Enjoy a special evening having fun on Saturday, Dec. 6

If you hunt or fish or like the outdoors, you might want to set aside the evening of Saturday, Dec. 6 for a "Ton of Fun" with a whole bunch of your counterparts.

Dec. 6 is the date of the Ormsby Sportsmen's Association (OSA) end-of-the-year annual banquet.

OSA:

OSA is a local sportsmen's organization, which was founded in 1945, and with a total of 330 paid-up members for this year, it is one of the largest and most active sportsmen's club in the entire State of Nevada.

And, that 330 outdoors people does not even include another 125 folks who are delinquent in their dues for two years in a row.

Each year, the club meets on the third Tuesday of the month for Jan-Feb-Mar-Apr-May at the Carson Nugget Convention Center.

Then it switches to a third Tuesday of the month picnic at Mills Park for Jun-July-Aug-Sept.

That is followed by a meeting on the third Tuesday of the month for Oct-Nov, and then the big annual end-of-the-year banquet on the first Saturday evening in December, all at the Carson Nugget Convention Center.  

Banquet:  

The banquet will begin with no-host cocktails at 5:30 p.m., followed by an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner at 6:30, which in turn will be followed by door prizes, raffle prizes, live auction items, special awards (both serious and hilarious) and the introduction of the newly elected 2009 OSA President.

All that for $25 a person for adults and only $12.50 for youngsters, age of 12 and under.

Plus, there will be a door prize of $100 cash for some lucky guy and another $100 door prize for some lucky gal for just being at the banquet. Geez, how can you go wrong?

That $100 will buy lots of raffle tickets and you might get lucky in the drawings.

Evening's events:

After the dinner, there will be a whole bunch of things such as:

Introduction of the outgoing president (Don Quilici).

Introduction of the two outgoing members of the Board of Directors (Jerry Dyke, Mike Fettic).

Introduction of the incoming president for 2009.

Introduction of the two new incoming members of the nine-member Board of Directors.

The club's "Skins" drawing for the amount of $180.00 for being a member and being present at the banquet. Not too shabby!

Presentation of the "You Screwed Up" award to the member who messed up the absolute worse during 2008.

Presentation of the "Sure Shot" award to the member who fired the most shots while hunting.

Note: Exercising the prerogative of being president, I just might skip this particular presentation this year, as I have a very strong suspicion as to who the winner will be: Me!

Norm Budden is a big "blabber-mouth" and he will tell everyone about my inept shooting on my September antelope hunt when he accompanied me.

Presentation of all of the winners in the various categories in the annual fishing contest. It looks as if Budden will probably win in at least two of the categories. So if you go, be sure to get in line behind me to get him to buy you a drink at the bar.

If we can pry any of the money out of his tightly clenched fists.

OSA membership:

As a special tip, you sure as heck do not have to be a member of OSA to attend the banquet.

However, if you are interested in joining that special group of hunters and fishermen, it will cost you the sum of $5, as an adult for the entire year of 2009 or $2.50 for anyone under the age of 16.

Geez, I challenge you to name one other organization in the entire United States (or in the world), whose annual dues are only $5. I bet you can't.

For the record, last year there were a total of 180 men, women and children in attendance at the banquet, and this year, OSA is expecting about that same number to attend on Dec. 6.

And, also for the record, last year, one of the youngsters (Pete Savini, age 8, of Reno) was the top bidder for a hand-made arrowhead clock. So, even your children can join in the fun in the live auctions (as long as Dad has the money to cover their bids).

Auction items:

So far to date, some of this year's more interesting auction items and raffle prizes include:

A fishing trip for two in May at Stampede Reservoir, Calif. for Kokanee Salmon with sport fishing guide Dick "Father" Murphy.

A youth Mossberg 20 gauge shotgun with an extra barrel, plus a case of shotgun shells.

A leisurely sightseeing boat tour around Lake Tahoe with Bud Higgins of Douglas County.

A fly tying lesson at The Angler's Edge in Minden plus a set of one dozen, hand-tied artificial flies by Nate Johnston of Douglas County.

A round of golf for two persons at the Eagle Valley, Empire Ranch and Silver Oak Golf Courses.

A high-powered spotting scope with a tri-pod.

An overnight stay at the Carson River Resort on the East Carson River, near Markleeville, Calif.

Dinner/show/overnight stay at Harrah's/Harvey's for two persons at South Lake Tahoe.

Two persons to accompany NDOW's Carl Lackey on a springtime release of a live-trapped, nuisance black bear.

Finally:

Be sure to set aside Saturday evening, Dec. 6 for a fun-filled evening for you, your wife and children with a whole bunch of other outdoor folks.

And, best of all, the dress code for the evening is: "Casual, very casual." Jeans are AOK!

Be there or be square!

For banquet reservations, call LaNora Clyde at 841-5758.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you how many times I've been the club president.

If he grins and says, "Through the years, on four different occasions, Don has been the OSA president," he could be one of our long-time members.