The WHEP contest is conducted over 1 full day and entails 3 individual events and 2 team events. 

Wildlife Identification – participants compete as individuals and are tested on their ability to identify pre-determined wildlife species.  Twenty photographs of wildlife species, which clearly show either a juvenile, adult, male or female of the species is presented to the participants.

General Wildlife Knowledge – participants compete as individuals and are tested on their knowledge of topics ranging from wildlife habitat for select species to management practices that benefit wildlife.

Wildlife Management Practices – participants compete as individuals and are taken to an outdoor site with defined boundaries and are asked to evaluate the quality of habitat for select wildlife species.  Based on each participant’s site evaluation, he/she is asked to recommend wildlife management practices that will benefit each select wildlife species.

Written Wildlife Management Plan – participants compete as a team to write a 2-page management plan for an outdoor site with defined boundaries that meets objectives established in a field conditions sheet provided to each team. 

Oral Defense of Written Plan – although each team member completes this activity individually, their individual score counts toward the final team score for the written plan.  Each individual team member appears before a panel of 2-3 judges and answers questions over a 5-minute period about their written plan, as well as general wildlife questions.