For the seventh consecutive year, a pistol team from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) took top team honors during the 43rd annual Basil Irwin Memorial Game Warden Pistol Shoot competition held Sept. 2-3 in Holmen, Wis.
Minnesota Conservation Officers Greg Abraham (New Ulm), Mitch Boyum (Rochester), Sam Hunter (Park Rapids), Aaron Kahre (Minnetonka), Kevin Neitzke (Fort Snelling), Thor Nelson (Bloomington), and Greg Oldakowski (Wadena) shot a record score of 5,475 out of a possible 6,000 points in the team competition.
During the individual competition, Abraham took top honors in the aggregate, bulls-eye round, practical pistol course, and tactical course categories. Abraham has been the overall top shooter 25 times in the last 28 years, and is currently on a 10-year winning streak.
Neitzke, Boyum, and Oldakowski took second, fourth, and fifth place honors respectively in the aggregate competition. Neitzke placed second in the practical pistol course. Oldakowski finished second in the tactical course.
State conservation officers do so well in pistol competition because they are focused, are disciplined, are detail-orientated, and are exceptionally competitive, said Col. Jim Konrad, DNR Enforcement director. We are used to exercising concentrated focus and self-discipline, which are both really important qualities to be a good shooter.
Teamwork is another of the conservation officers advantages. ?The DNR pistol team is a tightly-knit group of professionals, Konrad said. The team members say this cohesiveness gives them a feeling of calm, knowing that they have the support of their teammates both competitively and emotionally.
Basil Irwin was a Minnesota game warden in the Sandstone area for decades. In 1967 he challenged some Wisconsin wardens to a team pistol match. The inaugural event was called the ?Minnesota-Wisconsin Wardens Pistol Match, but renamed ?The Basil Irwin Memorial Game Warden Pistol Shoot after Irwin?s death in 1970. Since then, natural resources enforcement officers from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have participated in the event.
