DawsonTimes.com

Four friends competing as Team Walleye “tackled” the great outdoors and “reeled in” $10,000 in Bass Pro Shops® gift cards as the grand prize winner of the Georgia Lottery’s Outdoor Buddy Challenge.

The team celebrated their win by flopping into a wade pool on site.

“It feels great,” said Dawsonville’s Jared Polman, team captain. “It’s hard to believe really.”

Other members of Team Walleye were: Paul Barron, 26, of Dawsonville; Carey Chappell, 46, of Dawsonville; and Tyler Cowart, 23, of Ball Ground.

The Outdoor Buddy Challenge featured four outdoor adventure contests: air rifle, archery, bait casting and tent pitching. The event was held April 4 at the Bass Pro Shops® in Lawrenceville at Discover Mills.

“We all like the outdoors, so we just thought we’d come try it,” said Polman, 28. “We practiced all week. We thought we had a pretty good chance at it.”

The Outdoor Buddy Challenge was held in conjunction with the Georgia Lottery instant game Bass Pro Shops® $250,000 Cash Adventure. The game offers cash prizes up to $250,000 and $500 Bass Pro Shops® gift cards that can be used in-store or online.

Enter non-winning game tickets in one of four bonus chance drawings for the opportunity to win an all-inclusive adventure trip valued at more than $25,000. For more information, visit www.galotterycashadventure.com.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has returned over $10.5 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Prekindergarten Program. More than 1.1 million students have received HOPE, and more than 940,000 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

For more information, please visit www.galottery.com.