2018 Butler County Commission.Pdf
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The Kanas Governor’s One Shot Turkey Hunt has always considered our partnership with Butler County among out highest achievements. Our success is your success. We spotlight Butler County every year in the quest for the wild turkey gobbler. 29 of the last 31 years, the sitting Kansas Governor has participated in our hunt and all have harvested a bird. Many Governors of others states have participated in our event and our model is used when other states have developed their own event. No matter where our hunters hunt, they enter and exit through Butler County. The numbers in 2017 tell this story: 96 of 176 landowners and 44 of 80 current guides list a Butler County address. The volunteer workforce is a 4 to 1 ratio of folks that live in Butler County. We rented 92 hotel rooms. Many of the small town restaurants, antique and specialty shops are destinations that our hunters and guides visit each year. History of the event: Kansas Governor’s One Shot Turkey Hunt was established in 1986, the brainchild of El Dorado Chamber of Commerce President Marv McCown and then Kansas Governor Mike Hayden. Guest celebrities were invited to participate in the first invitation only hunt in 1987. Governors Hayden, Joan Finney, Bill Graves, Kathleen Sebelius, Mark Parkinson and current Governor Sam Brownback have all participated in this event. It began as an economic development tool, bringing business and industry executives to the area as well as people involved in outdoor resources/media. In the past 30 years, the Kansas Governor’s One Shot Turkey Hunt has evolved. While the invited guest list still includes prospective business contacts for future investment in Butler County, the hunt has developed programs which also provide education and opportunity. The hunt is now a 501(c)3 non-profit. Jeanette Rudy, past shooter, blessed the school district with $500.000. 00. The Felix Alton Cantrell Foundation continues with money awarded to special needs projects every year. Our Wayne Willis Scholarship program, now endowed with the Central Kansas Community Foundation, awards $8000.00 -$12,000.00 a year to students with outdoor resource majors. 3 $1000.000 awards have been distributed each of the past 6 years at Butler Community College students, a gift from past shooter Harvey Watt Jr. Butler County has been visited by Secretaries of Transportation, Commerce and Wildlife, Parks and Tourism as a result of their involvement with our event. The Director of National State Parks, Kansas State Parks and also Flint Hills Tourism Coalition have toured Butler County with folks involved in our hunt. Recent attendees include: US Senator Jerry Moran, former Kansas Governors Grave and Hayden. Outdoor TV celebrity Bone Collector Michael Waddell, RnT Owners Jim Ronquest and Shawn Stahl, Pittsburg Steeler BJ Finney. In 2018 NY Times bestselling author CJ Box will be in attendance and do a book signing on Saturday April 21, 2018. Maybe, we will be the setting for his next mystery. Thank you for the consideration you have given us. We know our guests are always welcome in Butler County! .