| Field to Table Dinner | Schedule | Campfire Stories | Backcountry Brewfest |
Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers at Rendezvous 2023 at the Fairgrounds, 7:30 pm, March 18, in Missoula, Montana, for Campfire Stories Presented by Irish Setter! Join amazing storytellers from around the continent as they weave tales of public lands and outdoor experiences. You will laugh and you may cry during this memorable event! Get your tickets to Rendezvous 2023 now! This year's storytellers include Randy Newberg, Hank Shaw, Ashley Smith, DJ Zor, Ray Penny, Jamie Jonkel and more!
Randy Newberg
Decades of chasing all species across public lands have provided both experience and perspective that has allowed Randy to become the leading advocate for the self-guided hunter; hunters dependent upon public lands for hunting access. What started by accident, has grown into two popular TV shows, Fresh Tracks and On Your Own Adventures, accompanied by the long-standing Hunt Talk web forum. Now added to those platforms is the Hunt Talk Podcast where you get Randy Newberg, unfiltered. Randy uses his platforms to advocate for hunters and public access. In addition to representing hunters in Congress and state legislatures, he serves as a volunteer and board member for many hunting and conservation groups.
Hank Shaw
Hank is a former restaurant cook, has caught fish and dug clams for a living and, after 18 years as a political reporter for newspapers ranging from New York to Virginia to Wisconsin, Minnesota and California, he pays the bills writing cookbooks, fishing, foraging and hunting. He's written five cookbooks, the most recent in the spring of 2021. As a food writer, his work has been published in Food & Wine, Petersen’s Hunting, Garden & Gun, Organic Gardening, The Art of Eating, Field and Stream, Sactown and several other publications. Hank walks the walk and talks the talk when it comes to wild game.
Ashley Smith
Attorney Ashley Smith is a bi-lingual thought leader, group cohesion expert, writer, and national public speaker. Ashley co-founded The Minority Outdoor Alliance with the mission of cultivating a more inclusive world that supports the enjoyment of and conservation of our natural resources. Ashley is also the founder of NOS Global, LLC, which helps organizations uncover how to benefit from an ever-changing world through data-driven diversity, equity, inclusion, and organizational cohesion programs.
Ashley has had the honor of giving speeches, facilitating workshops, and hosting large outdoor recreational and educational events for a number of state agencies, conservation organizations, and corporations across the nation.
Ashley completed her undergraduate education at the University of Georgia with degrees in journalism and Spanish. After college, Ashley completed her law degree at Georgia State University College of Law.
Ashley seeks the outdoors as a place to renew and rejuvenate. Ashley likes to meditate, pray, and exercise outdoors. She also enjoys archery, biking, hiking, and fishing. Ashley believes that there is so much more that unites us as human beings than divides us, and believes that being outdoors is the perfect setting for memory making, tradition keeping, and connecting with others. Ashley and her husband have a young daughter and son.
DJ Zor
DJ Zor is a Lifetime member of BHA. In the past, he has served with great effect on the Arizona Trout Unlimited board and the BHA chapter board. DJ recently moved to Montana with his family and is a massive asset to the AFI team in the area. In December 2021, DJ was asked to join AFI's National Advisory Board as treasurer, and he graciously accepted. DJ is a Navy Sub-Mariner and looks the part.
Ray Penny
When it comes to waterfowl decoys, there are few who have been in the game longer than G&H Decoys. Proudly producing Made in America decoys for over 80 years, few have the notoriety and reputation for quality that G&H does. As CEO of G&H, Ray Penny knows that public access to public waters is key to introducing new hunters into waterfowling and creating lifelong stewards who will protect these precious recourses, and our outdoor traditions, for generations to come.
Jamie Jonkel
A wildlife biologist with Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Jamie Jonkel is a grizzly bear expert and the guy you call when you've got a bear in your garage (it happens more often than you'd think). A technical expert in his field, Jonkel is also a storyteller extraordinaire and a dude who definitely understands the power of the bear.
Rachel Schmidt
A lifelong Montana resident; her two boys are the fourth generation of kiddos to be raised running around the streets of our hometown. After graduating from the University of Montana in resource conservation, she entered a career in sales and marketing for the outdoor adventure and equipment manufacturing industries, and, in most recent, years worked with BHA for land, water and wildlife. In 2017, she was chosen by the Governor of Montana to create and direct the MT Governor's Office of Outdoor Recreation, striving to build a thriving and sustainable outdoor recreation economy for our state. Currently she owns her own consulting business with work primarily focused in conservation and outdoor recreation economy. You can find her with people she loves rafting local rivers, camping, chasing my bird dog, hunting and fishing, surfing on Whitefish Lake, skiing, and traveling.
Get your tickets here!