NAFA Regional Meets

[everetkhorton]

Fred:
I thought I would start a new thread on this subject. What can NAFA do to enhance a regional meet that can not be done by a State Club. One question I would have is, do you have to be a NAFA member to attend? What do you want NAFA to help with that a NAFA directorate can not do?

[Saluqi]

The biggest issue with putting on a meet is rounding up volunteers to do the leg work of putting the meet on. These people have to find an area with plenty of accessible land that has game people are likely to want to hunt, rabbits, ducks, squirrels, etc. It's not so bad out here in the west with vast tracks of land, but in the east and north where the land is enclosed and the parcels are small it could be a logistical nightmare to host 50-75 falconers that are hungry for slips.

[everetkhorton]

The biggest issue with putting on a meet is rounding up volunteers to do the leg work of putting the meet on. These people have to find an area with plenty of accessible land that has game people are likely to want to hunt, rabbits, ducks, squirrels, etc. It's not so bad out here in the west with vast tracks of land, but in the east and north where the land is enclosed and the parcels are small it could be a logistical nightmare to host 50-75 falconers that are hungry for slips.

Paul:
That is some of the issues. Finding plenty of accessible land would have to be done mostly by the local club. This was an big issue this year in Dodge. No one did this. One guy from Kansas had booklets that had maps of walk in land, but that was it. I am not one to walk & hunt on land without permission.

[Saluqi]

Paul:
That is some of the issues. Finding plenty of accessible land would have to be done mostly by the local club. This was an big issue this year in Dodge. No one did this. One guy from Kansas had booklets that had maps of walk in land, but that was it. I am not one to walk & hunt on land without permission.

I don't know Ev, I thought there was plenty of land around Dodge. Kansas has that "walk in hunting area" program, and all you had to do was drive down country roads and look for the white signs hanging on the fences, they were everywhere! When we found fields that didn't have the signs we'd knock on doors and always were welcomed with open arms, I thought Kansas was the most hunter/hawker friendly place that I've ever been to, jmo.

[everetkhorton]

I don't know Ev, I thought there was plenty of land around Dodge. Kansas has that "walk in hunting area" program, and all you had to do was drive down country roads and look for the white signs hanging on the fences, they were everywhere! When we found fields that didn't have the signs we'd knock on doors and always were welcomed with open arms, I thought Kansas was the most hunter/hawker friendly place that I've ever been to, jmo.

Paul:
I have to agree! The walk in program was great, ONCE you knew about it. People let you hunt on there land, if they owed it. I have to agree the land owners were great. If there would have been a CO the first night to explain the program and any other rules would have been nice.

[bobpayne]

I don't know Ev, I thought there was plenty of land around Dodge. Kansas has that "walk in hunting area" program, and all you had to do was drive down country roads and look for the white signs hanging on the fences, they were everywhere! When we found fields that didn't have the signs we'd knock on doors and always were welcomed with open arms, I thought Kansas was the most hunter/hawker friendly place that I've ever been to, jmo.

Very rare to have someone say no when begging on in Kansas. Still the thread is about regional meets, and I could see it more difficult to find huntable numbers of quarry east and north of here. This would be where the state club members would have to shine to be a real success.

[michaelberan]

Louisiana does not have a state club, seems the coonskins can't get along for longer than 2 beers and a cigarette.

It's a 1300 mile drive for me to Vernal, UT but I love the place so I will hope in the truck and be there.

Having a regional meet in south Louisiana, southeast Texas or southwest Mississippi would be so much fun and affordable. There are Falconers there that none of us even know about, NAFA could use it as a membership round up!

In the survey an overwhelming 76% of the respondent said they were in favor of a NAFA sponsored regional type meet, please give me a reason to go to a meet every month of the winter!

[Ross.Spafford]

At the Alabama meet each year, we have access to more land than we can hunt in a weekend. Game doesn't vary much, but we've got plenty of squirrels. We'd love it if NAFA gave us the exposure to get falconers from other states involved. We get a few guys from GA, and a few from FL, but not many. We'd love to see the meet get much larger.

[frootdog]

Paul:
The walk in program was great, ONCE you knew about it.

This is why you shoud go to orientation Sunday night. As far as land aquisition goes I have always seen that they concentrate on the longwinger and that's fine by me. i have been to 7 NAFA meets now and have never had a real problem finding places to hunt, finding game is sometimes a different story, burt that too is usually not a problem.

[frootdog]

The biggest issue with putting on a meet is rounding up volunteers to do the leg work of putting the meet on.

In the survey an overwhelming 76% of the respondent said they were in favor of a NAFA sponsored regional type meet,

There is the problem. Everyone wants NAFA to do all the work. Just look what happened when JoeKOz asked about a regional meet. Everyone was all for it, yet not one person offered to help it come to fruition. I too have run into the same problem. And regional meets that have been organized in recent years have not exactly met with resounding success.

[joekoz]

I suspect that most shy away from volunteering because they have never been a part of an event planning team. This stuff isn’t rocket science and it really isn’t as overwhelming and as much work as many think.

What’s needed is a good roadmap manual with the steps/timeframes/etc. that need to be followed to pull off a good falconry meet. And a good Project Manager Type who can parse out the steps in do-able chunks to individuals in such a way as to insure they aren’t overwhelmed by there assignment.

The Roadmap should be a living document that is added to and improved upon following each meet.

Why not start a sticky ON-LINE MEET ROADMAP here on NAFEX to get the ball rolling!!!!

[frootdog]

Why not start a sticky ON-LINE MEET ROADMAP here on NAFEX to get the ball rolling!!!!

NAFA already has quite an extensive set meet guidlines.

[jmnucci]

In the response to the questionaire I suggested that the regional meets could be tailored to a specific type of quarry from year to year. So maybe NE for ducks and pheasants one year, CO for Jackrabbits the next, etc. The idea being that it may attract other falconers from outside the region that want to hunt that particular quarry and also if you can't make it every year you could choose the year that suites you best.

When I was a kid we used to go to the PA falconry and hawk trust meet every year. There was always a 75+ person turnout at that meet, it was run really well, and no one ever seemed to have much trouble finding enough hawking spots. For the east coast that seems to be the closest to what it seems these regional meets would try to be.

[idbirdman]

This is all just fine and dandy, but what are we supposed to do when someone has done the work of trying to set up something. Found tons of hawkable areas for both long and broadwing alike. Come up with a meet hotel and convention center. Done every thing I could to get the ball rolling and then was told "no one is going to want to come to Idaho, its to far." This was by a NAFA president. It makes a person not even want to try.
Stephen

[jfseaman]

This is all just fine and dandy, but what are we supposed to do when someone has done the work of trying to set up something. Found tons of hawkable areas for both long and broadwing alike. Come up with a meet hotel and convention center. Done every thing I could to get the ball rolling and then was told "no one is going to want to come to Idaho, its to far." This was by a NAFA president. It makes a person not even want to try.
Stephen

If it was any president prior to Larry, I'd let it go.

[everetkhorton]

This is all just fine and dandy, but what are we supposed to do when someone has done the work of trying to set up something. Found tons of hawkable areas for both long and broadwing alike. Come up with a meet hotel and convention center. Done every thing I could to get the ball rolling and then was told "no one is going to want to come to Idaho, its to far." This was by a NAFA president. It makes a person not even want to try.
Stephen

Stephen:
It sounds like you had a great deal of the work done, why didn't you just go ahead and have the meet? What else's did you have to do? I have re-read you post and you done this all by yourself. Depending on how long you want to meet to last, you would have needed help warm body's. What role do you think NAFA should have played in the regional meet? To help, do you think this should be a different thread?

[Lowachi]

NAFA already has quite an extensive set meet guidlines.

Wondered when you were gonna mention that

[everetkhorton]

Wondered when you were gonna mention that

I think they have complete a manual on putting on meet. This is in addition to the guide lines. I am not sure if it has been approve by the board or even has to.

[Lowachi]

I think they have complete a manual on putting on meet. This is in addition to the guide lines. I am not sure if it has been approve by the board or even has to.

It's being added to /expanded. Bringing/adding people to the committee, i.e. print artists, family activities etc. and adding to the munual/ guidelines.

[everetkhorton]

It's being added to /expanded. Bringing/adding people to the committee, i.e. print artists, family activities etc. and adding to the munual/ guidelines.

The manual/guidlines booklet is a working document. It will be changing all the time.

[FredFogg]

This is all just fine and dandy, but what are we supposed to do when someone has done the work of trying to set up something. Found tons of hawkable areas for both long and broadwing alike. Come up with a meet hotel and convention center. Done every thing I could to get the ball rolling and then was told "no one is going to want to come to Idaho, its to far." This was by a NAFA president. It makes a person not even want to try.
Stephen

I am betting that you were trying to get the annual NAFA meet there. And I have to agree, I don't want to drive all the way to Idaho from North Carolina. But I bet if you did the same thing and it was a regional meet, it would work and you would have plenty of folks from neighboring states and in your NAFA region come to a meet in Idaho. I love going to the VA meets when I can because they have way more rabbits than we do here in NC. I doubt if a regional meet would ever have as many people as the annual meet but I am willing to bet that there would be NAFA members at a regional meet that don't ever go to the annual meet just because of the distance.

[NMHighPlains]

I'm trying to figure what the PURPOSE of a regional NAFA meet might be? Is it to provide a NAFA meet other than the current locations? .ie a meet for people in, oh, FL who don't want/can't drive to UT? If that's the purpose, then it seems to me that the location should be far away from the Nat'l meets. Tuck 'em off in the corners. ID/WA/OR should be perfect for one.

I'm still not sure, though, how existing state meets don't meet those needs. I don't really care if it's a NAFA meet or not- there's still good falconer people there, you know? What matters to me is simply whether or not I want to drive the distance. In the case of the Abilene meet, for instance, I really, really considered it, but I just had something else going that weekend and it WAS only a weekend, not a week-long thing and I just decided I didn't want to drive 450 miles. That's all, really.

In any case, though, whether or not that was a NAFA Regional meet, or a State meet, or a NAFA Nat'l meet, doesn't really make any difference to me. All that matters is a) how far is it? b) who's gonna be there, c) do I have time/money to go?

Again, though.... what's the PURPOSE of this Regional NAFA meet?

[FredFogg]

I'm trying to figure what the PURPOSE of a regional NAFA meet might be? Is it to provide a NAFA meet other than the current locations? .ie a meet for people in, oh, FL who don't want/can't drive to UT? If that's the purpose, then it seems to me that the location should be far away from the Nat'l meets. Tuck 'em off in the corners. ID/WA/OR should be perfect for one.

I'm still not sure, though, how existing state meets don't meet those needs. I don't really care if it's a NAFA meet or not- there's still good falconer people there, you know? What matters to me is simply whether or not I want to drive the distance. In the case of the Abilene meet, for instance, I really, really considered it, but I just had something else going that weekend and it WAS only a weekend, not a week-long thing and I just decided I didn't want to drive 450 miles. That's all, really.

In any case, though, whether or not that was a NAFA Regional meet, or a State meet, or a NAFA Nat'l meet, doesn't really make any difference to me. All that matters is a) how far is it? b) who's gonna be there, c) do I have time/money to go?

Again, though.... what's the PURPOSE of this Regional NAFA meet?

Bryan, I think you answered your own question.

My thoughts are the reason for a regional meet is a shorter distance for folks to drive yet still get together with other falconers. And yeah, states put on their own meets but in our state, you are supposed to be a member or a guest of a member to attend. Partnering with NAFA would allow any NAFA member to attend. Also, our state meets are always 1 or 2 days, if we were hosting a NAFA Southeast Regional Meet, we could make it longer. As I have said before, I know falconers here in NC that are NAFA members but have told me they will never attend a NAFA meet because they are too far away. They do attend our state meets and nearby state meets sometimes so they would attend a regional meet. Basically, a regional meet could be a way NAFA could get these folks to attend a NAFA function but by having a different state in each region host it, it would limit the amount of work that NAFA would have to do.

[everetkhorton]

Bryan, I think you answered your own question.

My thoughts are the reason for a regional meet is a shorter distance for folks to drive yet still get together with other falconers. And yeah, states put on their own meets but in our state, you are supposed to be a member or a guest of a member to attend. Partnering with NAFA would allow any NAFA member to attend. Also, our state meets are always 1 or 2 days, if we were hosting a NAFA Southeast Regional Meet, we could make it longer. As I have said before, I know falconers here in NC that are NAFA members but have told me they will never attend a NAFA meet because they are too far away. They do attend our state meets and nearby state meets sometimes so they would attend a regional meet. Basically, a regional meet could be a way NAFA could get these folks to attend a NAFA function but by having a different state in each region host it, it would limit the amount of work that NAFA would have to do.

The chairperson of a NAFA meet is in a lot of cases not from that the State the NAFA meet is held in. Example this years meet was in KS the chairperson was from MO. The ground work is done mainly by the State Club. In most cases they provide the man/woman power. I am not sure so I am just speculating here. NAFA puts the money up front for item needed for the meet. The NAFA meet pays for itself, no money come out of the members dues to pay for the NAFA meet. I can not say for sure about the 2010 meet because I have not ask. This is simple for those that do not understand how the NAFA meets are set up. I think the advantage of having a State regonial meet put on by several states is: they can set the rules, do what they want and they run the show. NAFA has to answer to the membership. FIO

[joekoz]

I can’t speak for others, but for me I’m looking for more meet opportunities that are within a reasonable driving distance.

State Club meets fill part of the bill but in my area they all tend to be scheduled around the same time (January); are one, one and one half or two day affairs; and although they have a decent turnout for a state/local event, and often attract a few out of state participants they don’t attract large numbers.

A Regional meet offers yet another meet opportunity and one that could be scheduled earlier in the season.

I see 2 benefits of having a NAFA sanctioned Regional meet.

• Communications / the ability to get the word out
• Draw Power of the NAFA name

[everetkhorton]

I can’t speak for others, but for me I’m looking for more meet opportunities that are within a reasonable driving distance.

State Club meets fill part of the bill but in my area they all tend to be scheduled around the same time (January); are one, one and one half or two day affairs; and although they have a decent turnout for a state/local event, and often attract a few out of state participants they don’t attract large numbers.

A Regional meet offers yet another meet opportunity and one that could be scheduled earlier in the season.

I see 2 benefits of having a NAFA sanctioned Regional meet.

• Communications / the ability to get the word out
• Draw Power of the NAFA name

Joe:
How far would you drive to go to a NAFA regional meet?

[joekoz]

Joe:
How far would you drive to go to a NAFA regional meet?

250 to 300 miles.

[frootdog]

250 to 300 miles.

WOW not very far! That would not even get me out of my own state!

[frootdog]

I see 2 benefits of having a NAFA sanctioned Regional meet.

• Communications / the ability to get the word out
• Draw Power of the NAFA name

How much "getting the word out" do you think happens at a NAFA meet? That is left to the HCs, weekly emails, and website for the most part.

[frootdog]

The chairperson of a NAFA meet is in a lot of cases not from that the State the NAFA meet is held in.

Not true Ev. Most field meets are coordinated by a person from the state it is being held. KS was the exception and not the norm.

[Squirrelhawkin]

WOW not very far! That would not even get me out of my own state!

That distance can get me from Connecticut to maine,would be in 4 states during the trip.

I would go to a meet north as far as Maine,South to Virginia and west to western PA.

Did go to the Cali meet one year,but flew out and didn't bring a bird.

[Lowachi]

Not true Ev. Most field meets are coordinated by a person from the state it is being held. KS was the exception and not the norm.

Ralph Rogers does the Kearney meet each time, he's not from NE

[FredFogg]

Vernal, UT is just under 2,000 miles for me, too far, sorry! But 500 or 600 miles for a regional meet is much easier for me and my birds. I love the NAFA meets and never want them to stop but I don't see what it would hurt for each region to have a meet each year.

[Kenn Filkins]

The manual/guidlines booklet is a working document. It will be changing all the time.

When it gets this round of revisions done, NAFA should post it on the website as a pdf file.

Then all NAFA members would have it as a guide for local, state and regional meets. Not all meets would use all the info but it would be a huge help.

That would be a good service to the members.

[falcipiter]

I thought I would chime in here. I have volunteered to chair a regional NAFA meet if they deciede to do so. It will be held in Carlisle Pa the week of the 6th of Jan. 2013.
The PFHT meets are some of the best in the country and we have been at it for some time. Our board and membership will do all they can to make it a great meet. It will give some opportunities to attend a NAFA function without going away for Thanksgiving or for those in the East, a long drive. My last NAFA meet was in Utah and I drove there and back alone.
The devil is in the details and hopefully these meets will provide more opportunities for vendors and members alike.
Personally, I do not want to see them held evey year but maybe once every 5 or so, might be a great way to get more people involved with NAFA.
For now, I have no futher details or even if we are going to do this as a regional meet but, we will be holding our PFHT meet then and there so feel free to plan on joining us no matter.