Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On December 18, 1865, one of the greatest sports shooters in world history was born. Fred “Dood” Gilbert, also known as “The Wizard of Spirit Lake,” proved a prolific foe of waterfowl and even captured the shooting championship for the United States in 1895.
Born on a farm on the east shore of East Okoboji Lake in Dickinson County, and grew up shooting a ‘scatter-gun.’ A market hunter of prairie chickens and ducks, Gilbert downed a reported 3,000 birds on the pass between Spirit Lake and East Okoboji Lake in one season when northern Iowa still stood as the greatest waterfowl production site on planet Earth.
At the first-ever World’s Pigeon Shoot Championships in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1895, Gilbert set a world record and dominated the field by hitting 35 straight clay pigeons. In 1901 alone, he captured the British championship, the American championship, the National Wing-Shot title, and the professional trapshooting championship of America.
Over a prolific run, Gilbert captured 591 consecutive contests while besting shooters all over the globe. At 54 years old, he hit 591 consecutive clay pigeons without a miss and averaged over a 90% hit rate for six straight competition seasons. Today, Gilbert Park in Spirit Lake recognizes the incredible abilities of “The Wizard of Spirit Lake.” #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaHistoryCalendar
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