So, before taking you all on a Midtown Hunting Crew (MHC) adventure to Wyoming, I wanted to give you a few more tid-bits about how our group is organized if you can call it organization. Our mission or quest, that does change from time to time, currently reads something like this:
The members of the MHC are dedicated to finding good places to hunt and fish, drinking beers, and cooking and eating great meals for the betterment of ourselves and others. On this quest we will see the lands, animals and people that make our nation great. This quest will also conserve, protect and sustain wildlife and the places they call home by hook, by arrow or by bullet.
There are three volunteer positions within the MHC the president, the general council, and the treasurer.
The MHC president is always the newest member of the group. The president is responsible for having regular meetings and keeping order during said meetings. Sunny is currently the newest member and therefore our president.
The MHC general council is Marshall. Marshall is an attorney and actually passed the California bar. He keeps us clean and writes all of or legal documents and proclamations on our semi-private facebook page. Marshall drafted our by-laws and charter.
The treasurer is responsible for the dollars. This job is huge and we are lucky to have a Clark, known throughout the hinterlands for his money making and keeping experience, in the crew to handle these duties. Clark is the treasurer and keeps our game and financial records.
You might be wondering how an organization with our mission actually has funds to spend and why they need a treasurer; well we all basically contribute to the fund. The MHC funds various things we do with a self imposed taxation system that raises funds for the group to spend on trips, donations to conservation causes, and community property that we all use during outdoor exploits. The funding system basically works like this:
1. If you miss an archery shot on a game animal, you owe the fund 5$.
2. If you miss an archery shot during a competitive tournament or event, like a 3D shoot or other shooting event, you owe 5$ for each miss.
3. If you miss a shot on a game animal with a rifle you own the fund 10$.
4. If you kill archery game animal, all the fellow members have to pay into the fund. For example, if Joe shoots a whitetail deer with his bow, the rest of the crew has to pay 10-20$ into the fund for the kill. If Joe shoots a turkey with his bow, the cost to the rest of the members is 5$ and Joe pays nothing.
5. If you kill a deer with your rifle, all the other members must pay 5-20$ into the fund depending on the quality of the hunt and deer.
6. During certain times, a forum must be called to evaluate an animal’s value. For example, if it is deemed extra special, like an extra large rack on a buck or a special animal we don’t get to hunt very often, like a moose or elk, a special value can be developed by the rest of the members. In these cases, the value could be say 20$ each for a very good deer. Additional funds can also be awarded if the animal was taken in difficult conditions or under extreme pressures.
The MHC had accumulated a few thousand dollars over that last few years before the Wyoming trip (see tomorrow’s blog post). The funds tend to add up pretty quickly with 8 guys in the crew. Though some of us pay into it more than others, it is all spent for the betterment of the group and actually evens out pretty well. Sometimes we use the funds for trips, sometimes for equipment, and sometimes for donations to conservation organizations. The fund is also just another way to get us out of the house.
The MHC has an award that is not awarded for anything good, rather it is awarded for less than stellar moments, lapses in judgments and other debauchery often caused by drinking. Known to the enlightened as the Daryl Lecht award or just “Lecht” award, it is an old miner’s helmet the crew found on a hunting trip. Oggie AKA “lunatic fringe” once employed a house painter named Daryl. Oggie, as you will recall, has his own painting business apparently the guys was a drunk that never showed up on time or painted very well and in general was a derelict. The Daryl Lecht award has only been awarded 3 times once for leaving all the food for a trip at home (me), once for getting into a car wreck on the way to a hunting trip (Ray-Ray), and once for passing out drunk with his pants around his ankles (the Chet).
Stay tuned for tomorrow's first post about our adventures in Wyoming hunting pronghorn antelope.
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