The SEMO Friends of NRA will celebrate its 29th annual banquet Aug. 21 in Poplar Bluff.
“We did have one last year, but it was late notice and we had four or five weeks to plan it, so it was smaller,” said FNRA Chairman Andrew Heuiser.
The local volunteer committee, Heuiser said, is “definitely hoping for a bigger one this year, and I think we’re on track for it.”
The event will take place at the Black River Coliseum, and the doors will open at 5 p.m.
Drawings and giveaways will begin immediately, said Heuiser.
“As soon as you walk in the door, you’ve got a chance to win something,” Heuiser said. “If you get there at 5:15, you’ve already missed out on something.”
Also offered during the social hour, Heuiser noted, will be several games, raffles and a silent auction.
Items up for grabs in the silent auction, Heuiser said, include “a little bit of everything.
“We’re hoping to have a little bit of jewelry, and we’ve had some local salons donate hair products. We’ll also have our standard quilts, signs, framed prints and decoys.”
A steak dinner is expected to be served “as close to 7 p.m. as we can get it,” Heuiser said. “Karon Campbell’s Tasteful Creations is doing it.”
Following the dinner, a live auction conducted by Trent Stillwell and Felix Baker will be held.
That auction will include a guitar autographed by Ted Nugent, framed prints, bar stools, barrel wood sign, firearms, dog bed and more.
Between 50 and 75 guns are expected to be given away over the course of the night, Heuiser said.
“They’re a little tougher to get this year,” he said.
The Gun of the Year will be a Henry side-gate, lever-action rifle in .45-70 with NRA engraving.
Other examples of firearms available at the banquet include a KelTec KS7 12-gauge shotgun, Glock pistols, Kimber Protector pistol in .45 ACP, Weatherby Vanguard rifle and more.
Tickets to the event must be purchased in advance and cost $40 each.
Sponsorships also are available in several levels, Heuiser said.
A silver-level half-table costs $450 for four tickets and includes a sponsor gift and entry into a firearm drawing.
A gold package costs $850 and includes eight tickets, sponsorship gift, drawing entry and choice of a Rossi .17 rifle, Taurus 9mm pistol or Ruger Wrangler .22 pistol.
A platinum table costs $1,500 and includes eight tickets, sponsor gift, drawing entry and choice of a Springfield Hellcat 9mm pistol, Smith & Wesson AR-15 rifle in 5.56-caliber or a Ruger Five-Seven pistol.
Tickets can be purchased by calling Heuiser at 573-429-2423 or by stopping in at Shooters Shack on Shelby Road in Poplar Bluff.
Money raised at the banquet each year Heuiser said, goes to fund local shooting sports, particularly youth programs such as school trap shooting teams and 4-H.
“We’re looking forward to people getting out and about and supporting the Second Amendment and supporting our kids’ shooting sports,” he said. “A lot of these kids weren’t able to get out and do much last year with everything shut down, so we’re hoping to get them back into it and get them excited about trap shooting and target shooting.”
Volunteers also are needed to help make the banquet a success, Heuiser said, and anyone wishing to help can contact him.
Thirty-four boats were entered in last weekend’s Current River Smallmouth Association “King of the River” tournament at Van Buren, and at the end of the day, there were some new names not normally seen on the leaderboard.
Picking ups the win and the title of King of the River was Aaron Nicholson, who brought 11.69 pounds to the weigh-in. He also had the day’s big bass, weighing 3.12 pounds, which vaulted him to the top of the standings.
Taking second place was Bobby Bland, who had a total stringer weight of 10.99 pounds.
Third place went to Robert Neal with 10.52 pounds, and fourth place was earned by Dalton Yarber with 9.63 pounds.
Rounding out the top five was Lee Hampton, also with a total weight of 9.63 pounds, but he lost the tie-breaker with Yarber based on the biggest fish on each stringer.
The next event for the Current river Smallmouth Association will be a club tournament on Aug. 14.
If largemouth bass are more your thing, the Angler’s Choice circuit will host a tournament Saturday at Wappapello Lake.
The event is slated to launch at 6 a.m. from the Chaonia public ramp.
A weigh-in will wrap up the day at 3 p.m.
To get registered to fish, contact tournament director Ken Owens at 573-820-3715.
With the heat lately, it’s been hard to think about outdoor activities except maybe some early-morning fishing, but if you like small-game hunting, things should be getting better quickly.
As we get into the middle of August, squirrel hunting tends to improve greatly as hickory nuts ripen and the bushy tails start to focus almost solely on them.
Once they’re cutting hickories, you can hear them from a long way off and sneak in for a shot. Sometimes its even surprising how much movement you can get away with when they’re on hickories.
I like to keep a cooler with ice in the vehicle and return to it periodically with any squirrels I’ve taken. With the hot weather, I just don’t want them to spoil.
If you go, be prepared for two things: spider webs and bugs.
Spider webs seem to be everywhere in the woods in the summer, and you can’t do much about them.
Bugs come in the form of mosquitoes, ticks and chiggers, and a good dose of permethrin sprayed on your clothing goes a long way to keeping them off you.
Paul Davis is the outdoors editor for the Daily American Republic and can be reached at pdavis.dar@gmail.com.