Waterfowl Youth day 2004

On Saturday, July 24, 2004 the Sixth Annual Youth Day was held at the Canvasback Gun Club east of Fallon, Nevada. The event, sponsored by Canvasback Gun Club; Nevada Waterfowl Association and Nevada Ducks Unlimited, was a huge success with over 70 youths under 16 years of age attending.

The first event on the agenda was a presentation by Bill Henry, Chief Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Stillwater, about duck specie identification as well as banding methods and their importance. The youth all got to touch the ducks as well as release them.

The second thing on the agenda was a retriever dog trial demonstration with bumper dummies. The youth watched with intrigue three separate dogs go through their paces to retrieve bumper dummies both on land and in the water. Ted Wehking, who conducted the demonstration, explained the importance of a good retrieving dog while hunting. The demonstration was followed by a question and answer session.

Afterwards, the group was divided into four smaller groups and rotated through a marsh tour by boat, the clay target shooting with shotguns, a laser shotgun bird hunting/safety test and games including duck dice and darts.

The kids and adults gathered for a BBQ hamburger feast at 1pm where each youth received a prize for attending. All students also received DU pens and duck calls, magazines and a youth day t-shirt. Following lunch, there was a duck and goose calling demonstration with an informal calling contest to wind up the day.

The weather was fantastic and everyone had a great time! Hats off to committee chairman Dave Stanley and the many Canvasback, NWA and DU volunteers - thank you for helping to make this a day to remember.