Hulett, WY–Seventy-four hunters gathered here recently for the annual Old West Invitational Turkey Shoot. Hunters came from as far away as Maryland, Alabama and Michigan to hunt the elusive Merriam turkey.
Fifty-eight landowners/outfitters provided nearly 135,000 acres of hunting ground for a guide and two hunters to chase their trophies for a day-and-a-half. The whole town (population 309) comes together to embrace this annual event that raises money for the Greater Hulett Community Center, as well as the Wyoming Wildlife Foundation.
There were 27 sponsors, of which six are involved in the forest products industry. These included: RDO Equipment Co., the signature sponsor and distributor of John Deere equipment; Neiman Enterprises, which operates four sawmills and is headquartered in Hulett; Forest Products Distributors Inc. that operates a remanufacturing facility in Rapid City, SD; RJ Olson Log Homes; and National Hardwood Magazine, Memphis, TN.
With a modest population and a history that dates back to 1881, Hulett has a strong tradition of welcoming newcomers with fabled Western hopitality. Built on the banks of the Bell Fourche River and surrounded by the beautiful red rim rocks of northeastern Wyoming’s Bear Lodge Mountains, Hulett is a safe and peaceful western community. Named for Louis Hulett and his family, who settled here in 1881, the town was legally incorporated in 1951.
Devils Tower is probably the most well-known landmark in the Bear Lodge Mountains. Devils Tower, a soaring volcanic uplift, so impressed Theodore Roosevelt that he designated it America’s first National Monument in 1906.
The Greater Hulett Community Center is a non-profit corporation designed to reconstruct and re-purpose the former Hulett School into the Greater Hulett Community Center.
Those that are interested, go to www.oldwestturkeyshoot.org.
