A big THANKS to all of you who were able to contribute to the going away gift we presented to Chris Horton last week at the angler-biologist meeting in Texas. Thanks to James Hall at BASS and Chris' wife Kim, we found out that Chris wanted a very specific waterfowl weapon to use this fall when he returns to Arkansas. We got him a Benelli Super Black Eagle II shotgun, 28-inch Max-4 camo duck killin' special!!! James contacted Jesse Simpkins at Plano and had them send a really nice gun case that fit perfectly. I collected a bit more in contributions than was necessary for the gun so I'll be sending Chris a Bass Pro Shop gift card with the difference so he can buy plenty of shot shells.
Chris was very pleasantly surprised, almost to the point of being speechless. He expressed how very grateful he was for the gift and the gesture of friendship that it represented form the Federation Nation membership. The attached photo is courtesy Larry Hodge with Texas Parks & Wildlife Department showing the Conservation Directors who were able to attend the meeting and make the presentation (L to R: Jeff Brown - South Dakota, Gene Gilliland - Oklahoma, Chris Horton, Tim Cook - Texas, Earl Conway - New Mexico).
Please circulate this to your Federation officers and members and pass along our thinks for their contribution.
Gene Gilliland
Oklahoma BFN
