Annual Events

Work Day @ Barkhausen: 

Every year members of the club get together at Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve to do annual maintenance and help out with any additional projects that the club or parks department have lined up.  Cleaning out and maintaining wood duck boxes and mallard cylinders helps with nesting success in the upcoming year. The club has also built a handicap accessible blind for public use.

 

Road kill Banquet in March:

The annual Roadkill Banquet is the clubs annual fundraiser, a wild game feed that is put on in a pot luck style by the members of the club and one of the best meals of the year. This is a members only event because migratory game is on the menu.  We have a number of raffles and silent auction items as well as the crowd favorite “White elephant auction”. This fundraiser provides funding towards the clubs annual budget.

 

Duck Rescue Program:

The ‘original’ duck rescue program was started by founding members Milt Geyer and Ted Thyrion in the late ’70’s. They saw a need to rescue hens and ducklings found in city streets and hazardous situations. Pioneering “live duck capture techniques”, Milt & Ted, began an effort that has resulted in over 15,000 ducks being rescued to date.  Check out our duck rescue page for more info.

The Green Bay Duck Hunter’s Association (GBDHA)’s Duck Rescue Program started in 1985, picking up where Milt & Ted, left off, and in 1997 current GBDHA members, Joe Loehlein and Tim Braunel, carried on the calling.

An example is a nesting hen is discovered in an unusual place or ducklings are caught up in a hazardous situation such as parking lots, construction sites, business or residential areas which a rescue is warranted.  The ducks find themselves trapped in swimming pools, back yards, in traffic and down in storm sewers.

A box type trap, with remote control, is used to catch and contain the ducks most of the time.  At times, we have to round them up by hand.  The trap is covered with a blanket to keep them calm.  Orphans ducks, brought into the sanctuary by the public, are paired up with a hen and brood before release to keep things as natural as possible.  The hen and ducklings are then transported to a wildlife area or marsh for release into the wild.  Locations vary so as to disperse the groups.

Please check out our duck rescue page for more details.

 

Goose Banding:

GBDHA members are very active in the local goose population issue, believing that more hunting opportunities should be made available to curb this population explosion. In belief that more data should be collected to identity the locally harvested geese and track their movements, GBDHA, in partnership with the WI DNR has established a local goose banding program. Started in 2004, GBDHA continues to provide manpower and funding to work in cooperation with WI DNR and F&W Service on this issue.

 

Youth Waterfowl Day:

We hold our Youth Waterfowl Day the first Saturday in August each year. This event was created to help introduce kids to waterfowl hunting and the outdoors.  Historically we have had 5 stations for the participants to go to including a boat ride, dog training, field hunting, duck calling & Waterfowl ID / BB gun.  All kids leave with a free t-shirt, duck call, memories of running a well-trained dog and a ride thru the duck marsh.  We put this event on at Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve and the event is ideal for kids from ages 6 to 16. Attendance over the years has ranged from 40 kids up to 100 kids.

 

Learn to Hunt:

Each fall the club puts on a Learn to Hunt sponsored by the Wisconsin DNR. Historically we have gotten access to both Sensiba & Oconto Refuges where we have the privilege to take first time waterfowl hunters and youth waterfowl hunters into the marsh. All hunters are paired up with a mentor and participate in this two day event. Friday night we hold a waterfowl hunting safety presentation that ends with some hands on shooting at the range and Saturday morning we take to the fields and marshes to give each participant a waterfowl hunting experience they may not get without this program. Our goal is to expose  new people to the sport of waterfowl hunting.