Vice President’s Message:
It’s funny how a day can change everything. This message was finished and ready for print but is today August 4th being re-written as Florida prepared for its first hurricane of the 2024 season. My prayer and best wishers go out to all.
Florida Strong is not just a motto of The Southeast Trophy Deer Association, nor are they just words. Those two words embrace and describe the deer we grow and our deer farmers in general. We are tough, no wind, or another 12-20 inches of rain stop us.
Yesterday we had our summer Picnic at the Austin Corey Learning Center outside of Gainesville, where 47 people drove out of or into rain to attend. We are fortunate to have the folds for CHeRI provide great education as always. Ashley from Medgene discussed their newest project, a vaccine for Blue Tounge.
Tim and I were happy to discuss and share some of our secrets of fawn care and bottle-feeding techniques.
We had our seasonal annual dart gun competition, with a larger target so that everyone would have a much easier chance to win. Lots of fun and laughs were had by all. Let’s just say that next year the target may be larger for everyone, that is except for Bella Leffler, she graciously withdrew her shooting core form the competition, allowing June Troy to win.
This generosity was stepped up when “Little John” Entry gave back to SETDA the 270 Caliber Rifle he won in the raffle so that it could be raffled off again at the 2025 Spring Fling.
Thanks to the kind and generous support from “Bosten” Wash with Antler Xtreme Deer Feed, Thomas Hardware, Pneu-Dart, Dan-Inject, and Dr. Ray Favero, and all those in attendance, we were able to raise $2,904.25.
Not to let his son outdo him, John Entry pledged to match that amount, as long as SEDA would put 100% of the funds into a PAC. It didn’t take but a moment or so for the entire board of directors to unanimously agree.
The BOD and I all agree, that for any PAC to be effective it must represent ALL deer farmers and preserve owners in the state, regardless of if they were part of SETDA, or any other deer association, now or ever. It is critical that we are all united against a common foe.
In an attempt to do just that, a political action committee is to be formed and called “Florida United Deer Association PAC”, with it’s slogan being SAVE FLORIDA’S DEER. It is not to be under the control of SETDA nor any one group, but rather will be funded and supported by ALL… (More to come in the future).
FWC is planning a 1 ½ day long meeting the week of August 19th to discuss new rule changes in light of CWD now being discovered in Florida. The exact date is not yet posted. Watch for this news on Facebook, email, and on our website. It is imperative to have a large attendance. By the way, they received over $250,000 to surveil (test) wild deer and over $220,000 to surveil (test) captive deer for the 2023 fiscal year, which runs from 10/1/23 through 9/30/24. Wouldn’t you like to know exactly how those funds, which they received from the Federal Government, are line item budgeted!
In this issue you will find part 3 The Truth About CWD.
A great man once said, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is INSANITY!