Howard (L) and Donald (R) Thomas are both avid hunters and proud UA Local 502 members.
Howard Thomas followed his father’s footsteps both as a union man and a sportsman. He has been a member of the UA Local 502 Plumbers, Pipefitters and Service Techs since 1997, where his dad, Donald Thomas, was an active member for 37 years before retiring. His dad also introduced him to hunting, and they continue to share a passion for the sport today, primarily hunting whitetail in their home state of Indiana.
This fall, Howard will get to pay his dad back in a big way thanks to the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA) Remington Wyoming Dream Hunt Sweepstakes. After learning that he was drawn as the grand prize winner of an all-expenses-paid Wyoming antelope hunt at The Ranch at Ucross, Thomas chose his dad as the lucky guest to join him on the trip.
“I have never even seen an antelope except on TV,” said Thomas, who added that it will be a first for his dad as well. “We always talked about doing something like this, but it’s very expensive and, with kids, there’s no time. This makes it a lot easier.”
When Thomas saw an ad for the USA’s sweepstakes in the UA magazine, he figured he might as well enter, but he couldn’t help wondering “what is this going to cost me” when he got the phone call from USA Deputy Director Mike d’Oliveira. Lucky for Thomas, the answer was nothing, thanks to the USA’s great partnership with Remington.
The Remington Model 700 CDL SF in 7mm Mag that tops off the $7,000 grand prize package is ‘extra sweet’ icing on the cake for Thomas, an avid Remington fan and the owner of six Remington shotguns. You can only hunt whitetail with a shotgun in Indiana, so the Model 700 will come in handy for Thomas’ antelope hunt in the fall.
“I never knew that Remington was union until Mike told me…that made it even better,” Thomas said. “I tell all my friends to buy nothing but Remington.”
We wish Thomas and his dad the best of luck on their antelope hunt and look forward to sharing the highlights of their trip in a future issue of the Union Sportsmen’s Journal.
