O’Brien County Pheasants Forever Banquet
by Eric Harold
The 2024 O’Brien County Chapter of Pheasants Forever banquet yielded fun for kids and adults alike on an evening dedicated to the chapter’s main annual fund-raising event.
Chapter president Terry Morris lauded the efforts of everyone involved including donors, raffle and auction participants, and Pheasants Forever friends and supporters.
Morris said the increase in sponsorships for this year’s banquet show that community members have an a growing awareness for putting habitat on the landscape. This year’s banquet included eleven platinum sponsors contributing $1,200, 16 gold sponsors giving $600, and 51 silver sponsors at the $300 contribution level.
“Thanks for an awesome evening,” he said.
Of the 85 guns given away at this year’s banquet, 14 were given to youth under the age of 15, a number that reflects the organization’s emphasis on promoting a hunting heritage for the future.
Ten kids won a Mossburg Maverick 20-gauge pump shotgun. There were four “memorial” guns won by youth, and those included 1022 Ruger .22 caliber rifle and a Winchester SXP 12-gauge pump shotgun donated by Chris and Andrew Erdmann, Remington 870 Express donated by the family of Deb Jurgensen, and an O/U Acruis 20-gauge donated in memory of Duff Tewes.
Kids didn’t get to have all the fun winning new guns. Sponsorship winners Cristina Larson, Jim Thomas, Chris Erdmann, Drew Erdmann, Mike Egdorf, Randy Paulsen, Shelly Mortensen, Steve Prins, and Jeremy Stewart all won Hatfield 410 pump shotguns.
In addition to raffles and auction items, special recognition was given to a couple of individuals during the evening. The Polaris Habitat Award was presented to Chuck Getting by Tracie Meyer of C&B Equipment of Spirit Lake.
Proceeds collected from the banquet will be used on a variety of expenditures to promote habitat and youth hunter education. Since 2007, the chapter’s contributions help cover the cost of food plot seed, CRP plantings, PF scholarship funds, No Child Left Indoors, PF Legislative Action Fund, and to land acquisition for pheasant habitat.
Scholarship recipients for 2024 include Dana Konz and Anthony Courtney of Sheldon High School, Mitchell Enger and Jinger Nieuwenhuis of South O’Brien High School, and Kinsey Schirmer and Adamn Schierholz of Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn High School.
Over 30 board members and volunteers assisted with the banquet. Seven members of the Spencer Archery Club performed various tasks throughout the evening.