DuckSouth.com

I dunno, too early to tell how this crap is gonna turn out. People have been given ammunition for bashing DU in the past yrs and this just adds to it, but they still get the majority of their banquets packed with people and free flowing money.

greenhead22 your right. We had the biggest crowd we have had in five years. Only the people involved in DU care anything about what is going on. Most of the people there were there to drink free beer and whisky and look at pretty women. I always try to put out fact sheets and this and that but bottom line is they are there eat and drink and maybe buy a thing or two.

Well there is that other person who always comes to our event. He is the A hole who stole the goose decoy. I hope he is reading this because I'll ring his neck if I ever find out who did it. This is the third time someone has stolen a decoy from our event in the last four years.

That's what the banquets are for.......get drunk, look at eye candy, and spend money...sure isn't for the ducks the way most of them look at it.

As for the decoy, don't put anything against a tally drunk doing something like that.....Dr. Ronal can tell you about that, main reason I got out while I could.

bodeen wrote:Only the people involved in DU care anything about what is going on. Most of the people there were there to drink free beer and whisky and look at pretty women.

Not true...but stay drunk and in the dark...just how corporate america would have you

"Like lemmings to the sea....man, lemmings to the sea"

the doc

Typical corporate America: more chiefs, less indians.

I call that the "I" formation DR2

B.M.F.T. wrote:Many other organizations have done this recently. This is nothing new. This is a way to make your money work smarter. DU is not nor will be the only one to make changes this way. If you had faith in DU before this, then have faith in them now. This is a business and not a feel good buddy system. You must have faith that this is for the good. If you don't like DU then support someone else. But if you are on here to stir crap which some of you are, then support DW and shut the he$$ up. I can understand being close to an RD like John, he is a great guy, but there may be more to the story. I am not saying that I know something you don't. Billie is a great guy and he is now the RD for the state. He will have a heavier load to carry for sure. You can't change the past, but you can support Billie Ray today. It is admirable for people to support John and I know he appreciates it, but have faith in the one you have been supporting for years. I think it too much to throw away.

Some of you are on here to start a fight and sway opinions to DW. I was hoping this would not become a trashy redneck forum. Leave the monkeys in the zoo to throwing crap on another forum.

What has DW done for you lately?........................ Not much.

AMEN BROTHER!!!!! DU HAS DONE THIS WITH NO INTENTIONS TO HURT ANYONE, JUST TO KEEP ITS PROMISE TO ALL OF US WHO HAVE SPENT OUR HARD EARNED MONEY ON ITS MISSION AND NOT ON PAYROLL. AND IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW IT'S MISSION IT IS TO PROTECT, CONSERVE, AND RESTORE WETLANDS.

fowl mouth wrote:TO KEEP ITS PROMISE TO ALL OF US WHO HAVE SPENT OUR HARD EARNED MONEY ON ITS MISSION AND NOT ON PAYROLL.

Just about blew tea all over the monitor at that one. Here's the payroll that needs trimmin!!!

H20K9 wrote:They have one of the top 10 salaried Board of directors in the entire nation.

Chad Manlove wrote:This entire post is disheartening to say the least. DU's mission has not changed. The bottomline as I see it....DU supports wetland conservation activities throughout North America that benefit waterfowl populations. You can either support that mission or not.

I don't discuss personnel decisions on a public Internet forum. That's not the professional or proper action to take. Both, John Peeples and Billy Ray Fann are great guys and personal friends. Both will need our support in the coming months, professionally and personally.

These personal attacks and negative comments will accomplish nothing.

It's disheartening, but it's not suprising. How many of the people bitchiing on this thread are DU volunteers in north MS? I know some are, but plenty are not and don't have a dog in this fight. Some are probably not even DU members. Just the usual schit-stirring internet pimps letting out their daily dosage of hot air so they can get in shots at DU. My favorite was the part about DU's Board of Directors being in the top ten for most highly paid in the country. That'd be a neat trick, since they are volunteers.

Anyway, carry on.

mottlet

Greenhead22 wrote:I dunno, too early to tell how this crap is gonna turn out. People have been given ammunition for bashing DU in the past yrs and this just adds to it, but they still get the majority of their banquets packed with people and free flowing money.

22 - The difference here is that this isn't just bashing. These people have already quit, and I doubt very seriously if they will go back.

gh22 your right again. I had this discussion with someone at the event the other night. Aside from the farmer who got p!@#d over the farm bill a few years ago nobody knows why they hate DU. They just bash DU. DU has been good for the ducks no doubt about that. They have just maybe gotten to big and corporate. Too many big money guys who could never relate to those of use who have to work at hunting ducks.

mottlet wrote:

Chad Manlove wrote:This entire post is disheartening to say the least. DU's mission has not changed. The bottomline as I see it....DU supports wetland conservation activities throughout North America that benefit waterfowl populations. You can either support that mission or not.

I don't discuss personnel decisions on a public Internet forum. That's not the professional or proper action to take. Both, John Peeples and Billy Ray Fann are great guys and personal friends. Both will need our support in the coming months, professionally and personally.

These personal attacks and negative comments will accomplish nothing.

It's disheartening, but it's not suprising. How many of the people bitchiing on this thread are DU volunteers in north MS? I know some are, but plenty are not and don't have a dog in this fight. Some are probably not even DU members. Just the usual schit-stirring internet pimps letting out their daily dosage of hot air so they can get in shots at DU. My favorite was the part about DU's Board of Directors being in the top ten for most highly paid in the country. That'd be a neat trick, since they are volunteers.

Anyway, carry on.

mottlet

AGAIN I SAY, AMEN BROTHER. KNOW WHATCHA SAYING BEFORE YOU SAY IT. DON'T BELIEVE WHATCHA BEEN TOLD, KNOW FOR SURE YOURSELF BEFORE YOU SAY IT.

People working on the DU board of directors ain't volunteers, just like a regional director isn't a volunteer. They get paid to work for DU, and rightly so, but every extra dollar they get paid while sitting in a big ass office is one less dollar for the ducks. I would like to know how much they really are paid. You think that if given the choice of a raise or extra dollars going to habitat that they would reject the raise? Hell no. It's not the RDs and the biologists that are creating the problem, it's the CEO's and presidents and all the lobbyists and bigwigs. Chad Manlove and Billy Ray have to read all this stuff on the internet about the organization they work for on the internet and sort all the BS out and try to make heads or tails of it and try to keep everybody happy. I don't envy their job at all.

I don't want to seem to be a smart alec, but just exactly what are you all upset about?

I can come up with at least three possible alternatives:

1. That Mississippi deserves two RDs and losing one (whoever is lost) is an insult.

2. That even if DU needed to drop one position, they picked the wrong guy.

3. That one RD cannot possibly handle the business DU generates in MS.

I may not have THE answser for any of those but I think I can at least address most of them. See if my ideas make sense to you.

For 1. above, from the posts in this and other threads, MS once generated over $1 Million in fubnd raising: I'd like to point out that this is very good.
However, since that time you have dropped to about $650,000 (per the current DU State Sheet for MS). From what the surrounding states raise versus how many RD's they have, it appears that there is a threashold of about $300,000 to $450,000 per RD; if a state raises $600,000 to $900,000 they may (or may not) have a second RD. I looked at MS, AR, LA, TN, KY, AL, and OK to come to this conclusion. The only state in that area that seems to be "overstaffed" with RDs under this formula would be Texas, and the sheer size of Texas may require more manpower.

For 2 above, what I mainly have is questions. Assuming that MS can support only one RD, how do you pick the one to keep and the one to lose? I don't know either of these men personally but I DO know probably a dozen RD from all over the country, and they impress me as a really fine group of men; dedicated, hardworking and freindly. Given that, I assume that both of your RD are fit the same profile. Of course that makes it double tough to decide to keep one and let the other one go.

Does anyone know how their respective regions are performing, relative to each other? Not just how much money is being raised but how that has been changing over the last few years. Getting back to when MS was a $ Million state, when the big dropp came, was it mostly ini the north MS region? If one region (even if it had traditionally been the super performer) dropped, say 40%, while the underperforming region was increasing its fund raising capability, when they time comes to only keep one of the RDs whichj one would you keep? I admit I don't know whether this scenario is accurate, but it is at least a possible answer..

And as for the third item, let me assure you that a State of the size (both geographically and in terms of DU fundraising) of MS can indeed function with only one RD. While MS went from $ 1 Million + down to $ 650,000, my home state of OK dropped from $700,000 (m/l) to $400,000, all the time having only one RD. You all had about 80 events last year, while we had about 70. Not exactly identical, but pretty close.

As far as the over all situation goes, I'm sorry to hear that DU had to eliminate RD positions. As I said before, most of these guys are fine people.

fowl mouth wrote:

B.M.F.T. wrote:Many other organizations have done this recently. This is nothing new. This is a way to make your money work smarter. DU is not nor will be the only one to make changes this way. If you had faith in DU before this, then have faith in them now. This is a business and not a feel good buddy system. You must have faith that this is for the good. If you don't like DU then support someone else. But if you are on here to stir crap which some of you are, then support DW and shut the he$$ up. I can understand being close to an RD like John, he is a great guy, but there may be more to the story. I am not saying that I know something you don't. Billie is a great guy and he is now the RD for the state. He will have a heavier load to carry for sure. You can't change the past, but you can support Billie Ray today. It is admirable for people to support John and I know he appreciates it, but have faith in the one you have been supporting for years. I think it too much to throw away.

Some of you are on here to start a fight and sway opinions to DW. I was hoping this would not become a trashy redneck forum. Leave the monkeys in the zoo to throwing crap on another forum.

What has DW done for you lately?........................ Not much.

AMEN BROTHER!!!!! DU HAS DONE THIS WITH NO INTENTIONS TO HURT ANYONE, JUST TO KEEP ITS PROMISE TO ALL OF US WHO HAVE SPENT OUR HARD EARNED MONEY ON ITS MISSION AND NOT ON PAYROLL. AND IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW IT'S MISSION IT IS TO PROTECT, CONSERVE, AND RESTORE WETLANDS.

What freaking rock have you been under? As I have said before, what better way to spend 60-80,000 a year to raise 400,000? DU came up with this grass roots aproach this year which I thought was great. They only said that to help raise more money. John was the grass roots for most of us in N MS. And GH22, I promise you this, after our banquet in Jan. there will never be a DU event in West Point. I dont think you really understand how people feel about this. Heck, our state chairman, Rodney Garrison has called it quits! Thats got to be a eye opener. Yes Chad I can honestly say I support DU mission, but I will never be a chairman for a org. that has craped all over there so called grass roots. I dont see MS raising no more than 300,000 next year. Heck, the Tunica Shoot raised 200,000 and it is GONE, NO MORE! It will never have the support it has in the past. Even the casino folks have pulled there support.l I never thought I would see the day when MS biggest vol. Robert Stanton would have such bad things to say about a org. that he truely loved.

howd damn.. one things fo sure...