Wisconsin Waterfowl Association
Dedicated to the Conservation of Wisconsin's Waterfowl and Wetland Resources.
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Thank You To WWA's
2016 Sponsors & Donors
Gold Level Sponsors
Silver Level Sponsors
Bronze Level Sponsors
State Level Sponsors
State Level Donors
LIFE SPONSORS
  • Dale Arenz
  • Ted Olson
  • Jack Olson
WETLAND LIFE MEMBERS
  • Tom Lutes
  • Patrick Smith
  • Erich Pitz
LIFE MEMBERS
  • Randy Hess
  • Raymond Petersen
  • Bruce Urben
  • Brian Hadler
  • David R. VanLanen
  • John Wetzel
  • Scott Zoellick
  • Cal Barstow
  • Terry G. Doughty
  • Bill Peebles
  • Jim Weix
  • Leonard & Arleen Wurman
  • Jeff Nania
  • John Holmes
  • Rob Monette
  • Guy McFarren
  • John Regan
  • Jerry Burns
  • Jerry Gadamus
  • Don Moore
  • Arthur Anderson
  • Don Kloetzke
  • Buzz Balzer
  • David Uihlein, Sr.
  • Robert Kieckhefer
  • Mark Drollinger
  • Jason Alvarado
  • Scott Hedin
  • Austin Wheaton
  • Tom Seibert
  • Larry Kirby
  • Sharon Kirby
  • Keith A. Pamperin
  • Lance Voeltner
  • Benjamin Larson
  • Randy Helbach
  • Don Kirby
  • Robert Swanson
  • Michael Alaimo
LEGACY LIFE MEMBERS
Gone but not forgotten
  • Les Didier
Thanks to all those that have cherished the memory of a loved one by donating in memoriam to the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association.
 
Those recently memorialized were:
 
Mr. Norman J. Brady
Donor: Dale W. Arenz

Mr. Robert E. Strous
Donor: Bruce Urben

Mr. Stephan Rogge
Donors: Bob & Helen Harold, Law Offices of O'Flaherty Heim Egan & Birnbaum Ltd, La Crosse County Bar Association

Mr. Leroy Depies
Donors: Greg & Kris Rausch, Dave & Jen Bublitz, Dwight & Kim Campnell, Phil & Michelle Neary, Tim & Jodi Wade, Dennis Guttmann, Jim & Liz Freck, Brian & Lisa Hutchinson 
 
If you'd like to consider a lasting and meaningful memorial fund contribution for that friend, hunting partner, co-worker or relative with WWA, please contact us. Each contribution will offer:

  • A personalized letter to the family of the deceased,
  • A letter from WWA sent to the donor confirming contribution for tax purposes (address & individual donation amount must be supplied),
  • The option for the donor to designate which WWA program they wish their contributions be put towards, and a listing in this section for the duration of one year
The Wisconsin Waterfowl Association is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission focuses on wetland and upland habitat restoration, youth and adult environmental education and environmental- and hunter-based legislation.  
 
To contact us call (800) 524-8460 or (262) 968-1722, email wwainfo@centurytel.net or visit our website at  www.wisducks.org        
 
Sincerely,
Don Kirby
Executive Director
Wisconsin Waterfowl Association
PO Box 427
Wales, Wisconsin 53183
wwainfo@centurytel.net
800-524-8460
MAY 2016
Our New Website Is Here!
Don Kirby, Executive Director, 262.224.4949

Thanks for taking a moment to read the latest about your Association. This update has plenty of information in it, but perhaps none is more important than the announcement that our website update project has been completed.

Following months of work, the new site (still wisducks.org) went live on Friday April 22nd, and so far, we've experienced very few glitches. I encourage you to go out and see it for yourself. You'll find it to be far more comprehensive, in offering information on all of the activities that our volunteers are working on, all over the state. It also offers a secure, very quick, pathway to add WWA events to your personal calendars, and purchasing advance tickets as well. This is the first major upgrade to wisducks.org since the summer of 2009, and is a huge leap forward in "ease of use" for us to update the information on the site, to boot. My sincere thanks goes out to Kelcy Boettcher, Bruce Urben, Joe Porten, as well as several other board directors involved in the effort, and our partners at Orion, for all of their efforts in this transition.
Although we still have a couple of content areas to finish building out, I hope all of you are as proud of the end product, as we are. 

During the month of April our volunteer teams hosted a variety of terrific outreach events, providing critical funding for the association, but also providing for thousands of opportunities for members to interact with each other, with staff, and with our board directors. Among all of these events, one was brand new: the Madison Area Sporting Clays Shoot, the first in this year's six shoot Series. This event enjoyed the patronage of 84 shooters, who shot more than 100 runs through the day's beautiful and challenging course, at Waunakee Gun Club. Our special thanks goes out to new volunteer leader, Mike Schmoller, who made an inquiry, last year, at mid-summer about hosting a shoot for WWA, then attended the last two shoots of 2015 to familiarize himself the process. His willingness to step forward and learn the ropes is a great example of the sort of commitment we see within so many of our great volunteers, in chapters all over the state. Thank you, Mike, and thanks to all of our great volunteers: its your efforts that make this Association happen!
1st Annual Madison Shoot, pictured L to R: WWA ED Don Kirby, Waunakee Gun Club's Joe Leszie and WWA volunteer Mike Schmoller

Well, that's enough from me - there's a bunch more to look at in this update, please continue on. If you've not updated your membership recently, please take a moment, go to this link, and help support our works, today.

See you on the water...Don
President's Note
Bruce Urben, President

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In my last newsletter I told everyone that spring had sprung; unfortunately, Mother Nature is reminding us that she is still in charge. Cold temps, wind and rain have been the norm the last few weeks. Hang in there, the weather will be back to normal soon, the calendar tells us so!

We have been battling with the weather forecasts to find an optimal day to complete the prescribed burn at WWA's Abrams wildlife area. Fire can be good for people and the land. Periodic burns minimizes the spread of insects and disease, removes unwanted non-native species, recycles nutrients back into the soil and promotes growth of trees, wild flowers and other plants. At Abrams we need a north or westerly wind to insure we do not shut the adjacent highway down with
Abrams Burn
Burning done at Abrams in Spring of 2011
smoke. Next week may give us the turn of weather to allow the burn to proceed. I want to thank WWA's Project Director Peter Ziegler for acting as our "burn boss" as well as drafting our burn plan and to Don Kirby for continuing to monitor the weather forecasts to identify a suitable burn day. A special thanks to Jon Kellermann, Fox Valley Technical College, Forestry Instructor for keeping his students on standby to assist when the burn finally occurs as well. If any of our members are interested in assisting with the burn feel free to contact me directly, we sure could use the help.

Last weekend I was able to attend the first sporting clays shoot in our shoot series at the 1st Annual Madison Shoot, hosted by the Waunakee Gun Club. It was great to see a big crowd for this first shoot after an absence in this area for some time!
Shooters enjoy a perfect day at the 1st Annual WWA Madison Shoot

AbramsShootMost of the volunteers, including myself, had the opportunity to shoot the course, which I found to be excellent but challenging! I guess I need more practice? Check out our next shoot, the 6th Annual Abrams Shoot, presented by NEW Wall Street, taking place on May 14 at Little Creek Lodge near Abrams and any (or all!) of the other 4 shoots in the series coming up. As you have heard, our new website is up and operating and you can plan for and register for any of the shoot series in advance! Every dollar we earn at these shoots is another dollar for habitat improvement.

I noticed several things at the shoot that were truly impressive. We had a number of women shooters attend, which was great to see!  Also, a number of "experienced" shooters attended (I put myself in this "category") and some had young men/women in tow. This tells me that our sports heritage is alive and well and in good hands! Keep up the good work and take a youth outside; hunting, fishing or just enjoying what Mother Nature has blessed us with.
Project Program Updates
Peter Ziegler
Peter Ziegler, Project Director, 262.470.4310

Spring weather has officially arrived and I'm busy with lots of project planning and burning, with a prescribed burn scheduled for our Abrams property hopefully yet this week if the winds cooperate.

Don't forget, I will be participating in two wetland workshops put on by the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, one in Door County on May 21st and one in Manitowoc County on June 4th. Any and all are welcome to come learn about how to get started on a restoration and care for your wetland property. WWA partnered with the WI Wetlands Association for similar workshops in other counties along the lake in past years and we're excited to be involved again this year. If you're interested in attending, please contact the Wisconsin Wetlands Association. Hope to see you there.
Tom's Banquet Corner
Tom Seibert, Regional Director, 414.750.8260

Thanks to all of our members and volunteers who made our April events a huge success. The Waukesha Chapter and South Suburban Chapter banquets were huge successes. The first in the WWA 2016 Sporting Clays Series of Shoots was a smashing success with the shooter turnout being twice our expectations. Thanks also to the Waunakee Gun Club for being a fantastic host. If you missed the shoot but want a challenging course to try, check them out. I give that course 5 clay birds, a must for every shooter.

If you are one of our members who doesn't like to attend our banquets because you don't enjoy crowds or you live on the outskirts of where our events are held, but would like to support our mission and win some great prizes, I have the answer for you. We have some wonderful prizes you can win on our chapters' class A Raffles. These are raffles that you don't have to be present to win. Your entry stub goes into the drawing drum and we give you call when we draw your name. Cross your fingers and buy a ticket because we have several awesome prizes you could win.
 
The West Allis Chapter has a few $10 tickets left on a Kimber Solo Conceal Carry 9mm Stainless Pistol that will be drawn at our May 24th SE WI Scramble Golf Outing.
Hurry, only 300 tickets will be sold and a dozen or so are left. 

Our Valley chapter has a Kimber Custom 2 Tone 1911 45 ACP., tickets are 1 for $10 or 3 for  $20 with only 400 tickets being sold and it will be drawn at our Fox Valley Golf Outing on  July 27th.

Give me a holler and I will get you tickets for any of these drawings. All these raffles help us complete our mission so consider winning one of these great prizes.

Here is a quick note to all of you waterfowl hunters. Improve your chances of bagging a duck or goose this year by participating in our Sporting Clay Shoot series. It will sharpen your shooting eye. There are 2 shoots this month followed by one more each month ending in August. You will have fun shooting and even more enjoyment this fall when more birds fall and less fly away or worse, fly out of range and glide down crippled. Become a better conservationist and have fun doing it and win some prizes to boot. You will have a chance to win a guided Musky trip from Hideaway Hollow Outfitters at each of these events.

Keep checking our website for banquet dates as we have several new areas that will be hosting events this year. We are looking forward to banquets in Wausau and LaCrosse and will be announcing those dates soon. If you have some free time and would like to help organize one of these events please contact me.

On a sad note, since my last newsletter the WWA family has lost several committee members and volunteers to the Happy Hunting grounds beyond. Several  weeks ago our South Shore/Racine Chapter lost committee member Neal Larson. I know his grandson is still a key volunteer and will keep up the legacy of Neal as a hard worker.  

Brian Kutz 
Early last month we lost Brian Kutz, the past Fond du Lac Chapter chairman. I will always remember Brian as the fun loving member of the group of raiders who pimped my room year after year at the Dells state meetings. 

Then, just a week later we lost Russ Parsons before he could attend our
Russ Parsons
Waukesha Banquet. Russ and his son Mike have volunteered at numerous chapter events, most recently as part of the Midland Wings committee.  

Rest assured you all will be sorely missed by me and many others. We shall work hard to maintain the love you had for our outdoors and WWA.

Take time this summer to enjoy yourself and then introduce someone else to the great outdoors. Thanks for all you have contributed to Making Wisconsin a Better Place to Live.
  
Sponsor Spotlight - Hideaway Hollow Outfitters
Featuring Captain Matt Raley 

For the past several years, attendees at many of our fundraising events may have noticed a guided fishing trip opportunity, with Capt. Matt Raley, for a variety of fishing experiences hosted around the Minocqua area. With ten donated trips again this year, he has continued as State Sponsor, and we know from speaking with several of our winners, that Capt. Matt is a consummate professional, and puts on a great trip, given the rave reviews we've heard!

From their website:
Hideaway Hollow Outfitters is committed to safety and excellence on all hunting and fishing trips.  Hideaway Hollow outfitters is a mobile hunting and fishing operation that is based in Wisconsin, and travels around the state in pursuit of the best hunting and fishing opportunities the state has to offer.  HHO started its operation guiding turkey and waterfowl hunts.  Capt. Matt Raley is also gaining reputation as being the go to musky and trophy walleye guide in northern Wisconsin.  Capt. Matt is one of only a couple Licensed U.S Coast Guard Captains operating in Northern Wisconsin and on the Mississippi River.  HHO guides waterfowl trips on pools 9 and 11 of the Mississippi River, Northern Wisconsin, and Green Bay.  Turkey hunts take place in Zone one and three around the towns of Stevens Point and Potosi WI.  Capt. Matt fishes full time during the summer months on Vilas and Oneida county lakes.  On all hunting trips fishing can be added as a half day option.

Although we enjoy the use of Capt. Matt's time in the summer, with fishing, he is at heart, a waterfowler. During my last conversation with him, back in early April, he shared his excitement as he continues to grow his enterprise, and invests in a new venture in Texas. Each fall he guides fishermen until early September, then switches to the Mississippi River, then heads to Texas to guide hunters the gulf coast, then runs snow geese through late February and March, then comes back to Wisconsin to chase turkeys, then gets the fishing boat back out again. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, he finds time to be a serious musky tournament angler as well, notching some big-time victories in recent years!
 
If you are looking to book a trip to try something new, and to learn from an expert, get hooked up with Capt. Matt. If interested, click on the logo-link found on the right margin of this newsletter, to take you right to the Hideway Hollow Outfitters website. Thanks to Capt. Matt for his assistance to WWA, and for continuing to make a WWA event something special!
MAY 2016
JUNE 2016

JULY 2016


WWA'S 2016 CALENDAR RAFFLE

Thank you to everyone who purchased our 2016 Conservation Calendar! This raffle was again an immensely successful fundraiser for our organization's mission.  

NEW for 2016: Drawings will be held on the SECOND MONDAY of each month and all drawings will be held at Stadium Bar, 301 Knapp Street, Oshkosh, WI 54902 at 6:00 p.m. The drawing is open to the public and everyone is welcome to attend. 

Winner's results are posted online by noon on the Tuesday following the drawing and can also be obtained by request via email or by calling (262) 968-1722 or writing to PO Box 427, Wales, WI 53183. 
  
Good luck to all who are entered! 
Ozaukee Shoot #3 in the 2016 Shoot Series!
Register - Shoot - Win!  6 Unique Events at Awesome Venues to Choose From!

Board President Bruce Urben highlighted our next shoot in the 2016 WWA Shoot Series, Shoot #2, the Abrams Shoot at Little Creek Lodge taking place on May 14th in his article in this newsletter (click here if you missed it), so now we'd like to share some of the exciting details of Shoot #3, the Ozaukee County Shoot taking place May 21st AND 22nd at the Ozaukee County Fish & Game Association located in Fredonia, WI.

For just $25 ($20 youth 17 & under), you get 50 rounds of clays, entry into the Grand Door Prize drawing AND some great prizes in Men's, Ladies, Youth AND Lewis Class, including CASH, shells and hunts! We'll be drawing bucket raffles each day including Meat Raffles from Schwais, and we'll be featuring a Station Gun Raffle, a Cabela's food prep package raffle AND Class A Pistol and Shotgun Raffles! Plus, if you've shot at one of our other shoots in the series you'll receive $5 off your pre-registration entry fee.

2016 Shoot Series Grand Prize (guns,etc not included)
As with all Shoots in the Series, you'll also get your 1-year WWA membership, AND an entry to win the GRAND PRIZE for 2016 - an incredible CANNON wide-body firearms vault (pictured at right)! 

Check out all the details on the Series, here , and mark your calendars for the upcoming shoots left in the Series:
Golf and Support WWA
We know that not all of our members are into waterfowl hunting or sport shooting so we're very excited to announce the return of three WWA golf outing scrambles taking place this summer!  Grab a group of friends or clients and plan to join us at one or all three; those that have attended know we have an amazing spread of prizes and raffle items you won't want to miss including guns, canoes, Milwaukee Electric Tools, Vortex binoculars, trips and more.
Chapter Spotlights: Adopt A Wildlife Area
Waukesha & Twin Rivers Chapters Complete Successful Rome Pond Cleanup Day

Volunteers removing trash from Rome Pond
WWA is among the very first organizations in the state to participate in the WDNR Adopt A Wildlife Area program, with the Twin Rivers and Waukesha County Chapters teaming up to adopt the Rome Pond Wildlife Area, earlier this year.

On Saturday, April 23rd, twenty-one volunteers, with 9 boats, joined together and pulled out more than 25 boat loads of debris out of the public hunting areas, from old blinds, to trash, to broken down nesting structures. To see their detailed report to the DNR, click here.

Some of the 25 boat-loads of trash removed

This program is a terrific way for WWA volunteers to be able to do work outside, to "get their hands dirty", and really make a difference on the landscape, in areas that are important to them personally, as well as to a wide swath of the sporting public. If you are interested in potentially working with WWA on this sort of program, in an area near you, please contact Don, or Waukesha County chair, Mike Alaimo (262.278.1239), and we can share with you the process required to get'r done.
Volunteers pull garbage from Rome Pond

Congratulations to the Twin Rivers and Waukesha County chapters for their commitment to this program, and THANKS for the hard work just started!
New State Sponsor: Muddy Water Boats
WWA is excited to announce our new statewide sponsor, located in Appleton, WI!
The Teal

We're very pleased to recognize Dan Snell and Muddy Water Boats, of Appleton, as our newest State Sponsor to join the family. Attendees saw the first "Teal" model skiffs available on a raffle at the Fox Valley dinner in Kimberly, in late March, then at the South Suburban event, down in Franklin, in April, and we'll have one at each of our three golf outings this year - as one of the awesome course-play raffles you can participate in, with more to come!

These beautiful hand-laid fiberglass boats show the quality and care
The Bluebill
with which they're made, right here in the Fox Valley. Dan has been a long-time support of our Fox Valley Chapter and this year, he elected to increase his support of WWA, on a state-wide basis. Chapter teams seeking to add a high-quality hunting boatnow have the "inside track" to be able to do that!

You may see their "Teal" or "Bluebill" models at WWA events, but they build an entire line; for more information, check out their website at muddywaterboats.com or by clicking the logo-link in the margin of this newsletter.
2016 Approved Migratory Gamebird Seasons
In case you missed our Special Edition eNews on this topic from April 13th, the Natural Resources Board approved the 2016 migratory game bird seasons at their meeting held earlier that day.  View WWA Executive Director Don Kirby's testimony on the seasons here. The approved seasons have been posted in an Approved Migratory Game Bird Seasons summary document on the waterfowl webpage, and you can also view them in our newsletter archives. 
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