Newsletter - Fall of '22
Hi! Welcome to our newsletter. We’ve had a great year and are finally getting around to reaching out to all of our faithful followers. We hope to have these newsletters available quarterly from here on out. They will be filled with all the info you need to stay up to date with H.D. Outdoors of Wyoming, what we’ve been up to, and what we have in store in the future!
We started 2021 with an ice fishing adventure at Pathfinder Lake, not far from Casper, WY. Seven of our local Veterans joined us as we were hosted by the North Platte Walleyes Unlimited for the Annual Hawg Ice Fishing Derby. These guys did an amazing job getting our Veterans geared up and headed out on the ice. They had an absolute amazing time. We very much appreciated the help from Walleyes Unlimited. They are an amazing team and made the day a blast. On top of that, one of our Veterans caught a huge fish and took 3rd place in the overall Hawg Derby! He was super excited.
June kicked off our first fundraiser, “Clays for The Brave”. We hosted a sporting clay competition at Riverbend Roosters Hunting and Shooting Preserve. If you don’t know Riverbend, check them out, it’s a beautiful place that goes above and beyond to host our Veterans year-round.
Our fundraiser started small with only half of the teams we could host, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a huge success! We had some amazing raffle and auction items up for grabs after the teams were done shooting that raised enough money for us to launch our way into this hunting season. The SIR Group (Service Industry Representatives) helped us every step of the way as we planned and executed this event, as well as cooked for the entire group and donated the food. They were an excellent sponsor; it was a very generous gesture and we couldn’t have done this without them. “Clays for The Brave” will be an annual event in early summer.
We already have some great ideas on how to streamline it in 2023 and promise it will be an event you won’t want to miss. To all that helped and donated everything from time, goods, services, funding; we thank you! We hope to see you all in the summer.
On the evening of our event, as everyone was leaving, we all sat around chatting about what a success it was, we all seemed to have the same idea... “What if we did a sporting clay event every month just for our Veterans as a get-together, as well as a therapeutic experience?”
We all were in agreement and there was born “Recoil Therapy”! The first Friday of every month we now host this event again at Riverbend Roosters Hunting and Shooting Preserve. The Bordens are an amazing family, and we couldn’t ask for better people supporting our organization. They have been a key element in so many parts of our organization, we are very thankful for them. This event has been nothing but SUCCESSFUL! This is an open-door policy for ANY and ALL Veterans that want to join. We start at 4pm and go year-round, weather permitting, of course. H.D. Outdoors of Wyoming supplies all of the guns and ammunition for each of these monthly events. The five-stand course is also lit for these short winter days we face ahead.
Once they are finished shooting, the Veterans head into the club house for a hot cooked meal, courtesy of Rocky Mountain Discount Sports. Every month is a different menu, and every month it is nothing short of delicious. Thank you to Bob and Brian for providing such amazing meals as well as great company every event! I’m not sure what’s on the menu for November, but I’m excited to find out! November 4th at 4pm will be our next one, so come join in or just stop by to get a feel for what we do.
Summer was quickly over and September was upon us before we knew it. We kicked off this hunting season with a much-needed day of shooting sporting clays with the SIR Group for their annual SIR Shoot! If you’ve ever had the opportunity to join in on the festivities of this amazing day, you know we had a blast. Our H.D. Outdoors team volunteered all day helping with everything from registration, to snacks and hydration, to the clean-up. However, the highlight of the day was that we were able to send a team of our local Veterans out to shoot with all the big dogs! They had so much fun and did an amazing job shooting. Again, we thank all of you at SIR for your support and the opportunities you have helped give our Veterans.
As you can imagine, after the shoot, hunting season started and boy, did we ever start this season out with a bang! We are only half way through it and it is already going by too fast. So far, we have hosted 8 Veterans; thanks to all of our amazing license donators, land owners and guides.
We have 9 to go and are always hoping for 100% success all season. This season, we have been 100% successful so far on 3 antelope, 3 elk and 2 mule deer! If you haven’t seen the pictures, get on Facebook, or check out our website under upcoming and recent events! Our season has been so epic because of all of our amazing advocates and benefactors.
THANK YOU ALL!
"You make our world go round. Our Veterans are so happy and we can’t explain how much we appreciate all of you."
A couple of weeks ago, we also had the opportunity to do a Podcast with an amazing man that started “Shadow War” based on his experiences in the military, how it affected him, and the transition back to civilian life. His goal is to create a safe place for Veterans to find and understand how to better transition as well as find resources to help each and everyone move forward in life. Check it out! It’s brilliant and he is doing a great thing! Thank you, Mike, for what you are creating. Check out our website for a link to not only our episode, but all episodes. Go to “Veterans Resources” on our website and you will find it! Subscribe and continue to listen weekly as he drops new episodes.
Well, that wraps up this one! Thanks so much for reading, we will keep you all posted as we continue the journey through this hunting season. Hope everyone is having an amazing fall and Happy Hunting!
