thank you from OTHA

[elkhuntress]

I want to thank everyone that came on out and participated in last weekends water race out in matlock washington. It was the biggest turnout in recent history for OTHA! We had over 255 hounds registered to compete in the trial! Thats incredible! With that said, a huge thank you needs to go out to everyone that helped with all the judging, cooking, paperwork and set up/take down , without all that help it wouldnt have gone as smoothly as it did. The WSHC banquet was also a huge success! Lots of people came and lots of great food was served. The raffle was a huge success and the collar drawing drew in a huge crowd as well. The hound council meeting went well and alot was discussed. Thank you everyone that helped with that as well. Pictures of both the water races and the banquet are posted on OTHA facebook page which you can check them out by clicking on the link in my signature. Thanks again to participants and helpers, without you guys we wouldnt be doing what we are doing and I for one enjoy it!

[George Streepy]

I haven't attended a field trial in a long time and I was pleasantly surprised by the turn out. There were lots of good folks having a good time. I met some real good people and wanted to thank everyone for letting us participate. I was very happy to see the effort put out to bring the event as well as the banquet/council meeting together.

Most people knew some of us had an agenda in being there and everyone made me feel very welcome. I will be attending more of these events and hope to get to know you all better. Even the folks that were a little unsure of me and my fellow "trouble makers" made a great effort to speak with us and let us know how they feel. The meeting was a little rocky from time to time but I feel we are making some progress.

I drug my feet in posting anything but we should be thanking the efforts of the OTHA people, not the other way around.

Thank you very much,
George Streepy

[Hochlander]

George I am glad that you decided to write-in and thank the organizers. My family and I were some of those unaware of your agenda and if by fellow 'trouble makers' you are referring to the group asking to speak for the Hound Council in matters political (if not then please indulge me as I make an ass out of myslef) then I wanted to let you know the way you went about raising the issue (a. in a poorly though-out manner and b. at an AWARDS BANQUET) left a pretty bad taste in our mouth.
I/We are totally supportive of more ORGANIZED political activities and share the general frustration with hound hunter rights/opportunities in this state and with representation through the WWC, but you have to give respect to get it.
We try very hard to give more than we take as club members but our efforts pale in comparison to how much effort the folks sitting up at that table (and those standing behind and beside them) put out.
Thanks again for recognizing their effort.

[George Streepy]

Hochlander,

I don't want to take away from this topic, but real quick I would like to address some of your concerns. If the discussion continues we could move it to a different heading.

We felt we needed to discuss everything with the Hound Council before deciding how to proceed. We know there is an interest in political issues from people around the state but didn't know if the Hound Council would be interested in having some sort of committee or if we needed to start a separate club. We weren't trying to take anything away from the Awards Banquet, it is just that Hound Council meetings can be spaced out far apart. As far as I knew that was an official Hound Council meeting. I am sorry if you feel we disrespected any one. That is very far from our intent. Please remember, we are not organized, that is what we are trying to do. I realize our lack of organization showed as we brought up our concerns. As we mentioned at the meeting, we don't even agree on how to proceed from here, but want to try to move forward. I hope to see a committee started that gets all of us involved and moving in a positive direction.

Sorry to you and your family, and I apologize if this conversation takes away from what Elkhuntress originally posted. If you want you can give me a call anytime. (253)266-2130

Thank you,
George Streepy

[Hochlander]

Fair enough. All in ther spirit of showing appreciation. Just so Kelly and the organizers at OTHA know how much we love them for putting together great events.

I will search you out at the next event we can both attend to talk more George.

Thanks.

[elkhuntress]

[elkhuntress]

[redbone4me]

Mr Streepy,

Unfortunately, I missed The Hound Council banquet and OTHA Water Race, but I would like to share something I received from Fish and Game. I plan on posting somewhere else here under another topic because I get sort of pissed when someone like me does what I did but so many other houndsmen(woman) out there don't do crap when it comes to standing up for our rights. They'll bitch and moan about the laws but DO NOT get involved. By all means, I am not fervent about the issue but went to a meeting down in Olympia (once), to show support and have sent a few emails. What I have done does not take much at all.
The fact is I have not hunted with my dog since I got him last year. I bought the drag and scent and training books, but my lazy butt just can't get out there. Whatever. I still believe hound hunters should have the same hunting abilities as other hunters and feel it's worth doing what I've done. I just wish others would do the same, we could get so much more done.
So spread the word. Get organized. And get people off their BUTTS! There's really no excuse.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Mr. XXXXXXX,

I received a copy of your comments associated with proposed hunting at night restrictions, which I thought were very concise. As you are probably aware, we pulled the rule from the three year package for further vetting and refinement. I attached the most current version (amended original proposal) in hopes that you would be willing to discuss it with me. While further vetting will most certainly occur, I thought I would start with an active member of the hound hunting community. The enforcement concerns with the current landscape may not be readily apparent, and I would like the opportunity to explain those.


Thank you for your consideration.

Mike Cenci, Deputy Chief
Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
Law Enforcement Bureau

[Jason wall]

The hound council banquet is just that, along with the year end awards! It's not a award banquet!!

I also wanted to thank Otha for making the effort to hold both events an do not wanna steal the post.....

[Hochlander]

You know Jason that is a lot of exclamation points, especially when the Hound Council home page, the event flyer and the BGH forum post all clearly say "Water Race & Award Banquet".
Now if you were directing your point towards me then I forgive you, I have great sympathy for adults that can't read.
If you were directing your comment towards OTHA then maybe next year Lower Columbia can put on the event and you can call it anything you want.

[Jason wall]

Otha makes the flyer an the post on bghoundsmen, therefore they will call it what they want. Go back 20 years an then come forward in time an see how it got changed due to loss of hunting rights. The awards part of the banquet should be a very small fraction of the banquet, But has taken over it because of people not knowing any different. Excuse me but Iam not sure were u stand with the hunting side of things with that fake screen name!

[George Streepy]

Easy now fellas, like I mentioned we weren't there to step on any toes or take away from anything folks had been looking forward to. We were just looking for the opportunity to meet some folks, get some points of view, and bring up some concerns at the Hound Council meeting. I understand it was a weekend with a few different things merged together, in my opinion we can all call it whatever we want based on what the individual was most looking forward to.

There was a handful of guys, that share similar points of view, meeting down there to talk. Their thoughts adapted and changed as more people offered their input. This continued right into our unorganized presentation to the Hound Council. My thoughts and ideas changed and adapted while I heard others speak at the meeting. I look at this as a great success, a group of folks willing to listen and learn from each other, willing to adapt as great points were brought up. I hope if a committee gets started up that the folks listen to the ideas from around the hound community and it gives all of us a venue to discuss the political issues we face.

Lets not get hung up on this detail, it isn't worth arguing over, I hope everyone understands we weren't trying to offend people.

Thanks you,
George Streepy

[joshtee]

Thank you, Kelly, for all the hard work and effort you put into this club and these events! The Clark and Scott families should also be thanked. These events would probably not even happen without them. I would also like to thank Andrew. That kid does a ton at these events, behind the scenes.

[Buddyw]

[elkhuntress]