N.Y. DUCK GROUPS ARE QUACK UNITS

DUCKS Unlimited members from New York have reason to be proud today.DU’s New York City and eastern Suffolk chapters in New York joined a prestigious list of the top 100 chapters in the U.S.

Out of more than 3,500 chapters, these top 100 chapters raised the most funds for DU in 2006, with a combined total of nearly $8 million raised last year for DU’s habitat conservation mission.

Thanks to the thousands of volunteers and members across the U.S., Ducks Unlimited raised more than $162 million and conserved nearly 170,000 acres in 2006, to protect some of the nation’s best waterfowl habitat.

With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization. This country alone has lost more than half of its original wetlands, nature’s most productive ecosystem, and continues to lose more than 80,000 wetland acres each year.

On Saturday, New York Vets and the folks from the Wounded Warrior Project will bring a few wounded veterans up from Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., to do some fishing on the Hudson River. They will gather at the Nyack Marina at 10 a.m.

The Wounded Warrior Project was started by wounded veterans of previous wars to ensure that our severely injured young men and women coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan would be taken care of properly.

On Sunday, we talked about the United Sportsmen Association of Rockland getting involved with the Wounded Warrior Project with a planned turkey hunt for returning vets at Sterling Forest State Park. Those interested in contributing time and or money should contact Stan Pascoo at pacsta@aol.com or call him at (845) 494-6312.

The Appalachian Bowmen will host the 15th Annual Whittingham Traditional Archery Rendezvous the weekend of April 27-29. The event is located at the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area, 118 Shotwell Road (Rt. 608) Greendell, N.J. Registration opens at 7 a.m. each day. Campers are invited to arrive on April 26.

The archery event is limited to traditional archery equipment only: long bows, recurve bows and selfbows.

Participants can take full advantage of two realistic 3-D animal target ranges set in the woods and fields of the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area. Each range consists of twenty 3-D animal targets ranging from alligators to moose and set in realistic hunting situations. Bring along some old arrows for those more challenging shots.

The Traditional Archers of New Jersey (TANJ) will be sponsoring an Eagle Eye qualifier each day of the shoot. The TANJ also will be sponsoring a swinging block speed shoot for prizes each day.

If you have any questions regarding the traditional shoot, call Bill at (973) 534-0981 or go to the web site at www.geocities.com/appalbow.

By Ken Moran

NY Post