Annual Pheasants Forever banquet a success

Cheyenne County High Plains Chapter Pheasants Forever held its 23rd annual fund raising banquet on March 1 at the Cheyenne County Fairground in Sidney. Chapter President Brad Lines, termed the banquet a “monumental success.”

“We’re extremely pleased with the outpouring of generosity,” said Lines. “To have this level of community support in attendance and donations is unprecedented. We want to thank everyone for their tremendous support and we are already discussing adjustments to the 2014 banquet to accommodate a larger audience.

“I was also impressed by the interest of local landowners in habitat development for wildlife,” Lines continued. “Several people at the banquet talked with me about specific habitat improvement projects, and more expressed a willingness to get involved. That’s very encouraging.”

The High Plains Chapter distinguished itself by securing 318 Pheasants Forever Sponsor members, in addition to over 85 youth “Ringneck” members at their banquet which was a 22 percent increase over last year.

Statewide, there are 60 Pheasants Forever Chapters and over 10,300 members. These chapters raise money annually for various local habitat projects on private and public lands in addition to sponsoring youth hunts in the fall.

In addition to working on more than 4,660 projects covering almost 306,736 acres of wildlife habitat improvements across Nebraska, chapters also were involved in 58 youth mentor hunts, and helping over 800 youths to experience their first pheasant hunt.