2011 Trophy Taker Awards - Cobar

Eventually and not without a scramble our Trophy Takers Annual Awards and presentation weekend for 2011 were held in Cobar from Friday 14th through until Sunday 16th of October. The organisation for this year’s award was a messy affair, with the northern Australian members offer to host the 2011 awards at the Tully club literally blown apart by the cyclone. The back up plan was then to go to the central coast NSW and this also fell by the way side last minute. Cobar members then put their hands up and with very little notice hosted a great awards weekend that was a credit to everyone in the Cobar club and its Trophy Takers members.

In the spirit that makes this organisation what it is, people still travelled long distances even with little notice. They took time off work and brought families along for a weekend of hunting talk, recognition of hunting achievement and more hunting talk. Sometimes these are the only time in a year members get to catch up, this makes it a special occasion and the two late nights until the wee hours of the morning are testament to this year being no exception. New arrivals from long journeys through the night always reignited the telling of more tales.

Its hard to tell if it is the award presentation and the Annual General Meeting (AGM) are the purpose or the excuse for the get together. Either way, the achievements of many of our members over the last year were definitely exceptional and worthy of acknowledgement. Of the many winners (you can read below) there a number that warrant special mention. Trevor Willis had a great year, shooting not one, but two new number ones in a single year with his new number one Chital and Rusa deer. Adam Greentree shoot his new number one Red deer which absolutely smashed the previous record by over 40 points, and then the collective effort these two members plus Paul Southwell for the unprecedented efforts of shooting four number one’s in a rating year. To be doing this after so many years makes it a huge year of achievement in Trophy Takers. Well done, a great effort and if members need reminding that anything is possible in hunting this should do it.

The weekend was also highlighted by a huge and well supported raffle which raised some handy dollars for T.T. I would like to publically extend a big thankyou to Manual Agius for again offering up a dozen of his beautifully handcrafted arrows, Daren Hayman a new member from Bourke and BP Service Station of Bourke for an assortment of items, and of course everyone who bought tickets. I am also happy to say that I seemed to be the lucky one this time round.

The weekend had many angles to it. The facilities provided by Cobar club were exception and allowed attending members and their families to camp very comfortably in a very relaxed bush setting which set the mood for hunting and archery talk beautifully. Thankyou to Willsy for providing some of the best Venison I have ever eaten.

There was the usual display of bow shot trophies that I am sure did a lot to inspire the many less experienced hunters and seasoned hunters alike that were lucky enough to see it. Thankyou to everyone that put the effort in to bring along valuable trophies.

The weekend also featured two relaxed rounds of field archery on the Saturday and Sunday. Eventually the weekend came to a close, members drifted away, some had made hunting arrangements and other had all night drives to get back to work, as a member I appreciate the effort of everyone who organized these exceptional awards and to all members who put the effort in to make them so successful.

Hunting award winners for this year were:

Boar award:
32 2/8 CASEY MCCALLUM

Goat Award:
135 1/8 LEE PAYNE

Red deer Award:
358 4/8 ADAM GREENTREE

Fallow Deer Award:
250 5/8 MARK SOUTHWELL

Rusa Deer Award:
228 2/8 TREVOR WILLIS

Sambar Deer Award:
188 4/8 MICK KERNAGHAN

Chital Deer Award
196 1/8 TREVOR WILLIS

Fox Award:
10 09/16 SHANE MCNAUGHTON

Buffalo Award:
78 4/8 STEVEN HOLGATE

Camel Award:
28 1/4 JEREMY BROWN

Cat Award:
7 13/18 BRIAN NEWTON

Bill Baker Deer award:
RED 358 4/8 ADAM GREENTREE

Traditional Award:
FALLOW 194 SHANE DUPILLE

Dalas Conway No.1 Listings trophy:
RED 358 4/8 ADAM GREENTREE
RUSA 228 2/8 TREVOR WILLIS
CHITAL 196 1/8 TREVOR WILLIS
CHITAL 194 7/8 PAUL SOUTHWELL

Chairmans Award:
TREVOR WILLIS

Junior Bowhunter:
GLEN PAYNE

Legend Award:
BEN RIETH

Photography and trophy awards were presented to:

Framed photo of hunter and game - Adam Greentree
Composite photo display - Wayne Anderson
Framed hunting photo - Adam Greentree
Best nature photo - Adam Greentree
Best photo album - Shane Dupille
Best video clip - Mark Southwell

Best mounted trophy:
Adam Greentree, Downunder taxidermy

TT Award Pictures below.