Hunting IS Conservation!
Dennis Dunn
Author and World-class Barebow Archer
Scribe: Colleen Turner Introduced by: John Schwager
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In This IssUE
Hunting and Conservation – Rotarian of the Month – Golden Donut Award – Halloween Costume Contest – Oktoberfest!
SPEAKER PROGRAM
John Schwager introduced Dennis Dunn, who spoke about some of the hunting stories featured in his book, Barebow! and explained why hunting is conservation.
Dennis began by talking about Teddy Roosevelt and how his greatest accomplishments were in conservation. In 1887, Roosevelt co-founded the Boone and Crockett Club, the oldest wildlife conservation organization in North America.
In his inaugural address, Roosevelt asked Congress to set up a federal forestry bureau, which led to establishment of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905. In 1903 President Roosevelt created the first national wildlife refuge. In 1904, he established 51 refuges, elevated the Biological Survey to a strong bureau with police powers, created three national parks, and set aside dozens of national monuments. National forest acreage increased from 56 million acres in 1905 to 148 million when President Roosevelt left office.
Due to these initiatives and others that followed, the big game population is much larger today than it was in the early 1900’s. Unlike 100 years ago, hunting is now very controlled. Hunting season is in the fall, a hunting license is required and there is a limit on the number of big game that hunters are allowed to harvest.
Unlike most animals that die an agonizing death by being eaten alive by predators, Dennis explained that animals harvested by hunters are usually killed instantly and don’t suffer. Contrary to public opinion, the polar bear population is increasing because hunters only shoot males. Every time a hunter harvests a male bear, the population increases because male bears prey upon smaller males and cubs.
Dennis’s book, Barebow!, has won six literary awards, the most awards ever received for a book about hunting. it recounts 104 tales of his bow hunting adventures and misadventures, including how he ambushed a world-record grizzly bear at eight yards. The bear was 28 years old (aged by Alaska Fish & Game) and was the largest grizzly harvested with a bow and arrow.
Club Business
Wendi called the meeting to order at 7:30am.
Girish Bhatia gave the following invocation:
“October is a very special month for Rotarians and particularly the BBRC. Not only do we have one of the best service projects, the Adoption Party, it also marks special holidays that are important to the diverse members of our club like Yom Kippur, Canadian Thanksgiving Day, and Diwali. October represents the causes and beliefs that we are passionate about, such as Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Rotary’s Vocational Service Month. So please join me in this prayer that transcends the diversity that makes up this club and marks yet another important event that we celebrate in October:
Our Lager, which art in barrels, hallowed be thy drink. Thy will be drunk, I will be drunk, at home as in the tavern. Give us this day our foamy head and forgive us our spillages, as we forgive those that spill against us. Lead us not into incarceration, but deliver us from hangovers, for thine is the beer, the bitter and the lager forever and ever. Barmen!”
Traci Tenhulzen introduced visiting Rotarians and guests.
Rotarian of the Month
John Schwager was given the Rotarian of the Month award for September for the great job he did running the BBRC Charity Golf Classic. John and his team raised $41,400 — a record!
Sheldon Sweeney received the Rotarian of the Month award for October for his contribution to the Adoption Party and for being ready, willing and able to perform any task assigned to him.
Golden Donut Award
David Bobanick, Executive Director, Rotary First Harvest, awarded BBRC the Golden Donut Award for contributing the most volunteer hours at Rotary First Harvest bagging frozen foods and dry goods and boxing apples during the last Rotary year. Way to go, team! Dozens of donuts were passed around for us to enjoy.
David mentioned that Rotary First Harvest delivered 250,000 lbs. of produce to food banks yesterday.
Halloween Costume Contest
This is the moment we were all waiting for — the BBRC Halloween Costume Contest! It isn’t easy dressing up for Halloween at 6:00am in the morning, but more than half of our members did. There were witches, pirates, Seahawks fans, vagabonds, tourists, Indians, you name it! Tim Leahy asked all members in costume to come to the front of the room. The party poopers who remained seated had to put $2 on the table for not dressing up. The best costumes were determined by how loud the audience cheered, or hooted, as the case may be. The cute little pirate, Matthew Tenhulzen (Traci Tenhulzen’s son) took first place, with Steve Goldfarb a close second as one of the three Musketeers (whether he was Athos, Porthos or Aramis is anyone’s guess).
Oktoberfest!
Paul Chapman gave us an amusing presentation on the jobs he needed filled for the BBRC annual Oktoberfest at Lawrence the Florist to be held tomorrow, November 1:
- Weiner Minder aka Director of Grill Operations
- Tap Supervisor to monitor for spillages (or beer consumption, perhaps?)
- Chief Financial Officer to collect the $7 per person charge
- Chief of Inventory Management Operations to make sure all non-grilled food items are sufficiently stocked
- Authentic German or German Wannabe
I didn’t see anybody bounding out of their chairs to volunteer for these positions but I have no doubt Paul will have his recruits in place by 5:30pm tomorrow.
Announcements
1. Morris Kremen urged us to attend a fundraising event for Christi and Jeff Mason at Tutta Bella-Crossroads Mall on November 13 from 5:30-8:30pm. Christi is battling breast cancer and this is a fun event to show her support and raise money for medical expenses. The Mason’s have been a guiding force for countless students. Jeff and his students have been the BBRC’s partner on the Computers for the World projects. Since there are numerous sponsors of the event, all donations benefit Christi and Jeff. The cost is $50 for adults, $15 for middle and high school students and C4W project alumni, and no charge for elementary or pre-school students. Register at www.bbrc.net.
2. Nic Wildeman announced that more than 900 people have viewed the BBRC Facebook page in the last week. He asked the Club to “Like” and “Share” content.
3. Dick Brown announced that Bob Moloney is back with us after heart surgery and a hip replacement.
Thought for the Week
Why is it that a man can sit in the woods in cold winter weather and shoot a deer right between the eyes from 100 yards away, but then come home and can’t manage to pee straight into the toilet?
About the Speaker
Born in Seattle in May of 1940, Dennis Dunn went on to graduate cum laude from Harvard University in 1962, with a B.A. degree and a major in Romance Languages and Literature. He became a middle and senior high school French language teacher, and during this period he earned a Masters Degree in Romance Languages from the University of Washington.
He married the late Jennifer Blackburn Dunn in 1965 and fathered two sons: Bryant in 1969, and Reagan in 1971. Both boys are avid bowhunters and firearms hunters. Bryant currently owns and operates a very successful Outfitter/Guide Service in the back-country of Idaho. He specializes in elk and deer --- bow or rifle, as well as in grouse hunting and flyfishing. Sun Valley Outfitters can be viewed on the web at: www.sunvalleyoutfitters.net
Intrigued with politics, Dunn left the teaching profession in 1970, when he was elected Chairman of the King County Republican Party. He served in that position for 6 years, and in 1976 he was elected as the GOP National Committeeman for the state of Washington. He ultimately rose to be a Vice-Chairman of the Republican National Committee, before finally resigning his various Party positions in 1983 and becoming a securities broker. By then, his attention to bowhunting had become a major avocation in life. In 1988, he moved to Vancouver, B.C., where he met Karen, who became his beloved bride in 1989.
A year before returning to Seattle in 1999, Dunn began pursuing actively his passion for opera, and he soon accepted appointment as the Northwest Regional Chairman of the Metropolitan Opera National Council. To this date, he still serves as a leader in that organization's quest to find and promote gifted young opera singers onto the stages of the world's opera houses.
He joined the Pope & Young Club in 1972, and he has been a Senior Member of that organization since 1985. In September of 2004, Dunn completed a 40-year odyssey when he harvested a male Alaskan Brown Bear on Baranof Island in S.E. Alaska and completed what has become known in hunting circles as the North American Super Slam: the taking of all 28 huntable big-game animals recognized by the Pope & Young Club. Although six other bowhunters had managed to accomplish that feat prior to Dunn, he was the first to complete the Super Slam barebow --- meaning no pins, no sights, or other aiming devices. In short, his arrows were guided only by instinct.