Griffen Walden for SPLIT REED
Everyone recognizes the iconic, white duck-head sticker, seen on thousands of trucks’ back-glasses across the country. To some, that sticker simply indicates that a duck hunter is behind the wheel. For others, it signals that someone who is willing to donate their money to the conservation of waterfowl habitat is a car ahead of them. Both of these situations are likely to prove true if you get the chance to talk to the driver, but they’ll probably have something more to say about what that sticker means to them.
There is truly nothing else out there that compares to duck hunting. Cold mornings, a loaded-down truck bed, and walking out of the blind with a heavy strap – it’s often times indescribable. We hear stories from old-timers, well, usually about how cold one particular morning was; but aside from those, they are rarely actually about how many ducks they killed that day. I’ve come to find that the best memories created duck hunting, are often about the people you went with – close friends, old buddies, dear family (dogs belong in this category), and lifelong hunting partners.
The folks you duck hunt with belong in a special tier of their own. Somewhere between friend and family, these relationships are forged over a period of years, and are built to last a lifetime – maybe it’s the hard work that goes into prepping for the season or hunt, maybe it’s the long early-morning drives, or maybe the sometimes brutal conditions you decide to stick it out together in. If you ask me, it’s a combination of all of it and more. Either way, it’s clear that these people are special to you, whether you like to admit it or not, and rarely does a hunting relationship not spill over into your personal life. At some point you’ll find yourself at a backyard cookout, a college football tailgate, or some other similar scenario, and find yourself still hanging out with your tight-knit circle of hunting partners, and you start to realize that you’re part of a community.
This has been my experience over the years, and it’s exciting to see it come together in a more official setting, especially for youth hunters over the past decade or so –
In 2003, the first ever high-school fundraising event for Ducks Unlimited was held in Memphis Tennessee. Since then, nearly a hundred schools in over 17 states have registered chapters in what is now known as the Ducks Unlimited Varsity Program, and as of 2018, raised over half a million dollars for waterfowl habitat conservation.
Operating alongside their Greenwings program (ages 11 & under), Legacy Greenwings (Birth-21), and Ducks University (college campuses) counterparts, the DU Varsity program has had particular success in their home city of Memphis Tennessee, at an institution you may remember from my last article – Memphis University School.
MUS’ Administrative Wing
MUS officially founded their Ducks Unlimited Varsity Chapter during the 2014-2015 school year, spearheaded by now MUS & Arkansas Razorback alum, Pierce Jones (MUS ’15 , UofA ‘19). Since the chapter’s inception, they have managed to raise well over $350,000 for Ducks Unlimited, under faculty advisor Hamilton Eggers & DU chapter supervisor Jimbo Robinson.
The Ducks Unlimited Varsity program itself, was founded with the intention of providing high school students with networking & leadership opportunities, supporting fundraising efforts toward their overall mission of waterfowl habitat conservation, and teaching the age group the value of these sentiments. DU encourages involvement with hopes of building community through social events, merchandise, education, resume-building, and national competition & recognition.
Memphis University School has notably exceled in these areas over the past five years.
The MUS chapter, currently under the co-leadership of seniors, Carrigan Sulcer & Dan Shell, has earned multiple awards, including, but not limited to The President’s Elite Chapter (2019), and four consecutive Varsity National Fundraising Champions titles.
A photo from one of MUS DU’s winning years
The group’s success stems from immense planning & work – hosting events such as paid-entry Friday night football tailgates on campus, where personally sourced wild game & fish is served alongside raffles & door-prizes. And working in tandem with similar efforts, their yearly flagship event is the Spring Banquet. Complete with a catered dinner, both live & silent auctions, and an energetic fundraising environment, these events have helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past few years for DU, not to mention building awareness by regularly attracting hundreds of attendees, many of whom may never have stepped foot in a duck blind.
The chapter truly embodies the spirit that Ducks Unlimited intended when founding the Varsity program. Yes, high levels of fundraising are achieved yearly, but it’s much bigger than this. The group of adolescents has proven themselves year after year to be committed to a noble cause, in which they are consistent in their efforts. A strong community has been established, centered around the conservation of North American waterfowl habitat, and the issue is now on the minds of non-hunters, who may have never heard of DU until they attended one of their events.
I’m sure when Ducks Unlimited was founded in 1937, the level of success and outreach they would achieve was unimaginable, but fast forwarding to 2020, they have become one of the hunting community’s most recognizable names in conservation.
While the MUS chapter, DU as a whole, and all of us have had to shift our plans around more than ever in the era of COVID, flexibility and continued hard work will hopefully prove for another successful year of fundraising.
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