SECTION ONE
E X E C U T I V E D I R E C TO R S M E S S AG E | M A R K C . S M I T H
Fresh off of an all night flight home to Indiana from
the shores of Kizhuyak Bay on Kodiak Island, I find my
self jet-lagged and unable to sleep at 2:45am. Which
can mean only one thing; it’s time to get the Executive
Directors Column written for Horizons. It is a very
busy time here in the E.D. office preparing for the an-
nual conference scheduled for September 25-28 at Lake
of the Woods, Minnesota. On that topic, rooms will
book up and sell out quickly at the Sportsman’s Lodge,
which is our host facility. So if you want to be where
the action is, book now. Not to worry, when Sports-
man’s does sell out I will publish a list of overflow
facilities, some within easy walking distance and all
have agreed to the same reasonable rates being offered
by Sportsman’s Lodge.
Conference planning is going well and there are a
couple of new things happening this year. One be-
ing that there will be opportunities to be in the field
either hunting or fishing every day of the conference.
Hopefully this will create some great memories of Lake
of the Woods. I also hope it creates some wonderful
content for stories to be written, pod-casts aired, ins-
tagrams, tweets and posts. This makes our host and or
corporate sponsors very happy. Something else new is
going to be an on-the-water seminar about waterfowl
hunting. The presenters will actually be in the water
showing the latest techniques for decoy placement,
blind and boat concealment and calling. The attend-
ees will be on the water comfortably aboard one of the
many charter boats moored at Sportsman’s Lodge.
Unfortunately, the very first AGLOW Writers Camp,
which was scheduled to take place on Norfolk Lake in
Arkansas, had to be cancelled due to the extreme weath-
er an subsequent flooding that took place. The next
AGLOW Writers Camp will take place just about pub-
lication time of this Horizons at Green Bay, Wisconsin.
These camps are structured somewhat differently from
the Cast and Blast format, the host CVB and Corpo-
rate Sponsors have an opportunity to choose which
AGLOW media members they would like to attend. If
you would like to be considered for future AGLOW
Writers Camps simply shoot me an email indicating
your interest and please include your preference of
activity (hunting, fishing, boating, etc), your media ex-
pertise (writer, photographer, blogger, etc) and where
your work appears. Send that email to me at aglowout-
[email protected] . If you are a Corporate or Tourism
Member and would like to be involved in planning and
participating in one, please reach out to me at the same
email address.
In closing, it is with deep sadness that I must inform
you that Mick Nelson, owner of Trophy Anglers Tackle
Company has passed away at the young age of 56. Mick
has been a Corporate Member of AGLOW for many
years and has attended several of our most recent con-
ferences. Mick was one of the sponsors of the Norfolk
Lake AGLOW Writers Camp and when that was can-
celled he came here to Indiana and stayed with me for a
few days of fishing and turkey hunting. Mostly fishing
because he shot his best turkey ever in only 18 minutes
in the blind! Sadly, he passed away two weeks to the
day after shooting that turkey. He was so proud of that
bird that his wife, Ana, used it as his obituary picture.
Godspeed Mick, you will be missed.
HORIZONS | 11