Wildlife club members volunteer

Members of CSC’s Wildlife/Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation club  helped Nebraska Game and Parks Commission with deer check stations for the nine day November firearm season.

Volunteers from the club were able to work at check stations in Chadron, Crawford and Rushville. 

Shifts were six hours long running from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. and 2-8 p.m. Members could take multiple shifts at each station.

Hunters who have harvested a deer during the firearm season must be checked at an in-person check station. 

Other deer seasons now use TeleCheck a survey designed during 2020. This survey allow hunters to check in animals without attending a check station.

Some deer carcasses that are checked at the stations will have lymph node samples taken to be tested for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

Club members learn what to do at check stations during one of the clubs meetings earlier in the semester. 

Students are taught to age deer and how to take lymph node samples for CWD testing.

Wildlife/RMEF President, Justin Gress was one the volunteers at the check stations along with 20 other club members.

“It (volunteering) allows me to be a positive influence and role model for all of my fellow conservationists as hunters,” Gress said. “And there is a lot of great stories and positive experiences that you just won’t find anywhere else. It’s truly a great experience and feeling to be able to give back to the public as a conservationist myself.”

According to Gress, many club members volunteered for multiple shifts in different towns, to get a diverse experience.

I am also extremely proud of our club as a whole,” Gress said. “We have a great group of active members and future leaders. They don’t get enough credit for their countless hours of volunteering and hard work, so we as officers are extremely thankful and blessed to be able to lead such an eager group of members.”