Country Goes Huntin’ Bringing It Back To The Camp

Country Goes Huntin’ co-founder Sam Klement and country-music star Lorrie Morgan pose with a bird she killed during a previous Country Goes Huntin’ hunt. The event pairs a multi-day turkey hunt involving country and outdoors stars with an acoustic concert to raise money for charity.

“Bringing it Back to the Camp” is the theme for this year’s eighth-annual Country Goes Huntin’ (CGH) event scheduled for March 29-April 1 in Blakely. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a decade since the co-founders of CGH, professional hunter Sam Klement and country artist/songwriter Rhett Akins, held their very first CGH non-profit event. If you’ve been watching outdoor television shows like “Bone Collector,” “HS Outdoors,” “Realtree Outdoors” or “Gettin’ Close with Lee and Tiffany” — to name a few — no doubt you have seen what CGH is all about.

“Two traditions making a difference,” has been the simple concept. CGH invites the top outdoor television professionals and the top country artists on a three-day turkey hunt around the wiregrass area in southeast Alabama, southwest Georgia and north Florida. The hunts are followed by an all-acoustic celebrity benefit concert.

In years past the event has grown in popularity, and the concert portion has sold out a number of larger venues. With this popularity has come a lot of work for the two co-founders and countless volunteers working with schedules, logistics and everything else. So this year they decided to make the event much smaller and more exclusive.

There will also be an online auction sponsored by <www.camospace.com>, where you will be able to bid on items like a Realtree-dipped, one-of-a-kind guitar, as well as a number of hunting and fishing trips and many more one-of-a-kind items. All proceeds from the sponsors, concert and auction are put into a pot and split among the CGH celebrities for donation to their charities of choice.

Previous donations have made a difference for many charities such as: St. Judes Children’s Hospital, The American Cancer Society, Wiregrass Children’s Home, The Georgia Outdoor Network’s SEEDS program, Georgia Sheriff’s Boys Ranch, Enterprise High School Tornado Victims, as well as The National Wild Turkey Federation Wheelin’ Sportsmen, which helps disabled hunters. That’s just a few of the charities that have benefitted from CGH.

With the theme of “Bringin’ it Back to the Camp,” you know this year’s eventy is going to be the most exclusive event to date. With only 500 tickets being sold this year, tickets won’t last long.

“It’s like having a backstage pass to the coolest hunting camp in the world,” said Micheal Waddell, host of “Realtree Roadtrips” and the hot new show “Bone Collector.”

Country artist Daryle Singletary and Akins agreed that this year’s event will definitely have that small-town feel being held in Blakely.

“It’s amazing when you actually look at past CGH alumni who have either donated their time to attend and perform or personal items — celebrities like Eddie Salter, Ryan Klesko, Larry The Cable Guy, Nascar’s Richard Childress, Rascal Flats lead singer Gary Levox, Blake Shelton, Craig Morgan, T-Bone etc…” said Sam. “And we’re also very thankful to our great sponsors, like Realtree, Lacrosse and the Blakely-Early County Chamber of Commerce.”

For a full list of this year’s CGH celebrities or to get involved, log onto <www.countrygoeshuntin.com>. For ticket information, contact Hillary with the Blakely-Early County Chamber of Commerce at (229) 723-3741. Tickets go on sale March 7, and the CGH Camp Concert will be held on March 31 in Blakely.

“We are excited to be hosting this year’s event,” said Hillary Halford with The Blakley-Early County Chamber of Commerce. “It’s amazing how big the event has gotten when you think about how it started with Rhett playing a guitar around a campfire and Sam conducting a personal turkey-hunting seminar for a few lucky winners. We are excited to be a part of this very unique one-of-a-kind experience and look forward to hopefully keeping the turkey event in Blakley for years to come!”