Christian Malone
VALDOSTA — The Lowndes Longspurs, the local chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, hosted their 12th annual Super Fund Heritage Banquet on Friday night at Mathis City Auditorium.
The event raised funds for the National Wild Turkey Federation, to help with wild turkey conservation and awareness.
“We help raise funds for the NWTF,” Lowndes Longspurs president Jim Barker said. “A certain percentage of that goes into the super fund programs, and the national level decides on how to distribute those funds, and what they purchase for each area. From there, we receive a percentage of that money back to our chapter to spend locally.”
There were a number of raffles, silent auctions and live auctions at the banquet. Among the items either being raffled off or auctioned off were guns, bows, knives and hunts. There were also sculptures, paintings, pictures, a stamp collection, jewelry and a gift certificate from Steel’s Jewelry, a table and chairs and a gift certificate to Mizell Floor Covering and Interiors. Many of the items were things exclusive to NWTF events.
There were six shotguns given away in drawings. One of the guns given away was the 20-gauge Remington 1100 G3 shotgun, the 2010 NWTF Gun of the Year.
There was also a kid’s table, with a number of prizes given away to children 17-years-old or younger.
The cost of admission included a membership to the Lowndes Longspurs and a one-year subscription to an outdoors magazine.
According to the Lowndes Longspurs’ Web site (www.lowndeslongspurs.org), the National Wild Turkey Federation is “a non-profit conservation and education organization dedicated to conserving wild turkeys and preserving hunting traditions.”
The NWTF was founded in 1973, and since its creation, the number of wild turkeys in North America has increased from 1.3 million to over seven million. There are now over 500,000 members in the organization. The NWTF and its partners have raised and spent more than $279 million upholding hunting traditions and conserving more than 13.9 million acres of wildlife habitat.
The Lowndes Longspurs are one of 97 NWTF chapters in Georgia, and a five-star chapter of the NWTF. According to their Web site, “Our committee shares a passion for hunting, the outdoors and the preservation of that tradition. We enjoy hunting and working with future generations to teach and protect the heritage through NWTF programs.”
The Longspurs support the Wheelin’ Sportsmen program, which is designed to give people with disabilities opportunities to participate in outdoor activities, by providing financial assistance and volunteers for programs throughout the year. They also sponsor the Lowndes 4H shooting team. The Longspurs have also raised money to buy equipment locally, and have set money aside to buy land.
The Longspurs are dedicated to getting more children involved in conservation and hunting.
“Our chapter committee is committed to children’s education and the preservation of the hunting heritage,” Barker said. “We want to continue that, because it’s kind of a dying trend. There aren’t nearly as many people that hunt, and take their kids hunting, as there used to be. We’d like to continue to carry that on.”
The Longspurs support JAKES (Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship), which is a program dedicated to informing and educating youth in wildlife conservation. They host annual JAKES days, with outdoor and educational activities.
The NWTF believes in educating people about conservation and wild turkeys. They provide educational boxes for schools. The Longspurs also sponsor a scholarship for students that are interested in a career in wildlife or conservation.
