NEWSRACK
FALL 2002 Volume 1

GREETINGS

Welcome to the first newsletter of the National Whitetail Deer Education Foundation. We’ll use this newsletter to update you on our progress and let you know about our upcoming fun and exciting special events at the National Whitetail Deer Education Center and Deerassic Park.

Your membership and support is extremely valuable to us, and your input is important for the foundation’s growth. Please feel free to contact me or one of our board members with your ideas at any time. We welcome your contributions, not only of dollars and time, but also in letting us know of other friends, co-workers, family members or professional contacts who may be interested in the foundation’s mission. Our strength is in our networks!

The foundation’s membership continues to grow, and now reaches members in 15 states, from California to Connecticut!

Our board members and myself wish to send our deepest thanks for your continued support of our mission. We hope you can come out to our special events so you can personally see the progress we’re making!

Sincerely,
Dean Ziegler, Director of Operations

PROGRESS

Our Welcome Center (see photo) should be completed and ready for visitors for our annual membership meeting August 24, 2002.

We now have a completed engineering plan for our lake, parking lot and building sites created and sponsored by Lewis Land Professionals.

The very exciting architectural design and drawings for the Ohio Whitetail Hall of Fame

Museum complex have been completed and sponsored by Illes Architectural Firm of Medina, Ohio. These beautiful plans will be on display in our Welcome Center.

Summer work parties have started to transform the rough wood lots of Deerassic Park into park-like conditions.
Board secretary Toni Kellar will work on developing educational programs for the National Whitetail Deer Education Center to prepare for a public spring opening. Also, Toni is our newsletter editor, and will coordinate ticket sales for our Deerassic Classic Giveaway raffle.

We have commitments for the following valuable donations:

• Large machinery equipment for excavation work from Southeastern Equipment of Cambridge, Ohio, and continued help with equipment from Leslie Equipment (formerly Gress Equipment) of Cambridge, Ohio.
• Labor from several area equipment operators for our excavation work
• All labor to construct our planned 80’ x 100’ activity building from Miller Construction, Built Rite Buildings, and Hostetler Construction.
• Shale for excavation work from Stoney’s RV in Cambridge, Ohio, to build a base foundation for the perimeter road around Deerassic Park, which will ultimately be paved
  for handicapped access.

SHORT-TERM PLANS

Expand fundraising efforts for the National Whitetail Deer Education Center to a national campaign with the help of natural resources management consulting firm Leon Younger and PROS, Indianapolis, Ind.

Open the park for school programming and the public through the following:

• Build 80’ x 100’ activity building, which will temporarily house portions of the Ohio Whitetail Hall of Fame Museum collection, as well as an activity center for visitors.
• Build restroom facility.
• Build parking lot.
• Design and construct signage for entrance.
• Expand fencing for deer enclosure and improve landscaping and trails for Deerassic Park.
• Develop educational programming.

DEERASSIC PARK

Bring your binoculars and cameras!

We have many young bucks growing antlers that will be fully developed by the time of our annual membership
picnic, and this year we plan to have an observation area for better viewing of the deer herd. Several of the bucks
are of trophy proportions even at the ages of 2 and 3. They are still in the growth stage, but a 3-year-old is already approaching antlers of 2-feet wide. At least a couple of bucks, including “Dinosaur 2002,” the 2- year-old in this photo, should finish at 18 points or more. Another 3-year-old is starting to grow double drop tines. How exciting!!

UPCOMING EVENTS !

SECOND ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP PICNIC: Saturday, August 24, 2002

Please plan on attending this fun event in appreciation of you, our members! Not only will you be able to see our progress, but you’ll also enjoy delicious food, meet friends, and take part in our fundraising raffles and auctions to win some neat stuff! Bob Hendershot will be back again to offer his great horse-drawn wagon rides. Gordon Whittington, editor of North American Whitetail Magazine, will be on hand to sign autographs. Pete Mikula will offer specialty kite flying demonstration and have kite games for the kids.
Please help us: share and post the enclosed posters!

OHIO WHITETAIL RENDEZVOUS: Sunday, Dec. 8, 2002

An event you won’t want to miss! A gathering of whitetail enthusiasts at The National Whitetail Deer Education Center will feature invited successful hunters and their trophy deer from across the state. We’re inviting a photographer from North American Whitetail and Ohio Game and Fish magazines for possible feature coverage. All bucks will be photographed. Come enjoy a day of deer tales and see some of the Buckeye State’s greatest trophies of the 2002 deer season, and hear the stories firsthand. You’ll be receiving more details about this exciting event in a future mailing.

THANK YOU

Thank you to all our friends and members who have made generous donations in the past through dollars, time, equipment, materials, information and sponsorships. This strong support has allowed us to reach our current success. We still have much to accomplish together, and appreciate your support. Don’t forget about your networking potential. Share us with your friends and acquaintances.

You never know who might want to offer that big tax-deductible donation, until you ask!

BOARD NEWS

Thank you to board president Tim Higgins, past vice president Jim Brick, treasurer Kelly Lenhart, and past-treasurer Wayne Lowden for their services. Other board members are John Bennett, Heath Cisco, Cary Cochran, Mark Faulhaber, Steve Kame and Paul Thomas. Welcome new board members Ken McQuillen, secretary Toni Kellar and Bill Knellinger. If you are interested in turning your interest in our mission into a more active role by becoming a board member of the National Whitetail Deer Education Foundation, please contact us.

COMING SOON !

DEERASSIC CLASSIC GIVEAWAY !

We will be giving away approximately $500,000 of value in prizes in our exciting new Deerassic Classic Giveaway raffle, including several brand new 4-wheel-drive vehicles, cash, ATVs, whitetail hunts, and hundreds of guns! Tickets are $100 each, with a maximum sale of 10,000 tickets for over 300 prizes! Stay tuned for more information in a future mailing.

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