I hope you all had a great turkey season and are ready for the summer. I had a great season and my biggest pleasure was calling in a turkey for my ten year old grandson. The only reason I was able to do this was because of a new law that allowed youth to hunt any season if they did not fill their youth season tag. Unfortunately my grandson had an emergency appendectomy just prior to the youth season and was able to hunt only the last weekend of that season, and was unsuccessful. Being able to hunt another season allowed him to bag his first spring turkey and undoubtedly will help to make him a turkey hunter for life. I believe this fits right into our “Save The Habitat Save The Hunt” goals and we should always be looking for ways to make hunting more accessible and try to gain new hunters.
 
From all the reports I’m getting the banquet season has gone very well so far and our super fund is way ahead of budget – great job! I know our banquet here in Manchester did better than any of the 16 banquets we’ve done before. Our “Save The Habitat Save The Hunt” initiative is gaining a foothold and I believe we can achieve our goals if we all work together!
 
Just a note about some upcoming events: 
Our super fund meeting and regular board meeting is scheduled for July 19th and 20th in Ames. Any member of NWTF is welcome to come to any of our board meetings.
Our 3rd annual NWTF at the Cubs game is scheduled for August 16th. You’ll definitely want to put that date on your calendar and make sure you attend the tailgating party and the ball game that evening. It’s a great family event that promotes the NWTF. We will also be building birdhouses again at the State Fair on August 17th so you can make that weekend a complete NWTF weekend!
 
Please contact me at gary.reeder@gmail.com or give me a call at 563-920-8568 if you have any questions.
 
Gary Reeder, President
Iowa State Chapter, NWTF