All five officers attended the 4/9/07 Club Officers meeting at Texas Land and Cattle in Cedar Park on 4/9/07.

Shooting grackles, crows, and other non-game birds and non-game animals at FCS game hunts

At Derrich's service, Paul Wilson brought a photo album that contained several pictures from our first dove retreats (I, Randy Rowley, borrowed it from him and will scan some of the pictures into my computer). The original dove retreat rules for a winter dove retreat at James Wade's land are on the inside cover of the album. Rule Number 4 states, "This is a dove and quail hunt only, there are NO exceptions." As memory serves, for the fall dove retreat the rule stated, "This is a dove hunt only, NO exceptions."

Somehow that field rule did not get passed on when we changed the location of our retreats to the Camel Mills ranch and subsequent locations. At Camel Mills this started to be an issue. When the dove hunting was good (because the farmer had planted peanuts), our hunters concentrated on dove and ignored non-game birds. However, when the dove hunting was bad (because the farmer had planted spinach), a small group of our hunters would start to eradicate non-game birds. They would say that it was to "help the farmers," but it was really an issue of boredom as they didn't "help the farmers" when there were plenty of dove to shoot at. I addressed this in an article entitled, "Hunting the Thin Gray Line" (before I was the president) but no further action was taken.

The officers discussed and recognize that many farmers would be delighted for us to shoot grackles, crows, prairie dogs, etc. and their reduction is needed because of the damage that they do to crops and fields. However, we are also very aware that we have many guests at our dove retreats and what is commonly regarded as slob hunting (shooting birds and animals and "leaving them lie") will probably reflect very poorly on us with many guests. As Christian men we are charged to not cause a brother to stumble - Mark 9:42 - "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea."

Polls show that most non-hunters are tolerant of hunters hunting for food. However, they also show that the non-hunting public is very intolerant of trophy (only) hunting and killing for the sake of killing (just leaving animals lie). If we were still the Burp & Poot Club I would probably not be making as big a deal out of this, but we are the FCS. That means that we have to have the highest standards, including not tolerating drinking, illegal drugs, unsafe gun handling practices, and the indiscriminate killing of the animals and birds that God gave us dominion over.

The consensus among the officers is that we should limit our harvest to the game that we advertise that we're hunting for (e.g., shoot only doves on a dove hunt). If there is a demand for a grackle, crow, etc. hunt then we can arrange such a hunt (such as the rabbit hunt that we had on 5/6/94 - 5/7/94) but we will not allow the shooting of non-game birds and animals at a hunt for game (shooting grackles at a dove hunt for example).

This would not prohibit the hunting of different game on different days. For example, at our Hart Lion's Club Pheasant Hunt, we can hunt pheasants on days one and two, geese on day three, and prairie dogs on day four.

The only exception is poisonous snakes. As they pose an imminent danger to other hunters and hunting dogs we can and should kill them whenever we see them and leave them lie.

This decision only involves re-establishing an old field rule; it does not require a Bylaw, and, therefore, does not require a vote by the active Club members.

In the 5 1/2 years that we have had this website we have been asked three times by members, who are also members of such groups as the Kiwanis Club, the Highland Lakes Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), or the band boosters, to either post information on raffles or forward information on them. Although this is far from a common request, the officers felt that we should establish a policy for future requests.

One school of thought is raffles are gambling and can cause a brother, who has a problem with gambling, to stumble (see the scriptural reference above). However, the officers regard raffles as a charitable contribution with a chance to win a prize. The officers do not believe that there is much of a chance of one of our brothers blowing his paycheck on a raffle. In fact, as we are now promoting 62 events a year (many of which are expensive), there is a much larger chance that by promoting costly events we could cause one of our brothers to stumble (by going on events that he cannot afford).

One officer brought up a concern that by promoting raffles we could become a marketing target from certain groups and, therefore, overburden our limited time in dealing with each request that comes in. As soon as we open the door to this, there will likely be more requests. Another officer agreed.

My response was the facts to date do not support this concern. We’ve posted information on a raffle in the past (the NWTF one) and forwarded information on a band boosters raffle and the flood gates did not open! I reminded the officers that when I proposed that the wife and adult female relatives of a Club member be allowed to join the Club, several members voiced fears that the women would take over the Club and feminize it! Now, 3 1/2 years later, we have had only four females join the Club (out of 183 members). That's only 2% of the membership. They could hardly take over a Girl Scout Troup, much less the Club! :^) The "we'll get overwhelmed with requests to post information on raffles" concern is just like "the women will take over the Club" concern - it's a non-issue. I also pointed out that there is a much greater chance that someone could try to monopolize our Classified Ads pages. I asked, "Should we discontinue those pages because there is a chance that someone might abuse them?"

On the more information about the Club page I stated, “I invite articles, recipes, classifieds, letters, devotionals, cartoons, photos, and other material from FCS members and guests (only) but reserve the right to edit and refuse to post the material.” Raffles would fall under “other material.” As with all other submissions, I would determine if information should be posted or forwarded. If in doubt I would consult my fellow officers. If I didn’t post something then it would fall under “(I) reserve the right to edit and refuse to post the material.” Just because I post information on a raffle or forward information on a raffle does not mean that I have to forward information on every raffle.

The consensus of the officers is we have adequate safeguards in place to prevent monopolization. The officers agreed that we will consider requests to post or forward information on raffles on a case by case basis.

This decision only involves reinforcing an established policy; it does not require a Bylaw, and, therefore, does not require a vote by the active Club members.

Hunt Fee at this year's dove retreat

Frank Hamilton has graciously offered for the Club to hunt dove at his lease near Brownwood in the central zone. This hunt will probably be held on 9/28/07 - 9/30/07 and will be limited to 20 people. Frank stated that he would not charge Club members to hunt on his lease.

I noted that dove retreats have historically been our most attended events. During some retreats we had issues with men showing up that none of us knew (this was prevalent at the Camel Mills hunts near Pearsall and the first hunt at Mr. Ewald's near Dilley). This posed safety issues as we did not know their experience levels and how safety conscious they were.

The officers discussed Frank's offer. The officers felt that we should put measures into place to prevent people from just showing up, and therefore going over the 20-person limit. The consensus was that members and guests must sign up for the hunt. Once we reach 20 people we will announce that the event is full.

The officers agreed that this hunt should predominantly be for FCS members and that by not charging a fee there is a danger that guests and prospects could dominate the hunt (people come out of the woodwork when you announce a free hunt). The officers agreed that to prevent this we would charge a hunt fee. It will be $50.00 for the weekend. Boys 12 and under will hunt for free. Boys 13 and above will be charged full price. There will be no reduction for hunting one day, a half day etc. The first 20 people who get their complete hunt fee to Mark Dillow will go on this trip. Boys, including non-hunters will count towards the 20 person limit. Those who get their fees in after 20 people have been reached will have their fees refunded and will be placed on the waiting list for the next hunt.

This waiting list will be handled in the same manner that we handle the hog hunts. Those who go on a hunt will then go to the bottom of the list. In this manner everyone will get a turn, and not just those who get their money in the fastest. As with all dove retreats, FCS active membership will be required in order to hunt. The money collected (except for membership dues) will be placed in a separate account from our general use funds and will be used for ministry projects only.

A question arose on whether we should leave the job descriptions as they are and make sure the responsibilities are covered by other officers or create a new job description every time that a new position is created.

I pointed out that we have several positions that are listed in the Bylaws (e.g., Chapter President, Chapter Vice President, and Chaplain) that we do not presently have officers for. I also pointed out that it is easy to create job descriptions and I much prefer to have them so that there is no misunderstanding on what an officer's job is.

The consensus among the officers was for it to be at the discretion of the President as to whether new job descriptions need to be developed.

FCS shrimp boil (or similar) for a Men’s Ministry at a local church, which will include a big name speaker

He is still trying to contact Trailblazers concerning their 4/28/07 event. We will continue to support Operation Orphans but we will begin to collect donations earlier this year (and deliver them earlier). We also discussed the possibility of sponsoring a hunter safety class and a youth shoot. Polls will be sent out regarding the hunter safety course. Kenneth will look into having the First Baptist Church youth participate in a sporting clays shoot. Joe will research the possibility of a hunter safety course.

The officers discussed that we are going through brochures at a much faster rate this year. The consensus was that this is a vital way to promote the Club and gain new members and they will continue as a priority. I will discuss with Kyle Miller the possibility of Great Hills copying brochures, as they are, by far, the largest consumer of brochures.

Joe Schram volunteered to perform the duties of Chaplin until someone volunteers or is elected for the position of Vice President (Ministries)

4/9/07 Officer's Meeting minutes