By Bruce Urben, WWA President

This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s August Newsletter edition.

As we close out July, we wonder where the summer has gone. Softball, baseball and soccer leagues wind down this time of year and thoughts begin to run to school shopping and, for many of us, fall waterfowling season.

We get out to shoot our favorite shotgun at the range to sharpen our Wingshooting skills, check out our camo gear to be sure it still fits, tune up the outboard, repaint the duck skiff, touch up the decoys and start exercising the retriever. It’s what we have been waiting for since December! But, as we all know, we usually get behind in all of these tasks… it’s busy time!

And talk about busy times! Your WWA has been busy the last 10 days of July. A fundraising shoot in NE Wisconsin brought out members in rain, straight line winds and loss of power to sharpen their skills on the sporting clays course and win some great prizes. A golf outing with 19 foursomes enjoying great weather at a course in the Valley with the fellowship and stories shared while winning some great prizes from binoculars to firearms to meat and a freezer. And, several days later, holding the 3rd annual Wisconsin Decoy Carving Contest and Exhibition in the Milwaukee area. Well Over 100 decoys competed against each other for top honors by some of the most awarded carvers in the nation. To ensure that these decoys are judged appropriately, we brought in 6 of the most qualified judges in the Midwest. Honors and awards were made after floating the working decoys and judging the contemporary antiques and the decorative on the shelf.

What a whirlwind of events in the last 10 days of July.

I want to thank all of our members who volunteered their time to make these events possible. We truly could not do this without you. From selling raffle tickets to pulling clay birds at the flurry to greeting golfers on the tee’s to selling mulligans to running decoys to the judge tank and awarding ribbons to judged decoys.

Volunteers make this Organization work. We are fortunate to have you, as members, willing to make a difference for Wisconsin Waterfowl, wetland habitat and education.

I am continually impressed by our members who donate their time skills and experience to the Organization. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!

August is here and more opportunities will be available to hone your Wingshooting, Duck/Goose calling skills, win some great sporting prizes, including a UTV at the “Bash” in Beaver Dam on August 26th.

Check out our website at wisducks.org for all of our August events.