue with creative ways to dish it up!”

—Smith Valley Chapter Chair Kim Lewis

“Go more. I’d like to double last years’ time in the field.”

—VP of Marketing Steve Decker

“My goal is to spend 3 weeks during archery season in the woods, and to be more mobile. We have a very comfortable elk camp. With the changing dynamics of hunting and the effect of wolves, we need to be able to pick up and move up to 20 miles if our area is being impacted.”

—RMEF Board Member Nancy Hadley

“I want to find a spot where I can take my 11-year-old and call in a bull. Not necessarily shoot it, but call it in so that he can see it, hear it and smell it.”

— Bugle Hunting Editor PJ Delhomme

“My new hunting involves Go Pro’s and trail cameras with my partner Thomas Yarrington. Our goal this year is to get pictures of elk calves in the northern Wisconsin elk range. We’ve never gotten calves on our cameras and we have been using them for 4 years.”

—Former volunteer State Chair Jennifer Nieland

“One goal I seem to have every year is to get out in the late summer and explore a new area I have located on a map to see if it might be my next great hunting spot.  Maybe I’ll find that honey hole where I can get away from everything and just enjoy what RMEF works so hard to conserve and enhance.”

—Director of Northwest Operations Kirk Murphy

RMEF New Year’s resolutions:

“I hope to strengthen the relationship between RMEF, AZ and the Arizona Game and Fish Department through meeting attendance and event participation. I also want to help our new RMEF SW Lands Program Manager identify potential lands and access projects and bring at least one project to a successful completion.”

—Volunteer Regional Chair John Tuter

“For the RMEF, if I am choosing a specific resolution, it is to successfully launch our new membership database and improve our member and volunteer services and support.”

—RMEF President and CEO Kyle Weaver

“Last year we did our first-ever Women for Wildlife event.  I would like to increase participation and the net revenue of the event by 50%.  As a board member, be engaged and give more time and money.”

—RMEF Board Member Nancy Hadley

“We’re continuing to join forces across the state with the volunteers to help each other out.  My goal is to continue to help and support whenever, wherever and with whatever I can.  It’s fun to work together for the common cause, not just our individual chapters.”

—Smith Valley Chapter Chair Kim Lewis

“Since I have suffered a health setback in late 2019, my goal this year is to assist anyone who wants my help to gain experience and confidence in any of the RMEF volunteer roles that I won’t be able to do until I recover.”

—Former volunteer State Chair Jennifer Nieland

“One of my goals is always to try to attend banquets or events that I have never attended before. This gives me the opportunity to see all the different ways that our RMEF volunteers fundraise for the mission of RMEF. Our volunteers are extremely passionate and creative, so I always learn something new.”

—Director of Northwest Operations Kirk Murphy