By Bruce Ross, Executive Director – bross@wisducks.org
This article appeared in the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s September 2025 Newsletter edition.
2025 Waterfowl Hunters EXPO – By the Numbers
Year five of the Waterfowl Hunters EXPO continued its upward trajectory a weekend ago. Moving to two days had us a bit anxious, but great weather and great marketing helped us achieve a new attendance record of over 9100! More sponsors than ever before powered our marketing effort.
Importantly, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism foresaw the economic impact potential of this event and provided additional marketing funding. This additional funding expanded our marketing reach to neighboring states and metropolitan areas. The first person in line on Saturday morning drove from Minnesota, where advance tickets had been sold throughout the Midwest!
- Over 700 kids attended the EXPO, and 450 of them participated in the Youth Zone Activities run by the Youth Conservation Congress with help from many, including new support from KAMO (Kids and Mentors Outdoors) and the DNR. Particularly on Saturday, the YZ was buzzing!
- 500 dogs accompanied their owners, with about 20% of them participating in the Fastest Retriever contest—6 different breeds, unsurprisingly led by the Labrador Retriever. The youngest handler was only 7 years old—and she did great!
- 400 shooters expended over 2000 rounds in the shooting venue, trying out shotguns from Retay, Browning, Winchester, GForce, Benelli, and Beretta (my brother-in-law was so enamored with the Beretta A400 that he tried it and bought one the next day).
- The Women’s zone drew over 500, who enjoyed tailored merchandise and shooting opportunities.
- Over 180 decoys were entered, judged, and awarded in the Midwest’s largest Decoy Carving Contest and Exhibition—spectacularly fine art.
- Speaking of art, over 35 stamp art entries were judged—stay tuned for the winners in each of the waterfowl, pheasant, and turkey contests!
- Nearly 20 callers compete in the State Duck Calling Contest, Midwest Regional Meat (and Goose) Calling Contests, and the Youth contest
- 12 seminars/demonstrations captivated the crowds—Joel Kleefisch’s cooking demos were extremely popular. It didn’t hurt that he and his lovely assistants treated the crowds to some excellent fare, cooked on site! Dog seminars continued to be popular with hundreds getting the latest tips for controlling Spot in the field.
Our vendors seemed to leave the EXPO Saturday very happy with the crowd that walked in front of them, but even more so with the gear they left behind with happy purchasers.
I think the EXPO organization even made a little money, even though that is specifically NOT a goal for this “event. Funds that are in excess of the event are used for only the following purposes:
- Sustain and expand the EXPO
- Fund projects and initiatives important to state waterfowlers, such as WWA’s public lands restoration program.
One of the most important numbers: over 200 volunteers made this event possible. They left with a full belly, free entry, and a neat shirt, courtesy of our sponsors.
You can sign up NOW if you like. We could use your help NOW as we begin planning next “celebration of all things waterfowl”.
