Despite its prominence in the consumer satisfaction literature, the role of expectations has been neglected when studying hunter satisfaction. We used the “expectancy disconfirmation paradigm” from the marketing literature to (a) investigate the role of expectations on waterfowl hunter satisfaction, and (b) compare findings with traditional performance only measures. To measure disconfirmation, we used a measure of expectations and subtracted it from a measure of performance to derive a difference score. Difference scores performed well compared to traditional performance only measures when correlated with overall satisfaction. Expectations were not met for some of the strongest antecedents of overall satisfaction. Variables related to harvest and hunting location were among the most strongly correlated items with overall satisfaction for both measurement techniques. We recommend a measurement of expectations should be considered in future hunter satisfaction research for the additional understanding of satisfaction judgments it offers to wildlife managers.