Conservation Club for Students with Outdoor Interests

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Photo courtesy of Mrs. Nicole Gates CHS’s conference champion spring trap team: Slaytt Nolan, Ben Willett, Myles Ecker, Blake Heinrich, Conner Goetsch, Haley Byrge, Peyton Schwoerer, Brody Waldron, Jakob Lemke, Maggie Moehn, Blake Gates, Braeden Kiesow, Hunter Rolbiecki, Bennett Glidden, Patrick Marx and Mitchell Schwobe.

Abigail Waggoner

Conservation Club is a CHS student organization with lots of opportunities for students who enjoy the outdoors.

Most recently, CHS’s spring trap team won conference. After week two of the six-week competition, the team held first place and kept it all the way to the end.

In individual scoring in the conference, senior Blake Gates won the highest male shooter and junior Haley Byrge won the highest female shooter. 

Byrge said, “In the beginning of the season the weather did cause some struggles for us as the wind was pretty bad, but all of the team members exceeded all odds and shot amazingly.”

The trap team is coached by Mrs. Nicole Gates and Mr. Tony Gates. And the team runs both a fall and spring season.


“CHS trap team is a great way to join something that will help with hand-eye coordination, and it provides a great way to meet some amazing people. The trap team is not just a big group of people. It is a family, and we support everyone with all skill levels,” Byrge said. “We encourage anyone interested to join our team and help further our future for CHS trap.

Earlier in the month, Chilton’s fishing team and other schools including Brillion, Kiel, New Holstein and Valders hosted a fishing clinic where 93 kids signed up. This clinic took place outside at the New Holstein Community Center.

They had 15-minute stations including casting into garbage cans, knot tying and baiting hooks and fish holding with real fish. Then participants had guided fishing time.

“It is a great opportunity to teach kids how to fish and let them be hands on and experience what it’s like to get out there in nature,” said Byrge, who helped with last year’s fishing clinic. “It also teaches them patience because fishing is a patient sport.”

Conservation Club is also creating wood duck boxes. They’re motivated to put out some new wood duck boxes in the Killsnake State Wildlife Area because wood ducks will nest in these boxes for years to come. Even if they don’t find them this year, the ducks will remember where they are and find them next year when they come north.

Mr. Bartel’s Tiger Manufacturing class built the boxes. The project lead was junior Jerad Gehl. The wood was donated by Mr. Jeff Schwarz.

Conservation Club is co-advised by Ms. Tara Porter, an English teacher, and Mr. Jim Delebreau, a math teacher.