Grand National Waterfowl Hunt
Dorchester County, Maryland's Eastern Shore
November 20, 21 & 22
The Grand National Waterfowl Association (GNWA) is
Maryland's lead private organization
for the enhancement and protection of
habitat for waterfowl.
My son Mark had the honor of representing Maryland 4-H
at this year's GNWA hunt.
He beat out many other applicants with a
detailed resume that discussed shooting sports,
participation in 4-H, involvement in community service, leadership,
volunteer and work
experience, knowledge and involvement with habitat management
and hunting.
We were told that he was primarily selected because of
his nearly perfect 4.0 grade point
average through all of middle and high school
to date and for his ongoing officers positions
and level of activity in 4-H.
The annual November waterfowl hunt is GNWA culmination
of annual activities and includes
a who's who list of member hunters and
benefactors. Past recent shooters have included
Bobby Allison, Dave Butts,
Will Clark, Larry Csonka, Chris Hanburger, Jim "Catfish" Hunter,
Roger Maris,
Jack Nicklaus, Joe Orsulak, Pam Shriver,David Wells, General Norman Schwarzkopf,
Senator Phil Gramm, actor Wilford Brimley, Captain Wally Schirra and many
others.
Back in 2002 my son Joshua represented Maryland 4-H at
the GNWA and shot with General
Tom Stafford, Commander of Apollo 10, the first lunar module to the moon and
General
Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space.
This year Mark shot with two wounded warrior Marines,
Sgt. David Budwah and Sgt Shawn
Billiot recently returning from Afghanistan, Barry Bales, a musician with
Allison Krauss and
Union Station, Commanding Marine General of Quantico, Walter
Boomer, members of NASCAR
#9 Jimmy Johnson's pit crew, Jack Mutey former
Director of the Quaker Oats Company,
Vice President of Benelli Firearms and
current Vice President of Beretta Firearms USA and others.
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Mark Burchick with Maryland
4-H State Director for Shooting Sports, Conrad Arnold
and Jeff Treadway, second
baseman for the Atlanta Braves, who played in the 1991
and 1992 World Series. |
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Conrad, Mark and John
Sigler, the President of the National Rifle Association
of America (NRA).
Mark has been invited to the January 9, 2009, NRA President's Banquet and will
be presented/described and honored as a model example of youth in Shooting
Sports. |
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The first evening included a
Governor's reception and banquet for benefactors
at which Mark performed the
opening ceremony Pledge of the Allegiance. |
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As a new shooter Mark was
introduced by Gordy Jones, President of the Grand
National Waterfowl Association
(GNWA) and then Skip Miller, past President and
Master of Ceremonies. Mark
was asked to expand on 4-H Shooting Sports and his personal resume. |
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As a complete surprise and
for his representation of the Maryland 4-H Shooting
Sports program, Mark was
presented with a Beretta Extrema II, considered the
best waterfowling field
shotgun made. How cool is that! |
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Asking Mr. Burchick to join
Mark and with an audience of hundreds, the GNWA played
the song Pass It On
by Tracy Byrd which is a tribute to the heritage of our second amendment rights
and responsible use of firearms through generations of family. |
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OK, now for the good stuff.
We headed out during the pre-dawn of Friday
morning and helped set-out our goose
decoys with our two guides. While they
called, we shot and bagged our
legal limit. I used our Remington 870 and Mark
used our Browning Gold
Hunter. |
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We queried our guides of
many years and learned much that we can take back
for when we hunt in Howard
County, especially pertaining to how to lay-out the
decoys, types of decoys, the
behavior of incoming birds and calling techniques.
I'm going to have to
buy some Sean Mann callers. |
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During an afternoon break
and snow squalls, Conrad Arnold took us over to
the Dorchester County 4-H Center
and Mark and I had a chance to try out his
new Beretta and play a game of trap
to bone-up for the duck hunt competition. |
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A classic photo, with guide
dogs being fundamentally important. We shot with a Chesapeake Bay
retriever, a chocolate and yellow Labrador retriever. A good dog
is worth
much more than his keep. Did you know that over half of Dorchester County
is marsh land and is the home of the famous Atlantic Flyway stop over, the US
Fish
& Wildlife Service, Blackwater Wildlife Preserve. |
Submitted by Mark Burchick
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Grand National Waterfowl Hunt
