Comedian Jeff Foxworthy and country music duo Montgomery Gentry will be there, too.

But it's the chance to win one of 200 trophy hunting permits - for the price of a $5 raffle ticket - that is expected to draw upward of 30,000 people to the Salt Palace Convention Center next January for the inaugural Western Hunting & Conservation Expo.

The Jan. 17-20 event is the first of five annual hunting-oriented extravaganzas planned for Utah by a consortium of wildlife conservation organizations already active in helping to restore and invigorate the state's wildlife habitat - The Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, the Mule Deer Foundation and Sportsmen for Habitat.

"A lot of people think hunting is on a downhill slide" because of competition between humans and animals for prime habitat, said Don Peay, founder of the pro-hunting Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and a key figure in pulling the expo together. "But the 'good old days' are in the future because of investments by conservation groups in the state."

Organizers expect to raise $10 million for wildlife conservation during the event. Much of that will come from drawings for 200 premium, limited-entry, once-in-a-lifetime trophy hunting permits. Often too expensive for the average hunter - the permits have a combined market value estimated at $1.5 million - they will be a big attraction because those attending will have to shell out only $5 to purchase a shot at one, Peay said.

Big spenders also will get a chance to secure one of these coveted permits - and to pour large chunks of cash into wildlife conservation programs - in separate auctions expected to draw bidders from around the country, maybe even the world. "There will be billionaires coming into this convention to bid for those [hunting] tags," said Peay of the permits, expected to go for $20,000 to $250,000. Winning bidders may stalk deer, elk, moose, goats, antelope, Rocky Mountain and desert bighorn sheep, cougar, bear or turkeys.

"The majority of the money will stay in Utah to improve habitat," added Byron Bateman of Utah-based Sportsmen for Habitat.

The four-day convention is projected to attract 500 exhibitors, along with 15,000 out-of-state visitors. The ranks include outfitters, sporting-goods manufacturers and hunting experts from all six inhabited continents, and countries such as Russia, Tajikistan, New Zealand and Mexico.

Together, they are expected to generate $10 million for the Utah economy - about two-thirds as much as the annual Outdoor Retailer winter market - fill 3,000 hotel rooms and provide another $10 million in spin-off business. The $400,000 in state tax revenue likely to come from expo visitors is a generous return on a $100,000 investment made earlier this year by the Utah Tourism Council, which pledged matching funds to help organizers promote the event out-of-state.

"We've long talked about making tourism a genuine engine for growth to pay for education and transportation," said Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr., who opened his board room for the expo announcement Wednesday. "I'm glad the stakeholders came together to make this a reality . . . and not just for one year, but through 2011."

"We knew the governor and Legislature would be excited because they put money into the Salt Palace expansion and the Utah Travel Council. It's a return on investment," said Peay, flanked by a stuffed Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, once extinct in Utah but now numbering nearly 5,000, and a nine-point mule deer from a once-dormant but now-thriving herd in southern Utah's Henry Mountains.

Wildlife conservation groups helped bring about about this resurgence with nearly $8.5 million in donations to state watershed and rangeland improvement programs.

"You can't neglect the ground," said Utah Department of Natural Resources executive director Mike Styler. "It has to be managed and taken care of."

mikeg@sltrib.com

What expo will mean to Utah

The first Western Hunting & Conservation Expo next Jan. 17-20 is expected to:

l Attract nearly 30,000 sportsmen to the Salt Palace Convention Center

l Contribute $10 million to Utah's economy and $400,000 in tax revenue

l Generate another $10 million for use in wildlife conservation programs

l Fill 3,000 hotel rooms over four nights

l Give Utahns a chance to hear former Utah Jazz great Karl Malone talk about hunting