One of the first duties of the state chair is to create a new Minnesota Ducks Unlimited state convention logo. Recently elected chair, Brian Ross, was inspired by an October 2012 trip to Vinge Lake in western Minnesota.

"It was a windy early October morning with heavy clouds spitting rain and sleet," he recalls. "The big diver migration was on and we were taking redheads, canvasbacks, and greater scaup. By mid-morning we almost had our limit, when a flock of ten canvasbacks roared over the decoys and I took the biggest drake in the bunch." Brian sent in his trusty labrador retriever, Fritz, and was able to get a great photograph of him retrieving the duck.

In fact, Brian liked the photo so much that he asked his sister-in-law, Judy Ferry, to paint a picture of it for him. Judy, who has been painting since her thirties and teaching art classes for over thirteen years, was up to the task. "Judy really captured Fritz's personality," Brian says.

The painting, entitled "Vinge Lake Retrieve" was completed in the fall of 2014. Brian says that he chose the picture to become the new logo because, "Hunting with a retriever is a part of the waterfowling lifestyle. The relationship between a hunter and dog is special and it helps us to be conservationists, by retrieving all of the ducks that we shoot. There is a lot of personal meaning in the image."

The new logo is being put on pins, clothing and hats, and were available beginning February 13th at the Minnesota Ducks Unlimited's state convention. The logo is also on the state pin for trading at the national convention in June.