About the club
The Toussaint Shooting Club was established in 1885 as a sportsman’s club for the purpose of hunting ducks, geese and other migratory game birds. The marsh is one of the oldest continuously operating private waterfowl hunting clubs in North America and one of the last coastal marshes on the Great Lakes.
The marsh is the club’s reason for being!
The Discovery
Originally discovered by French explorers in the early 1600's, the lower Toussaint River was a critical part of the
1,500 square miles (nearly 1 million acres) of the former Great Black Swamp. This wetland jewel
represented one of the largest staging areas in America for migrating waterfowl.
Early Settlers
This vibrant eco-system also attracted waterfowl hunters as well as farming opportunities. By the early
1800’s, the Great Black Swamp was visibly shrinking as soil reclamation escalated. Tradition indicates a
group of Clevelanders customarily chartered a schooner, sailing from Cleveland to the mouth of Snipe
Creek and then spent weeks at a time hunting the accessible marshes.
Founding of the Toussaint Shooting Club
Recognizing the critical importance of protecting the wetland habitat, a group of 7 professionals, mostly
from Cleveland, formed the Toussaint Shooting Club on February 19, 1885. Thus began a very storied
history of one of America’s oldest duck clubs.
Where We Are Today
Today, the Toussaint Shooting Club continues to invest significantly in the well-being of its natural
marsh, which consists of nearly 2,000 acres of prime, wetland habitat. 7.4 miles of carefully maintained
dikes include 10 water control systems and 3 fish passageways, all of which assure optimal water
purification, delivering clean water to Lake Erie.
The Toussaint Shooting Club represents one of the last
coastal marshes on the Great Lakes providing 2 miles of shoreline protection.
What we do to help the Ecosystem
This commitment to habitat conservation motivated the duck club to create the Toussaint River
Watershed Conservancy (TRWC), which serves as a steward for the 22,000 acres in the lower 13 miles of
the Toussaint River.
Learn more
The mission of TRWC is to restore, enhance and preserve the natural wetlands
unique to this area.
Learn More
Thankfully, several historic duck clubs collaborate with State and Federal habitat
restoration initiatives, plus several conservancies (including TRWC, WPMC, and BSC) to assure the
perpetuation of the waterfowling traditions through vigilant wetland's management.
Learn More