Minnesota Waterfowl Association

 Hello everyone. I want to thank all the kids for a great week at Woodie Camp. I really hope that you enjoyed your selves and learned something. I would also like to thank all the parents for bringing the kids to Woodie Camp and entrusting us with them for the week. As I mentioned on Saturday at our awards luncheon, we have around 45 volunteer instructors throughout the week, that all take time away from there work and families to do this each year. With out our volunteers, we wouldn't be able to do Woodie Camp, so thanks to them for making it possible. 

I have uploaded more photo's to the slideshow, and have a lot more to load, so keep checking for them. Also I have added a couple more video's from banding day. I am also hoping to get a Woodie Camp Facebook page up and running for everyone to stay in touch, when I get that up, I will post it on here. 

I have heard some terrific comments about the week, from parents or kids talking about it at Game Fair etc. So again, thank you for your participation and we all look forward to staying in touch. Feel free to leave comments about your week at Camp on this site. 

Thank you!

Brad Nylin
email: brad.nylin@mnwaterfowl.com

 Good morning from Woodie Camp! Well, here we are at Woodie Camp. It's been a terrific week all the way around. I think the kids have had a tremendous time and have learned a lot, while having fun! 

Parents are due today for our awards luncheon and pick up at noon, and should be on their way by 2:00 p.m. 

Yesterday was camp test day. Afternoon the kids participated in the Scavenger hunt for prairie plants, which they had to ID, then we had a Counselor - Instructor shooting competition, then the kids had their shooting competition, we call Top Gun, and the Waterfowl ID test, after dinner we had our Camp test and the Calling competetion. After that we were going to have a camp fire, but that got cancelled because of weather.. Too much lightning! So we told stories, talked about the week and even a coupld of songs broke out! 

This morning, we basically prepare to head home. We pack up our rooms, clean them, and clean everything else in the Center, before camp group photo's. 

It's been an awesome week, thank you for reading this blog and leaving your comments! I didn't know what to expect with this, and it was great! After I get back, hopefully I can put a Woodie Camp Facebook page together, as I have had several requests for this. When I have something, I will let everyone know on this site. 

Please check back for more photo's to come, from the week as I get them all pulled together. The photo's you have seen here this week have been from my camera only, and we have several people taking photo's. It will just take some time to load them up. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments, or if you woul dlike to donate towards Woodie Camp in any way. 

Thank you for sharing your kids with us for a week. We have enjoyed it very much, and hope that it will make a difference for our future. 

Thank you, from Woodie Camp!

 Good Friday morning from Woodie Camp! Well the weather is mostly cloudy with temps in the low 70's, not bad! We are hoping that the rain that is predicted will hold off long enough for our camp fire tonight. 

This morning the kids went on a prairie walk, preparring for the Scavenger hunt this afternoon. This is where as teams they have to pick and identify prairie plants for team points! Being that this is test day, we have a lot to do, yet again! The campers also banded ducks this morning and released them. This is always a real treat to be able to hold a live bird, put a band on it and release it back to the wild. Tons of photo's were taken also and even some video.. 

Right now the campers are workign on their team poster that is judged, then we will have review and catchup to prepare for all the test starting this afternoon. 

The kids are all doing great, albeit tired! I think they will all be looking forward to sleeping in when they get home. 

So we have tonight and tomorrow morning, and the parents are due here at the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center at noon Saturday for the awards and lunch! 

I'm sure the kids will be happy to see you. 

Until next time, from Woodie Camp...

 Hello from Woodie Camp! Today has been another great day at Camp. We started the day out with decoy carving and painting and nesting structures. The kids learned how to paint a decoy that anyone would be proud to hunt over, or have sit on a mantle or shelf! Then at nesting structures, the campers learned how to make a wood duck house, a mallard hen house, and learned how to put them up and maintain them. 

After lunch, the kids had time to review for all the camp tests, or finish painting their decoys, or be outside! At 3:00 p.m. was the start of the cooking contest. All the kids took there marinaded ducks out of the tubs and started grilling and preparring. The idea is that we have four judges and two kids from each group would present their dish. They are very creative, using parts of the prairie, parts of ducks and explaining their recipes to the judges. 

For dinner tonight, we are all having grilled duck with all the fixin's you can imagine! Everyone really enjoys this dinner that the campers made! 

I will upload more photo's from today shortly, and hope to blog again before the day is over! 

After dinner, the kids have a Top gun warm up, which is the shooting competition and the calling contest warm up, then after that they will do, night time navigation and planning the hunt. 

The kids are having a ton of fun, learning about ducks and life! 

Until next time...

 Good evening! Well we had a great day all the way around. The weather was great, and the kids were also! They did an excellent job cleaning the birds and preparing them for dinner tomorrow night. All the birds are in the refridgerater's with the ducks all in the marinade that each group made. 

At noon we ate lunch in the barn, picnic style, then we all went to Ten Mile lake for water day! Plenty of time in the lake, swiming or getting flipped over in the boats, or putting decoys out. Finished up with ice cream sandwiches on the bus ride back to the Learning Center! 

After getting back here, everyone changed clothes and we had free time before dinner. At dinner I asked several kids if they were tired, and most of them said they were and were ready for bed! 

Tonight we have several classes before bedtime. Right now half the kids are in Waterfowl ID and the other half are in Orienteering, then they switch before freetime at 8:30 until 9:15, the half the kids will do a Planning the Hunt session, while the other kids are doing Night time navigation, before bed time at 10:00! 

These are long days, but I think everyone is doing a great job, and having lots of fun at the same time. We try and keep things hands on, and fun thru the entire week, and it looks like it's working. 

I will upload photo's from today later tonight, so take a look and see what the kids have done today! 

Until next time...

 Hello from Woodie Camp! Well we had a late night last night and an early morning today. Breakfast was a half hour earlier than normal, at 7:00 a.m.! Right after breakfast we headed outside for cleaning ducks. After a quick session on what to do and how to do it, all the kids jumped right in. After 100 ducks were cleaned, the kdis started with what we call, kitchen chemestry. This is where they learn about maranades, and using different things for taste.. We keep reminding them that they are cooking creating dinner for everyone with these birds for tomorrow night... 

After lunch, which is very shortly, we will go over to Ten Mile lake and learn all about water safety by the Otter Tail Water Patrol, this is where each campers puts on a life jacket and waders, goesout in a boat, the counselors then flip them over and they see what's it's like to have their wadders fill up, etc. After that, they will learn about how to put out diver duck decoys and then puddler decoys, and finally some time to swim! 

The weather today is perfect, sunny and temps in the mid 70's! Enjoy the photo's as I will keep adding as we go! 

Until next time... From Woodie Camp!

Good evening from Woodie Camp! Today was an awesome day, weather wise. As I mentioned, it was a cool start for the morning, but a terrific afternoon in the sun, with highs in the low 70's. I have updated some photo's from this afternoon, and hope to have a few more video's to show off tomorrow... Tonight we have two Conservation officers talking about laws and ethics and our movie night right afterwords. I'm not sure what movie we're watching, but it will be a nice change of pace, as we have been running for two and a half days... The kids seem to be looking forward to it, and the popcorn!

I want to thanks everyone who has submitted comments, I appreciate them, and the kids enjoy reading them as well, so thank you! This is the first year we're able to make updates real time, so to speak and it really seems to be working well.

Well the kids are going to be tired tonight, and up early in the morning learning to clean ducks, and actually preparring them for dinner on Thursday. After that we head to Ten Mile Lake for our water patrol class, where the kids put on life jackets and waders, and get tipped over in the water, to learn what to do if that should happen for real. Also they will be learning about setting decoys for hunting, and even time to go swimming on a private beach at the lake.

So, good night from Woodie Camp. Until next time... 

 Good morning! Well, the weather has been interesting since we started... yesterday was beautiful, today so far at least, it's partly cloudy and 58 degrees, with a 10 - 15 mph wind... Yikes! It is suppose to warm into the low 70's, and I'm sure the kids are hoping it gets there..

Other than the cool temps, it is a good day so far. Kids shooting going away targets are doing very well, goose calling sounds amazing, waterfowl ID is very good, and waterfowl ecology and duck banding prep are very interesting. This will lead up to actually banding live ducks on Friday morning.

Before lunch we have more team tournements and the kids start the afternoon shooting crossing targets, gun cleaning, prairie ecology and field decoying. Followed up with some free time and dinner. After dinner we have Conservation officers come and go over Laws and Ethics foran hour, then MOVIE night! Starting around 8:00 p.m. all the campers hang out and take it easy and watch a fun movie, eat popcorn (donated by the local theater) all night! Sounds good to me! 

I have taken some more photo's that I am about to upload, and will continue to do so all week, a few times per day. 

Loooks like the sun is trying to come out now, so I better run.

Until next time...

 Wow, what a day at Woodie Camp. Lot's of great comments from folks, and thanks for sending them. At breakfast, lunch and dinner we are tracking down the campers and showing them the comments. So thank you for sending them and checking in! The kids really seem to enjoy reading them, so keep it up! 

Today we lucked out with the weather. It was mostly sunny all day, with just a few clouds, but no rain to speak of! This after noon was a lot of fun. The kids each started shooting incoming clay targets with shotguns, some more waterfowl ID, Wetland Invertebrites, and some more duck calling. After the afternoon session we started our volleyball tournement, then free time before dinner.

After dinner was the evening session, where the kids learned all about First Aid, by an training EMT, and a great class on Journaling. At 9:00 p.m. the campers had free time outside, and lights out was 10:30 tonight. 

The kids all have been terrific, and enthusiastic and a lot of fun. The were running from 7:30 this morning until 10:30 tonight, so I think they will have no trouble sleeping tonight.

Tomorrow morning brings us Shooting going away targets, more waterfowl ID, and more goose calling, as well as waterfowl ecology & duck banding preperation. 

I will keep up the updates, and keep adding photo's as we go thru the week. 

Thank you for the great comments, we really do appreciate them. 

Until next time, from Woodie Camp...

 Good morning from Woodie Camp. Well, today has been interesting.. As we were waking up this morning, we were greeted with the beautiful sounds of a fire alarm... nothing to worry about, we heard that the Learning Center recently installed a smoke sensor directly over the stove... So, after some extremely loud time, we had a wonderful french toast meal. At 8:00 a.m. the kids all started their sessions for the day. one group shooting, one group doing wetland plants, another doing dog training, and yet another doing boat-blind safety. Each group rotates sessions until lunch.

The weather is terrific, not too hot and the sun is shinning. We'll see what the rest of the day brings.

Last night, Teressa and I went room to rooom to talk to the campers, as we do every night, and after the first day of Camp, all reports were that the kids were all having a great time, and were all asking what was for breakfast! 

Until next time... from Woodie Camp,

Brad nylin

 Woodie Camp has started and is under way. All the kids have arrived and are in class sessions now. The weather is terrific. Right now half of the kids are in intro to shooting, and the other half are in intro to duck calling. Then they will flip classes, and dinner is after that. Tonight, the campers will be doing nature photography and waterfowl Id. I am hoping to post some photo's the next time I blog, hopefully later tonight. Remember to leave us a message on this site, or leave a note to your camper. 

Until next time...

 Today Woodie Camp starts! The staff and several instructors showed up yesterday afternoon to to unload and set up the Camp. This morning we're putting the finishing touches on getting ready for the Campers and parents to arrive at 1:00 p.m. We will be blogging all week, with the days activities and hopefully photos and maybe even a video or two. Its going to be an awesome week. 

Check back oftern and leave us your thoughts.

Brad Nylin

Well the Woodie Camp trailer is all packed, instructors are all ready, as are the counselors to start Woodie Camp on Sunday. Everything has all come together and we're looking forward to a great week at Camp. Just a reminder, looking at the weather forcast for next week, which you can see on this site, it looks to be nice temperatures, but the mornings and evenings are going to be fairly cool, so if your all packed, please make sure to pack an extra sweatshirt and jacket! The way the summer has been going, we may not be ready for such cool temperatures.. 

Looking forward to the start of Camp, and seeing all the campers show up on Sunday afternoon! 

Until next time...

 Well this week we are all very busy getting everything ready for Woodie Camp. We have 50 kids that will be attending and they are coming from all corners of the State. We have 35 instructors that will be teaching the kids, 7 counselors and Teressa Schlieman, our Camp Director.  I think the week is going to be great, and I know the kids are going to have the time of their lives, and wont soon forget their expierence. 

I will be blogging here on this page all week long, so I hope you will check back often. We look forward to seeing you all on Sunday, August 7th at 1:00 pm.

Please feel free to email me during the week if you have questions or thoughts. We hope you are excited for your kids attending Camp. 

Brad Nylin
brad.nylin@mnwaterfowl.com