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Wayne Neubarth

Victoria 952-443-1910

Tom O’Connell, CPA

Income Tax Preparation. 952-474-6509

CORNERSTONE Insurance Agency

David Barsness * 952-448-5028

Sebenaler Chiropractic Center

Chaska * 952-448-9908

Christ Victorious Lutheran Church

Just south of Victoria * 952-443-2993

Custom New Homes

Victoria * 952-443-2740

942-448-3434

952-442-4411

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Shawn pointed to the kennel. “The kennel is in operation for our hunting dogs and some of our members. We have 20 dogs, mostly labs. I do get some dogs in for training here. The kennel is a year round operation and heated up to 70 degrees in the winter. It was built to be a kennel and is not a remake of one of the old farm buildings.”

As his truck crossed the rugged terrain, Shawn pointed to holding pens for the upland birds, answering questions and explaining there are two kinds of birds. “Upland means birds you would hunt in a field, like pheasants,” he said, “while waterfowl, like ducks, are hunted around water.”

In another field he pointed to a row of duck blinds constructed and located for a pass-shoot. He described how the blinds are situated on a flight path of the birds, between their home on the lake and their feeding area.

“Ducks aren’t the smartest creatures in the world,” he said. “We start feeding them at the bottom of the hill and gradually move the feeding area over the hill. They follow the food. They live on the five to six-acre pond and fly up to the feed area to eat. When they go back to the pond, they fly over what is called Humble Pass. They go as fast as they can and fly 40 to 60 yards high.”

“It’s a tough shoot,” he continued. “It’s not like shooting fish in a barrel, otherwise people wouldn’t want to shoot. I call it Grumble Pass because that’s what hunters do when they miss the birds.”

“Generally we have about a 75% recovery,” he said, “so some birds do get away. A pass-shoot -- you do that in the wild, too. You learn where the ducks are feeding and you position yourself accordingly. Last year we started with 4,500 birds and shot almost 3,100 of them. The rest escaped into the rest of the world.”

What happens to the ducks that are shot? “All of our birds are processed right here,” replied Shawn. “We have a crew of part time guys who just clean birds. We skin the pheasants and pluck the ducks and put them in Cryovac shrink bags. People don’t necessarily go home with the same birds they shoot, but they can if they want.”

Is the club open for hunting all year round? “No,” he said. “We’re open from September 1st through March 31st. Because we’re a licensed shooting preserve, we could be open all year round if we chose to. But summer is too hot, and spring birds are thinking about nesting. Once January 1st hits, we settle down quite a bit. When it’s too cold or the snow is too deep, guys just don’t want to come out.”

How many guys are you talking about? “The club has 140 members,” he said. “There is a waiting list but we keep it at 140. Our location is pretty close to the Twin Cities and that has helped us. Also, we like to think we do a quality job.”

Are there other hunting clubs in the area? Shawn identified other clubs at Prior Lake, Belle Plaine, Glencoe, LeSueur, LeCenter, New Ulm, and Hugo. There are others.

As for Marsh Lake, he said, “We are strictly a hunting club. We don’t have clay pigeons and skeet shooting. We don’t have that noise, which helps us stay in good graces with our neighbors. We only have live birds.”

“Sorghum is our main cover crop and food source. If birds have food, they’re going to stay. We’re self sufficient. We do all of our own farming. We bring in our birds from a variety of sources -- Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois. We get the pheasants and partridge at 18 to 20 weeks of age, and the ducks at 5 to 6 weeks and we raise them from there.”

Is membership at Marsh Lake expensive? “It’s run similar to a golf course,” Shawn explained. “There’s an initiation fee of $5,000 and then $2,100 a year for dues, plus an advanced bird charge of $500.”

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