MDWFA President - Jeff Plummer
E-mail: JeffPlummer@mdwfa.org
I am a resident of Centreville, MD and to be honest I can't envision a better place to live and raise a family. I grew up on the western shore but spent every weekend with my father hunting on the eastern shore. I have vivid memories of eating breakfast at Hollies and the Circle restaurant at 3AM. As a kid I loved crossing that bridge and knew that one day I wanted to live there. It wasn't until 5 years ago that I would finally realize the dream of living on the eastern shore with my wife and three kids.
I began hunting waterfowl in a field in Vienna, Maryland back in the early 70's. I was a 10 year old kid that just wanted to do whatever my dad did back then. Hunting was different as I remember it. We used plywood silos and tire decoys! Man I can remember helping make those tire decoys! For years I tagged along and shot a goose here and there and listened as my father would blow on his Olt goose call. As I grew older and went away to college for a few years I had few opportunities to hunt. Upon returning home I now had an itch to hunt again. I made the most of my opportunities and on days my dad could not go I found some friends that shared my enthusiasm for waterfowl hunting.
My friends and I would hunt public lands every weekend. Calling ahead to reserve a blind on public land, seemed like no big deal back then. At least for a bunch of young guys that had no money for a lease it seemed OK. We had a hodge-podge of decoys, but to us it didn't matter.
Later I got married and had 2 daughters and a son. Neither of my daughters took an interest in hunting. From the time my son was old enough to wear a camo one piece, I had a lanyard and call around his neck. When he was 8 I would let him go hunting and he would take his BB gun and pretend to hunt with me. Then at the age of 10 he passed the hunter safety course and now was hunting with me. Teaching my son what I had been taught by my father was something I really enjoyed. He is now turning 17 and although we still hunt together his work schedule interferes with some of our time together. Soon he will be at college and I will again be hunting with my hunting buds whom I have shared blinds with in Arkansas, Texas, Illinois and across Maryland.
In the fall of 2005 I was approached by the former PRWA and asked if I would consider taking an active role in the new MDWFA. With everything that I had experienced and been rewarded with in this sport, I felt it was time to give something back. When I was asked to take on the position of president, I took some time to decide if I had the energy and time to take on a role for an organization that I envisioned playing a vital role in protecting and furthering the sport of Water fowling here in Maryland. My wife encouraged me to take on the role and I accepted the position. With an outstanding and dedicated group supporting me, I hope to make the MDWFA something that will preserve the sport of water fowling for my son and my grandchildren.