Randy Newberg wins a big award!

Another public identification of what we know.

Grats Randy!
 
He’s running out of shelf space for all these awards.

Grats Big Fin. Well deserved.
 
They said very nice things! All of them true. Congratulations!

If you run, I’ll vote Newberg for Office
 
Congratulations Randy, thanks for all you have done and continue to do for conservation and education. You have been an inspiration to many.
 
Thanks to all of you. Thanks to the many great people at RMEF who donate so much of their time, talent, and money to a vital cause. Thanks to so many who provided their support, encouragement, and wise counsel. We cannot thank you enough.

It is rare that I am at a loss for words. I was the emcee for Friday and Saturday night at their 40th Anniversary. They gave me a new script just before Saturday night and it was different than I had rehearsed earlier that week. It instructed that I sit down in the audience next to one of their staff. When the video started rolling, I was looking around like "WTH?"

This recognition was very meaningful to me, my family, and the Fresh Tracks crew. I wish I knew how to thank everyone who in some way, have their fingerprints on our efforts.

It was two great days spent with 600 of the finest conservation volunteers, among which are two of my conservation mentors I got to catch up with this weekend.
IMG_4349.jpeg

Jim Zumbo and I served on the Board together for two years. He was always willing to share what he knew of messaging and communicating. While at Outdoor Life, Jim didn't have to use his columns to promote RMEF, but he did it. And he did it when RMEF was just starting and needed the credibility Jim and OL could bring. He was helpful in my understanding how you can promote conservation and be an advocate while telling hunting stories. He and I share the firm belief that if we want people to speak for wild places and wild things, they need tangible connections of being in the wild.

The other character is Charlie Decker, one of RMEF's four co-founders. I've known Charlie since 1993 when he was appointed to the FWP Commission by Governor Racicot. We butted heads as often as we collaborated. We served on a couple committees together. We worked on a lot of land exchanges over the years. When I was nominated to the RMEF Board, it was with controversy and it was questionable whether I would be voted to the Board. I wasn't there in the meetings when my nomination was voted on, but stories told to me in the years after explained that Charlie stood up and made the case that some have paraphrased to be, "if the RMEF Board didn't have a place for guys like Newberg (what Charlie calls me), maybe it doesn't have a place for Charlie Decker." After that the vote was taken and I was added to the Board.

Charlie has been like a father in many ways; always supportive, never easy, and always fair. We talk often. We always spend a lot of time together when at these events. He is soon to be 82 and father time has kicked his body, though his mind is still sharp. We had him on a podcast Saturday morning that will air this week on the Elk Talk Podcast. It is his version of how RMEF came to be and how it has been so successful. If you get a chance, I suspect you will enjoy hearing Charlie's stories.

I, and every elk hunter on the continent, owe a load of gratitude to Charlie Decker and Bob Munson, the other co-founder who saw the organization through the toughest of times, and their wives, Yvonne and Vicki. Through their vision and steadfast resolve, the landscape elk need, the elk themselves, and those of us who chase elk are all better off.
 
Congrats Fin, seeing that you seem to be stacking accolades, I think it's time you sprung for a nice bolo for the photo ops.
 
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