Past Winners

Michael Holup - 2008 Grand Prize Winner

Congratulations

to our Bad Boy Buggy Grand Prize winner Michael Holup of Beverly Hills, FL!!! Pictured are L-R: Jay Everett, Michael Holup and Mark Ezell of Pushmataha Plantation. Michael recieved his prize while on his hunt at Pushmataha Plantation in Alabama. In addition to the Bad Boy Buggie, Michael won a Thompson Center Triumph, a complete ScentLok Suit, Hunter Safety System Pro-Series Vest and a complete DK Flatwoods Camoflauge outfit. Michael reports that he didn't bring a buck home from his hunt; "I missed!!! Must of burned all my luck up on the Big Buck Lotto. But, it was dang sure worth it!!"

Kenny Bethea - 2007 Grand Prize Winner

The 2007 Southern Trophy Hunters Big Buck Lotto Grand Prize winner was Kenny Bethea of Lake City, Florida. Kenny won a brand new 2007 Bad Boy Buggy, a Hunter Safety System, a Savannah Scent-Lok Suit, a complete DK Flatwoods Camo outfit and his choice of any one of our 10 member hunts!

Kenny Bethea’s wife, Melody and two children, Brittany and Tyler, helped us surprise Kenny with the news. Southern Trophy Hunters arranged for a camera crew to greet Kenny as he came home from work to capture his expression when he found out what he had won. Kenny was a little irritated when he got home because the folks at his job kept holding him up. What he didn’t know was that his fellow workers in the mechanics department at the county school system were in on the surprise, too. When he walked in the door, after brief introductions, we began to tell Kenny what he’d won. As he was looking over the hunts trying to decide which one he wanted to go on he kept saying while shaking his head, “I ain’t believing this, I ain’t believing this.” While still in disbelief and shock, the phone rang for Kenny. Michael Waddell called Kenny to share more exciting news. Waddell congratulated Kenny on winning the Big Buck Lotto and chatted with him a minute before breaking the news that he had one other thing for Kenny that he didn’t know about, a brand new Bad Boy Buggy. The look on his face was absolutely priceless.

We caught the whole thing on HD video including the phone call from Waddell. Kenny was really overwhelmed. At one point it looked as though he teared up as he turned his head and covered his face while on the phone with Michael. After hanging up the phone he walked out the back door to see his Bad Boy Buggy for the first time. He looked at his wife and said “Who all knew about this?” to which Melody replied, “Pretty much the whole town except you.” “Well I gotta hand it to you,” Kenny answered, “I didn’t have a clue! Man, I ain’t believing this.” He then turned to Jay Everett of STH and said “Well I guess the good Lord takes care of his own don’t he? I’ve done a lot things for other folks and not that I was looking for it but a bunch of times I never even got a thank you. But, I always try to help folks when I can because I just think that’s what’s right. Now look at this.”

The Bethea family were such a pleasure to meet. They were humble and grateful beyond description. It only took about five minutes for word to spread and one by one his closest hunting buddies started to show up to share the moment. They, likewise, couldn’t believe it.

Kenny made the decision to hunt at Great Southern Outdoors in Union Springs, Alabama. Kenny had the opportunity to hunt in Canada, several states in the Mid-west and Texas, but he chose to hunt at Great Southern Outdoors because it included a free ‘buddy-hunt’. So Kenny and his son Tyler loaded up on December 26 and made the five-hour trek to Alabama’s famous Black Belt Region. I met the two at GSO in order to capture the entire four-day hunt on HD video. Each member of our group was excited about the chance to hunt on the sprawling 8,000-acre plantation. Hunting was difficult and deer movement was slow due to high winds and steady rain. On the second evening of the hunt, a tornado watch was in effect with lightning and strong winds putting all hunting on hold. Even though the weather was terrible, Rex Pritchett, owner of GSO, was a gracious host and made the most of the inclement weather conditions. Great Southern Outdoors offers a game room and fabulous dining/meeting facility and good ole down-home Southern cooking. Although Kenny and Tyler went home without a buck, there was no shortage of memories made for the two of them on this father-son hunt and they will return to GSO this summer for an opportunity to hunt wild hogs. All of the staff at Southern Trophy Hunters say congratulations to Kenny and offer up a big THANKS to all the sponsors who made this event possible.