Mount Vernon News

MOUNT VERNON — Local outdoorsmen gathered on Saturday night for an evening of shared game, evangelism and wlidlife updates. Sponsored by the Mount Vernon Baptist Temple, the third-annual Wild Game Supper was held at the Moose Lodge in Mount Vernon.

Muskrat, deer, rabbit and fish were just a few of the wild dishes hunters and anglers made available at the dinner. For those who were less excited about eating wild game, many buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken were served.

“This is the third year they’ve had this, and I’ve never come,” said Bruce Butler, who is a Deputy Sherriff in Knox County. “My church sponsors it, but I even had some buddies at work who told me about it, and they don’t even go to the church.”

Evangelist Chuck Cofty was the main speaker for the evening. Cofty has a Doctorate of Divinity degree from the San Fransisco Baptist Theological Seminary. The evangelist was a Marine who served during the Vietnam war.

Cofty spoke about his view of men in America today, and stated that most of our nation’s troubles come from an ever-growing absence of men in today’s homes.

“What we need in America today is real men, and its good to be with a group of real men here tonight,” said Cofty.

He based his message on many stats, first explaining that in the 1960s roughly one in every 10 homes was run by a single mother with man present. Today, one out of every three homes is run by a single mother.

After Cofty, Lloyd Edwards, a representative of the National Rifle Association, addressed the crowd. He mentioned the fact that the NRA donated $176,000 to various youth groups last year, and talked about different programs the association offers.

Donny Keaton, president of the Kentucky Bass Federation spoke about bass fishing and for what the federation stands.

“The two main things we focus on are youth and conservation,” said Keaton.

Mike Miller, the Knox County Wildlife Officer, spoke on various hunting law updates. He said that Knox County could possibly adopt a six-deer-per-hunter limit next year. Another possible change would be to allow hunters to use firearms the entire fall turkey season this fall, rather than have a limited time of archery-only hunting.

“They want to try to make things a little easier, and a little more firendly,” said Miller. “We are going to go to an online deer and turkey check-in station, so you can check-in either online or over the telephone. That change will likely take place in the spring of 2009.”

Miller said that all of the changes that will be made to the hunter’s regulations this year are positive for the hunters.

There were several prizes and awards given during the dinner as well.

Ralph Arms won the Best Dressed Outdoorsman award for his authentic 1700s outdoorman’s outfit. Billy Finnell won the youth portion of the same contest.

The Best Game Dish award was given to Bruce Hibbett for his dish entitled Country Fried Deer Steak. Second place went to Barbecued Rabbit, prepared by Herald Frye.

The food’s taste was attested too by Butler, who took four friends to the dinner with him.

“The deer steak was excellent, and I loved the deer balogna,” said Butler. “I’ve tried everything, so I wanted to come to this.”

Butler mentioned that rumors of the wild-game dishes from years past are what made him attend this year.

There was also a contest to see which hunter had the funniest story to tell. Several funny stories were told, but by the end of the night Bob Bearins had told the funniest.

Organizers believe nearly 220 people attended the dinner, which is about 50 percent more than the 150 who attended last year.