I get tabbed for the Virginia hunting survey! (Or not.)
I came home the other day to find a big envelope in my mailbox. The label here was in one corner of the official-looking package.
I couldn’t believe it. After buying a Virginia hunting license for nearly 20 years I’d finally been randomly selected to participate in the post-season hunting survey to which I frequently refer in my stories on hunting trends.
Or at least that’s what I thought.
As I opened the envelope and looked more closely I saw references to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Did a grant from the RMEF help fund the DGIF project? That was mighty generous!
But the “survey” was to be returned to RMEF. So this was an RMEF deal.
Well, at least if I did the survey I got a few Browning hatchet and knife combination, a $49.95 value. Hey, I’m all about free.
I filled out the survey. (There wasn’t much to it. It was mostly about elk, including questions about things whether or not I felt wolves hurt my elk hunting last year. The answer was no, but I did feel that cougars really screwed up my deer hunting.)
I was PARTICIPANT 14 VA. It was even hand-written! Uh, actually not. Just looked hand-written. Very tricky.
But there was that free hatchet. Hey, who doesn’t need another hatchet? Especially a free one!
I grabbed my “FREE GIFT VOUCHER” which, “Entitles the bearer to the Browning Hatchet and Knife Set described on the enclosed flyer with your donation of $35 or more to the Rocky Mountain Elk foundation.”
Free with a donation, huh?
OK. The RMEF does good things. And its Bugle magazine is fantastic. I also realize fund-raising isn’t easy. But this seems a little cheesy to me.
So much for the hatchet.
The package also came with return address stickers. They’re sweet. I’ll use them.
February 18, 2013 - 5:19 PM
My wife hasn’t bought a return address sticker in at least twenty years.
If you throw them away, they’re trash with no use.
I got in on a waterfowl survey one year, it wasn’t bogus, but it was a year I didn’t go much. Oh well. It was cool one year I killed a tagged goose and reported it. The history of the tag was worth the effort it took to report the kill. Interesting how good the advertising segment has gotten, eh?
It would be nice to see the county-by-county deer data from this past season.
I think the info came out faster when we counted the tags by hand
I don’t need a ‘free’ $35 hatchet either. I have a drawer full of free return address labels that are rarely used (since I don’t send much mail anymore). Charties need to come up with something more useful these days.
I had the day off (holiday) so I went out on SML this afternoon for the first time since late last summer. It felt pretty good running down the lake in my boat. It was nice today and the water was a nice color in the upper end of Roanoke anyway. The water was 45 degrees. I hit a few spots for crappies without success. I came back to the launch and ran into Capt. Dale Wilson who was going after stripers. We had a nice conversation before he headed out. I expect he had alot more success than me.
I see the page looks different now. I like it!
my wife loves those address stickers as well. The home improvement stores have nice hatchets at $15-20.
Mark; I wanted to commend you for your fine piece on Sunday re the trash in the Roanoke River. You were spot on. I’ve never understood the thinking of anyone who can simply open their hands and toss garbage on the ground while outside. I suppose they believe if they no longer see it after they walk/drive away, it doesn’t exist anymore. It is a shame to see what is in the river and along the sides of our roads. See all of you on clean-up day!