Don Kriley is a lucky man. How lucky? His wife, Susan, is as excited about hunting as he is, and eagerly anticipates forays into the game fields. Not every man can make that claim with sincerity.
Don, who hails from North Carolina, is a financial consultant who specializes in retirement management. He is also an all-around North American big-game hunter but enjoys upland bird hunting as well. However, all work and no play is never a recipe for a happy life, and Don is an accomplished golfer with a very low handicap.
A full involvement with the NRA is the Kriley way. Don is a Benefactor Life member of the NRA while Susan is a Life member. Susan serves on the Board of Trustees of The NRA Foundation as well as on the Executive Committee of the Women's Leadership Forum. Don and Susan are both Alexander Hamilton-level members of the NRA Ring of Freedom and members of the Hunters' Leadership Forum's President's Founders Club. Susan is on the Hunters’ Leadership Forum National Steering Committee and Don is the Chairman of the Hunters’ Leadership Forum National Luncheon Team. The Krileys’ involvement is complete.
But let’s return to Susan and her dedication to hunting. The year of transformation for Susan was 2011. Up until then, her NRA involvement had been more about Constitutional freedoms and less about firearms. Susan not only had never hunted, but she had never shot a firearm. However, all that changed with an invitation to join NRA on a 21-day trip to South Africa along with current NRA President Allan Cors, and his wife, Darleen. Susan found herself loaded into a hunting vehicle with a PH and a spotter, riding across the reserve in search of ostrich. One was eventually spotted and with one shot, Susan dispatched said ostrich.
Susan and Don returned to South Africa earlier this summer with some NRA friends. Susan, the only woman on the trip, cleaned up with nine animals—starting with a lion. From there, she took eight more species, including a copper springbok to complete her springbok grand slam. It seemed that Susan couldn’t miss, and her PH deemed their truck the “One-Shot Fun Truck.” To make the trip even more special, Don and Susan each took vaal reedbucks within an hour of each other, making them the only married couple to ever do that.
Susan was excited beyond explanation, but we think Don’s excitement eclipsed Susan’s by a significant margin when he realized he had a new hunting partner, and the best possible hunting partner at that. It is easy to see why the Krileys take membership in the NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum so seriously. The Krileys don’t want Americans to lose the opportunity to partake in an activity that not only brings families together, but brings great joy. Preserving this uniquely American pastime is the main goal of the NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum, and who can better represent that sentiment than the Krileys? We think you will agree.
