2010 Sanganois Duck Blind Drawing

July 19th, 2010


The annual Sanganois duck blind drawing will be held on Sunday, July 25, 2010 at the Sanganois Conservation Area site headquarters.

Please plan to stop by the Friends of Sanganois tent as there will be lots activity going on. Many of you take this opportunity to renew your annual FOS membership. Membership is the backbone of our organization and one of the main reasons for the success we’ve achieved, so please stop by and see Bud Danenberger, FOS Membership Chairman, who will assist you.

Volunteers Needed
On duck blind drawing day, volunteers are needed. We need FOS members to assist attendees with their purchases, whether it’s for a raffle ticket or hat. We also need volunteer salesmen and women to help sell tickets for the gun raffle, 50/50 drawing and work/sell at the Special Projects tent for the 10 dozen decoys & Boyt Waterfowl Products Package giveaway. We all have a lot of things we want to do on this day, but if you can contribute just one hour to assist us, it will really help. Get a group of your friends together and help out a worthwhile cause.

2010 Raffle
Again this year, the Friends of Sanganois will conduct a gun raffle and another “Special Projects” raffle for 10 dozen duck decoys and a “Waterfowl Package” of Boyt Harness Company products at the annual duck blind drawing.
The difference between the FOS raffle and all of the other raffles on this day is:
The FOS gun raffle will be for 3 guns !!!
All 3 guns will be given away just before the start of the blind drawing.
The 10 dozen decoys & Boyt items will go home with someone on July 25th

for more information on all the days events Click here to view the 2010 Summer Newsletter

Friends hope to help Rice Lake

July 19th, 2010

by: Jeff Lampe Courtesy Prairiestateoutdoors.com

Eight bumpy years have passed since the last comprehensive repairs to the rutted roads of Banner Marsh. While that comes as no surprise to anyone who has battled Banner’s goat paths, the lack of gravel underlines an important point. Most state-run natural areas in Illinois are ailing. Without help soon, they will only get worse. But given the state budget deficit, there’s no sign of help on the horizon.

With that in mind, a group of hunters, anglers and outdoors enthusiasts have banded together to form a new advocacy group called Friends of Rice Lake (FORL). While the official name only lists Rice Lake, the group’s mission statement is “to support, enhance and protect the Rice Lake, Banner Marsh and Double T state fish and wildlife areas.”

All three popular areas are located within 35 minutes of Peoria and all three are part of the same Rice Lake complex. So whether you catch bass at Banner, duck hunt at Rice Lake or photograph birds at Double T, this non-profit group will serve your interests.

“What we want to do basically is to help (Rice Lake site manager Bill Douglass) and his crew in any way they need help, whether it’s with funds or as a voice,” said Adam Jaegle of Bartonville, president of FORL. “We just want to be able to preserve what we have, make sure it’s there for the future and maybe make it better.” The first fund-raiser for Friends of Rice Lake is next Sunday, July 25, during the annual duck-blind drawing at Rice Lake. Volunteers will sign-up members at various levels: $10 for youngsters 16 and under, $25 for members, $50 for sponsors and $250 for major donors. Depending on how much you donate, you’ll receive a window decal, hat or t-shirt as well as chances at various prizes. Illinois hunting and fishing Hats and t-shirts with the Friends of Rice Lake logo will also be sold, as will raffle tickets for Butch Louck’s unique, hand-carved drake mallard decoy. Louck spent more than 300 hours on the decoy he calls “Standing Proud,” which will be raffled Aug. 18. For those who can’t attend the duck-blind drawings, information will soon be available on friendsofricelake.org or at Presley’s Outdoors in Bartonville. Germantown Hills resident Louck donated the decoy because he believes, “We ought to step up and help in tough economic times.” That’s an honorable reaction to the sad reality facing natural areas run by the Department of Natural Resources. Budget cuts have forced site managers like Douglass to make tough decisions. “Do you plant food for wildlife or rock a road?” he asked. Beyond gravel, Douglass rattled off a long wish-list of goods and services: goose pits at Double T, a 15-foot bat-wing mower, a no-till planter, a brush cutter, boats for Banner Marsh, lumber and paint for picnic tables, money for excavator rental, camp stoves, buoys, trail markers, wood duck boxes, seed and chemical as needed, pumps, a snow plow … and on and on. No wonder DNR Director Marc Miller wants more outdoors types to band together. “We need these partners,” Miller said. “I think that advocacy groups can have a large impact on the budget and on the legislative process.”

Certainly that’s been true for the Friends of Sanganois, whose success is a template for the Friends of Rice Lake.

For the past six years Friends of Sanganois has been a tireless advocate for levee repairs at that state site. The group has also generated close to $10,000 per year for road repairs, boat ramps, mowers and other needed equipment and improvements. “We’ve spent thousands in rock for roads because the state just won’t do it,” said Bo Arnold, president of Friends of Sanganois. “I get the feeling if we didn’t pay for it, it would never get done.” At the same time, there’s an understandable resistance to fork over more money to a state-run facility. As hunters and anglers we already pay taxes. Plus we are paying more for license fees this year. Why pay even more? Ultimately, that’s up to each of us to decide. One guarantee FORL makes is that all funds raised will be used only for improvements or youth-related events at the Rice Lake complex. That’s one reason I see this as a worthwhile venture. Yes, there’s some bias involved since I’m also secretary of FORL (largely by default after the Head Worm tried to include an “x” in his spelling of secretary). But my real bias is more selfish than that. Some of the most enjoyable outdoors experiences I’ve enjoyed around here were at Banner or Rice Lake. I want my children to have that same opportunity.

Etched into call-making history

March 11th, 2009

BY JEFF LAMPE courtesy of prairiestateoutdoors.com


Doug Jallas has spent his life hunting waterfowl in the Illinois River Valley.

He’s been a pusher, a picker, a caretaker and a hunter all his life.

Given his love of all things duck, it only makes sense that Jallas would eventually make his own duck and goose calls. For the past four years Jallas has been working to perfect his
River Bottom Calls, which he sells across Illinois and makes in the workshop of his home outside Chandlerville.

In so doing, Jallas joins an Illinois call-making tradition that dates back more than 100 years. Fred Allen of Monmouth is typically credited with constructing the first modern duck call and claims he made calls as early as 1863. According to Robert Christensen’s book “Duck Calls of Illinois,” the first physical proof of Allen’s calls comes in the form of an 1880 advertisement.

From there, Illinois’ influence on waterfowl call-making only increased. In fact, “Illinois is the history of duck call making,” writes Brian McGrath in his 1988 book “Duck Calls and Other Game Calls.”       plogo2

Illinois is just as prominent in the history of goose-call making, dating back to 1885 when David Fuller of Chicago received the first patent for a goose call. Illinois has continued to remain at the forefront in goose call innovations. Prime examples include Ken Martin’s Horseshoe Lake calls of the 1950s, P.S. Olt’s A-50 goose flute and more recent models that dominate the market and are sold by Tim Grounds of Johnston City and Jeff Foiles of Pittsfield.

Grounds and Foiles are the best known members of what is still a strong and growing group of modern Illinois callmakers. According to the Web site callingducks.com, Foiles’ calls have accounted for the third-most wins in waterfowl contests behind only No. 1 Rich-N-Tone Duck Calls and No. 2 Echo Championship Calls. Grounds ranks fourth on the same list.

Beyond the big two are three other callmakers who sell their product nationally and internationally: Mick Lacy Game Calls of Princeville, Dave Jackson’s D.J. Illinois River Valley Calls of South Pekin and Rick Perry’s Winglock Calls in Chillicothe.

Beyond those five major makers are another two dozen smaller callmakers currently operating in the Prairie State.

That’s a marked change from as recently as 20 years ago, according to Perry.

“It used to be a lot of us callmakers would just exchange parts between ourselves and there weren’t that many callmakers,” Perry said. “It was a small, tight-knit group. Now it has
exploded and anybody on any street corner can make a duck call.

“All they have to do is turn a barrel and pop a plastic insert in it and they’ve got a duck call. It’s just that easy.”

Part of the reason for the explosion in the number of people making calls is the Internet, and the ease with which parts can now be found. Perry has even started selling parts on his Web site (winglockcalls.com).

“If everybody is going to buy parts, I might as well get a nickel off it and have them buy parts from me too,” he said.

Given the glut of callmakers, Jallas said it’s important to find some way to stand out from the crowd. For Jallas, that niche is custom laser engraving.

“My business is really based on personalizing calls,” Jallas said. “It makes a difference as far as a guy just getting a call or a guy getting something he’s never seen before. You’ve got to do something eye-catching now.”

That’s why River Bottom calls feature engravings of ducks, geese, names and whatever else you might reasonably request as part of its standard price.

Engraved duck calls sell for $60 and engraved goose calls cost $100. There’s a $10 discount for hunters who visit Jallas at his shop, located just east of the Sanganois State Fish and Waterfowl Area that he manages.

“We get a lot of guys who want us to engrave a picture of their dog on a call and we’ll do that,” Jallas said. “That way, even after he’s gone a guy can still keep hunting with his dog.”