North Carolina’s inner-city children learned the value of wildlife conservation and the fun that can be found in the outdoors during the NWTF’s 26th Annual Convention and Sport Show Feb. 22-24 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

School children from Charlotte and other North Carolina towns enjoyed a special show created just for them where they learned about wild turkey conservation, American Indian traditions and achieving their dreams. 

About 1,200 students watched native dances of the Catawba Indian tribe, and enjoyed a visit by the U.S. Olympic Shooting Team, World-class turkey calling demonstrations from Primos, Quaker Boy, Knight and Hale and Martin Brother’s call companies. The students also had a chance to get up close and personal to a few raptors from the Carolina Raptor Center and a presentation on wild turkeys and their habitat. Ralph Durren performed his famous calls of the wild and Dalton “Huggin’ Bear” Halbrook told stories about the life of a mountain man.

Children who attended the convention with their parents participated in a variety of kids-only seminars on Saturday and Sunday as well. These JAKES (Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship) seminars included a Compass and Orienteering class presented by Brunton, a puppet show by Dan Snyder and Buckshot, Bubba’s special turkey hunting ethics class, wild game calling with former Grand National Gobbling Champion Ralph Durren and an opportunity to meet the U.S. Olympic Shooting Team. Plus, there were photo opportunities with Jake, the NWTF JAKES Program’s mascot.

JAKES stands for Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship. It is the National Wild Turkey Federation’s membership program for children 17 years old and younger and is designed to get children involved in conservation and the outdoors. More than 400 local JAKES events are held each year across North America to introduce more than 160,000 children to the great outdoors, hunting ethics and safety and the conservation of natural resources. . 

For more information about the NWTF JAKES or the NWTF or the 2003 Wild Turkey Bourbon/NWTF Convention to be held in Nashville, Tenn., February 13-16, call 1-800-THE-NWTF; and check out our website at www.nwtf.org or e-mail questions to nwtf@nwtf.net.

About the NWTF: In 1973 when the National Wild Turkey Federation was founded, there were an estimated 1.3 million wild turkeys and 1.5 million turkey hunters. Thanks to the work of state wildlife agencies and the NWTF's many volunteers and partners, today there are an estimated 5.4 million wild turkeys and approximately 2.6 million turkey hunters. Since 1985, more than
$135 million NWTF and cooperator dollars have been spent on over 15,000 projects benefiting wild turkeys throughout North America.

The NWTF is a 390,000-member grassroots, nonprofit organization with members in 50 states, Canada and 11 foreign countries. It supports scientific wildlife management on public, private and corporate lands as well as wild turkey hunting as a traditional North American sport.