You might remember last year my son won an opportunity for a cow elk hunt in NM at the RMEF's Double H ranch and unfortunately, didn't connect with an elk. The thread to the story is here. RMEF Elk Hunt If you take a look at the thread you will notice it got bumped back up in early June.
This is where the story gets good.
On June 12 I had a pm from Big Fin asking me for our (Jacob & I) contact information. Now normally I would be a little hesitant to give out my infromation, but I didn't really figure Randy would be spamming me so I went ahead and replied with the information. The next day I got a reply back saying to be expecting a phone call from a 406 area code number and that I would be very excited with the call.
Later on that day, the phone rings with a 406 number showing up so I answer. The caller introduces himself as David Allen with the RMEF. (Later I did a little digging and found out he is not just "with" the RMEF, more like the President & CEO of the RMEF) He told me he had read Jacob's story about his elk hunt on the OYOA forums and wanted to give him another opportunity this fall at getting his first elk on the ground. Needless to say not only was I shocked and suprised, but Jacob couldn't believe it either. He just set there with a blank look on his face for a while and then the smiles and questions started coming. It was like Christmas in June for him.
Fast forward over the next couple of months and we get more phone calls with the dates of the hunt and confirmations. It was set up for Dec. 17 -19. Not great dates as it would mean he would have to miss 4 days of school, but we decided that would be okay, as he has kept his grades up and ranks 5th out of about 185 or so in his class. So missing a few days could be handled.
Fast forward a little more and we realize that the days he would be missing would be during semester finals. Not good, but again, I told him to get with his teachers ahead of time and they should be able to work it out.
The last straw. Two weeks ago I received the paper work to get the tag. Jake and I set down to talk once more. Jake loves hunting, but he also loves playing basketball. He made the high school team his freshman year, but stopped growing after that and didn't make the team his sophmore or junior year. Finally last spring he grew again and went from about 5'-2" to 5'-11" and his hopes for making the basketball team in his senior year grew with him. He told me if he makes the team, he doesn't think it would be fair to his team to skip the games and practices. As tryouts were the following week, I told him lets just wait and see what happened. Well he called me last Thursday and the excitement in his voice told me he had made the team. I had mixed emotions, whiled I was thrilled he made the team, I knew what that would probably mean for this hunt and that dampened my thoughts. I figured I would set down with him over the weekend, look at the schedules and talk about it.
This morning I made the call back to the 406 number and informed them that we would not be able to make the hunt. That hurt doing so, but hopefully they will be able to get another youth hunter out there in his place to experience the same joy and excitement that we got to experience last year.
I know in the past I have seen a few RMEF bash threads on here. Hopefully, you will see they have a good side also. Mr. Allen, if you happen to read this, Jacob and I would like to thank you once again for the opportunity you offered Jacob. It was a very hard decision on his part, and I made him make it on his own, but he knows this will be his last year he ever gets to participate in high school sports and that won out.
This is where the story gets good.
On June 12 I had a pm from Big Fin asking me for our (Jacob & I) contact information. Now normally I would be a little hesitant to give out my infromation, but I didn't really figure Randy would be spamming me so I went ahead and replied with the information. The next day I got a reply back saying to be expecting a phone call from a 406 area code number and that I would be very excited with the call.
Later on that day, the phone rings with a 406 number showing up so I answer. The caller introduces himself as David Allen with the RMEF. (Later I did a little digging and found out he is not just "with" the RMEF, more like the President & CEO of the RMEF) He told me he had read Jacob's story about his elk hunt on the OYOA forums and wanted to give him another opportunity this fall at getting his first elk on the ground. Needless to say not only was I shocked and suprised, but Jacob couldn't believe it either. He just set there with a blank look on his face for a while and then the smiles and questions started coming. It was like Christmas in June for him.
Fast forward over the next couple of months and we get more phone calls with the dates of the hunt and confirmations. It was set up for Dec. 17 -19. Not great dates as it would mean he would have to miss 4 days of school, but we decided that would be okay, as he has kept his grades up and ranks 5th out of about 185 or so in his class. So missing a few days could be handled.
Fast forward a little more and we realize that the days he would be missing would be during semester finals. Not good, but again, I told him to get with his teachers ahead of time and they should be able to work it out.
The last straw. Two weeks ago I received the paper work to get the tag. Jake and I set down to talk once more. Jake loves hunting, but he also loves playing basketball. He made the high school team his freshman year, but stopped growing after that and didn't make the team his sophmore or junior year. Finally last spring he grew again and went from about 5'-2" to 5'-11" and his hopes for making the basketball team in his senior year grew with him. He told me if he makes the team, he doesn't think it would be fair to his team to skip the games and practices. As tryouts were the following week, I told him lets just wait and see what happened. Well he called me last Thursday and the excitement in his voice told me he had made the team. I had mixed emotions, whiled I was thrilled he made the team, I knew what that would probably mean for this hunt and that dampened my thoughts. I figured I would set down with him over the weekend, look at the schedules and talk about it.
This morning I made the call back to the 406 number and informed them that we would not be able to make the hunt. That hurt doing so, but hopefully they will be able to get another youth hunter out there in his place to experience the same joy and excitement that we got to experience last year.
I know in the past I have seen a few RMEF bash threads on here. Hopefully, you will see they have a good side also. Mr. Allen, if you happen to read this, Jacob and I would like to thank you once again for the opportunity you offered Jacob. It was a very hard decision on his part, and I made him make it on his own, but he knows this will be his last year he ever gets to participate in high school sports and that won out.