Foundation event passes million dollar mark

Hundreds of sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts packed into the Elks Lodge in Mountain Home on Saturday to participate in the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's 21st annual banquet. The event serves as the foundation's main fundraiser each year.

Twenty-one years of hard work paid off Saturday night when the Mountain Home Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation blew past its million dollar mark for fundraising.

The event, held at the Elk's Lodge, raised approximately $100,000 in gross donations, netting about $70,000, well past the $10,000 needed for the local chapter to pass the million dollar mark for funds raised to benefit wildlife habitat preservation. "Now we're working on the second million," Banquet Chairman Jeff Day said.

The event was highlighted by the appearance of two of the founders of the RMEF, Charlie Decker and Bob Munson.

Gene Ray and his son, Bryan, look over an some of the rifles and shotguns that were offered as raffle prizes during the banquet.

A large number of rifles and other items were sold during the live and silent auctions, and won during the general raffle. Other games and activities added to the fundraising pot.

Because of the large number of items involved, the banquet ran well past midnight after opening its doors about 5 p.m. "I promise," Day said, "it will never be that long again."

Day thanks all those who attended to banquet "for their patience," and all those who sponsored or donated to the event.

As the top herbivore in the food chain, efforts by the hunter's group to protect habitat for elk benefit almost all wildlife. The RMEF uses the funds it raises at its banquets around the nation to conserve and preserve wildlife habitat. Since formed in 1984, the RMEF has conserved more than six million acres of prime elk country, helped restore elk to six states and opened more than 650,000 acres of previously off-limits land to hunting.