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Birth of New Game Ranchers

Recently, the Southeastern Game Ranchers Association sponsored the First Annual Louisiana Game Ranch Extravaganza, an event that was also supported by the Louisiana FFA, Steve and Carolyn Laughlin of the North American Deer Farmers Association (NADeFA), SGRA members Jerome and Nadia Fiti and the Juneau family of Moreauville, La., who offered their hospitality along with their private Safari Park to host the venue.

The event brought together members of the SGRA and Louisiana Alternative Livestock Farmers and, more importantly, introduced Louisiana FFA students to the world of game ranching and deer farming.

The event featured mini-seminars for enclosure-based wildlife management, antler scoring and artificial insemination of whitetail deer. In addition, there was a fabulous tour of the ranch, and an informative demonstration of how to work whitetail deer in a handling system.

The First Annual Louisiana Game Ranch Extravaganza was conceived from a brainstorming exercise that included Scott Heinrich, Sr., executive director of the SGRA, Ponchatoula High School FFA Advisors Donna Jean Heinrich and Alice Dubois, and the Louisiana State FFA President Tess Morse, with the support of Ronald N. Mayeux, Ph.D., executive secretary of the Louisiana FFA Association.

“FFA students are a wonderful resource to help ensure our industry’s future,” says Scott Heinrich, executive director of the SGRA. “If we get FFA students involved in the game ranch industry and its career opportunities, then these future industry regulators, politicians, state veterinarians, biologists, etc. would have a better appreciation of our industry.
“At this event, I watched as more than 100 students became enthralled with the workings and careers of the game ranch and deer farming industry,” adds Heinrich. “I truly believe that at this event at Juneau Safari Park, I witnessed the birth of the next generation of game ranchers and deer farmers.”