A local high school varsity Ducks Unlimited chapter will be formed with money raised during an auction Thursday night for an old, specially framed DU Print donated by New Iberia DU Chapter founder Gordie White.

New Iberia DU Chapter Chairman Jason Foster was more than happy to report the exciting news following the local chapter’s DU Sponsors Banquet at The Gouguenheim in downtown New Iberia.

Foster said the waterfowl painting, framed in cypress wood by Keith Dugas of New Iberia and matted by Sucrose Gallery in New Iberia, went for $500, one of the highlights of the fundraising event with an extremely low turnout. 

Two such prints were auctioned, Foster said.

“One of them that sold for $500, we’re using the proceeds from that item as seed money to start a high school varsity chapter. Our focus is going to be on that in the winter and early spring. I’m looking forward to that,” Foster said Saturday morning while watching his son, Jackson, 8, play football. 

“That’s going to become the next game-changer … get young people involved in Ducks Unlimited. That way when they come back from college or join the workforce, they’ll want to come back to the chapter.”

Foster said a handful of students at Catholic High School have expressed interest in forming a chapter. He’s encouraged by their interest, he said.

“We’re going to start small and grow big. We’ve got to find somebody from Westgate and somebody from NISH,” he said. 

As for the DU Sponsors Banquet, the dedicated chapter chairman took the low attendance in stride, noting there were a few other activities happening locally and statewide that may have had an effect. For example, he said, CHS homecoming activities, including the parade, were Thursday evening.

Approximately $6,675 was raised in the live auction, $1,100 in the silent auction and $1,800 in the calendar raffle, Foster said. Auction totals weren’t what they usually are due to a turnout of 30 people, although there are 52 DU sponsors paid up for 2017.

P.R. Burke had the top bid for the DU Shotgun of the Year while Greg Mullen’s bid got the DU Knife of the Year.

Banquet-goers dined on steak, green bean casserole, salad and LeJeune’s French Bread. The meal was prepared by the cooking committee of Jason Broussard, Dr. Drew Clarke, Shannon Gonsoulin, Action Specialties and Mullen, Foster said.

“The food was great. The sponsors who were there were wonderful,” he said.

As always, he said, the local chapter’s main focus  is on the spring general membership banquet that includes a big push for sponsors.

“We put 80 percent of our energy into that banquet,” he said.

As for the rest of the year, Foster and his son can’t wait for the “big duck season” to get underway in November. They hunt in an area near White Lake in Vermilion Parish.

“He’s ready to go. He killed his first ducks last year and he’s ready to move forward,” he said about Jackson, a student at St. Edward School.

 

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.