CAMPFIRE, WAGS AND A FEW SNAGS

NEWS Rick Mazza

The Western Australian Branch of ADA recently held its AGM combined with a fundraising, butchering and sausage making weekend in the Ferguson Valley. Approximately 30 members and their families attended with many camping overnight for some fellowship and sausage making action.  

Mark Mazza went to great lengths to host the event, from procuring a couple of red deer and dressing them out to hang for a week to garnering all the necessary ingredients and equipment for a successful weekend. Some members provided secret recipes with all the sausages pre-sold prior to the event. 

Celebrity game chef, Jason Spencer, attended, making clever use of the offal to make brandy pate and stuffed venison heart.  

In a festive atmosphere, all members rolled up their sleeves and got into the action. Some experienced and others new to the lifestyle all learned new methods for processing their game, with plenty of sideline advice, banter and good humour.

Sunday morning saw a few bleary eyes after an evening around the campfire regaling tall stories and talking all the nonsense that good company and a few lubricating drinks will engender. 

After a bit of breakfast, the formalities of the AGM were attended to, with the committee being returned un-contested as no-one else wanted the job: President Daren Phillipe, Vice President Mark Mazza, Treasurer Blair Montague, Secretary Andy Wilkinson and Deer Management Program Co-ordinator Rick Mazza. 

Once the formalities were dispensed with an auction was conducted by Rick Mazza, selling the prime venison cuts not used in the sausages, as well as donated goods from Steelo’s Guns and Outdoors and Jason Spencer’s Brandy Pate. Members dug deep with a lively auction and their generosity raising a significant amount for the branch. 

The branch is raising funds to purchase a mobile coolroom for use on branch operations so that members can get their venison chilled as quickly as possible and continue hunting without the need to rush off home. The weekend raised over $4,000 which will go a long way to achieving the branch’s goal. 

A great time was had by all who attended and a big thank you goes out to Mark Mazza for organising and hosting the weekend and to those members that assisted, particularly the tiresome job of clean up.