(PHOTOS BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
WILD GAME AT THE COON SUPPER … Fulton County Sportsmen’s Club Lianna Baldwin, flanked by board member Arlie Free (left), Scott Steel (right), and Kyle Wilcoxon (back left), serve up favorites including venison, venison meatballs, ham, and goose – among other dishes – at the club’s annual Coon Supper at the clubhouse Friday night.
RAFFLES GALORE … Fulton County Sportsmen’s Club Range Manager and Vice President Peter Hayes stands behind the main raffle table during the club’s annual Coon Supper. Among the items at the main table were a Mossberg Maverick 12-gauge shotgun and a Taurus G3C 9-millimeter handgun.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
The Fulton County Sportsmen’s Club was packed Friday night for the organization’s annual coon supper. Attendees feasted on staples like ham, fish, several heat levels of chili, and the “famous meatloaf,” as well as goose, venison, rabbit, beaver, and squirrel.
In addition to the food, they were able to enter raffles for several firearms and everything from blenders to programmable hanging feeders to motorcycle helmets.
“It actually started back in the ‘20s, early ‘30s, was held in different areas until they built this building in ‘49 and then they moved it to here,” club President Greg Ruger said. “It started out as the Fulton County Coon Hunters and then it changed to the Fulton County Sportsmen’s Club.”
According to Ruger, 85 to 90 percent of the raffle items are donated from local businesses like Don’s Automotive, Ace Hardware, and ALM, just to name a few.
Ruger said Friday was set up for roughly 200 attendees, and noted some of the best attendances came during a year with the worst weather he’d seen in 20 years. The supper was advertised in newspapers, on the radio, and online.
“I sent some stuff up to Pittsford, Michigan. There’s a family up there, I send them flyers, they go around their area and hand stuff out,” he said. “I’ve been doing this probably 15 years and they’ve been here every year.”
Ruger said the event is a team effort. “I’ve got a great staff of eight other board members, the game warden is here – Josh, he’s a supervisor for the DNR – we’ve got a retired wildlife officer here who helps in the kitchen.”
“He’s helped probably longer than I’ve been doing this,” Ruger said. “Everybody’s got their own little niche. this has probably been the smoothest year in a long time.”
In addition to the businesses that donate raffle items, City Beverage – located in Defiance – donates banners and other similar items that are auctioned off at the end of the night.
Ruger said the supper generates the funds the club uses to pay its taxes and insurance, leaving the rest of its revenue to put on different events. One of their biggest events is the annual Kids’ Fun Day in May, when youths can shoot bows and guns as well as fish.
“In the fall – we started eight years ago – we have a veterans’ fun hunt,” he said. “In conjunction with the Fulton County Pheasants Forever chapter, their guys, we use their dogs, some of their grounds.”
“We purchase pheasants, and we plant the birds, start with breakfast in the morning, take them out, make sure the veterans get a couple birds. We have a good day and get to see the dogs work.”
The club gets involved with the community in more ways than its events, however. Ruger said in the last several years they have started donating to area schools for kids’ archery programs. They also work with law enforcement and similar organizations.
“The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, they’ve got full use of our range any time they want. The Toledo Police Department comes out here and uses our range for certain training.”
“We’re in the works with the University of Toledo’s ROTC program – they want to come out and use our range and do some long-range shooting,” Ruger said.
Ruger said he first got involved with the club close to 20 years ago. “My son started trap shooting out here and I bought a membership and started in,” he said.
“One of them deals where you think you have a better idea and next thing you know you’re running the show. But I’ve got a lot of great help.”
He said being a part of the club is a great honor, and that if he had to do his job as president without the help of the board members “my head would probably explode.”
“It’s a good time, especially when you do things like the kids’ fun day and you see a kid that’s never shot a bow, never shot a gun, never caught a fish, that’s great,” he said. “Or a veteran, the veterans are probably just as enthusiastic as the young kids.”
For more information on the Fulton County Sportsmen’s Club, visit them online at fultoncountysportsmenclub.com or on Facebook.
