The Arizona Chapter honored two members at its annual fundraiser this year, recognizing their achievements at Outstanding Member and Outstanding Hunter. Recognized as Member of the Year was George Alcorta and honored as the Hunter of the Year was Marty Henrikson. Chapter Executive Director Bobby Boido presented the awards to Alcorta (at left) and Henrikson.
The Arizona Chapter honored two members at its annual fundraiser this year, recognizing their achievements at Outstanding Member and Outstanding Hunter. Recognized as Member of the Year was George Alcorta and honored as the Hunter of the Year was Marty Henrikson. Chapter Executive Director Bobby Boido presented the awards to Alcorta and Henrikson.
Marty Henrikson was honored as Hunter of the Year during the Arizona Chapter banquet last month. He explains his passion for hunting, fishing and the outdoors:
“As a very young boy, my dad had me outdoors, first hunting ducks and doves and occasionally allowing me to drag behind as he pursued deer,” Henrikson said. “Those days were mostly spent taking stickers out of my socks, but soon I would learn to love being outside and spending time in God’s great creation.
“In 1973 at the age of 14, I harvested my first rifle javelina, then just two years later I shot a javelina with a recurve bow and was instantly addicted to archery,” Henrikson explained. “From that day forward I became determined to become a better archer and bowhunter.
“In the years to come, I started to practice regularly in my yard and at 3-D tournaments and eventually went on to shoot both marked yardage events and also traveled around the U.S. competing in major 3-D events. No doubt this was a very large part of my success in the hunting arena because as shots presented themselves, I was able to make the proper shot that allowed me to harvest future animals,” Henrikson explained.
“After my first archery deer, I was able to shoot one every year for 35 years. But during all those years I had little success in drawing elk tags and so along came bass fishing, as I needed something else in my life to satisfy my hunger to be outdoors,” he noted. “Because I work hard at anything I do, I became a student of bass fishing and soon found myself winning tournaments across Arizona. To date, I have four Angler of the Year awards and many tournament wins. This became a good filler for the years of not drawing tags and although there is little in life that I’d rather do than go archery elk hunting, it has been fun chasing those big green fish.
“To date, I have killed close to 100 animals with my bow, including predators and I give God and my very supportive wife all the glory for allowing me to enjoy the great outdoors. I look forward now to teaching others and passing along things I’ve learned along the way.
“My latest passion includes flyfishing and, as always, I will likely pursue this hard. I am thankful to friends and coaches along the way who taught me so much, the likes of Rick Betten, Ron Grimes, Frank Pearson and the Master George Chapman,” Henrikson concluded.
