Pheasants Forever Chapter active and thriving

This is the second of a four-part series about the fun involved with attending a wildlife banquet.

Last week this column mentioned the local Pheasants Forever Chapter was no longer active. Wrong. The chapter is active, but they haven’t had a banquet for some time. This will change next month.

The Columbia Basin Chapter of Pheasants Forever will hold a Banquet at the Best Western Lake Front Hotel in Moses Lake. Doors open at 5 p.m., with dinner served at 6:30.

Activities include a live auction, raffle and silent auction. The chapter is offering guns and other items of interest to outdoor-minded people. See more information about the banquet in tomorrow’s Hunting and Fishing report.

The workings of a live and silent auction were discussed in last week’s column. Not discussed was the raffle drawing.

The raffle items are drawn at the end of the live auction. Example: The cup containing tickets for a tool kit is brought to the front. The tickets are placed in a larger bucket, they are mixed with vigor and a ticket is drawn. The number is announced and the tool kit is delivered to the winner.

There are also various games at some of these banquets. Not all games are the same at all the banquets. One is the hat game. $20 will buy a baseball hat. Each hat contains a two-sided ticket. The ticket is divided and one side is placed in a bucket.

When the hats are gone, they all have been purchased and all tickets placed in the bucket, a ticket is pulled and the winner is discovered. The hat-game prize this year was a 28 Nosler rifle valued between $1,500 and $2,000.

Another game is the penny raffle. Tickets are placed in bucket with a lid. The lid has a hole large enough for a hand. The player reaches into the bucket and pulls out a ticket. The tickets are numbered 001 to 600.

If a player draws a ticket with the 325 on it, $3.25 is paid for the ticket. The next ticket may be 400 which makes it worth $4.00, next ticket is 075 and 75 cents is due.

The player would pay $8 for the three tickets. Each ticket is a chance to win the prize, which was a Kimber pistol this year. When all of the tickets are gone (purchased), a ticket is pulled and the winner announced.

Next week: The story of this week’s Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet.