NC State Wildlife Students Host Annual Wild Foods Supper

Contributed by Marley Kelly, President of the Leopold Wildlife Club
On April 12th, the NC State student chapter of The Wildlife Society, aka Leopold Wildlife Club, hosted their annual Wild Foods Supper (WFS) fundraiser at the Five Points Center in Raleigh. WFS is a potluck style dinner featuring dishes made from North Carolina game and foraged plants. This event brings together the FWCB community, including students, friends, and alumni, to raise funds to support learning experiences and service activities. The event was a great success with over 50 attendees, including several alumni and a few faculty from outside of the College of Natural Resources. Dishes at the event included otter fried rice, barbecued beaver, spice bush tea, cricket powder brownies, fried bluefish, venison summer sausage, feral hog sausage balls, and sauteed “weeds”. The club raised funds from donations, a raffle, and a silent auction. The funds helped, or will help, support student participation in wood duck nest box monitoring at Yates Mill County Park, a squirrel hunt for women club members, a telemetry workshop with Dr. Mali, and travel to the regional wildlife conclave in Gainesville, Florida in 2026. This WFS was student-led with great contributions from several club members and from faculty co-advisors Drs. Mihnovets and Moorman. The club would like to thank Carolina All Out and Great Outdoor Provisions Co. for their generous donations. Thank you to Todd Menke for supplying a great array of furbearer meat.