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Sports

Hudson Rod, Gun and Archery Club Draws Target Shooters From Around the Area

Shooting club draws members from beyond Hudson because of its laid-back atmosphere.

I firmly believe that winters in Wisconsin are what you make of them. There are, in fact, plenty of things to do outdoors if you are willing to put up with our interesting weather. This winter, however, has been a challenge for this writer.

In a normal year, once snow blankets the ground, I prefer to do things outdoors that are quiet and contemplative—snowshoeing, ice fishing, wildlife watching, photography, and the like. The stillness of winter seems to require a certain amount of reverence.

But every once in a while, when especially long, cold winters like this one start to gnaw at me, I develop the need to break things.

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In this area, there is no better place to satisfy that primal urge than at the Hudson Rod, Gun, and Archery Club. With skeet shooting, trap shooting, archery, and both rifle and pistol ranges, shooting opportunities abound at club located at 285 Krattley Lane in North Hudson. And breaking things, in this case clay pigeons, is the norm.

On winter weekends, the club is open to the public for a variety of shooting sports, and judging by the number of people at the club last weekend, others share my attitude about this winter; and my desire to break things.

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Hudson Rod and Gun was formally established in 1924, but recent evidence suggests that it might have existed even 10 years earlier.  The club sits on 110 lovely, wooded acres overlooking both Lake Mallalieu and the St. Croix Valley. It is prime real estate that has caught the eye of many a developer. But to the credit of the members, they have steadfastly held on to the property, just as they’ve held to their nearly century-old traditions.

When the wind is right, you can hear those ongoing traditions from many parts of Hudson.

 

Last Sunday, those distant shotgun reports drew me to the club, inspired me to break a few clay birds, and encouraged me to chat with people who shared my interest. Since it was the first warm, sunny Sunday in many weeks, there was plenty of activity to take in.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived at the club was the number of license plates from outside Wisconsin. According to Dave Orf, Shotgun League Secretary at the club, about 40 percent of the members are from out of state, primarily Minnesota. I would estimate that more than half the vehicles in the lot on Sunday had Minnesota plates, and I even noticed one Illinois truck. Even among the Wisconsin shooters, most live outside Hudson. Virtually everyone I spoke to last Sunday, with the exception of the young men working there as trap pullers, came from somewhere other than Hudson. 

On one of the club’s skeet fields, Vera and Jerry Seigler, from Oakdale, MN, shot a round of 25 clay birds with Steve and Bryan Greene, both of New Richmond. Some birds were hit, others sailed on undamaged. So goes clay pigeon shooting: a miss on an especially easy bird is greeted with jovial heckling from one another, and a bird powdered at the shot draws high praise—as it should be at any well-run gun club. Shooting success notwithstanding, everyone in the Seigler/Greene party agreed that spending such a day indoors would have been a shame.

In addition to the outdoor shooting ranges, the clubhouse is a gathering place for a wide variety of sporting groups and activities. Each year the club hosts hunter education clinics, youth BB gun leagues, small bore rifle leagues, handgun carry classes, and other related programs. In April, the club will hold it’s annual fundraising banquet, and as Dave Orf pointed out, “the money raised from the banquet is used solely for capital improvements to the property.” The property is obviously a source of pride for the club members.

On one of four trap fields, Steve Nelson of Roberts, and Dennis Handlos from River Falls, shot a round of trap alongside Christine Borowski and Bill Rutherford, both from Maplewood, MN. Borowski, who has been a club member for eight years, brought Rutherford to the Hudson club a couple years ago, and he too is now a member, despite both having shooting options closer to home. Borowski explained that she prefers the Hudson club because of the “relaxed atmosphere,” and Rutherford was quick to add that the people here are the reason the two make to the trek across the river.  “Everyone here has been so nice, whether we are on the range or in the clubhouse.”

I couldn’t agree more. Some shooting clubs have a cold, impersonal feel, because of their sheer size, and because safety is necessarily a prime concern. While it’s easy to understand the need for perfect safety, hospitality is left wanting at many clubs I have visited.

The Hudson Rod, Gun and Archery Club, on the other hand, manages to promote and maintain excellent safety procedures while keeping its small-town charm, just as it has for nearly 100 years.  And the club is equally welcoming to new shooters and old hands. If you enjoy shooting sports, or if you’ve ever thought about giving them a try, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better venue than the Hudson Rod, Gun and Archery Club.

A full schedule of events and winter hours, and information about the upcoming banquet, can be found at the club’s website

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