Account:
Conservation Club
The following was compiled by the Annandale History Club secretary.
ANNANDALE CONSERVATION CLUB
All articles are from the Annandale Advocate
unless otherwise noted.
OFFICERS
February 8,
1934: Tuesday night the
Annandale Conservation Club held its annual banquet in the
Legion rooms. The banquet was
followed by a business meeting and a very interesting social hour.
Between 45 and 50 sportsmen were present.
The following officers were elected to serve terms the
coming year: Dr. N.A. Runquist,
president; Carl Lundeen and Joe DeChaney, vice presidents; Dr. Bendix,
secretary; A.L. Lofstrom, treasurer; Clard Broberg, Dr. Norris, and P.L Sawyer,
directors. A.M. Packer of
Minneapolis, a member of the Hennepin County Sportsmen’s Club, was voted as an
honorary member of the local organization.
February 28,
1935: The Annandale
Conservation Club held the annual meeting and election of officers in the Legion
Hall on Tuesday night. The members
and guests gathered for a 6:30 banquet served by the Legion-Auxiliary.
The following officers were elected to serve for the coming
year: N.A. Runquist, president;
J.D. DeChaney, 1st vice president; A.H. Lofstrom, 2nd vice
president; L.H. Bendix, secretary;
P.L. Sawyer, treasurer; Canute Logeais, C.E. Johnson and Carl Lundeen, trustees.
September
9, 1954: George Ryti was elected president of the Annandale Conservation
Club at the meeting held at Shady Lawn Resort.
Cokato
Enterprise, January 18, 1989:
Dave Leukuma, a former Cokato resident, is at the forefront of a
reawakening of the Annandale Conservation Club.
Leukuma is president of the organization that has grown from two members
to 108 members in less than 11 months.
BIRD HOUSE CONTEST
April 12, 1934:
The Conservation Club is sponsoring a Bird House contest and offering
prizes to the winners.
Later on the club will conduct a vermin hunt.
The two captains selected are Charley Kurz and Clard Broberg.
April 19, 1934:
It was announced last week that the Annandale Conservation Club was again
sponsoring a Bird House Building Contest. The
rules governing the contest are: 1.
Open to boys and girls in the grades of the local school.
2. Contest closes April 27,
1934. 3. Houses may be of any
design or material. 4.
Houses must be the work of the contestant.
This rule must not be violated.
5. Only houses made
during 1934 may be entered. 6.
Contestants must agree to put houses up in suitable places for birds
after the contest is completed.
Prizes totaling $6.00 to be awarded.
Competent judges will be secured to place the houses.
The houses will be exhibited in the
display window of the E.H. Dunton and Sons Hardware Store.
May 3, 1934:
The winners of the recent bird house building contest were:
Class I, age 10 years and under:
1st, Stanley Lundeen; 2nd, Richard Swanson.
Class II, ages 11 and 12 years:
1st, Russell Rosenberg; 2nd, Paul Bergerson; 3rd,
Donald Cheney. Class III, ages 13 years and over:
1st, Stanley Kurz, 2nd, George Paul; 3rd,
Walter Powers. Special, Dorothy
Groves, 35 cents, Adolph Groves, 35 cents.
Judge, A.L. Schaum
September 23,
1936: The winners in the
Bird House building contest were announced last Friday by M.J. Seeger, who
judged the products. Elwood
Heberling, Warren Maurice, and Clifford Jutenen were awarded first, second and
third, respectively in class I.
Albert Gruss, Richard Betsinger, Neil Sawyer placed 1, 2, 3 in class II.
The quality of workmanship on the houses was better than last year, but
the number of entries should have been larger.
The Annandale Conservation Club is entitled to credit for sponsoring such
a worthwhile activity.
April 20, 1939:
The winners in the annual bird house building contest are as
follows: Class I, first to sixth
grades inclusive. First, Donald
Larson, $1; second, Darrel Andrews, 65 cents; third, Marvin Sterriker, 35 cents.
Class II, seventh, eighth and ninth grades.
First, Robert Westrup, $1; second, James Sterriker, 65 cents, third, Bob
Nordberg, 35 cents. Class
III, tenth, eleventh, twelfth grades.
First, Arnold Erickson, $1.
Al Schaum acted as judge of the contest.
February 5,
1942: The Annandale
Conservation Club is sponsoring a Bird House Building contest.
There are three separate age groups: Fifth to ninth grade, tenth to
twelfth grade, and Boy Scout members.
The prizes consist of $1.50 for first place, $1.00 for second place and
$.60 for third place. All boys and
girls are encouraged to join.
February 2, 1944:
…Contestants must agree to put houses up in suitable places, as the main
purpose of the contest is to help arouse interest in our feathered friends.
We must remember that the birds will continue to help control our insect
enemies. Feeding stations and
nesting shelters may be entered in the contest.
Houses will be judged on suitability, workmanship and originality.
Provisions should be made for cleaning out the houses.
Judging will be done by a competent person.
Information can be secured from J.D. DeCheney, H.P. Betsinger or H.E.
Tripp. Houses for bluebirds, house
wrens and purple martins are most common…
April 19, 1945:
The results of the bird house building contest and awards are listed.
Group I: Grades 4,5,6 – Floyd
Mathees, 1st place. Group II:
7th Grade – Robert Olean, 1st; Clifford Mol, 2nd;
Howard Griswold, 3rd; Norman Aronson, 4th.
Group III: 8th
Grade – LeRoy Albers, 1st; Donald Kallunki, 2nd; Milton
Ransom, 3rd; LeRoy Albers, 4th.
Group IV: Grades 9, 10, 11, 12 -
Melvin Raisanen, 1st; Tom Jarl, 2nd; Maurice
Chevalier, 3rd; Roger Glaim, 4th.
The prizes were 1st - $1.25; 2nd - .75; 3rd
- .50; 4th .25. Judge:
A.L. Schaum. Sweepstakes –
Melvin Raisanen.
TRAP SHOOTING
August 28, 1952:
Annandale trap shooters sponsored by the Conservation Club, held their
first shoot Sunday, Aug. 14. The
meet launched the new setup for trapshooting at the Goerge Houchins farm just
out of Annandale. In Sunday’s
shoot, Willard Kalash and Marvin Rasset led the field of about 30 marksmen with
22 out of a possible 25. Ed Glazier
and Frank Ledwein followed with 20s and the rest
ranged from 19 on down.
September 1952:
The team from Annandale Conservation Club won first place in the trap
shoot held at Howard Lake Sunday, in connection with the Wright County
Sportsmen’s Picnic. Ten towns
competed in the shoot. Annandale
won with a score of 97 out of a possible 125.
Howard Lake was next with 96 and Buffalo with a score of 93.
September 23,
1954: The Annandale
Trapshooting Team won the Wright County Trophy for the second time in the annual
county Sportsmen’s Picnic in Howard Lake.
Annandale’s team score was 106 out of a possible 125.
Howard Lake was second with a score of 101.
Twelve teams were entered in competition.
Men from Annandale on the team were Ed Glazier, Marvin Rasset, Frank
Ledwein, Leo Olson and Earl Olson.
The trophy is on display in Glazier Hardware window.
February 5,
2014: At the Annandale
School Board meeting Monday, Jan. 27, the board gave unanimous approval to
joining the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League this spring.
There is no direct cost to the school district.
The Annandale Conservation Club will be a major donor to defray the
costs… Paul Jorgensen of the
Annandale Conservation Club has helped to organize Annandale’s participation in
a statewide clay target shooting league starting this spring.
All participants must have a firearms safety certificate through the
Minnesota DNR.
June 4, 2014:
…In the Clay Target team’s first
season, 22 boys and girls registered, including 18 boys and four girls.
There were 15 high school and seven middle school students.
Most of the volunteer coaches are
members of the Annandale Conservation Club.
Two of them are certified DNR firearms instructors.
Volunteer coaches include Paul Jorgensen, Desiree Schindele, Jim
O’Reilley, Dean Wrobbel, Tom Starkey, Greg Macrunel and Steve Hermann.
July 30, 2014:
Sharpshooters Tom and Bob Petty, owners of Petty Brothers Old Fashioned
Meat Market in Annandale, recently took first and second place at the 104th
Minnesota State Trapshooting Tournament in Alexandria.
Tom and Bob have been around trapshooting for most of their lives. As
youngsters, the two watched their father shoot at the Annandale Conservation
Club.
RIFLE RANGE
November 27,
1987: Closing the rifle
range east of Annandale is one thing John Monk does not want to happen, “But it
could come to that if something isn’t done,” said Monk, Annandale’s acting
police chief. Deterioration of the
earthen backstop at the rifle range owned by the Annandale Conservation Club is
the cause of the concern. The
backstop has deteriorated so that it is possible to see cars driving on the
gravel road about one-half mile east of the rifle range.
August 17, 1988:
The Annandale City Council and the Annandale Conservation Club have
scheduled a public informational meeting to present plans for rebuilding and
enlarging the shooting range just outside Annandale’s city limits.
September 20,
1989: The Annandale
Conservation Club has been making improvements to its shooting range.
The shooting range was in danger of being closed down several years ago
for safety issues, and the problems have surfaced again.
However, club members have worked together to create a much safer
shooting range. The club plans to
erect a sign listing rules of the range, which is to include safety and courtesy
factors.
PROJECTS
May 15, 1952:
As one of the projects of the season, the Annandale Conservation Club
planted 850 trees at the Irvin Hoffman farm south of town, last week.
The trees are furnished by the state; the club does the work.
April 1, 1954:
The Annandale Conservation Club has made arrangements to use the
Goelz Pond for their Pike project
again this season. The local club
is interested in any way to assist the game and fish projects in this area.
They belong to the Minnesota Game Protective League
October 2, 1952:
The people of the community can be thankful for the Annandale
Wildlife Conservation Club’s
continued all-out drive to preserve our natural resources.
Their latest move in this direction was the seining of the Goelz rearing
pond for pike fingerling with which they stocked the following lakes:
Pleasant, Cedar, Sugar, Clearwater, Bass, Granite, Camp, Sylvia, West
Twin, John and Union.
January 12,
1961: The Annandale
Conservation Club marked an area near Goodin Point on Clearwater Lake with
evergreen trees, brush and a sign.
Vehicles have gone into the lake because of thin ice and open water.
Clyde Peterson, president of the club
and other members worked on the project in order to warn people who drive their
cars out on the lake.
July 8, 1981:
Granite Lake Association and Annandale Conservation Club are both working
for lake improvement. At a recent
meeting of the Granite Lake Association a motion was made, seconded, and voted
unanimously to donate $25 to the Annandale Conservation Club for their repeated
efforts in restocking the lake with walleyes and northern pike.
Annandale
Conservation Club Facebook Page:
We offer gun safety training, personal protection classes, trap leagues.
We support the future wildlife by building and donating bird and duck
houses and food plots. We have wild
game feeds, steak frys and we have the largest youth fishing contest.
YOUTH FISHING
CONTEST
Advertisement
Flyer – February 12, 2011, 12th Annual Youth Fishing Contest.
February 20,
2012: Feb. 16 was a near
perfect winter day for the Annandale Conservation Club’s annual Youth Fishing
Contest. About 220 children turned
out for the event on Pleasant Lake.
There were 52 fish caught, the largest a 2.7 pound Northern.
The kids and their families consumed more than 600 hot dogs and 20
gallons of hot chocolate. Many
prizes were handed out. $50 was
awarded for the biggest fish in each age grou, and $25 was awarded for second
and third biggest fish. Age groups
were 1-5, 6-10 and 11-15.
February 16,
2013: Youth Fishing
Contest, South Access Pleasant Lake, 12:00 noon.
Sponsored by the Annandale Conservation Club with donations from the
community.
February 19,
2014: …It takes
about 30 volunteers to run the contest, including individuals who help drill the
holes and ATV drivers. Participants
can ride snowmobile trailers furnished with hay bales and pulled by
four-wheelers out to their fishing sites to keep traffic on the ice to a
minimum. The only significant
change to this year’s event is the addition of a warming tent to make a full
afternoon on the lake more comfortable.
Participants should bring their own pole and warm clothing, but
everything else is provided free of charge thanks to contributions from
businesses and other sources.
ACTIVITIES
March 1,
1934:
The program at the school auditorium Tuesday night sponsored by the Annandale
Conservation Club was very well attended.
People from Kimball, South Haven, Buffalo and other points were resent.
The speaker, Sydney R. Montague, spoke of his experiences as a mounted
policemen in Canada, also of his life in the frozen Baffin Bay area.
He emphasized the value of conservation.
November 11,
1951: Annandale and the
local Conservation Club received much valuable publicity
last Friday night due to the fine appearance made by club members on the
9:45 TV sports program.
December 4,
1952: The annual Fox Hunt
will begin Sunday, Dec. 7th, and as usual, sponsored
by the Annandale Conservation Club.
All huntsmen are requested to meet at 1:00 sharp, Sunday afternoon at the
Sportsman Café, where rides will be made available.
January 7, 1954:
A Fox Hunt is planned by the Annandale Sportsmen’s Club to be held
Sunday.
All those who want to join, meet at the Play-Dale recreation room.
After the hunt, lunch will be served at the new VFW Club room.
Please bring shot guns only.
June 8, 1961:
This Friday the Annandale Conservation
Club will be sponsoring the annual spring dance party at the Maple Lake
pavilion. There will be dancing,
food and prizes, including a True Temper spinning rod and Johnson reel.
Al Elsenpeter and his Key Notes will be providing music for dancing.
The club asks for a donation of $1.
This money will go towards propagation of fish game, food for waterfowl
and upland game, predator control and assisting in the maintenance of water
levels.
March 23, 1988:
The Annandale Conservation Club meets the first Monday of each month at 7
p.m. at the Annandale VFW Hall. The
club is recently reorganized and is planning club projects.
Anyone with ideas or anyone who wants to help can attend month meetings
or contact Ed Kaz.
Date ?:
A lawful gambling permit was approved for the Annandale Conservation
Club.
Compiled by the Annandale History Club Secretary