The annual banquet and meeting will be at the Copper King in Butte on February 10th. There will be vendors and some great bowhunters in attendance. I will be there too. Hope to see some of ya. Good time to share some stories and plan new hunts. :campfire:
I will be there, made reservations for both Friday evening, for some socializing (can we say moose drool), and Saturday. Everybody is welcome to attend, things will get started at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday with dinner at 7:00. Contact Lenny Brown for dinner tickets at 406-582-8678.
Chad, on the topic of new hunts, I am thinking bout either Australia or New Zealand in 2008, are you interested?
Walt Francis
Walt,
Of course I'm interested....but my bank account doesn't always support my interests. The timing for next year sounds good though, we will talk.
Gotta ad this comment on the banquet. I've been to more than a few banquets over the years and the food was as good as I have had anywhere. Prime Rib AND Halibut, it was mighty good and the service was excellent.
Look forward to seeing everyone there.
Thanks for posting this Chad....I'd have to second the food critique. I've been to quite a few banquets myself, and last year was the best ever, food-wise.
The TBM banquet is more laid-back than most, but you can rub elbows with some mighty fine bowhunters there...and also have a great chance to win some good prizes.
Ahhhhh....if I was only closer :( ....I'd love to visit with you guys
I will be there also on Saturday, my recent move has left me in the dark as far as communicating with the rest of the world. Guru you aren't to far away, Steve Anderson is coming from Minnesota! Joseph
Dang! Wish I could make it...
I miss you guys!
Come on Kevin, You can make the drive to Montana. If you leave tommorrow you would be here in plenty of time.
Bob
Umm, Kevin? I think they have airline service from Ill-noise (or is that Ill-noy?) to someplace in Montana. You're not doing anything else right now, anyway.
I'll find out in the morning if my truck has any kind of terminal drive train damage after the last chukar hunt. Butte is just up the road for me, so may try to make it.
Gotta work dammit. Mark, I thought you hunted chukars with a scattergun. How many did you run over? HA! You guys have fun without me...
Yep sounds like a plan, Curt, Kevin, ya just gotta start planning sooner next spring ;)
Leaving in about 45 min for Butte snowing a bit here. See you there. Frank
Well it was a great time. Didn't get to visit as much as I would have liked but did renew old friendships and made some new ones. Excellent food again. Got lucky in the raffle too.
Chad only told part of the story. He won his own knife twice & had to redraw twice. Thanks Chad nice to meet you. It was a great time & those who didn't go really missed a nice time. Frank
Chad...you need to put your raffle "system" up for sale to us losers!
The TBM banquet, heck..all their events, have become my favorites simply because of the company shared. Thanks to all that came and gave so generously.
Good luck to new prez, Billy Lewis, and to Todd for taking on the treasurers duties.
Frank, you're right...those that miss the TBM banquet and/or the shoots are really "missing out" for sure.
Glad you all had a good banquet. I ALMOST said "What the heck," and came on out. That is until I checked on the price of a short notice plane ticket. YIKES! $1400 and change. I'll have to plan ahead next year...unless anyone knows of someone who has their own plane, maybe like someone living in Idaho Falls or...?
Hehehe...
Anyway, good luck Billy. You can do it!
Frank, It was good to meet you, enjoy your new knife.
As Frank said I drew the knife I donated not once but twice. I won a Screaming Eagle tree stand and a dozen of Bob Burton's Whispering Wind arrows. :saywhat:
The MBA convention is a good one if you are on a win cycle, there are some really fine prizes.
I need to get to these functions a lot earlier than I usually do. Roll in Sat. afternoon, catch up with everyone I know (and I'm from Idaho), sit in the bar with Dick Robertson and discuss everything that's important to us and what's in our futures (his son will be an Alaskan resident soon) and then it's time to eat and watch the entertainment. Next time I'm going to make a real effort to meet more people I haven't met before.
I came real close in the lottery, because Chad was sitting across the table from me with his back turned and all I needed to do was reach over and swap tickets. But who knew?
And Joseph won the custom silvertip, kept the paper for ten minutes and re-donated it back. Quite the grand gesture.
The other donations were equally or more impressive. The quality of the prizes was outstanding.
And Kevin, I'll gladly come get you with the plane, and it would probably be cheaper than $1400 bucks, but hitchhiking home to Ill-noid from Butte might take awhile, with that "recently paroled" look of yours.
I do like the TBM banquets also and I do seem to be on a winning streak at least when it comes to Silvertip bows. I have one won one 2 out of 3 years so far. But alas I am a Robertson Stykbow shooter and I just can't give them up. My fiance just got a Vision Falcon from Dick last month and I couldn't see getting that bow and then letting it sit idle so I let them draw again for it so someother lucky individual who needed it more than me could enjoy it. Joseph
Great banquet all the way around. What food!
Highlights for me were getting to shoot some new bows by Mark Baker and Brent Rudolph. Both the "Sheepeater Spirit" static recurve and the "Hellbitch" R/D longbow were very unique and a pleasure. Meeting Brent was another Highlight. What a great dude.
It was also very nice to watch everyone else winning some really nice prizes. Some of you twice no less. That was special indeed. ;)
Speaking of Chad...I'm sorry we didnt get to jaw some more. You are a popular guy and I hated to interupt. Still I should have, so we could feel out this spring bear hunt after your season up North closes down. I'll pm you.
Joseph...your the man!!! I dont think I could have done it...maybe as I mature I wont be such a bow slut. :thumbsup:
Kevin, Frequent flier miles work good for last minute trips. But I warn you, the more you visit the West the tougher it will be to go back to Illynoise. (I like Mark's spelling variations) :D
Mark, You do need to get there earlier, I wanted to hear details from OZ. I think our wives were plotting something for us, probably going to send us on a special hunting trip somewhere. ;)
Joseph, You are a fine example of the kindness and generosity that exemplify the TBM and I applaud you. I think the guy that won the Silvertip was fairly new to bowhunting. Good Karma, you will be blessed.
Randy, Yes I was looking forward to a visit. The time zoomed by and despite an effort to carry 3 or 4 convesations at the same time I still missed a few folks. I am looking forward to seeing some new country with you. Predator calling in Grizzly country should be a good adrenaline check.
I wanted to shoot the "Sheepeater" but no time for it.
I'm optimistic about the future of TBM. We have new young enthusiastic officers and I predict growth and new energy.
I guess I better get to work so I can make a few bucks to buy more raffle tickets.
I'll second Joseph's generous nature...and not in just donating back his prize! Thanks Joseph...and Tom Stock is a great guy to have won such a great donation. Also, thanks a bunch to Dave and Beth Windauer for their generosity as well as everybody else. A great bunch of trad guys here in MT that really want to see the TBM make something of itself. Cudos!
Would like to thank Mark, Lennie, Joseph and the others that have taken care of the TBM the last few years and started the banquets, they are a bunch of fun and have brought us closer as a group. There are quite a few trad guys hiding out in the mountains around here, prospective members who will be getting an invite to join.
I too would like to thank Lennie, Mark and Joseph for their efforts. Officership is often a large amount of thankless work and you have sure done wonderful things for the rest of us.
I greatly enjoyed the banquet. Highlights included shooting different bows, great conversations, reflecting and dreaming. Mark and Brent's Hellbitch reached down inside me somewhere. Been having dreams about that thing.
After getting to rub shoulders with so many "good example" people, you can't help but come away refreshed.
Mark and Chad, who said anything about going back to Illynoise? My wife would sure like to live in Montana as well. Finding a job and a place to hunt would be the only problems, especially the job part. Anyone know of any openings for a talentless, upper middle aged, overweight, undertall recent parolee? Feels like I'm doing 30 to life here...