This year's Tweedsmuir Park Rod & Gun Club annual wild game banquet will be Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013.
The wild game banquet is an event that has become ingrained into the Tweedsmuir Park Rod & Gun Club (TPRGC). The club itself was started in 1954, and the founding members and original directors were John Shelford, Bruce Thompson, Francis John Wilds, Arthur Ager, and William Richmond were committed to the development and interest of the community, hunters and anglers while promoting proper, moral and legal conservationist efforts.
The Tweedsmuir Park Rod & Gun Club's constitution states, "It is the purpose of the Tweedsmuir Park Rod & Gun club to unite all Sportsmen in the Lakes District of British Columbia primarily of the conservation and preservation of fish and game and sport shooting in all areas if British Columbia."
The wild game banquet supports these words, providing the opportunity for all sportsmen and women to be united in an area where they can truly appreciate the atmosphere of those who are passionate about hunting, angling and nature.
The earliest confirmed date places the beginning of the wild game banquet in 1961. What might have started as an awards ceremony, has grown into a social event to include other forms of entertainment, such as a silent auction, a draw, and a dance with a live band. It also gives the opportunity to the members to enter and win contests in regards to best animal hunted, the largest fish caught and best photos taken within the region.
Previous years for the banquet have seen many different types of wild game prepared for people to taste and enjoy. These different types of wild game have been everything from cougar, beaver and lynx to ruffed grouse and rabbit to various types of fish. Today the banquet still offers an odd assortment of game, as well as fish, including caribou, elk, moose, deer, bear, buffalo, salmon, trout and char. Generously donated by our local hunters and anglers, one can always look forward to what may be served.
The members of the TPRGC encourage everyone to join in this event to help make it more memorable than the last.
"Being a member of this organization is not just about throwing lead out there but working with people that like to laugh and have fun, but that also have a genuine passion for what is right on the land and in the waters of our community. It is a combination of the experience of the long standing members and the enthusiasm of the new young members that will allow the Tweedsmuir Park Rod & Gun Club to grow and have a voice in how we manage our natural resources in the area," said Bob Fowler president of the club.