NCWA exists to conserve, enhance and perpetuate our waterfowl heritage.
 
A Week in the Life of a Camp Woodie Camper
By Camp Woodie Director, Chris Cusack

OTHER CAMP WOODIE STORIES
Tour of Camp Facilities

A Look at Camp Activites

Camp Woodie and NCWA

Professional Instructors at Camp
We are often asked: “What will my child be doing at Camp Woodie?” We decided to put together a description of the daily activities from beginning to end. Of course, if you ever have any questions please feel free to call the office at any time, and remember to keep an eye our for up coming specials.

Day 1- Sunday
Campers begin arriving around 5 pm. We have a table set up in the lodge where parents can meet the director, assistant director, and some of our staff. At this time parents can turn in any missing paper work, finish any necessary payments, drop off bows, buy raffle tickets, deposit money for canteen, turn in any medical information, ask any questions that might be on your mind, give any special instructions, receive grouping information, and spend time looking around the lodge. After completing check-in, parents accompany their sons or daughters to the assigned sleeping area where they can un-pack, meet some counselors, and spend some time with their kids before departing.

Around 6:30 we gather all of the campers in the main lodge and review Camp Woodie rules and guidelines, see if anyone has any questions, discuss some of the things that will be going on during the week and then have a pizza dinner sponsored by Papa Johns. After dinner, campers get together for a brief group activity with all of the counselors for about an hour. Directly following this activity campers will separate into their groups and accompany their assigned counselor to a private area for a general meeting to review rules again, and get to know their counselor. Following this meeting campers head for their bunks and prepare for bed. We turn the lights out at 10 pm.

Day 2 – Monday
Everyday we wake up at 7 am, have breakfast at 8 am, and start field activities by 8:30 am. Monday is the only exception where we have a general gun safety review for all of the campers immediately after breakfast. Monday also tends to be the busiest of all the days incorporating four full activities. Each activity is designed to last approximately 2 to 2 and a half hour. (A description of the current because we are always looking to add new ones activities can be found below).

Activity 1 begins at 8:30 running until 11:00; we then allow a small break before we begin lunch. Lunch is a well-balanced meal consisting of a plethora of choices throughout the week. We definitely take the food seriously and our wonderful cooks prepare just about everything from scratch. Lunch runs until 12:30 where we break for activity two.

Activity 2 ends around 2:30. We allow for a little bit of down time before starting canteen at 3:00. (A description of canteen can be found below). Activity 3 begins at 3:30 and will run until 5:30. We break for an awesome dinner and begin activity four at 6:30 finishing the daily activities around 8:30. We do a second canteen at approximately 8:45 and get everyone back to the bunks to prepare for bedtime. Lights out at 10:00 pm.

Day 3 – Tuesday
We will basically follow the same schedule each day with the following exceptions. Tuesday’s have traditionally been SCDNR days. Jim Edwards of SCDNR comes each Tuesday to put on a whale of a show. He takes the kids and teaches them some amazing facts and concepts, as well has having a live animal show. He is a wonderful addition to our curriculum and the kids love to see what he is going to be doing that day. Lights out at 10:00 pm.

Day 4 – Wednesday
We still adhere to the same basic schedule; however, we usually have two special guests visit us on Wednesday’s. Ray Godwin of webfoot retrievers brings out his retrievers and puts on a wonderful show for the kids first thing in the morning. Mark Ackerman of Swamp Thing Calls also comes on Wednesday’s to put on a duck-calling seminar for all the campers. Wednesday usually culminates in a traditional game of capture the flag out on our Island. The campers really get involved in this dressing up in their camouflage and getting down right serious about being the best the can be. Lights out 10:00 pm.

Day 5 – Thursday
Unfortunately, every good thing has to come to an end eventually and this is that day. We usually try to get in at least two activities; however, we have to spend some time getting campers ready to depart that evening. This is also the day the we announce the winners of any contest that we had during the week (examples: duck calling contest and blind building contest). Our cooks prepare and excellent dinner for the families of the campers which starts promptly at 6:00 pm. Parents begin to arrive around 4:30 and should proceed to the check out table where they can receive any refunds and check their son or daughter out. Parents will then have time to pack up their children’s things and get ready for a wonderful dinner. Thursday evening is also the time for our awards ceremony. After everyone has been served, the camp director will begin the awards ceremony. This ceremony consists of a drawing in which every camper wins some type of prize. After this, the director will announce the awards chosen by the counselor for several categories like Best Fisherman. The dinner and awards ceremony are usually over by 7:00 pm allowing parents and campers to get an early start for home. **WE CAN NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR CAMPERS BLOWING YOUR EARS OFF, ON THE WAY HOME, WITH ALL THE GREAT DUCK CALLING LESSONS THAT THEY RECEIVED**. We Say farewell and have a safe trip.

Descriptions
Canteen: Canteen is a time for campers to do several things. They get to purchase merchandise (money that you deposit on day 1, please do not let your kids take money with them) including Camp Woodie hats and shirts, calls, and other miscellaneous hunting and fishing items. This is also a time for them to socialize with other campers, have a snack, drink, and most definitely, a chance to cool down.

Activities: There are several basic activities that make Camp Woodie so special, however we are constantly trying to add new activities at every opportunity.

Skeet Shooting- Campers have an opportunity to shoot skeet on a high house, low house, regulation sized skeet range. Campers are challenged with many different shooting angles that provides and excellent opportunity to practice their shooting techniques. Counselors are close by providing guidance and support to help each camper become better and safer shooters.

Walk-thru Sporting Clays- Definitely the most challenging of all of the activities. It consists of a ten station walk-thru course (in the woods) putting campers in all sorts of shooting situations. Counselors provide instruction on the tougher shots and stand by for safety and questions. Campers are faced with singles and doubles coming from the front, back, overhead, and side-to-side, each simulating real hunting situations in the field.

Five Station – Probably the most popular of all of the activities, the five station is simply that, five positions that simulate six different shooting situations. Campers see overhead, straight up, left to right, straight at them, and the rabbit. After spending some time with the basics, we often play different types of shooting games at these positions allowing campers to experience new things.

Rifle and Pistol range - Most of the time we only allow campers to shoot 22 LR’s at this station, however, some advanced camp weeks shoot hi-powered rifles or pistols. At this location, campers place targets on the range and practice the finer points of shooting, since there is not a lot of room to miss with a rifle.

Archery – The archery range consists of a 25-station walk-thru 3-d course. Campers shoot at a variety of targets as small as a skunk to a full-sized standing black bear. They will begin this activity shooting on the range and then proceed to the course when they feel comfortable with their bows.

Fishing – We have several ponds stocked with bass, bream, and some feisty catfish. We try to provide every camper with an opportunity to catch each of these either from our dock or along the edges of the pond. We often do cast net demonstrations, and seining during this activity.

Boating – A very important activity to everyone. Campers are taken out on the big pond where they learn all the ins and outs of canoeing. They are challenged to accomplish some of the many difficult tasks often faced when canoeing. Some of the advanced campers spend some time fishing out of the canoes as well.

Nature Trail – We also have a beautiful trail that starts at the Woodie roost and winds all the way around the big pond back to the Safety Klean, during which campers have a chance to experience many of nature’s wonders.

These are considered the staples of camp, however, we have so many other activities that intertwine amongst these larger ones, and we could never list them all. Several times during the summer, new opportunities are available, and we jump right on them, not to mention all of the wonderful professionals that come to camp each summer. These change on a regular basis but a camper can feel confident they are going to meet some neat people (at least in the level II camps any way). The preceding has been a short glimpse into the days of what we do at camp, but please remember that you can call anytime to ask questions that are more specific. We look forward to meeting you in the summer of 2005.