History with Cresco Wildlife Club

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Cresco Gun Club was formed in 1926 with a focus on trap shooting. There was a trap range located on the Howard County Fairgrounds. Many events were held and they were well attended by some famous shooters such as Elmer "Bim" Castle from Charles City, IA.

The first board consisted of:

President-Bill Bents

Vice-President-Donald Rathtrt

Secretary/Treasurer-Frank Bugenhagen

Field Captain-John Wheeler

Cresco Wildlife Club incorporated April 15th, 1946 with a broader focus to include wildlife conservation.

Cresco Wildlife Club was awarded the prestigious Governor's Volunteer Award in 1989.

A new trap range was needed as the one at the fairgrounds got squeezed out of it's location by progress. Gary and Sara Gooder family donated some land in 2015 and a field of trap was in sight. Ground was broke and work began. The Cresco Area Clay Crushers (grades 7 - 12) was also in need of a trap field to call home.

Cresco Area Clay Crushers, trap shooting team needed a place to call homefield and joined forces with Cresco Wildlife Club and 2018 was the first year the team utilized the trap range with a gravel apron and mud outfield but they now had a home field!

Gooder Field was an amazing space as it was but some protection from the elements and a place to sell concessions was desired so a range house was built to fulfill this purpose.

Cresco Area Clay Crushers 6 seasons of trophies in 7 years! (Covid shut down 2020) All Squad trophies are on display in the Cresco Wildlife Club Range House at Gooder Field. 

Individual trophies and medals go home with the athletes. 

The summer of 2024 brought a new youth program to Cresco Wildlife Club and has been named Outdoor Skills Workshop. Our very first season of doing this and we held multiple dates and kids learned a wide variety of topics: use of a range finder, fishing techniques, nature identification, rifle shooting, archery and much more. The each got breakfast and lunch, a t-shirt, a fishing pole, bug catching kits, stickers, folders full of information; it was AWESOME.