By Brenda Valentine
First Lady of Hunting®
August, 2011

The South-Central Regional Rendezvous is an annual NWTF event held every summer in Shreveport, Louisiana. Staff, state officers, and committee members from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas  meet for a weekend of training sessions, brainstorming, fun, and camaraderie. Area managers, regional directors, national board members, and state presidents, as well as members of the corporate staff, have a hand in making this such an inspiring weekend that most attendees never miss this event. The Friday evening agenda consists of a meet & greet social with lots of great and fun games. The food this year for the Friday night social was furnished and prepared by the Oklahoma chapters. Game winners won gift certificates from the local Shreveport Bass Pro Shop.

Balancing M&M's on drinking straws with no hands requires good lungs and steady nerves.

Stacking six steel nuts using a thin piece of spaghetti is another skill not many of us practice very often.

Oklahoma Senior Regional Director Gary Purdy explains the rules and finer points of catching a ball with a Velcro-covered cap while East-Texas Regional Director Shawn Roberts assists his players with coaxing oranges into the hoola-hoop.

Call-maker Preston Pittman was my team partner for the ball-tossing game.

We were a winning team.

National Board Member Mike Evans from Oklahoma gets his game face on for the competitions.

Area Manager of the Western USA, Mack Frazier, gets some last minute coaching before his first pitch.

It's all in the toss!

Becky Evans and Barney Valentine made a winning team.

Justin Griffith had the steady hand to stack the heavy nuts in a straight line.

Barney and Becky are on their marks and waiting for the cow-bell to ring for their one-minute race against the clock.

Everyone took part in the "Minute-To-Win-It" games -- even the hotel employees got in on the fun.

Pictured are a few of the volunteers of the North Louisiana Wheelin' Sportsmen group.

Senior National Board Member and WWII Veteran, Mr. Gene Denton, gave an inspiring speech at the Saturday training sessions. Other speakers were Brent Lawrence on Media Relations, Doug Saunders on Chapter Development, Dennis Daniels and Scotty Parsons on NWTF Conservation Programs. There was also scheduled Q&A sessions and Break Out Meetings. A lot of material was covered in this full day of intense training.

Saturday night of the Rendezvous is when the fun really cranks up. There are lots of raffles, an auction, more good food and a themed costume contest.  Each year a different theme is announced and participants get busy on their outfit in hopes of winning a prize in their designated division. Mike and Becky Evans from Oklahoma and Barney and I dressed as "Wizard of OZ " characters.  Barney won the "Men's" category with his cowardly lion costume.

Mike, the pirate, was quite an intimidating figure.

This werewolf, aka Paul, was a fearsome sight.

Yes, that is a real crow perched on my hat.

I caught Granny getting into her pockets behind the podium!

Shawn "Cat-In-The- Hat" Roberts shared emcee duties with several other RD's.

There were several "Robin Hood's" and one lovely "Fairy Godmother".

Pinocchio and Gepetto won the Couples category.  No lie!

Gary the "Tooth Fairy" took time out from the festivities to help Huck Finn with a painful tooth.

Surely Little Red Riding Hood can see this is not her sweet Granny.

Mother Nature and Farmer Brown made a nice couple. Check out her cute wings.

The bidding went high for this monster Arkansas watermelon held by Dennis Daniels but it was worth it. The OZ crew ate most of it!

The Jungle Book bear, Chad Bowen, did a fine job of auctioneering. Earlier in the year he challenged the Bodcau Purring Hens to reach an attendance mark on their Women In
The Outdoors event. The ladies met the challenge and held him to his promise of wearing a grass skirt and a coconut-shell bra to the Rendezvous.

Read all of Brenda's Field Notes