The annual society banquet was Wednesday night. Dress as usual was casual.

As we drank and visited in the foyer outside the meeting/dining room, several of the officers shuffled in an elk mount. As in, a full shoulder mount of a 6x7 bull elk. Assumed to be decoration, since it wasn't one of the drawing or auction items.

Is it standard at your meetings to get folks and businesses to donate items of interest, and then either raffle or auction them off? Raffle tickets were $1 each, or 6 for $5 (or if you weren't paying attention as they hawked them, 5 for $6). Soft coolers, camping lanterns, bookmarks, fishing rods, anything with a wildlife or outdoors theme. Tried for the FNAWS cup and shirt, bookmark and soft cooler, but failed.

Prints and framed photos were silent auction items, as well as stone coasters, candleholders, and an elk antler cribbage board. Bid on the framed photo of pronghorn in front of the Grand Teton, but when Tom started bidding, I quit.

He lives there. I know he wouldn't quit on that photo, and he didn't.

The high money auction is the deck of cards auction. $5 per card. If yours is drawn, you got the grand prize.

A shotgun, of course.

Another fund raiser is the Hi-Lo game. Proceeds to the society, and the bear fund. Played some, and watched through one entire beer. Ended up being drafted as back-up dealer when the regular needed a break. Offered everyone better luck since we had a new dealer, but no one's luck improved.

Gal running the convention center came over and advised she had told the other meeting group (realtors) that they were welcome to come over and play and drink, too. Did we mind?

Nope. We'll take anybody's money.

Banquet seating was at large, round tables. Ended up with two guys I knew, and other folks all new from this meeting. Gal on my right was 3-weeks new to the west, and knew almost no one there. Got along well with the Canadian across the table, another researcher involved with sage-grouse.

The cheesehead at the table advised everyone to never eat pasteurized cheese. Apparently, the manufacturers take all the moldy pieces, as well as those with dirt or that fell on the floor (literally) and mix them in the giant pasteurized vat, skimming off the floatables.

Yeah, it's a dairy product, but just barely.

This was Harry's last society meeting before retirement, and he brought along a hunting buddy from out of state. At dinner, his friend remarked about the large elk mount in the room. And Harry mentioned that yeah, it was a good elk. He'd shot one like that himself, once.

Friend was still in awe of the elk, and wouldn't drop the subject. Harry remarked his elk had had atypical antlers, just like that one.

His even had a bullet hole through the third tine on the left, just like that one.

Then it sunk in.

"That's my elk!" he announced to that part of the dining room.

Yep, with the assistance of his son, some folks in our outfit had managed to swipe Harry's elk rack from his garage, and got it mounted as a retirement gift.

The bull from Squirrel Meadows.

One of those notorious stories of a hunter falling asleep after several days of hard hunting, only to awaken to find the mountain's trophy standing before him.

The funny part was that he had walked past the boat, where the elk rack had been stored, several times this fall. And never noticed the rack was missing. And the reason it had never been mounted is because he had no place in his home to hang it. You need high ceilings for an elk mount. But he said he'd find a place.

And he was concerned with how he would get it home to Capitol City. His plans called for hunting deer in the Black Hills after these meetings.

They promised they would get it to his home.