Touring Marsh Lake

The 400 acres of Marsh Lake Hunting Preserve are located just south of the city limits of Victoria.  One day they will be annexed to the City of Victoria, but in the meantime the property is a haven for wildlife and its 140 members.  The comprehensive interview with Manager Shawn Eastman appears on the Front Page of the March 2009 issue of the Gazette, online and offline, entitled “Hunters’ Paradise,” but the tour is better here in color!

We climbed in and Shawn took the editor over steep hills and rough terrain, truly a hunters’ paradise.

We met at the Marsh Lake Hunting Club on a brisk February morning.

Shawn’s pickup truck was parked right outside the door.

Marsh Lake is the biggest pond on the property, still frozen here, awaiting spring.

We came upon strategically located duck blinds, between the pond and their feeding area.

I believe Shawn said this mass was a bunch of willows in the wilderness.

Shawn said they call it Humble Pass because it’s a difficult shoot.

The Marsh Lake Kennel is a year round operation, heated up to 70 degrees in the winter.

There are 20 hunting dogs, mostly labs, at the kennel/

One view of the hunters’ paradise from Shawn’s pickup truck.

Pheasants can’t fly away from the penned area because there’s overhead netting.

There’s only live birds, not clay pigeons, at Marsh Lake.

In some ways the Club House still looks like the barn from whence it came.

Joe Reynolds keeps the coffee pot on at the lodge, also called the Club House.

Shawn showed where members congregate for conversation, camaraderie, a cocktail.

As I drove away at noon, I looked back for one more photo of the rustic homey place.

Their long gravel drive took me back out to Marsh Lake Road.

The End

Email:  Sue@PrintsPublishing.com

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Love, Sue