Maryland Upper Bay’s New NWTF Chapter Spreads the NWTF Mission
In the fall, the NWTF’s Upper Bay Chapter hosted its first-ever Family Field Day, sponsored by L.L. Bean, whose generous support made it possible to offer this educational opportunity to the local community. The event shared the NWTF’s mission with the community, weaving together the importance of conservation and hunting heritage.
“I really think it was an excellent event,” said Jason Bradford, NWTF Upper Bay chapter president. “I think it's going to continue to grow. The event connected people and the youth to the outdoors to help strengthen our hunting community and hunting heritage.”
The chapter set up the NWTF JAKES BB gun trailer station and an archery station for the youth to try. Parents would watch their kids with pride as volunteers helped guide the new up-and-coming hunters.
The Maryland Hunter Safety Education program booth taught young attendees and their families the principles of hunting safety. Hunting safety educators led a boat safety seminar and an interactive demonstration on field goose hunting. Instructors talked about layout blind hunting and the safety of where to aim one’s firearm when goose hunting.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources attended the event to give informational handouts to the children. The owner of Delmarva Defense gave a brief overview of firearm safety for long guns and talked about the mechanics behind how a firearm works. There was also a youth turkey calling introduction where the kids and their families were introduced to the different types of turkey calls. Alex Acres Gun Club volunteered its facilities to help the chapter host the event.
“This event created a spark, and it lighted a lifelong passion for these young up and coming outdoorsmen and women,” Bradford said. “It really gave us motivation to keep working hard not only just for our community, but for the nation and for the well-being of our country and the NWTF’s future.”
Only a few weeks after hosting their Family Field Day event, the Upper Bay chapter attended the inaugural Upper Bay Outdoors Festival, where they set up alongside other vendors. The chapter was a part of a community of supporting conservation, hunting and the outdoors.
“We set up the BB gun trailer there and had a lot of interest in our chapter,” Bradford said. “Every one of the kids at that event got to sign up and shoot at the BB gun range. It was great. To help promote reading, we had these little bookmarks that we gave out.”
The Upper Bay Outdoors Festival also featured a youth waterfowl calling competition and vendors including call makers and decoy carvers.
The Upper Bay Chapter unknowingly began this year on Tom Kelley’s birthday, something that Bradford is proud of.
“It's a tradition that's worth passing on, and that's the whole reason why I've gotten involved with the NWTF and volunteered my time to help carry on that tradition for our community,” he said. “We have a small-but-mighty committee, and we’re growing as we speak.”