State Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agent Donnie Bozeman speaks to the crowd Thursday night during the New Iberia Ducks Unlimited banquet at the Isle of Iberia RV Resort.

More people, young and old, more bucks for ducks and more accolades marked the 2018 New Iberia Ducks Unlimited general membership banquet’s highlights Thursday night at the Isle of Iberia RV Resort.

The local DU chapter’s fundraising event was an unqualified success, Jason Foster, DU chapter chairman, said after the event held for the fifth consecutive spring, a departure from the decades of fall banquets. The social event of the year for local outdoorsmen, and outdoorswomen, started with a cocktail hour at 6:30 p.m.

About 7:30 p.m., Chet Schwing, DU committee member, surveyed the crowd to get a head count. He estimated more than 130 people in the crowd at Isle of Iberia RV Resort.

“We were hoping to get maybe 150 to 200. It’s tough this time of year. There’s so many activities going on,” Schwing said.

Still, the turnout was larger than April 2017. 

“That’s about 20 or so higher than last year,” Foster, who noted participation was up 30 percent over the previous year, said that night after the headcount was relayed. 

Three eight-person tables that were paid for were empty, so attendance would have been higher, he pointed out.

“We feel pretty good about that (attendance). Some of it is that (activities). Some of it is the market (economy) still. But you’ve got to stay the course,” Foster said Saturday morning.

“Overall, the entire committee was satisfied with the event. We like to have it out there because it supports the parish,” he said. “When everybody sat down for the live auction, all the tables outside were full as were the black tables near the pool.”

His email early Friday afternoon to committee members was a positive one. Thursday’s event grossed $54,000. The live auction raised $13,750, the silent auction raised $1,980 and raffle sales raised $2,300. 

Also, an auction item underwriter venture took in $1,105.

“We had a lot of local businesses and people step up. We collected more than $1,000 doing that,” Foster said.

Before the supper was served Thursday, David Dorsey of New Iberia, who owns Dorsey Insurance Agency, and his daughter, McKynzie Dorsey, one of two dozen or so Green Wings on hand Thursday, admired some of the auction wares on one of the tables inside. As he looked at them, Dorsey said he has been a long-time supporter of DU.

His daughter was enjoying the evening, as were a few dozen other Green Wings.

“She hunts deer, ducks and fishes. She loves to fish,” her father said, showing some photos of her with redfish in hand over the Easter weekend.

Later in the evening, Dorsey had the high bid of $2,200 for the 2018 DU Shotgun of the Year. 

Other notable auction items went to Rob Smith, who went home with the 2018 DU Rifle of the Year for $1,000, and Armond Schwing, who successfully bid $500 for Dr. Mike Aguzin Hand-carved Working Decoys.

Banquet-goers dined on jambalaya cooked by Mike Lipari and Robert Romero, who got the big pots fired up and cooking at 3 p.m., Romero said. They cooked 15 pounds of rice to go with the 60 pounds of pressed sausage and smoked sausage that went with green beans, French bread and dessert.

They prepared the food under a tent outside the main venue. By 7 p.m., they had taken four pans filled with steaming, tasty jambalaya inside to the servers and planned on cooking enough for seven pans. Each pan weighed about 10 pounds.

As the people sat down and started eating, they heard a report from state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agent Donnie Bozeman, a veteran game warden who took the stage, then took the microphone from Foster to talk about upcoming license fee changes and also about the consolidation of department offices that will close the sites in New Iberia and Opelousas in favor of one in Lafayette.

Armond Schwing was recognized for fulfilling his pledge as a Grand Slam Life Sponsor, Foster said. The significant distinction is reached after completing a Life Sponsorship to Ducks Unlimited Inc. USA, Ducks Unlimited Mexico andDucks Unlimited Canada.

The Major Donor badge also qualifies Schwing as a Diamond Life Sponsor  ($20,000), the chapter chairman said.

Schwing, a former local chairman and state DU official, will be honored at the local chapter’s sponsor’s banquet in the fall, Foster said.

Schwing said in an email that achieving that status doesn’t mean he wrote a check for $20,000 to DU.

“It simply means that my lifetime giving as Major Donor has reached that amount. Those funds have accumulated over a long period of time,” Schwing said as he encouraged others to consider making a pledge to become a Major Donor.

He inspired Foster and Gordie White of New Iberia, the former said.

“When I reviewed my accumulative giving to date I realized that pledging to a Life Sponsorship made sense. Again, since my commitment to this endeavor, Gordie White has also pledged to fulfill his Life Sponsorship to for DU Mexico,” Foster said in the email Friday. 

“There’s a little bit of a ripple effect going on there,” Foster said Saturday.