Harshaw Sports Club looks to continue building

The Harshaw Sports Club has gained quite the reputation around the Northwoods, and with events like the Scholastic Clay Target Program it hosted in May, it’s gaining respect around the state too.

“The club … was founded in 1977, so we’re just shy of our 50th anniversary … 48 years in existence right now,” club president Joe Hein said. “We have an average of 100 members … we’re also open to the general public, so there’s many other people who come and shoot other than members.”

There are two trap shooting stations, a 13-station sporting clays range, an up to 200-yard rifle shooting range and a pistol range.

Scholastic Clay Target Program

On May 16-18, 530 students from across Wisconsin traveled to the Northwoods and shot at the Harshaw Sports Club. According to the club’s Facebook page, approximately 51,000 clay birds were thrown. 

Hein said it’s the club’s biggest event of the year and this was the seventh time it has been held.

Lakeland trap shooter Emmitt Gee shoots at a sporting clays station during a Scholastic Clay Target Program on May 16-18 hosted by the Harshaw Sports Club.
(Contributed photograph)

Student shooters were able to sign up to shoot 100 rounds of trap and 100 rounds of sporting clays. 

“So some kids in one day will shoot 200 rounds,” Hein said. “Most of them do both disciplines and we award winners of the overall combined high score for trap and sporting clays.”

The event offers student shooters mixed prizes, Hein saying “it’s never just cash.”

“It could be a scholarship towards … shooting at nationals,” he said. “It could be cases of shells, entry fees for going and shooting at other things. But the biggest thing is we pay out $5,000 in endowments to schools that attend and Midway USA matches those grants.”

Hein explained four schools total received endowments — the school who placed first, the school who brought the most shooters and two schools who won raffles.

“Those endowments go towards their program and they can spend up to five percent of their endowment,” he said.

The Harshaw Sports Club was proactive in bringing an event like this to the Northwoods. 

Hein said it started with a relationship between the club and Team SEaL, which is composed of student shooters from Price County. 

“Us and Team SEaL sat down, we had multiple meetings on what we could do to get an event in the Northwoods with shooting, because all the other big events are in southern Wisconsin,” he said. 

Hein said the Wisconsin Scholastic Clay Target Program was brought into the mix and “obviously, to them, it was like ‘This is a great event … we’re going to support it all the way.’”

He indicated he couldn’t thank the local sponsors enough for supporting youth shooting sports in the area. Hein added he wanted to give a shoutout to two of the program’s biggest sponsors, Schultz Builders Inc. and Bad Oscar Shooting Sports. He said the two businesses were “very instrumental from the beginning.”

Culture at the club, everything it offers and big things to come?

Hein said the culture at the club is welcoming and there’s a focus on family. 

He said he thinks the club recognizes how important it is to place a priority on youth development and “to understand they’re the most important part of what we’re doing.”

Hein said members of Harshaw Sports Club understand the importance of welcoming everyone.

“There’s nothing worse than going somewhere and feeling like you’re left out,” he said.

Someone new coming out to try a new thing and like it is more satisfying for Hein than anything else he does as president, he said. 

“It’s about actually having a good time,” he said. “This is like the sportsmens’ golf … shooting trap and sporting clays. If it’s not your discipline to golf, this is something else you can gain really good skills at, hone your skills, and some of our members actually shoot tournaments from the amount of practice they have. And they do really well in tournaments.”

There are options in the Northwoods when it comes to shooting ranges and sports clubs. However, the Harshaw Sports Club has gained quite a following. One reason for that is its one-of-a-kind sporting clays course.

“We offer one of the most unique sporting clays courses in the state of Wisconsin, where it’s really set up for the sportsman.” Hein said. “It’s not set up for competition, but it’s set up for the actual sportspersons in our area to learn to use your firearm to go on a trip or a hunt. So there’s so much similarities with the way we set up our sporting clays range to the actual ability to hunt afterwards. Granted you’re shooting a clay target, but you’re getting scenarios for the sportsman, for the grouse hunter, for the pheasant hunter, for the duck hunter, for opportunities to learn and to use your firearm more efficiently for hunting later on.”

Additionally, the club is hosting two two-day hunter safety programs. The next hunter safety course available is Aug. 23-24, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Class work is at the Cassian Town Hall the first day and the hands-on field day is at the Harshaw Sports Club. To register, call Jon Tiefert at 715-439-9961.

The hunting safety programs with the Harshaw Sports Club are operated entirely by its members. 

Eventually, Hein said, while the in-class portion of the programs are held at the Cassian Town Hall, the club would like to construct a learning space on-site. 

“Our goal is to fundraise to build a new building,” he said. “We want to include classrooms for education in the future.”

Another program the Harshaw Sports Club is hosting is a shoot to support the Northwoods Veterans Homestead, which aims to supply affordable housing for veterans. The veterans shoot is on Sept. 6. Hein said details for that program will be released some time in the near future.

“It’s a volunteer thing, we’re giving back to the veterans, we’re trying to raise money for the veterans,” he said. 

Sustaining the club

Donations are vital for the Harshaw Sports Club, Hein said. 

“But also fundraising,” he said. “We have an annual gun raffle and we have our annual banquet. Without those two big events, we would have a tough time functioning.”

The annual banquet is held in the spring and the gun raffle is going on right now. Anyone can purchase raffle tickets, which are available at businesses across the Northwoods. The raffle concludes mid-October.

While the club has a solid membership and reliable volunteers, Hein indicated there’s always room for more.

“If (there’s) anyone who looks to join a good group of people that want to experience some friendship and camaraderie, come on down to the Harshaw Sports Club and we’ll treat you like family immediately,” he said. “I know that volunteer word is a tough one … but any time someone wants to help and do things, it’s greatly appreciated.”

If someone is interested in volunteering or donating directly to the club, they can call the club at 715-360-4966, email at [email protected], visit harshawsportsclub.com or see the club’s Facebook page. 

The club does accommodate shooting by appointment, but its regular open shooting times are Wednesdays, 4 to 9 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].