What began as a social challenge between two friends has become one of the unique experiences in the world today. The Lander One Shot Antelope Hunt has grown to two organizations and a charitable foundation.
The One Shot Antelope Hunt – A 1939 challenge between Harold Evans of Lander, Wyoming, and Hank Dahl of Golden, Colorado, to shoot an antelope with just one bullet led to the first One Shot Antelope Hunt held on Labor Day weekend near Lander in 1940. There were only two teams that year---one from Colorado and one from Wyoming---with five men on each tem, but it was the beginning of a tradition that has flourished. The hunt has been held every year since, except from 1942-1945, when it was suspended during World War II, and has been the inspiration for similar events in North America and Africa. On August 23, 1949, after the Wyoming Game and Fish Department announced it would no longer furnish wardens as guides for the hunt, and the governor would no longer furnish free licenses for participants, citizens of Lander incorporated the One Shot Antelope Hunt Club to perpetuate the hunt. Through the years the Wyoming and Colorado teams have served as co-hosts two teams from nearly every state.
The Hunt has undergone very few changes since it inception. The number of team members varied until 1966, when it was changed to three hunters.
The hunt is always held on opening day of the antelope hunting season near Lander, with all team members gathering on the day before the hunt to sight in their rifles and participate in pre-hunt shooting competitions. An impressive Shoshone Indian ceremony featuring “The Legend of the Hunt” is held in the evening, when each One Shot hunter is made a blood brother of the tribe, given an Indian name and a sacred Indian medicine bag, and has his bullet blessed for the next morning’s hunt.
After the hunt, at the Saturday evening Victory Banquet, team members tell packed audiences at the Lander Community Center why they did or did not collect their bucks with one shot each. Only buck antelope taken with one shot are credited. Antelope taken with more than one shot are considered a “miss”. Each hunter who scored is presented a silver bullet; those who did not are presented laughing antelope plaques. The evening ends with members of the winning team dancing with the Shoshone braves while the others are relegated to dance with the Indian maidens in a traditional Round Dance.
The
feeling of camaraderie during the hunt develops a bond of friendship among
the hunters, and is renewed when team members return to Lander for future
One Shot hunts. When they return, though, it is as Past Shooters.
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Recognizing that many former One Shot Antelope Hunt team members return year after year to renew old friendships, the One Shot Antelope Hunt's Past Shooters Club was formed on September 2, 1955. Its mission then and now is to “aid and assist the Lander One Shot Antelope Hunt Club…cooperate with and assist in wildlife management and preservation…to foster and perpetuate reasonable and controlled hunting of such wildlife in accordance with good sportsmanlike practices and hunting procedures…and to sponsor and control an annual meeting or assembly of all members coincident with the holding of the (One Shot Hunt) each year…to encourage and demonstrate good fellowship and sportsmanship in the hunting of wild game.”
Harrison Johnson was elected the first President. George Case, of Lander, became Secretary – Treasurer, a job that eventually became that of the Executive Vice- President, who is always located in Lander. The exclusive Past Shooter Club has included many famous names over the years. Such as Tennessee Ernie Ford, Steve Allen, Edgar Bergen, Bill Dana, James Drury, George Montgomery, Joe Foss, Charlie Daniels, Larry Hagman, Tex Ritter, and Charlie Walker. The participants have included astronauts and cosmonauts, musicians, statesmen diplomats, editors and publishers, and business leaders. Opera star Lauritz Melchior, General Norman Schwarzkopf, General Chuck Yeager, Roy Rogers, and singer Hank Thompson shot on more than one team.
The purpose of the Past Shooters Club is to support the One Shot Antelope Hunt. But members enjoy the fellowship and the activities of the Hunt, as well.
In 1963, the Past Shooters Club was recognized as a non-profit Wyoming corporation. Membership is limited to those who have participated as a team member or alternat in a One Shot Hunt. Past Shooters meet at the annual September hunt, and at a spring “Foo Foo Rah,” an event based on the traditions of 19th century frontier trappers, traders and Indians. The location and facilities of the Foo Foo Rah may vary from year to year, but the annual weekends always are devoted to fun and non-serious competition.
In addition to fund-raising efforts benefiting wildlife, the Past Shooters raised more than $95,000 in 1990 to expand and remodel the Lander Community Center where One Shot activities are held each year, and many other donations to other non-profit community projects. In 1994, Past Shooters began a fundraising effort to purchase a building at 545 Main Street, Lander, Wyoming. This building now houses the Past Shooters Club, the One-Shot Antelope Hunt Foundation, Water For Wildlife program and the Evans/Dahl Memorial Museum.
The One shot Antelope Hunt Foundation: Water For Wildlife Program On May
1, 1975, the One Shot Antelope Hunt Foundation was incorporated to allow
Past Shooters Club member-trustees to pursue goals in a variety of new
directions. The foundation’s mission has always been to benefit wildlife.
Conservation of pronghorn antelope is the foundation’s priority, of course,
and according to Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the largest single factor
in pronghorn fawn survival has been the availability of water.
In 1976, the foundation, in conjunction with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, approached the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with a unique offer to help fund a much-needed water development project that would enhance pronghorn antelope habitat. From this beginning, the Water For Wildlife program was born. To raise money for such projects, however, a tax-exempt organization needed to be established with the Internal Revenue Service.
Through the efforts of many members, the One Shot Antelope Hunt Foundation officially became a non-profit, tax-exempt organization under the IRS code 501©(3). By 1983, the One Shot Foundation had completed more than twenty projects in Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho and agencies across the West were proposing future projects. Today, over 270 Water For Wildlife projects can be found in 11 U.S. states. Funding comes from tax-exempt contribution form hundreds of individuals and organization around the world. Current emphasis is on developing water for multiple use.
Another dream nurtured by the founders of the Past Shooters Club was a museum that would preserve the traditions of the One Shot Hunt. In 1978, under the supervision of Frank H. Bandy, the Evans/Dahl Museum was constructed and donated to the Fremont County Commission as an addition to the Fremont County Pioneer Museum in Lander. In 1998, the EVANS/DAHL was moved to our own building at 545 Main Street in Lander. Larger, brighter, and much more accessible, the new museum is combined with the headquarters of the One Shot Antelope Hunt organization. In this central location are the offices of the Past Shooters Club, the One Shot Foundation, and the Water For Wildlife Program. The museum is dedicated to preserving the Native American heritage, as well as the One Shot Hunt. It is open to the public and features fascinating highlights of Wyoming history, including the One Shot Hunt’s contributions to wildlife preservation. Memorabilia donated by prominent Past Shooters also are exhibited.
Phone us at (307)332-8190
or fax us at (307)332-3357
or call the One Shot
Foundation/Water for Wildlife at 1-800-768-7743
Email us at PastShooters@Wyoming.com
Mail us at Past
Shooters Club
545 W Main St
Lander WY 82520
