Gibraltar Duck Hunter's Association is a non-profit organization founded by a group of sportsmen dedicated to the promotion and preservation of waterfowling in SE Michigan.
Updates:
01/12/10
The 6th Annual Fundraiser Dinner will be held on March 13th, please click the page above for more details. thanks...
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09/22/2009
The 2009 GDHA/WFUSA Youth Waterfowl Hunt was again a great success.
This event has grown every year since it's inception; the first hunt we hosted a total of 5 young hunters and today (7 years later) we were able to treat 51 young hunters to a day in the marsh.
This could not happen without the time and $ invested by WFUSA and the GDHA and the members of both clubs, not to mention the many volunteers who belong to neither club but still take the time out to lend a hand to get some young men and ladies out into the marsh chasing ducks and geese.
After hunting the morning we all converged on Pointe Mouillee for a BBQ.
Tony Pacos provided all of the hot dogs and sausages for the event, the second year that they have done this, and everyone left with a full belly because of their generosity and support of the young hunters.
Each young hunter was given a goodie bag with:
A duck and goose call from Zink Calls
A Call Coozy from Call Coozy
A gun cleaning kit from Slip2000
A hat (or two) from one of several donors (Avery, HeviShot or Drake Waterfowl)
Several stickers from Avery, Zink and Drake Waterfowl
And an event t-shirt
Each young hunter also went home with a dozen Avery Hot Buy Mallards as well.
After eating lunch we had several notable speakers who addressed the crowd; the speakers were:
Steve Zollars from Cabelas
Steve Dushane of the Detroit River IWR
Joe Robison of Avery Outdoors and Zink Calls
&
Russell Brzezinki of Avery Outdoors
A big Thanks to these four gentlemen for their time in making this event such a success.
After our speakers were finished we had a "Choice Out Giveaway" where each young hunter was able to select an item from the tables of donated equipment to take home with them as well.
And we wrapped up the day with a special prize for one lucky hunter; a 6 bird guided (by GDHA member Danny Knierem) pheasant hunt at Dundee Pheasant Farm which was donated by Dundee Pheasant Farm.
We then all made our way back home after a long morning in the marsh.
In no certain order we need to Thank the following companies from their generous donations to the event-
Zink Calls
Tony Pacos
Avery Outdoors
Cabelas
Drake Waterfowl
HeviShot
Big Flock Decoys
Intermedia Outdoors
Call Coozy
Slip2000 Gun Cleaning Products
and
Cherokee Sports
We also need to Thank the many Guides who treated the young hunters to their hunts today; without their help with this event we would never be able to pull off something of this magnitude. Thanks Guys
And a big Thanks to the volunteers (Brian Labo, Eric Esper, Mark Whitcomb, Dick Whitwam and 8 or 9 others) who were at the Pointe at 8:00 AM to accept the delivery of tables and chairs for the event and who also set up everything for the BBQ and got the food rolling in time for the first arrivals to start eating right away while the rest of us were in the marsh.
The following folks also gave a bunch of their time for the planning of todays event:
Kevin Labo
Brian Labo
Jeremy Payne
Tim Garant
John Chamberlin
Joe Robison
Both clubs wish to Thank Joe Robison for allowing us to hold the BBQ at the Pointe and for the generous amount of time he put in on the planning of this event and facilitating several large donations of equipment to hand out to the young hunters. Thanks Joe
I personally want to Thank-Kevin Labo, John Chamberlin, Kevin Wend, Jeremy Payne, Mike Sype, Tim Garant, Brian Labo, Mark Whitcomab, Jamie Sypula, Danny Knierem, Joe Robison, Russell Brzezinski, Bob and Dale for their help with this events planning. No more e-mails or phone calls until the next event, I promise
Each of these guys made this event so much easier for me to keep a hold of whether it was listening to a new idea I had, giving their opinions about how things should run, getting the shirts designed, ordered and picked up to putting together the goodie bags assembly line style Friday evening. I appreciate your efforts guys
It was, as always, nice to see Mrs. Crushed Can, Mrs. Labo, Crushed Can Jr., Labo Jr., Buck In Rut, Spike Buck In Rut, Dale, Mike Lafleur, Danny Knierem, Jay Steinert, Bill Maue and John Huffman.
And a special Thanks to Eric Sharp from the Free Press for joining our party for the morning hunt; check tomorrows Outdoors Section for his article on the hunt.
If I forgot to thank anyone I am sorry; an event of this magnitude lends itself to forgetting to thank someone and you know that your efforts are/were appreciated in making this event a success.
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03/09/09 - The 2009 GDHA Dinner was another successful event The 2009 GDHA Dinner was another successful event
The GDHA wishes to Thank the following, in no certain order, for their donations/contributions to the GDHA Dinner-
Huron Valley Honker Hunts
Dick Whitwam
GT Charters
D.E.J. Jewelers
B.T. Joes
Dundee Pheasant Farm
Homedics
Cabelas
Wild Wings
Ol Tom Technical Turkey Gear
Hevi Shot
Westborn Gun Shop
Bottom Line Bait and Tackle
D&L Garden Center
Comfort Inn Monroe
The Framery in Trenton.
We also need to Thank Chef Blake Harte from Cafe West, awesome food once again!
A large reason for the success of this event was teamwork, plain and simple.
We have never had this many folks step up to the plate to help with our dinner.
It was a bit unsettling for those of us who have been at this for years simply becuase we're used to handling it with just a few of us and the absence of people asking questions and chasing us down showed us that each person was handling their chosen assignments well and this made available enough time for all of us to actually be able to eat some gumbo this year.
In no certain order Thanks To:
Kevin Labo, Brian Labo, Jeremy Payne (Hey Jeremy do we have any tickets left?), Chad Frits, Kevin Wend, Tim Garant (the best credit card machine operator in Gibraltar!),Curt Garant, John Chamaberlain, Mark Whitcomb, Mr. & Mrs. Jamie Sypula, Mr. & Mrs. Bill Maue, Jay Steinert, Rob Donnelly, Paul Grabowski, Ed Cunnea, Karen Hustie and several others whom I am sure I forgot, each one of these folks put a ton of effort into this event and it showed.
Thanks Guys
A special Thanks to Russell Brzezinski and Homedics, the donation of the massage chair was something that was greatly received by the dinner attendees and the GDHA greatly appreciates such an awesome donation to our club.
We need to Thank the Zielinski Family for attending the event as well, we appreciate their making a point to attend our dinner.
It was nice to see the Hopkins Boys, Julie & Carter Fritz, Phil Spano, Liz Chamberlain & Dan Koustas.
Kevin Labo was the winner of the GDHA Mike Zielinski Dedication Award which is basically our MVP Award. Congrats Kevin, you definitely earned it buddy!
The Duck U Crew (Mark Whitcomb and Jamie Sypula) won the infamous Buffalo Hoof Lamp, our version of the Goldy Award. I'll spare everyone the story, but they deserved it with money to spare plus a couple of dollars more.
All in all, I was impressed with the whole event from the first meeting to plan the goings on until the end of the night this evening.
Just a great example of how a good group of people can work together to do something for a good cause and I am proud to say I belong to such a great group of folks.
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02/09/09 - Just Announced the 2009 GDHA Annual Walleye Tournament will be held on May 16th at the Lake Erie Metropark. Click on the page above for more details...
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02/04/09 - On Wednesday Feb 18th the GDHA will be attending a public forum to discuss future projects for the Humbug Marsh. Meeting will be held at the Westfield Center from 7PM to 9PM. Address is: 2700 Westfield, Trenton, MI 48183
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01/19/09 - 5th Annual Fundraiser Duck Dinner March 7th
Click on page link above for more details...
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01/19/09 - GDHA on Michigan Out of Doors TV
The GDHA would like to thank Michigan Out of Doors for coming out and spending a couple days with us hunting during this last duck/goose hunting season. We did not have the best hunting conditions during the two hunts but anytime we good some shooting in is a good day out. Both hunts were aired 01/16/09 at 9:30PM and 01/17/09 at 11:30AM.
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09/23/2008 - The 2008 GDHA/Waterfowl USA Youth Hunt was a huge success.
The GDHA & Waterfowl USA wish to Thank:
Zink Calls
Tony Pacos
GK Calls
Sportsmans Warehouse
Cabelas
And
Gander Mountain for their generous donations to the 2008 Youth Waterfowl hunt.
Without the help from conservation minded businesses like these we would not be able to host 46 young hunters for a day in the marsh, feed them some great food after the hunt and send them home with some nice new equipment to use on their future hunts!
Thanks go out to all of our guides as well, without their efforts this event could not take place every year!
And Thanks to everyone who helped with the after hunt BBQ, feeding 150 people is no small undertaking, and we pulled it off nicely!
Lots of smiling faces, some great stories and memories that will last a lifetime, that’s what it’s all about.
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09/02/08 - All slots for our 2008 Youth Hunt are full, thanks to all who contacted us. If you were not able to get in this year make sure you contact us early for next season as slots fill up pretty quick.
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08/01/08 - If you'd like to get email reminders of upcoming GDHA events and meetings please sign up for the GDHA Yahoo user group and sign up. The URL is below, just click on it or type it in your browser address bar and signup. You will need to create a Yahoo! account in order to setup an account, just make sure you add your main email address as your default. This way all updates are sent to your normal email address, Thanks.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gdha/