Izaak Walton League

Charles W. Budd of Des Moines is now largely forgotten, but he was once an unstoppable force among trapshooters in the area. His local connection? Charley and Lizzie Budd had been coming to Okoboji since the early 1890s and owned a cottage on Pillsbury Point. He was considered one of the early pioneers of the area around the Monument and became their permanent residence in the 1920s.

The son of a pioneer farmer, he learned telegraphy and was a telegraph operator for the Rock Island railroad line in Winterset, Carlisle, and Des Moines. But about 1886 he left that to follow his passion (and God-given gift) as a professional trapshooter. His records are as high as anyone’s in competition, regularly breaking 92 to 95 out of a hundred.

In addition to being an organizer of “shoots” all over the U.S., he held the title of “Champion Wing Shot of the World” for many years, and was retained by several gun companies, shell companies, and powder companies as a representative.

In an 1895 book, The Art of Wing Shooting by William Bruce Leffingwell, “Budd speedily gained the reputation of being the best shot in his State,” the author wrote.

Charley Budd was one of the 1898 founders of the Okoboji Indians shooting club, an organization that still exists today. As an annual participant at shoots held at Arnolds Park and Big Spirit Lake that drew hundreds of spectators, he joined professional trapshooters from all over the U.S., if not the world (including Fred Gilbert).

In 1901 Charley Budd was part of an American shooting team that also featured Fred Gilbert. Budd tied with Gilbert in a well-publicized London, England shoot with each man breaking 23 out of 25 targets. But a cold streak hit Budd in the shutoff, and he retired to give Gilbert the trophy.

Charley Budd died in 1931, having retired from active shooting for a number of years before.

“Mr. Budd is deservedly popular among sportsmen, and the amateur will always find him a correct adviser…willing to impart valuable information…to become proficient in the art of wing shooting,” Leffingwell wrote.

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For the hundreds of people attending one of the area’s Indian Shoots, it would be a day to remember when the best of the best came to shoot. The host Okoboji Indians was a shooting club formed by men in the photo in 1898.

Looking at this photo—until just recently thought to be just some local shooters—you see five champion shooting team members, and individual U.S. record and trophy holders. The image is possibly a L. F. Williamz photo, taken at one of the Indian Shoots in 1899 or 1900 in Arnolds Park.

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Who they were:


Frank S. Parmelee of Omaha—A left handed shooter, Parmalee was a strong contender in any shoot for decades. About this time in his career he had just bested 31 other shooters in the inaugural Hazard Cup tournament but lost to C.W. Budd.

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Charles W. Budd of Des Moines—A longtime Okoboji visitor, Charley Budd was a close friend and teammate of Spirit Lake’s Fred “Dood” Gilbert in a 1901 invitation shoot in Europe. The World Champion Wing Shot in the late 1880s, Budd’s accomplishments earned him a position as a shooting rep for Parker guns.

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Fred Gilbert, Spirit Lake—“The Wizard of Spirit Lake,” Gilbert’s prowess shooting both live birds and trip was forged in an early life of hunting on our area’s lakes, streams, and ponds. Like the others in this photo, Gilbert’s trap and live bird skills were legendary. Spirit Lake’s Gilbert Park on north Hill Avenue is named after him.

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James A. R. Elliott of Kansas City—At the time of his death in 1924 it was noted that J. A. R. Elliott had “made a mark which can never really be forgotten when trapshooting history is ever delved into for subject matter of an extraordinary character.” Like Gilbert, Elliott was skilled in live-bird shooting and was the only shooter ever to hold all the important live-bird trophies at the same time.

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Tom Marshall, Keithsburg, Ill.—Although mayor of a western Illinois town, Marshall’s fame was well established in years of competition. Thomas A. Marshall is the only man ever to win two Grand American Handicaps, for example. He was captain of the 1901 shooting team invited to Europe and was a faithful reporter and syndicated writer on the sport for years.

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TIDBIT: Composer John Philip Sousa, renowned for his martial band music, was a dedicated trapshooter, having taken up the sport in 1906. He was a friend of Fred Gilbert; Gilbert gave Sousa shooting lessons, and Sousa reciprocated by giving Dood bass drum lessons so he could play in the Spirit Lake community band. A member of the Okoboji Indians, he was known to the tribe as Chief March King.

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TIDBIT #2: The 1901 Invitational Shoot was planned to have competitions in London, Glascow, Dublin, and Paris. The Americans so dominated teams in England and Scotland that Dublin and Paris shoots were cancelled.

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(From an August 8, 1900 news report, where the gentlemen in the photo likely gathered. Although culturally insensitive by today’s standards, the “Indian name” of each shooting club member were a humorous capsulation of their personalities and accomplishments.)

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(The Shooting Stars with Fred ‘Dood’ Gilbert squarely facing the camera in the center. The Indian Shoots over the lakes were immensely popular—to such an extent that you can see some observers perched in the tree above the men.)

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(Charles W. Budd from Leffingwell’s 1895 book, The Art of Wing Shooting)

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(Budd was a well known representative for many manufacturers of shooting equipment.)

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(Arnolds Park was the site of a 1897 shoot that drew hundreds of spectators)

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(Budd and Gilbert were not only fast friends, but lively competitors)

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(News coverage of the 1901 shoot in England from and Indianapolis newspaper)

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(Fred Gilbert, Charley Budd and others were well known and highly regarded among sportsmen at the turn of the 1900s.)