The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

You're probably thinking what do elk have to do with weddings? Well nothing, but my dad and I are members of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and have been attending their Denver banquet for the last 5 years. It is a fun filled evening of raffles, auctions, food and raising money. This was the tenth anniversary of the Denver banquet, and was also the year that they eclipsed 1 million dollars raised. I had the opportunity this year to photograph the event and it was a lot of fun. 650 people, 43 live auction items, and all kinds of excitement.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is a great organization that has a very simple but powerful mission statement..."The mission of the Elk Foundation is to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat." It is an incredibly active organization that attains its goals by...
* Conserving, restoring and enhancing natural habitats;
* Promoting the sound management of wild, free-ranging elk, which may be hunted or otherwise enjoyed;
* Fostering cooperation among federal, state, tribal and private organizations and individuals in wildlife management and habitat conservation; and
* Educating members and the public about habitat conservation, the value of hunting, hunting ethics and wildlife management.

Here are some pictures of the excitement of the night.


Pulling out the name of a lucky winner.

The shot glass raffle was for a lifetime membership.

Awards from previous years.

A lifetime membership is worth $1500. To win all you had to do was buy a $20 ticket, not a bad deal.



The president and CEO of the entire Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

One of the items in the live auction.

THE Auctioneer.

These bid spotters had a ton of energy and really helped to sell some of the items.

One of the bid spotters doing his thing.

Why everyone was there.