Welcome to the Gopher Campfire Conservation Club

SHOOTERS - Please be sure to check the Calendar for open range times and read the range reminder.

- Welcome - Board of Directors - Prose from the President - March 2008 Calendar at a Glance

The Board of Directors welcomes you to our website. Our goal is to make the Gopher Campfire Conservation Club one of the finest organizations of it's kind in the area.

Founded in April, 1910 by Carlos Avery and Sam Anderson, the Gopher Campfire Conservation Club is located approximately 6.5 miles North of Hutchinson, MN at 24718 County Road 7 (Bear Lake Road).

The purposes for which this club is organized are to conserve, restore, and manage the game, fish, and other wildlife and it's habitat; to seek and procure improved hunting and fishing for landowners and sportsman. To promote interest in hunting, shooting, archery, fishing, and to encourage and educate it's members and the general public in the principles of safety. To encourage and provide social and friendly interaction among it's members.

2008 Prose From Your President

Another year has passed and we are already into March.  What a busy and eventful year for Gopher Campfire in 2007!  All of the events and shooting sports went very well, and fun was had by all! I’m not going to ponder long on last year's events because there is so much to talk about for the exciting future and for the welfare of the club.

We have successfully made it through two major events already in 2008. The Fishing Contest and the Wild Game Feed were both huge successes! I would like to thank all of you for the wonderful turn out at the fishing contest; even though I was busy, it seemed that all the kids had fun.

Ladies, I noticed that most of the people at the Wild Game Feed were men. I would like to extend a challenge to you to come and try the food with your husbands next year. You don’t know the work that our exceptional chefs go through to prepare this food, and I think you’d be pleasantly surprised.

Now we are looking forward to Doc’s Blue Bird Day and then onto summer, when all of the shooting leagues and further events take place.  For those of you who weren’t aware, our website is up and running www.gophercampfire.com and I have been trying to keep our calendar of events current. Shooters, please take a look at the website before coming out. This will ensure that the shooting range is open.

I would also like to take this opportunity talk about additional projects that are happening within the club. First, if you hadn’t already noticed, our sanctuary improvements have started.  The ponds have been reshaped, landscape improvements have been completed, and the dike has been rebuilt. The sanctuary board has worked with the city of Hutchinson to make these improvements, along with the other improvements the city has been making.  The next step is to seed, plant trees, and our biggest obstacle - to build a new fence.

The second project that we will be doing this summer is adding a 50-yard shooting range to our shooting area. This should open up shooting benches for our shooters and provide a safer shooting area.

The third project is also an ongoing project from last year, which is our planning committee for celebrating the 100th anniversary of our club.  Dave Larson has organized a committee and plans are well underway for our 100th year.  I have been talking to Skip Quade and he is making a 100th yearbook for the club.  I am very excited to see what he and his group have accomplished. This book will be available for sale to the club members sometime this year.

Lastly, I am again going to rally to get everyone to contribute some of their time to help with club events or other activities. We conduct the various club events to generate revenue, which makes our club membership dues as reasonable as possible so that everyone has a chance to enjoy our club.  We have a handful of members that do most of the work - so I am asking you for a little of your time. If everyone would do a little at our events or special projects, it would relieve pressure from this handful of members, and overall, make us a stronger club.

I have asked the Gopher Board members to contact club members to volunteer to help with these special projects and events.  If you are asked, please come forward and donate some of your time, but please don’t wait for a phone call!  Our meetings are at 8 PM every second Tuesday of the month.  Currently, we have from 20 to 30 members at these meetings.  I would like to see these numbers increase so much that from now on we would have to use the larger back room of the clubhouse for the meeting.

Thanks for listening!!  The Prez - Keith Berwald

Also, please be sure to review our range rules.

Last Updated: 07-17-2008