FEBRUARY 2018 FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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1 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY DUCK HUNTERS ASSOCIATION A NON-PROFIT ASSOCIATION OF, BY, AND FOR THE DUCK HUNTERS. FEBRUARY 2018 VOLUME 62 ISSUE 2 FEBRUARY 6, 2018 FROM OUR PRES February notes from the president. Hey folks it is already February so be kind to the groundhogs! We had a great presentation of gun fitting from our guest Eric Olson of Helix Gunsmiths. Did you know most American guns are designed to fit a six foot tall person? Given the norm, we have many sub and over par members in the club. The meeting was close and personal in that we had 11 members attending. I think the flu bug played a big part in the numbers. Snacks and beer rewarded those attending. The February meeting will feature member Jerry Mercurio Sr who will expand knowledge of trout fishing at Lake Taneycomo. Jerry is a last minute fill in due to a college conflict of Becky Robertson. Please free to ask Jerry any questions you may have but don t expect any Mercurio deep secrets. This should be a great meeting. The annual trout trip is coming up the first weekend in March. Such a great scheduling by myself as Jerry can also fill us in on the trip. Time of the trout tournament this year will be 6 am to 1pm to allow Dave and Dale time to grab a couple of cold ones before dinner. Many members are so kind to bring some of their own game to the event for all to enjoy. Looking as some social postings, a couple of pheasants would be much appreciated. March program will be headed by member Dan Zerr. Mr. Turkey will inform us of some of his vast knowledge for our use during the coming season. This will be a must see event! Dr. Andrew Raedeke of MO Conservation will be talking about REFUGES and other duck things in our April meeting. Bill Hilgeman will be sending Andy a letter outlining some topics we would like discussed. Let Bill know if you have any ideas. Don t forget your dues are now due. Persons purchasing the $50 of white raffle tickets last year and now paid up for We have a reminder letter going out if you are not paid up by March. We picked up two new members in January, Eric Liebel and Ryan Lourance. Congratulations! INSIDE THIS ISSUE: FROM OUR PRES 1 DUCKS UNLIMITED 2 DELTA ARCH 2 MEMBERSHIP 2 DISCOVER UPDATE 3 TROUT TRIP 3 DU BANQUET 4 CFM CONVENTION 4 SEASONS 4 COLD WEATHER 4 NEWSLETTER 5 ESCRIPTS 5 UPCOMING EVTS 5 GENERAL INFO COV See you at the February Meeting. Art Wende President MVDHA

2 V OLUME 62 I SSUE 2 DUCKS UNLIMITED Mike Checkout accepts a check of $ from in coming president Art Wende and Chairman of the Board Jerry Mercurio. With YOUR MVDHA support of Ducks Unlimited Mike Checkout presented the Association with a wonderful Bronze statue of all of the contributions YOUR MVDHA has presented Ducks Unlimited in the past years. DELTA ARCH Mark Your Calendar 2018 Duckapalooza, Saturday, April 7, 2018 The date for the St. Louis Arch Chapter 2018 Duckapalooza Fundraiser Banquet will be Saturday, April 7th. We will hold the Fundraiser again this year at the Moolah Shrine Center Ballroom located at Fee Fee Road (just West of 270 off Page Blvd. ) P AGE 2 MEMBERSHIP MVDHA BOARD To standardize membership and when dues are due, we are establishing a date of 1 Jan 2018 and at the beginning of each year of when membership dues are due. Normally membership dues are due in April and you have the opportunity to sell $50 of white tickets to renew your membership, when we have our annual fund raiser. To help keep better track of members and non members the first of January each year will be when membership dues MUST be paid by in order to continue your membership. As of this printing, only 36 members have either paid their dues or have sold $50 of white tickets. Membership is only $25.00 a year and they can be mailed to the PO Box at the end of this newsletter. So please consider in renewing your membership, it is just not about you, it is about the great sport we love and the effort YOUR MVDHA supports. President: Art Wende YOUR DUES ARE DUE IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID. Jerry Mercurio Jr., WETLANDS FOR KIDS James Edwards, Mark your calendars now for the annual Wetlands For Kids Day!!! Dale Westerhold, Saturday, April 7, 2018, what a better way to spend the day than to take your kids to this outstanding event!! 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM August Busch Conservation Area 2360 Hwy D St. Charles, Missouri, Free to attend for all ages The 2018 Annual Wetlands for Kids Day, hosted by Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and Ducks Unlimited and supported by grants from Enterprise Foundation and the Mississippi Valley Duck Hunters Association will be held on Saturday April 7, 2018 from 10 am to 3 pm at the August A Busch Me- First V. Pres.: VACANT Fin. Secretary: Rob Mueller Rec. Secretary: Dave Hamilton Correspondence Secretary: Bill Hilgeman and Brad Douglass Membership Chairman: Duane Stinchcomb Board of Directors: Chairman of the Board Jerry Mercurio Directors: Bill Truebe, Ken Liebel, Robert Urbanek, Mike Goetz Ray Boschert Eric Libel

3 VOLUME 62 ISSUE 2 PAGE 3 morial Conservation area in St. Charles, MO. Demonstration and activity stations will introduce children to various aspects of the outdoors and natural world. Trained experts will staff each learning station to instruct participants and answer questions. Come on out and enjoy a day in the outdoors with us! DISCOVER UPDATE Discover Nature Girls Camp 2917 If you did not know YOUR MVDHA helps support this camp by sponsoring about three girls each year. We received a thank-you letter and it states: Dear Mississippi Valley Duck Hunters, I want to personally thank you for your donation to the Discover Nature Girls Camp. It is great to know that you support our youth learning and interest in the outdoors. The camp really captured some of the young ladies interest and they have expressed a desire in putting their new experiences and knowledge to use in Missouri s outdoor resources. The camp consisted of 3 days, starting July 25th through the 27th. We had 46 young ladies ages from across Missouri attend. We also hosted 8 adult chaperones that volunteered their time and participated in the breakout sessions each day. The camp was held in Lincoln county at Redemption Ranch. The facility has great cabins for the girls to stay in overnight and everything closely located. Throughout the three days the girls went through various hunter education sessions. This camp is designed to get the girls involved in hands on learning experience. The sessions teach them how to handle different situations they will encounter while being in the outdoors. Some of the sessions were: rifle target shooting, archery, a firearms safety trail, fishing, canoeing, geocaching, and of course, camp wouldn t be camp without s mores. After having fun learning about hunter safety and education they took the hunter education exam. They all passed!! Enclosed are some thank you letters from the campers and a group photo of the camp participants with their chaperones and us. Please follow us on our Discover Nature Girls Camp Facebook page. We have hundreds of pictures posted there of the girls participating in the camp sessions. If you also have any youth events that you would like me to add to the Facebook page please send me the description and I will post it on the site. I want to thank you again for your generous donation. The camp was a huge success! This was our sixth year of camp and it just gets better every year! We plan to continue the camp on an annual basis encouraging even more young ladies to get out and enjoy the outdoors. Sincerely, Becky Roberson St Charles County Conservation Agent. UPDATE In the last newsletter I did not add some thank you notes from some of the girls that attended this years Discover Nature Girls Camp, below are those notes: MVDHA, Thank you for sponsoring camp!! My favorite activity was canoeing, because it was really fun learning to steer and move a canoe!! Sincerely Stefani from Nashville Ten. MVDHA, Thank you so much for sponsoring this camp. I got to shoot a gun for the first time and that is an experience I will never forget! My favorite activity was archery. I enjoyed everything here and I met new friends. Sincerely Victoria, St. Louis MO. MVDHA, Thank you for sponsoring camp. My favorite activity was trap shooting. It was so fun and it was the first time I have done that. It was also the first time I have ever shot a 20 gauge. Some of our activities included canoeing, archery and making our own fire. Sincerely Olivia, Eolia, MO MVDHA, Thank you so much for sponsoring our camp!! I had so much fun shooting a.22 rifle. This camp was so much fun!! (no signature) TROUT TRIP SEE CORRECTED DATES If you missed the trout trip last year you missed a really special event that YOUR MVDHA has every year. It was a GREAT time had by all. If you would like to go this year, make plans NOW!! We are planning on going the first

4 VOLUME 62 ISSUE 2 PAGE 4 weekend of March of So mark your calendars now for 2,3,and 4th of March. If you went to last years trip and want to go this year, call up Trout Hollow and they will reserve the same room for you as the past year. YOU MUST CONFIRM THAT YOU ARE COMING AND YOU HAVE TWO WEEKS TO CANCEL. Make your reservations now so that you will be ensured of a room. You can call Trout Hollow at or , Remember to tell them if you need a boat slip or if you need to rent a boat out so they will have that available for you also. Make sure you tell them that you are part of the MVDHA. DU BANQUET St. Charles Dinner Saturday, February 24, 2018 Time & Location 5:30 PM - 10:00 PM Heart of St. Charles 1410 S 5th St. Charles, Missouri, Ticket Information Single 45, Couples 80, Youth 35, Sponsor 250, Table (8) 500 Contact Information Dave Williams (636) Dunstan Disselhorst (636) CFM CONVENTION Reserve your room now and join us at Conservation Federation of Missouri's 2018 Annual Convention. The CFM room block for the 2018 Annual Convention ends February 16th. Call the Capitol Plaza Hotel at for reservations. Rates are $90/night while the block lasts. This Convention marks the 82nd year of CFM's dedication to conservation and will be held at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City the weekend of March Join us Friday evening for the Conservation Awards Ceremony highlighting important conservationists in Missouri. Attend the resource committee meetings on Saturday. Be part of the discussions and help draft important resolutions. The banquet on Saturday evening will feature silent and live auctions as well as raffles. Through the auctions and raffles during the evening, CFM will raise money to support our efforts. Don't miss out on some great items and trips. Register now and support conservation of our natural resources here in Missouri. Be a "Voice for Missouri Outdoors." The early registration deadline for the conference is Friday, February 23. Member and Non-Member packages are available. Go to: annual-convention/ For more information and registration. SEASONS WATERFOWL HUNT- ING Light Goose Conserv Order Season: Feb. 7, 2018, through April 30, 2018 Limits: No daily or possession limits Hours: One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset Requirements: Persons must possess a Conservation Order permit to participate in the Conservation Order. Limits: Same as during regular waterfowl season Hours: Same as during regular waterfowl season Cold Weather Duck Hunting Tips (From the DU site for those still out there) By John Pollman Wintry conditions can offer spectacular waterfowling. The weather conditions, sometimes extreme, play a much greater role in waterfowl activity this time of year, and hunters who understand these behavioral impacts have greater chances for success. Here are five facts about lateseason waterfowl that can help keep your hunting hot when the weather gets cold. Watch the Weather Large-bodied waterfowl like mallards and Canada geese are built to withstand colder temperatures and snow, allowing them to stay north longer than smaller ducks and geese. But eventually, says past DU Chief Scientist Dale Humburg, even the hardiest of waterfowl are going to respond to the lack of available food and water. Humburg says a hunter's best bet is to just keep track of weather conditions. "There's no substitute for a little homework and scouting, and in this day and age with Internet weather reports, there's no reason to be caught by surprise by changing weather," Humburg says. He explains that hunters should be watching for sharp dips in temperature, periods of high wind and patterns of high and low pressure in portions of the flyway that feed birds into your hunting area. Once they've arrived, Humburg says that migrating waterfowl will immediately seek out food sources to replenish fat

5 VOLUME 62 ISSUE 2 PAGE 5 supplies burnt up while moving south, meaning that feeding areas should become a prime focus for hunters. Have Open Water, Ducks Will Follow It is no secret that cold temperature will cause waterfowl to congregate in the last remaining stretches of open water, often in staggering numbers. The problem, says Avery Pro-Staff Member Troy Bailey, is that hunters tend to congregate there too. In order to get away from the crowd, Bailey suggests scouting areas that may have been off everyone's radar for some time. "Super-cold temps can make for great hunting in some areas that haven't seen a duck or goose on it in months," says Bailey, who splits his time between hunting the waters of the North Platte River and the grain fields of Nebraska. "Check out those warm-water sloughs and sections of rivers that normally won't freeze unless things get really cold for a number of days." No open water around? No problem, Bailey says, who suggests creating open water yourself. "A small pond with good surrounding cover and an anti-ice machine to keep the water open can instantly become a hot spot when everything else is frozen," he says. Call An Audible Freezing temperatures, snow and ice aren't the only challenges a duck hunter will face when the weather turns cold. Late-season greenheads can be a challenge to call, which is why veteran guide and world-champion duck caller Jim Ronquest suggests mixing things up. "Step up your feed call and be aggressive with it on the corners to try and turn birds," says Ronquest. "In the late season, I've seen that work better at turning back birds than if I'd hit them with a snappy five-note lick." There's one thing that Ronquest says a hunter can never change though: watching to see what the ducks want to hear. "Ducks will tell you with their body language if they want a little or a lot of calling," says Ronquest. "Most days it will be a mixture of everything, but some days you will find that the best call of all is to put the call away in your pocket and rely on motion created by the jerk string." NEWSLETTER As part of membership to the Mississippi Valley Duck Hunters Association this newsletter is distributed to the members either by mail or via . All members who have an address will be receiving this newsletter via . With the cost of postage, printing, labeling and handling on the increase this will save YOUR MVDHA a little over $1.00 per month per member that can be used in other areas. That is a substantial savings, with a projected cost savings of over $ a year if all members received the newsletter via . If you still wish to receive your newsletter via snail mail, just let me know at the next member s meeting or if you wish to no longer receive it by snail mail and want to save the association funds you can provide me your address by sending me an at mvdha@mvdha.com. Please consider this, it will save the association money over the time of your membership that can be used elsewhere. ESCRIPTS escripts Contribution: $ 2.36 EScripts is proven to be a fantastic resource for fundraising where participating business partners contribute a percentage of your grocery loyalty cards, credit card, and debit/atm card purchases to the school, group or organization of your choice. Here's How it Works You register any one or all of your existing grocery loyalty, debit and credit cards for use in the program. Participating merchants will make contributions to your chosen group, based on purchases made by you, just by using the cards you have registered. Your purchases are tracked and available to you online, allowing you to see just how much you are earning. Bottom line, it costs you nothing. All you have to do is do your normal shopping at listed stores like, Schnucks, Macy s, Orvis, OfficeMax, Pepboys or even American Airlines. This is a no brainer in helping to raise money for your MVDHA with no effort at all, except to hand your escript card to the check out person. Tony has over 200 cards just waiting for you to call at or you can him at huntfishteach@gmail.com Up Coming Events Feb 14 : Becky Robertson has a scheduling conflict with a college class and will not be doing the Feb meeting. Jerry Mercurio Sr will do a trout program in replacement of Becky Mar 14 : Dan Zerr Talking Turkey Apr 11: Andy Raedeke and duck things

6 General Information This newsletter is distributed to our active members. For non-active members check the website for the current newsletter. We have our general meeting the second Wednesday of every month at 7:30 PM and our Board of Directors Meeting every fourth Monday at 7 PM. Members meetings are held at the American Legion Post Goff Moll Post 101, at 2721 Collier, Brentwood, Mo Board Meetings are held at TBD. In case of bad weather call the Post at or Ray Boschert at or Jerry Mercurio at Visit YOUR web site at to get the most recent news, events and updates. There you will find this newsletter and other helpful information concerning conservation and the great outdoors that we love. If you would like to be added to the listing of important news and updates you can do that through the web site through the contact us link, fill out the form and make sure you add your address. Any comments or suggestions concerning the newsletter or the website can be sent to mvdha@mvdha.com. I am always looking forwards to suggestions concerning content and what you would like to see or be presented in these publications. Next members meeting: February 14, 2018 Next Board Meeting: February 26, 2018 Members are invited to the Board Meeting Member s meeting start at 7:30, Board meeting starts at 7:00