Wisconsin Waterfowl Association
Dedicated to the Conservation of Wisconsin's Waterfowl and Wetland Resources.
Facebook    Twitter    LinkedIn    Pinterest
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
JULY 2016
Shoots, Golf Outings & Calendars Are Here!
Don Kirby, Executive Director, 262.224.4949
 
Here's to hoping you and your family enjoyed a terrific Independence Day holiday weekend. With staff enjoying some vacation last week, we decided to hold this update until today, after the holiday, in hopes of better attracting your attention, as we enter the "dog days" of summer. Don't worry, even though you might not be thinking about wetlands and waterfowl right now, with a sparkler in your hand, we're still working on keeping WWA rolling along!

There's been a lot of action lately, here's some highlights:
  • We learned in June, that WDNR Migratory Bird Biologist, Kent Van Horn, was taking a new position within the Department, leaving a vacancy in his role.
  • During the last week of June, teams from the WDNR, volunteers from the Green Bay Duck Hunters Association, and others, banded more than 800 Canada geese, in Kewaunee, Brown, and Outagamie counties. I was privileged to join the group on a hot Monday, where we ran to about ten sites, all scouted in advance, along with my daughter,  Brooke. Brooke wanted to band geese as her birthday activity, how could I say no?! We had a blast, gathering up just short of 500 newly banded and recaptured geese, over the course of nine hours. WWA Board president Bruce Urben had four of his grandkids out with him, the next day, working with the team in Outagamie County. Next up will be duck banding, which takes place in numerous places around the state, starting in late July. Consider adding this opportunity to your list of summer fun.
  • Last week, Project Director Peter Ziegler & I installed another of our large-format project signs, this time at a property in the Stevens Point area. Each time we are able to make one of these installations, it helps bring awareness to the work your association does, all over our state.
  • Just before that, Tom and a team of volunteers hosted our first annual Waukesha County shoot, on the new sporting clays layout at the Waukesha Gun Club, a local landmark, thanks to all who joined us!
  • We've received our 2017 Conservation Calendar stock, and have begun distributing it out to our many volunteer sellers, all over the state. If you'd like to help, please let me know, we'll add you to the list.
  • This Saturday, Tom Seibert will be representing WWA, at the family Outdoors Adventure Day at Cabela's in Richfield, from 10am to 2pm. 
In the coming weeks, we've got the return of the Summer Shoot at Wild Wings, the 6th Annual Fox Valley Scramble and 2nd Annual Madison Area golf outings, as we roll towards August, and the return of fall hunting seasons, not long after.

Please consider registering for one of our upcoming events, occurring near you! I'm certain you'll have a great time, and help support your Association, as you do.  Also, remember we are running a recruiting incentive for all of 2016 - if you'd ever thought of joining us as a chapter committee volunteer, this is the year to do it - you could win a fine shotgun, in addition to the pride that comes with hard work!

See you on the water...Don
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 invite those of you with "other" outdoor interests to the two remaining WWA golf outing scrambles taking place this summer!  Grab a group of friends or clients and plan to join us at one or both; 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.

Sign up soon, though, our famous $250 cash raffle offered to the first twelve registered & paid foursomes for each outing is ongoing, win cash just by signing up! 

WaukeshaShoot
Summer Shoot at Wild Wings is #5 in the 2016 Shoot Series!
Register - Shoot - Win!  6 Unique Events at Awesome Venues to Choose From!

Shoot #5, our 3-day 3rd Annual Summer Sporting Clays Shoot at Wild Wings Sportsman's Club is just around the corner, taking place Friday July 22nd through Sunday July 24th and we have a fun and exciting weekend of sporting clays and some pretty amazing raffles and prizes you won't want to miss!

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 Adult, Youth AND Lewis Class, including CASH, shells and hunts! 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:
Project Program Updates
Peter Ziegler
Peter Ziegler, Project Director, 262.470.4310

ProjectsWith 6 foot high Reed Canary Grass and seeds sticking to every part of my exposed skin, summer is not the most desirable time to be in a wetland. It is hard to see any of the micro features which can make or break a project. So, I have been working on putting together plans and reviewing surveys from earlier in the summer when I could see what I was doing when I walk these properties with the hopes of putting more wetland acreage on the ground.

I got to review some of my projects this past week which I had completed last August in Portage county, a little west of Stevens Point. With robust vegetation due to excellent precipitation this year in the area it was a bit hard to see much and I had more wetlands to look at than time to go wandering ½ mile into the bush. I did snap a picture of one small basin, pictured below, where Don and I put up a sign thanks to the landowners (Wetland Conservation League) who own the property and were delighted to have us help them out with restoration.  

As we start rustling around to begin sign construction Don says to me, "looks like three of your co-workers are leaving" as we watched some new resident waterfowl take flight.   It's always nice to see responses from wildlife and know what we are doing as an organization is beneficial. Those three Mallards were finding some attractive food sources I'm sure, and there is no doubt the surrounding grassland mixed with this and other basins restored on the site are producing successful broods on this just 10 month old wetland.

Tom's Event Corner
Tom Seibert, Regional Director, 414.750.8260

Summer has arrived and it has been enjoyable. Our Sporting Clay Shoot Series is in full swing, with two of the best events left and many prizes yet to win!  Even if you aren't a regular clay shooter, it is fun to get out and keep your eyes sharp for the upcoming hunting seasons. Even if bag limits aren't important, misses and cripples should be, so join us for the remaining shoots. The resource deserves your best and the prizes aren't dependent on your score.

Summer is also a good time to check out the decoys and accessories you have and need. It is no fun to get out on opening day and find that your decoys no longer float or it will take just short of a decade to untangle your lines and anchors. If your decoys all look the same, gray because all the paint is fallen off, you might want to look at winning one of our Rig'em Right Packages. We will have Puddler, Early Teal, Divers and Geese Packages at our Fall Banquets. If you haven't used the Rig'em Right Anchor system yet or your decoys are still stuffed in a gunny sack instead of the latest greatest Rig'em Right decoy bags you are one lost hunter. Join us at one of our Banquets and get updated.
 
WWA supports our sponsors such as Cabela's by joining them in many youth educational outreach opportunities and one such event is coming up this weekend that is a great family outing. If you're in the area this Saturday, stop by Cabela's in Richfield where I will be at their Outdoors Adventure Day teaching the young ones how to call ducks (the picture at the top of my article here shows some of the fun at last year's event!). Bring your kids out to enjoy this and many more conservation group led activities focused on instruction and entertainment. Get them out of the house for a day and I will see you at Cabela's.
Sponsor Spotlight - Muddy Water Boats
As we announced, earlier this spring, we're very excited to have long-time sponsor of the Fox Valley Chapter, Muddy Water Boats, join our family of state-wide sponsors for 2016. MWB owner, Dan Snell, is understandably very proud of their fine line-up of hunting boats - all built right here in Wisconsin - and they have already provided a terrific fundraising showcase piece at several events this year.

Now, with July upon us, we'll see 2 more Muddy Water "Teal" model 1-person skiffs available to win at the Fox Valley Scramble presented by Financial Consulting Services, and the returning Madison Area Golf Outing, which will both occur in the last few days of this month, first days of next month.
 
Perhaps even more interesting, is that we'll see 2 of these great boats in the 2017 Conservation Calendar, just received from the printer, and beginning to go on sale over this past weekend! What a great surprise, to win an $800 hand built fiberglass duck skiff, for a $20 investment in a calendar raffle!

At any rate, if you'd like to learn more about Dan's businesses, both Muddy Water Boats, and his Hunters Creek Kennel, breeders of German Wirehair Pointing dogs, just click on the logo link in the margin of this e-newsletter. It'll take you right to their website. All of us at WWA would like to thank Dan and Muddy Water Boats for their terrific support of all of our Association's works!
JULY 2016

AUGUST 2016

SEPTEMBER 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! 
Van Horn, Longtime Migratory Bird Biologist, Takes New Position in WDNR
Kent Van Horn works a WDNR banding event
Van Horn at a local WDNR banding event
VanHorn
As noted in our June update to our volunteers, we learned last month that WDNR Migratory Bird Biologist, Kent Van Horn, has elected to take a different position within the Department, leaving this key role vacant, for at least the next few months. Kent served more than 12 years in his role, and cited a long series of partnership accomplishments that were achieved during his time, including:
  • Completed a Wisconsin Waterfowl Strategic Plan in 2008.
  • Designed and conducted waterfowl hunter surveys every 2 years to guide management decisions
  • We continue to have one of the largest migratory bird banding programs with 10,000 birds banded each year to inform harvest management decisions.
  • Through the strong partnerships, good funding and excellent staff we have conserved 100,000's acres of wetland and grassland habitat.
  • Completed important research into habitat needs for breeding mallards and blue-winged teal.
  • Helped secure an Endowed Waterfowl Chair at UW - Stevens Point to assure a Wisconsin university education for our future managers of waterfowl and wetland habitat in Wisconsin.
  • Helped turn a flat to declining trend in Wisconsin migratory game bird hunters into an increasing trend the last 3 years with the subsequent increase in state duck stamp dollars that fund habitat conservation
  • Simplified and expanded Canada goose hunting opportunities.  Back in 2003, we had 9 Canada goose hunting zones or subzones with different time periods and regulations.  We had a threat of early closure if a quota was reached. In 2016, we have 4 Canada goose hunting zones, no threat of early closure and no time periods. We have the maximum number of goose hunting days at 107, and reduced the size of the Horicon Zone.
  • Expanded the duck hunting zone and split options
  • Increased the dove hunting season by 20 days and bag limit to 15. Implemented an operational banding program for doves.
  • Increased daily bag limits on wood ducks and canvasbacks.
  • Removed the later opening day shooting hours.
  • Created an early teal season
  • Expanded open water duck hunting opportunities
Kent was a strong partner to WWA, and served in a role requiring great balance amongst a variety of constituencies, with skill and approachability. All of us at WWA wish him well in his new endeavors as Area Wildlife Supervisor for SE Wisconsin.
New Federal & Junior Stamps On Sale
From The Birding Wire, June 29, 2016

Put Your Stamp on Conservation

Hunters, birders, conservationists and stamp collectors celebrated today as the new Federal Duck Stamp went on sale. The 83rd Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp - as it is officially called - debuted at a special event hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Bass Pro Shops' flagship retail store in Springfield, Mo.

The stamp features a pair of trumpeter swans in flight painted by wildlife artist Joseph Hautman of Plymouth, Minn. Last fall, a panel of five judges chose Hautman's art from among 157 entries at the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, held at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, W.Va. This was Hautman's fifth Federal Duck Stamp Contest win, tying him as the leading Duck Stamp artist of all time.

A pair of Ross's geese painted by Stacy Shen, 16, of Fremont, Calif., is depicted on the new Junior Duck Stamp, which also went on sale today. Shen's art was chosen from among best-of-show winners from states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories at the National Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest held in April at the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel, Fla. Read On...

Calling Them In: Recruit a Volunteer, Win BIG!
RecruitTwo Beretta A300 Outlander 12 g. shotguns will be given away, at the 2017 meeting next January, to help our chapters build better teams.

Do you know of someone who might like to help WWA and our great state of Wisconsin by becoming a member of one of WWA's volunteer committees?  Well, have we got a deal for you! Starting in 2016 WWA will be running a promotional volunteer recruitment program and we'll be giving away TWO Beretta A300 Outlander 12ga shotguns:  
  • One Beretta will be given to an existing volunteer who recruits a new volunteer. (Recruiters gun)
  • One Beretta will be given to a newly recruited volunteer. (Recruit gun)
For each new volunteer, the recruiter and the new recruit will each receive a chance towards a gun.

There is no limit as to how many people you can recruit!  Click here to learn how you can win this gun.
 Home  /     About  /   Contact