The gun deer season is here and it's time to get out in the woods and bag the biggest buck! Enter the 2018 Kretz Lumber Company’s Big Buck Contest and you could win more than just bragging rights. Every entrant has a chance to win!

There are two ways to win:

1. Biggest Buck: $50 Fleet Farm gift card
2. Wild Card: $25 Fleet Farm gift card (One winner randomly selected from all eligible contest entries.)

To enter our contest:

1. Like Kretz Lumber Company's Facebook page. 

2. Bag your buck and post a picture on our Facebook page by 11:59 pm CST on 11/26/18.

All photos submitted must be bucks taken during the 2018 Wisconsin rifle season and shot in one of the following counties: Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Shawano, Menominee, Forest, Oconto, Portage, or Waupaca. No other submissions will be accepted.

3. With your submission, include your score. We are using a complete honor system.

To determine your score:

1 point per inch of inside spread + 1 point per “Point” number of antlers 1” and longer = Total Points

An example: 

Inside spread = 15 inches 
Eight 1-inch “points”
15+8 = Total score of 23

Kretz Lumber Company reserves the right to disqualify any entries suspected of cheating.

We will announce the winners the week of November 26, 2018 on our Facebook page.

Good luck and have a safe hunt!

This contest is in no way sponsored or administered by Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for this contest's purposes.

Submit your best Wisconsin autumn photo!

Enter our contest by uploading your favorite photo to our Facebook page. We’ll compile all entries into an album and fans will then vote on their favorite. The image with the most likes at the end of the voting period will receive a $25 Mills Fleet Farm gift card!

To enter our fall Facebook photo contest:

1. Like Kretz Lumber Company's Facebook page.
   
2. Post your submission to our page by 11:59 pm CST on October 28, 2018.
   Only one photo/submission per person. All photos submitted must be your personal images and cannot be purchased or copyrighted. Image must have been taken in Wisconsin.
   
3. We’ll add all submissions to a Facebook photo album on October 29, 2018. Kretz Lumber Company Facebook fans can then vote by liking their favorite image in the official album through November 8, 2018. The picture with the most likes as of 11:59 pm CST on November 8, 2018 will win one $25 Mill’s Fleet Farm gift card.
4. Enjoy the outdoors and good luck! 

Submit your best Wisconsin summer photo!

Get outside and share with us your best summer scenery photo. Enter our contest by uploading your favorite photo to our Facebook page. We’ll compile all entries into an album and fans will then vote on their favorite. The image with the most likes at the end of the voting period will receive a $25 Mills Fleet Farm gift card!

To enter our summer Facebook photo contest:

1. Like Kretz Lumber Company's Facebook page.
   
2. Post your submission to our page by 11:59 pm CST on August 1, 2018.
   Only one photo/submission per person. All photos submitted must be your personal images and cannot be purchased or copyrighted. Image must have been taken in Wisconsin.
   
3. All submissions will be added to a Facebook photo album on August 2. Kretz Lumber Facebook fans can then vote by liking their favorite image through August 12. The picture with the most likes as of 11:59 pm CST on August 12, 2018 will win one $25 Fleet Farm gift card.
4. Enjoy the great outdoors and good luck!

Submit your best Wisconsin spring photo!

Get outside and share with us your best spring scenery photo. Enter our contest by uploading your favorite photo to our Facebook page. We’ll compile all entries into an album and fans will then vote on their favorite. The photo with the most likes at the end of the voting period will receive a $25 Mills Fleet Farm gift card!

To enter our contest:

1. Like Kretz Lumber Company's Facebook page.
   
   
2. Post your submission to our page by 11:59 pm CST on May 14, 2018.
   Only one photo/submission per person. All photos submitted must be your personal images and cannot be purchased or copyrighted. Image must have been taken in Wisconsin.
   
   
3. All submissions will be added to a Facebook photo album on May 15 and then voted on by Kretz Lumber Facebook fans through May 22. The picture with the most likes as of 11:59 pm CST on May 22, 2018 will win one $25 Fleet Farm gift card.

By Dick Ballou, Volunteer Coordinator, Cedar Lake Buckthorn Control Project

There is a red barn in northwest Wisconsin, and adjacent to this red barn is a 3-acre woodlot that is not unlike one that might be found almost anywhere. The land was used primarily for nature walks and hunting in the fall; sadly, it is now nearly useless for either activity. The little red barn was once part of a real farm, and years ago it was converted to a popular summer theatre, where the actors, stagehands, and theatergoers all loved watching the graceful white-tailed deer around the barn. But gradually there were fewer animals, and then none at all.

This woodlot had gradually become ‘choked off’ by an invasive tree known as buckthorn. Some tall pines, oak, cherry, and other native trees could be seen above the 12-15 foot canopy of buckthorn, but all that remained underneath was a wall of invasive growth that was so thick that neither man nor animal could enter. Moreover, the invasive growth was so dense that seeds from native plants could not germinate and grow – the ground underneath was plain dirt, with no grass, weeds or other new growth. When it rained there was mud.

This example should serve as a wake up call to landowners who own woodlots – check your land for buckthorn!

Submit your best Wisconsin winter photo!

Get outside and share with us your best Wisconsin winter photo. Enter our contest by uploading your favorite photo to our Facebook page. We’ll compile all entries into an album and fans will then vote on their favorite. The image with the most likes at the end of the voting period will receive a $25 Mills Fleet Farm gift card!

To enter our contest:

1. Like Kretz Lumber Company's Facebook page.
   
   
2. Post your submission to our page by 11:59 pm CST on January 31, 2018.
   Only one photo/submission per person. All photos submitted must be your personal images and cannot be purchased or copyrighted. Image must have been taken in Wisconsin.
   
   
3. All submissions will be added to a Facebook photo album February 1 and then voted on by Kretz Lumber Facebook fans through February 7, 2018. The picture with the most likes as of 11:59 pm CST on February 7, 2018 will win one $25 Fleet Farm gift card.
   
   
4. Enjoy the great outdoors and good luck!
   

The gun deer season is here and it's time to get out in the woods and bag the biggest buck! Enter the 2017 Kretz Lumber Company’s Big Buck Contest and you could win more than just bragging rights. Every entrant has a chance to win!

There are two ways to win:

1. Biggest Buck: $50 Fleet Farm gift card
2. Wild Card: $25 Fleet Farm gift card (One winner will be randomly selected from all eligible contest entries.)

To enter our contest, follow these three simple steps:

1. Like Kretz Lumber Company's Facebook page. 
   
   
2. Bag your buck and post a picture on our Facebook page by 11:59 pm CST on 11/27/17.
   
   All photos submitted must be bucks taken during the 2017 Wisconsin rifle season and shot in one of the following counties: Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Shawano, Menominee, Forest, Oconto, Portage, or Waupaca. No other submissions will be accepted.
   
   
3. With your submission, include your score. To determine your score, use this formula: 1 point per inch of inside spread + 1 point per “point” number of antlers 1” and longer = Total Points

An example: 

• Inside spread = 15 inches 
• Eight 1-inch “points”
• 15+8 = Total score of 23
  

We are using a complete honor system. Kretz Lumber Company reserves the right to disqualify any entries suspected of cheating.

We will announce the winners the week of November 27, 2017 on our Facebook page.

Good luck and have a safe hunt!

This contest is in no way sponsored or administered by Facebook.

Get outside and share with us your best autumn scenery photo. Enter our contest by uploading your favorite photo to our Facebook page. We’ll compile all entries into an album and fans will then vote on their favorite. The image with the most likes at the end of the voting period will receive a $25 Mills Fleet Farm gift card!

To enter our fall Facebook photo contest:

1. Like Kretz Lumber Company's Facebook page.
   
   
2. Post your submission to our page by 11:59 pm CST on October 15, 2017.
   Only one photo/submission per person. All photos submitted must be your personal images and cannot be purchased or copyrighted. Image must have been taken in Wisconsin.
   
   
3. We’ll add all submissions to a Facebook photo album on October 16. Kretz Lumber Company Facebook fans can then vote by liking their favorite image in the official album through October 22. The picture with the most likes as of 11:59 pm CST on October 22, 2017 will win one $25 Mill’s Fleet Farm gift card.

Enjoy the outdoors and good luck!

Hard work, exceptional quality, outstanding results. Our team of employee owners takes this motto to heart. We work hard every day to satisfy our customers and have become one of the leading brands in the hardwood lumber industry. We are constantly learning and striving to not only improve our pay and benefits but also enhance our service to customers, manufacturing processes, and contributions to the community.

All of our employee owners take pride in a job well done. Being employee owned, everyone cares about details that contribute to profits. This allows us to offer a bonus and incentive system that rewards our fast paced environment.

We offer a competitive base pay system. In addition to the wage structure, we have a paid health insurance program (80% of your premium). We also offer a 401K program and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) that contributes to a retirement account in all of our employees’ names. The success and effectiveness of our work, each day, affects the amount of contribution to the ESOP retirement accounts.

Other benefits include paid dental insurance, short and long-term disability, a section 125 plan (flex spending account), and life insurance through our group health plan.

There are ancillary benefits that are measured here at Kretz Lumber as well. We have an OSHA mod rate that is year over year, less than 1. This means that we have a safety record that is better than our industry peers. Also, we have an employee turnover rate that is 3.44% compared to the national average that was 17.8% (2016). 

This past summer our head forester Al Koeppel took to the woods with Kretz Forest Family member and landowner Jim Brandt to record a tour of his property. What transpired was hours worth of educational, and at times comical, video sharing land management strategies that have helped Jim and his wife Yvonne improve their 480 acre Shawano County property.

While each landowner has different goals, here is a short list of some common goals we often hear when talking with property owners:

• Wildlife management (attract or deter certain species)
• Improve recreational usage
• Increase timber production
• Safeguard property from disease and invasive species
• Create income opportunities
• Increase land value

This first video in our Brandt family property series gives a brief introduction to how Jim’s family acquired their property and talks about a few of the strategies Jim and Al have have used to improve wildlife habitat and produce higher quality hardwoods.

Throughout the next few months, we’ll be highlighting different segments of our tour with Jim and Al, with the goal of sharing strategies you may be interested in using on your own property. Watch the first video now and let us know if you have questions related to your property by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or calling 1-800-352-1438.