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IS PUBLISHED 6 TIMES PER YEAR BY CLAY TARGET SHOOTING LLC SUBSCRIPTION $35.95 PER YEAR $70 IN CANADA ISSN 1479-2885 PUBLISHER STACEY STEPHENS

CONTENTS JOURNAL NO. 118

stacey@clayshootingusa.com

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

A LOOK AT AFS MOVING FORWARD

JOSEPH FANIZZI 2021 National Champion Photo Credit: Thaddius Bedford

editor@clayshootingusa.com

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: THADDIUS BEDFORD DON BRUNT BRUCE BUCK PAUL COOK BILL ELLIOTT MATTHEW GAY JIM KRALIK DEREK MOORE DEE ORR LOUISE TERRY SPENCER TOMB MIMI WILFONG

SUBSCRIPTIONS & ALL DEPARTMENTS: CLAYSHOOTINGUSA 1212 N US HWY 281 #1941 MARBLE FALLS, TX 78654 TEL 210 377 1117 WEBSITE: www.clayshootingusa.com E-MAIL: subscriptions@clayshootingusa.com www.facebook.com/clayshootingusa

FITASC is a registered trademark.

It is used in the editorial and advertising pages of this magazine to report on such events, promote the discipline and advertise upcoming events by kind permission of the FITASC representative for America.

10 THE 2021 NSCA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 18 YR OLD JOSEPH FANIZZI WINS IT!

10

2021 NSCA NATIONALS

34 THE MIND OF A TARGET SETTER — PART II

BILL ELLIOTT CONTINUES HIS SERIES ON THE COUNTRY’S BEST

80 TECHNOID’S COLUMN A FIRST LOOK AT MIKE MCALPINE’S TARGET SETTING BOOK

80

86 CLAY SHOOTING PODCASTS FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

92 LOAD, WATCH, SHOOT

46 ENGRAVER SPOTLIGHT

98 A GUEST COMMENTARY

HOSTED BY CYPRESS CREEK

A LOOK AT THE WORK OF MIKE CRUMLING

BY JOHN SHIMA

IN THE NAME OF SAFETY

100 TOP GUN AND TEAM EL JEFE

A WORTHY CAUSE AT THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

102 HONEYBELLES

46

COPYRIGHT

52 THE PILGRIM NIGHT SHOOT

ClayShootingUSA recommends that readers ­satisfy themselves as to the accuracy of advertisers’ claims before any purchase is made, and accepts no responsibility for any loss arising from any purchase.

MATT GAY TAKES A LOOK AT THIS NORTH FLORIDA CLUB

40 AFS GAMEBORE CLASSIC AND INVITATIONAL FINALE

Technical ballistics and other information provided by our journalists, contributors and correspondents is published in good faith and should not replace established safe practices. Neither the author or publisher accept responsibility for injury or equipment damage resulting from its use.

The opinions expressed by c­ orrespondents are not necessarily those of the publishers.

74 AMELIA SHOTGUN SPORTS

TECHNOID'S COLUMN

PRINTED IN THE USA

All rights reserved. No part of this ­publication may be transmitted or r­ eproduced in any form without written ­permission from the publishers.

A PREMIER FIREARM DEALER

72 AMERICAN FIELD SPORTING IN 2022

COVER PHOTO:

EDITOR DANA FARRELL

68 ELITE SHOTGUNS

LADIES GROUP THRIVING IN FLORIDA

ENGRAVER SPOTLIGHT

CARDINAL CENTER CARRIES ON THE TRADITION

62 USA SHOOTING

MAKING THE OLYMPIC TEAM

104 HELICE UPDATE A YEAR IN REVIEW

110 CLAYBREAKERS

A CLUB CALL BY DEREK MOORE

112 PARTING SHOTS

NEWS, PEOPLE AND EVENTS

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BY DANA FARRELL, LOUISE TERRY, HARVEY SCHWARTZ, AND TOM THOMPSON WITH PHOTO SUPPORT BY LIQUID IMAGE, INC.

NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP

W

indy conditions were a major topic of conversation at the 2021 NSCA National championship, held for the 32nd consecutive year at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas, this past October. Shooter numbers in the Main Event proved to be around 350 higher than the COVID-compromised 2020 contest, lending a hint of prepandemic normalcy to the affair.

This time 1762 sporting clays shooters tried their hand in the 300 target Main Event, with solid numbers throughout all other events, as well.

With around 1400 registered targets available to shoot, Nationals are so much more than just the 300 bird Main Event contest. Sanctioned side events are offered for sub-gauge sporting in three gauges, plus FITASC and sub-gauge FITASC, 5-Stand, Super Sporting, Pump Gun, Side by Side and the ever popular Krieghoff Kup. A special 50 bird Ladies Open competition has proven to be a perennial favorite, gaining in popularity every year since its inception a few years back.

Practice opportunities abound, with two main practice areas set up off the cart paths leading to the courses, along with a row of

practice stations on the skeet/trap fields in front of the vendor buildings. Practice cards are made available at the pro shop, so shooters can practice at will and settle up for targets shot later. For those who have never experienced it, Nationals is truly worth the trip.

This annual American celebration of the sporting clays game requires an army of staff and a mountain of resources, and it’s been said it many times before, but bears repeating. No one can pull it off with the apparent ease and efficiency as the National Shooting Complex staff. Pete Masch, Facilities Director of the NSC, reported more than 1.3 million registered White Flyer targets were thrown on the courses, with better than 200,000 practice targets added in. Add in 427 trap machines, 523 marine batteries, 166 shooter cages, 28,800 bottles of water, etc., and you begin to see the enormous scope of this monumental effort.

FITASC

BY LOUISE TERRY In this record-breaking year for Nationals, FITASC followed the trend and was more popular than ever. With 829 entrants

11

participating from Tuesday through Sunday, this field was almost half again as large as the 2020 FITASC field! 2021 Nationals Tournament Director and veteran FITASC course setter Neil Chadwick laid out a great, challenging set of four new style parcours spread across the northeast quadrant of the NSC. Though 52% of the field was Master Class, there was also noteworthy participation in all of the concurrent event numbers, indicative of the ever increasing interest in this discipline: Lady – 69 entries, Junior – 117 entries, Veteran – 204 entries, and Super Veteran and

Target Setters The 2021 Nationals Shoot Chairman, Neil Chadwick, selected a varied crew of target setters for the event and made an attempt to balance the workload across the board. n Nathan Flanagan – Red course, M/AA 5-Stand n Steve Knoll – Orange course, 20G, Pump Gun, SxS

n Joseph Scull – Green course, M/ AA 5-Stand n Jason Menke – Yellow course, Ladies Open n Brent Fleming – Super Sporting n Larry Spikes – Sub Gauge FITASC n Neil Chadwick – FITASC n Henry Velazquez -- .410/28G, A-E 5-Stand n Morgan Harbison – A-E 5-Stand

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP

PHOTO CREDIT: LOUISE TERRY

PARCOUR 4 PEG 3

TOM'S SHOOTER NOTES

Senior Super Veteran with 97 and 61 players respectively.

As often happens in a competition across this many days, the biggest breaks come (or go) relative to the weather, and this year was no exception. Those who shot on Tuesday shot some great scores right out of the box.

Dominic Gross posted a very strong 96, which matched last year’s winning score, and Bill McGuire was close behind with his 94. It turns out that Gross’s 96 did stand tall at the top of the leaderboard all the rest of the week, but what happened next was

remarkable. Early Wednesday morning there was an intense thundershower just before daybreak, ushering in a major front right behind that storm. Though the skies cleared quickly and remained clear all the rest of the week, the wind blew very strong and steady out of the west/ northwest all day on Wednesday and into Thursday, so those who were shooting their 100 targets any time those two days, especially Wednesday, were the beneficiaries of the “bad” luck of the draw this year. By the weekend, the wind had abated a lot, allowing three

ober seems to have n Texas weather in Oct than blue blazes, or two extremes…hotter set in for much of the winterlike blasts that stion the wisdom of week, and make you que io trek once again. making the San Anton shooting apparel along n I’ve taken my winter attended the each of the 12 years I’ve ht years, I’ve needed Nationals. At least eig vided by that foul the extra comfort pro weather gear. r, ber came early this yea n The gales of Novem ween 20 and 40 and drove the winds bet ect of the wind and MPH. The combined eff g in the gift pack sun had shooters diggin of looking for that tube issued at registration lip balm.

others to match that 96 at the top of the board: Anthony I. Matarese Jr. and Cory Kruse, both finalists with their 96s last year, and Austin Kiemsteadt, a Junior shooter from Missouri City, Texas with his 96.

In surveying the targets on Wednesday afternoon, prior to my shooting time of 8:15 a.m. on Thursday morning, it was obvious the difference the wind was making, especially on Parcour 3 and Parcour 4, which were more out in the open than Parcours 1 and 2. On Parcour 3, Peg 1 by the pond, everything on Wednesday was really sailing high and fast with that wind behind them. Peg 2 was the rabbits parcour — not so bad wind-wise, although there were three rabbits to deal with, but the targets on Peg 3 in that wind were all “big stuff.” The fast A bird looked like it was traveling well over 70+ yards on Wednesday and the B bird was driven back so far by the wind it never really did get close. On Parcour 4, especially Pegs 1 and 2, everything seemed very distant in that wind, with the B and C show birds dropping well back behind the brush line out in front. Peg 3, shooting directly west, was right into the wind, which actually yielded a couple of closer shots blowing in, but the wind was also knocking them down pretty flat. And the B bird,

which was a black incoming midi from the left from behind a tree, was knocked down so quickly it left a very short window allowing only time for one shot after it zoomed out from behind that tree and before it hit the ground. It was exhausting even to watch some of these shots! Parcours 1 and 2 did benefit from more shelter from the wind in the trees and they had a great mix of some closer, quicker targets with a number of bigger distance crossers and distant incomers. All in all, a good overall mix, with Parcour 2 probably shooting the friendliest of the four layouts.

It wasn’t until the end of the day on Friday when Trevor Jensen added his 94 to the top scores that things started looking up again, but he was the only one able to crack into the top tier since the beginning of the week. By the time Saturday morning rolled around, the wind had totally subsided for the first time since Wednesday and the final Saturday/Sunday rotations were lighting up the scoreboard.

Saturday morning, Shawn Kemeter was off to a strong start shooting Parcours 3 and 4 and posting one of only four 50 straights shot all week! Michael Everson was 49 on Parcours 3 and 4, Joseph Fanizzi had 49 on

HIGH WATER FROM RAIN ON PARCOUR 3 PEG 1. STRONG WINDS ON WEDNESDAY RUINED CANOPIES

PHOTO CREDIT: LOUISE TERRY

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TOM'S SHOOTER NOTES

Parcours 2 and 3, Todd Hitch posted 49 on Parcours 1 and 2, Ashley Little shot 48 on Parcours 2 and 3, and Madison Sharp and Karen Shedd were also right in there with their 47s.

But, as we all know, “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” and many of those names couldn’t put it together all the way to the end. On Sunday, when the final chapter was written, Matarese Jr., Kruse and Kiemsteadt had each pulled off their 96s and were headed to the shoot-off field in the stadium to duke it out with Dominic Gross, who had been waiting all week for this championship. Starting out, they shot five singles, with Kiemsteadt leading off and breaking three; Kruse shot second breaking four, followed by Gross with four and Matarese Jr. bringing up the rear with five straight. With excitement building, they moved to doubles — a true pair followed by a report pair.

Kruse broke his four for a total of eight on the first round. Gross broke his four for another eight, followed by Matarese Jr. who

dropped the first bird of the true pair, landing him on an eight.

Kiemsteadt missed two doubles for a total of five, which placed him M1 — certainly a very respectable showing against this crowd.

Gross led off Round 2 scoring a five, followed by Matarese Jr. with his five, and not to be intimidated, Kruse plastered his five singles — all tied. Anthony shot first on doubles with all four breaks, posting a perfect nine on this round. Kruse followed suit with his nine, leaving Gross the pressure of shooting last. Dominic missed the first bird of his true pair settling for eight and third place on the podium.

Perhaps with shades of last year’s FITASC shoot-off coming to mind — Matarese Jr. was 2020 FITASC runner-up and Kruse finished third — Chadwick moved the hoop over to the far left side of the stadium field for the third volley. Kruse shot first this time and got all five singles; Matarese Jr. then powdered his. With Anthony now leading off for doubles, he missed the first bird of

n Was it COVID, convenience or contrivance? Gone from the shooting fields were the shuttle cart service vehicles. The ice cream was withdrawn for some reason. Who makes a decision like that, and why? n Of the 2271 shooters registere d for the Nationals, more than a thousand of them are veterans, super veterans, senior super veterans, and legacy concurrent. We are old, yet the shuttle service was taken away from us this year. Daily rental fees on carts ran to one hund red bucks per day. Do you get the idea that they are trying to chase us away?

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

FITASC CHAMPION ANTHONY I. MATARESE JR.

the true pair causing an audible sigh from the crowd. With the door cracked open, Cory uncharacteristically missed both the first shot on the true pair and the first shot of the report pair — game over. On the podium of 96s, Anthony I. Matarese Jr. stood on the top step as champ, Cory Kruse was runner-up and Dominic Gross was third. Great shooting in another exciting shoot-off by these champions!

Sharpe easily took the Ladies title (and Junior 5th and Master 8th) with her 94, joined on the podium by Shedd (runner-up) and Haylyn Hanks (third) on 92s.

Kiemsteadt handily took the Junior title with his 96, followed by Jacob Cameron and Heath Garrett, runner-up and third respectively with 94s. McGuire had posted his big 94 in Veterans on Tuesday, and Wendell Cherry (runner-up) and Virgil Minchew (third) got close

with their 93s, but McGuire prevailed as Veteran champ.

Raymond Brown’s 92 led the Super Veterans with Tim Le Neave on 91, and John Wooley on 88 for that

FITASC EVENT CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY LADY RU JR JR RU VET VET RU SUP VET SUP VET RU SR SUP VET SR SUP VET RU

ANTHONY MATARESE, JR. CORY KRUSE DOMINIC GROSS AUSTIN KIEMSTEADT SCOTT SCHLUDT MARTIN LECLERCQ HEATH GARRETT ARRIAGA ROBERTO SAMUEL KENLEY GATOR ADAMS MADISON SHARPE KAREN SHEDD AUSTIN KIEMSTEADT JACOB CAMERON BILL MCGUIRE WENDELL CHERRY RAYMOND BROWN TIM LE NEAVE EDWIN WAHLEN JOE CANTEY

96 96 96 96 88 85 94 85 76 76 94 92 96 94 94 93 92 91 83 82

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NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP

podium. The Senior Super Veteran field was very close too, with Edwin Wahlen posting 83, but he felt the pressure on his neck from former World FITASC Champion Joe Cantey with 82, and retired NSSA Hall of Famer Jim Bellows making a comeback now as a sporting clays shooter to finish third in this field of 61 with his 81.

All in all, a very exciting week with great targets and a great test of skills!

28G FITASC PARCOUR 2

PHOTO CREDIT: LOUISE TERRY

16

Sub Gauge FITASC

BY LOUISE TERRY

TOM'S SHOOTER NO TES

The 20 and 28 gauge FITASC 50 bird events opened on Monday and ran seven days straight through the week. The layouts were set old style and laid out in the same locations as last year: 28 gauge Parcour 1 was set in the opening in the trees below the K-Kup cart path intersection along Roft Road, and Parcour 2 was farther north and to the left of the cart path headed towards the Main Event courses. Both 20 gauge

parcours were set on the north side across the lower parking lot.

The 20 gauge FITASC hosted 395 shooters with 38 of those having made their way back into Master class with the new classification system this year.

After six days of shooting, there were only 37 shooters left to shoot on Sunday, and at that time William Walton from Millsap,

n Was it COVID, Convenience or co ntrivance?

Whoever thought it was a good ide a to suspend posting of scores at the scoreboar d ma de a poor decision. Apparent ly, they thought the electronic TV score crawl co uld substitute…wr ong. You’ll not live long enough to get the informa tio n you want from that score board stand in. I’v e ne ver been to a tournament th at didn’t post sco res.

n Was it COVID, Convenience or co ntrivance? I’m sure COVID playe d a role in the sh or tage of scorekeepers. As the week wore on , sco rekeepers became more sca rce. Some squads we re forced to do “score your ow n” over the last few days of the week. Immediate ly, grumbles went up that some scores were likely illegitimate. The lar ge numbers of military volun teers who were a ma ins tay of the volunteers were noticeably absent fro m th e scorekeeper rank s.

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

Texas was leading the championship and the Veteran’s title outright with his lone 48.

Pennsylvania’s Rodger Becker was one of a trio of 47s vying for the runner-up position. When the Sunday scores had all been posted, the results hadn’t changed at the top. Walton was still sitting at the top with 48 to take the championship and Veteran honors; Rodger Becker, Will Fennell and Joseph Zeitler were still tied at 47.

Becker ended up taking runner-up and Super Veteran honors when

20 GAUGE FITASC CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET

WILLIAM WALTON RODGER BECKER WILL FENNELL JOSEPH ZEITLER NICK WELCH WILLY COFFEY SETH HARPER DOUG HAMMEL DOUG MILLER GUNNAR FULLER MARY KRENTZ NICK WELCH WILLIAM WALTON RODGER BECKER CARL SKIP ZAPFFE

48 47 47 47 46 46 46 43 43 44 43 46 48 47 44

Will Fennell (Third) and Joseph Zeitler (M1) failed to show on Sunday night for the shoot-off.

Wisconsin’s Mary Krentz posted a 43 to best the 28-Lady field for the Ladies win. Ann Little was close behind taking Ladies runner-up with a 42, posting the only 25 straight shot all week by the ladies in this event. Nick Welch was Junior winner with his 46 and Stan Katz led a 42-strong Senior Super Veteran field for the win with his 44.

The 28 gauge FITASC proved even more popular with 411 shooters entered and there were just 37 shooters left on Sunday to finish this event too. Virginia’s Heyward Owens found himself tied at the top of the leaderboard, with Jared Rumer, both on 48s.

Sunday night when the shoot-off was called, Owens calmly and patiently waited at the stadium field and outlasted Rumer who was a no-show. Ashley Little took the Ladies title with a strong 46, Zane Childress won Juniors with his 43, Phil Gamble took Super Veteran with 44, and Stan Katz matched his 20 gauge FITASC concurrent win

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NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP

18

28 GAUGE FITASC CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET

R HEYWARD OWENS JARED RUMER ASHLEY LITTLE MARK NEFF CHRIS IKNER DREW WALLING MONTGOMERY CAIN WALTER MORRISON LEIF FRENCH CONNOR BARKER ASHLEY LITTLE ZANE CHILDRESS R HEYWARD OWENS PHIL GAMBLE STAN KATZ

M/AA 5-STAND 48 48 46 46 46 44 42 44 43 39 46 43 48 44 44

with a 28 gauge score of 44 that handily won Senior Super Veteran.

5 Stand M – AA

BY HARVEY T. SCHWARTZ

TOM'S SHOOTER NOTES

The Master/AA 5-Stand was again located on the northernmost part of the National Shooting Complex.

This year’s targets were set by Nathan Flanagan (banks 1 and 3) and Joe Scull (banks 2 and 4).

Banks 1 and 2 faced north on a skeet field, while banks 3 and 4

CH RU 3RD AA1 AA2 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SEN SUP VET LEGACY

faced south in an open area. Total entries for this event were 621 shooters.

Depending on what day you shot the event, the wind was a contributing factor. A cold front arrived early Wednesday morning, bringing winds blowing sustained 20 mph and gusting to 40 mph.

The northern faced banks had the targets blown toward the shooter with the exact opposite on the southern facing banks. All stands shot a single with full use of the gun, a report pair, and a true pair.

Banks 1 and 2 shared a tower throwing a right-to-left target on

n The rationing of ammunition seems to have worked out alright. Between what we brought, what we could buy and what we could mooch from our friends, there was little to no whining. n The shotgun storage depot is a good idea. It’s convenient, and reasonably priced. One flaw to the concept is their Sunday afternoon checkout. Guns must be removed from the premises by 3PM, yet the last flight on some events is not until 3:30.

Carrying extra guns to the field sort of defeats the security aspect of the enterprise. n I found a cased gun on one of the rocky trails near Roft Road. My friend and I gathered it in and took it to the pro shop where we learned the rightful owner happily reclaimed it.

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

bank 1 and a left-to-right target on bank 2. Both banks had a variety of different colored targets, including all black, orange, and ATA targets — also referred to as the orange dome target.

Bank 3 included a black, left-toright battue, a right-to-left black rabbit, and an incoming black target which the wind played havoc with. Bank 4 had a left-toright black rabbit, a black midi which was thrown high in the air, and target 3 was a standard black teal. We utilized a drone to measure the distance to the sign for the target, which was approximately 70 yards from the stand with the target dropping behind the sign due to the wind.

Also on bank 4 was a right-to-left orange flopper which gave the shooters trouble.

MIKE WILGUS RODGER BECKER NICOLAS BERRY DAMIAN GILES MICHAEL MIKOLAJCZYK SHELBY MOON SAM SANDER-WALDROP PAYTON MEYER WENDELL CHERRY RODGER BECKER ALLEN DUCE RONALD SHAFER

95 94 93 86 84 85 81 89 92 94 78 77

Mike Wilgus was HOA for this event posting a 95 while straighting Banks 2 and 3. Runnerup was Rodger Becker, with Nicolas Berry finishing third.

5 Stand A – E

BY HARVEY T. SCHWARTZ The A – E 5-Stand was located along the southernmost side of the property behind the NSC pavilion.

Targets were set by Henry Velazguez and Morgan Harbison.

All the banks faced north and into the wind from the cold front which arrived Wednesday morning.

There were six Matarelli traps on each of the four banks. All stands shot a single, with full use of the gun, a report pair, and a true pair.

Total shooters for this event were 521.

MIKE WILGUS WON THE M/AA 5-STAND EVENT

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TOM'S SHOOTER NOTES

20

contrary, the 2021 n Announcements to the to be setting any Nationals did not seem ere were the people? attendance records. Wh sizable gatherings on the The lunch service and ialize. Two of the patio just didn’t mater ll attended, but evening parties were we ly. ear crowds cleared out choose to pass on the n For those of us who nts, the clubhouse stadium shoot-off eve al amenities. Was it usu offered none of the contrivance? The COVID, Convenience or on while we were in World Series was going one Television was San Antonio, but not house. No football turned on in the club oter, TJ Klay, a played. Our fellow sho s used to play inside, wa country musician who ide ins thing going on really missed. The only to steal a nap. ing try was a few of us

Bank 1 had two right-to-left orange rabbits along with an orange target outgoer and a black crosser. Bank 2 had two ATA leftto-right chandelles, with a black bottom teal thrown from center field. Bank 3 utilized two left-toright crossers, one a midi and one standard. A rabbue was also thrown. Bank 4 threw a very high ATA chandelle and a standard

A-E 5-STAND HOA A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2 D1 D2 E1 E2 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SEN SUP VET LEGACY

HEATH GARRETT DRAKE COOPER SETH RATLIFF HEATH GARRETT WILLIAM FRANCIS MICHAEL LACHEY CARLOS VILLARREAL HECTOR OBREGON JR GUNNAR FULLER ZARIOUS MCINTYRE JAMES MITCHELL SAVANNA BARKS DRAKE COOPER HEATH GARRETT JACK BLONQUIST JOHN WAYNE BAILEY GARY SUMMERS ROY HOEFLING

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

95 94 94 95 93 89 89 85 82 70 67 88 94 95 89 86 82 53

black teal. There was also a rightto-left rabbit.

High for the event was B class shooter, Heath Garrett — a Junior shooter from Katy, Texas. Two 94s were posted by Drake Cooper and Seth Ratliff, both A class shooters.

Pump Gun, 20 Gauge and Side by Side

BY TOM THOMPSON

Foul weather set in mid-week at the Nationals and influenced activities in every event for most of the balance of the week. Winners had to fight their way to the top, and many were left in the dust of the cold wind. Pump gun, Side by Side and 20 gauge were all competed over new fields that covered the easternmost combination skeet/trap fields, and wrapped up onto the rocky, wooded slopes that acted as small gauge fields for several years.

The Pump Gun drew 173 entries. Over these same fields, 162 signed on for the Side by Side, and 661 entries answered the bell

THE SIDE BY SIDE EVENT DREW 162 CONTESTANTS

PUMP GUN CH RU M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET LEGACY

JON PORTER RANDY RYAN RIORDAN HARTZOGE BRENT MCGEE TRAVIS PREBLE GARRETT IRVINE JIMMY DUKE LARRY DUKE TONY SHIVLEY ANSLEY C JOHNSTON MATTHEW HADA GARRETT MEIER JON PORTER RANDY RYAN ALAN SPEIR GENE SHERROD

SIDE BY SIDE 92 91 90 91 81 81 79 70 53 73 87 79 92 91 76 83

for 20 gauge competition. Without much rhyme or reason, a slight difference in the target mix was created for each event. Each course was judged to be the equivalent of the others. With a couple well used towers and speed change-ups, everything seemed easy enough. But it was easy to make a mistake or misread some of those birds.

Jon Porter won the Pump Gun event with 92, and Randy Ryan finished runner-up back one bird.

The 20 gauge event finished with Ken Sides and Zach Kienbaum in command with 95. Sixty-four ladies shot in the 20 gauge event and Ashley Little finished High Lady with 89 and Cynthia Vogl runnerup with the same score. Side by Side champion with a score of 92 was Dan Callahan.

CH RU M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET LEGACY

DAN CALLAHAN BILL ETHRIDGE JETT THOMPSON GREG VAN BELOIS MARTIN JONES KEVIN MEIER EDDIE ABRAHAM LUCAS SIELER RADLEY HUTCHISON ANSLEY C JOHNSTON NICKOLAS GUINN JETT THOMPSON BILL ETHRIDGE RODGER BECKER W T MUIR MARTIN JONES

92 91 91 91 79 80 86 73 62 76 84 91 91 90 79 79

20 GAUGE CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET LEGACY

KEN SIDES ZACHARY KIENBAUM VAN DRAKE JOSEPH ZEITLER W H BANKSTON JASON BURTON ROGER STRICKLAND TODD WILLIAMS WILLIAM FRANCIS CONNOR BARKER ASHLEY LITTLE NICKOLAS GUINN DALTON KIRCHHOEFER HARVEY HOLDEN KEN SIDES SUTTON ORENBAUN CARL SKIP ZAPFFE

95 95 94 94 94 89 88 89 87 88 89 92 93 93 95 87 83

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NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP

22

TOM'S SHOOTER NOTES

SCOTT ROBERTSON WON THE 28G EVENT WITH HIS 98

n The staff of the National Shoo ting Complex are wonderful people, helpful in ever y regard, and thoughtful toward the visiting publ ic. A lady in the ammunition barn calculated how much ammo she could sell me, and advised me to get as much of it as I think I’ll need… “If you come back later in the week, I might not have your preferred choice. So, get it if there’s a chan ce you’ll need it.” n Book now for 2022. The NSC A has already announced the dates of next year’s National Championships, and Winscore is registering for the shoot.

Small Gauge – 28 and .410 Bore

BY TOM THOMPSON

A major change occurred this year on the small gauge fields. They were moved from the shaded hillside that had been home for small gauge for 15 years, in favor of the sunny trap/skeet fields and the covered pistol ranges. Sun and wind dominated the character of these courses. On these shared fields, the presentations are mixed in a somewhat random pattern to alter the order of fire between the gauges. The .410 bore shooters sometimes feel they got the tough true pair while the 28 gauge gunners draw a cupcake report pair. Good solid target presentations were often spoiled by the wind.

In the bathtub like setting of station one with earthen banks all around, the 28 gauge course provided a low true pair that was nearly impossible to shoot. By the time bird one was broken, the second had crash landed on or around it. Scott Robertson won the CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

event with a 98.

Many look forward to the small gauge targets as feel-good presentations, but that feeling was not there this year. You absolutely had to focus and work hard on every target to get those breaks.

The folks who sign up for these little gun events are there for the fun. The 28 gauge drew 661 entries. Alexandra Wampler outlasted the 70 ladies to earn

Ladies HOA with an 89.

28 GAUGE CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET LEGACY

SCOTT ROBERTSON HEATH GARRETT SHAWN KEMETER BRADLEY POWELL JETT THOMPSON JEFF PHILLIPS TAYLOR TOMASINI PATRICK ANDERSON GAGE FOWLKES CARLOS VILLARREAL ALEXANDRA WAMPLER NICKOLAS GUINN HEATH GARRETT ROBIN IRVINE RANDY RYAN BILL STUERMER CARL SKIP ZAPFFE

.410 BORE 98 97 95 95 94 89 93 87 92 86 89 87 97 93 92 85 91

CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET LEGACY

SHAWN KEMETER SCOTT ROBERTSON JOSEPH ZEITLER DAVID SCHMIDT ROSS DICKINSON ALY BESTEIRO SETH HARPER HEATH GARRETT GAGE FOWLKES CONNOR BARKER SIDNEY COFFIN MATTHEW SANCHEZ GAGE FOWLKES OLE VANDBORG ALY BESTEIRO GEORGE FOX CARL SKIP ZAPFFE

96 93 89 87 87 87 86 80 86 80 77 76 86 86 87 73 80

The .410 bore attracted 434 competitors and Shawn Kemeter (96) captured the gold. Kemeter and Scott Robertson (93) were the only players in the 90s. Of all the shooters in the .410 event, all but 60 of them competed in all three gauges to be eligible for small gauge HOA honors.

Shawn Kemeter was sub gauge HOA Champion with a three-gun total of 284. Scott Robertson 282 was runner-up , and Cynthia Vogl (238) finished sub gauge HOA Lady.

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PHOTO CREDIT: DANA FARRELL

K-KUP

Krieghoff Kup

BY TOM THOMPSON At 1756 shooters, the Krieghoff Kup becomes the largest 100 bird sporting clays event in the country.

The K-Kup, set on the highest piece of ground on the National Shooting Complex, occupies the wooded hillside at the east end of the skeet fields. It’s a tricky field to set, because anything set low enough to get under the trees are usually in the shadows. High birds fly above the tree canopy and can offer long shots.

I shot the course on a very windy morning. I expected to see presentations completely blown apart but was favorably impressed that nothing much was amiss. The morning lighting was dim. The high birds were pushed by the wind a bit, but nothing serious.

The whole event was something of a vision test.

Of the pack of us who prowled that hillside looking for success, a young Georgia shooter topped the entire field. With a 98, Jasper Copelan came out two birds ahead of his nearest competitor, Logan Crane. Of the 197 ladies who competed in the event, Ashley Little (95) and Haylyn Hanks (91) CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

K-KUP CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY LADY RU SUB JR SUB JR RU JR JR RU VET VET RU SUP VET SUP VET RU SR SUP VET SR SUP VET RU LEGACY LEGACY RU

JASPER COPELAN LOGAN CRANE ALEX RYAN CLARK ASHLEY LITTLE SETH HARPER DRAKE COOPER HOLT GEISTWEIDT JETT SMOTHERS DONALD O'SHEI AL MENCONI ASHLEY LITTLE HAYLYN HANKS DRAKE COOPER LANE PICKLO HUNTER BARNES PAYTON MEYER DON PADGETT TOM JOHN RODGER BECKER PHIL GAMBLE PAUL QUIN DEVEREUX MORING NORMAN D SMITH CARTER STANTON

98 96 95 95 90 91 83 87 81 64 95 91 91 87 93 92 92 92 93 90 89 84 82 77

finished at the top — the only ladies to finish in the 90s.

Beretta Challenge Super Sporting

BY TOM THOMPSON

When the NSCA first offered Super Sporting some 10 years or

so ago, it was laughable, and seemed doomed by boredom. In short, there was no “super” in their Super Sporting. They were lobbing softballs in across the scrub growth trees. The Nationals event bore no resemblance to the game invented at Detroit Gun Club, Caribou Gun Club in Minnesota or Tropical Sporting Clays in Miami.

“Super” meant big boy targets with many of our Master class guys finishing in the mid-60s.

Within five years, the Nationals offered a Super Sporting product pretty much on an equivalent basis of the Main Event targets. The event has gained real acceptance and has creeped back up to reclaim some of its “Super” status. Situated on a genuine cow pasture along Culebra Road, in front of the National Complex, was a series of fields dedicated to Super Sporting.

Shooting both north and south, the wide open spaces offered no shade and only an occasional tree. Three traps on each station and a few single birds on each station characterized the event. A couple of report pairs and a couple of true pairs with no additional show birds added to the challenge.

This year, with a sustained push from the wind, the birds were over the top. Hats off to the winners, knocking at the door of perfection. Two Junior shooters

from Texas led the field of 1276.

Austin Kiemsteadt was HOA with a 96, and Jacob Cameron won the second step on the podium with a 94. Gebben Miles finished third with 93. Desirae Edmunds was high Lady with 93.

SUPER SPORTING CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET LEGACY

AUSTIN KIEMSTEADT JACOB CAMERON GEBBEN MILES ZACHARY KIENBAUM BRYAN OTTO THOMAS RODGERS KENNEDY THOMPSON JETT SMOTHERS HECTOR OBREGON JR HARROLD SMITH DESIRAE EDMUNDS LANE PICKLO AUSTIN KIEMSTEADT VIRGIL MINSHEW THOMAS SWEENEY STEPHEN WILSON RONALD SHAFER

96 94 93 93 85 84 83 88 76 55 92 90 96 92 91 81 81

Ladies Only 50 Bird Event

BY LOUISE TERRY

From a pretty innocent start several years ago as a 50 bird “starter” event, envisioned to encourage new lady shooters to participate at Nationals in an event less intimidating that a 100 or 300 bird event, the event this year was

DESIRAE EDMUNDS WAS SUPER SPORTING LADY CHAMP

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NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP

140 LADIES PARTICIPATED IN THE LADIES ONLY EVENT

flooded with 140 lady entrants.

This short 50 bird course was tucked into the trees just east of the 20 gauge FITASC Parcour 2 and sponsored by Krieghoff and Syren, both now proudly manufacturing specialty competition models shotguns designed specifically for ladies.

Prizes and trophies were awarded to the HOA champion and 1st – 3rd in each NSCA class. This year proved that not only are the newer lady shooters eagerly looking forward to taking part in this fun event each year, now some of the top lady shooters have started to carve out time on their Saturday schedules to make space for this one.

And their presence was felt in a big way! Showing the new gals how it’s done, Grace Callahan, Kayla Wilgus and Sidney Coffin all blasted their way through to post 50 straights. Grace Callahan was ultimately declared the winner, with Wilgus taking AA1 and Coffin winning C class. The competition was serious but fun, with smiles all around. The scores were high in all CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

the classes, in fact the lowest score posted to win a class 1st prize was 44, shot in E class by Barbara Frohnert! Very respectable, ladies!

All these ladies, many who traveled here together and who were shooting with their regular teammates from home, loved it and will be back for more next year!

Thanks to Krieghoff and Syren for sponsoring this great event.

LADIES OPEN CH M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1

GRACE CALLAHAN HAYLYN HANKS KAYLA WILGUS ASHLEY SELLERS SIDNEY COFFIN SAVANNA BARKS TAYLOR SWANSON BARBARA FROHNERT

50 49 50 48 50 46 48 44

giving them a slightly nuanced flavor. A mix of target sizes and target types pervaded, with the standard 108mm clay making up the bulk of the presentations.

Rabbits, battues, 90mm and the diminutive 70mm target kept things interesting and tested the target reading skills of even the top shooters, as would be expected at a national championship level event. Several portable towers were sprinkled across the courses, proving to provide some of the toughest, standout presentations in the Main Event. Two-time

National champ and Olympian Derrick Mein once said he feels this contest is probably the toughest in the world to win, given the target difficulty and stiff competition of today’s American top shots. I think many other top shots would agree.

The traditional four-day Main Event is still the most popular format, but many take advantage of the alternative two-day rotations offered the prior Saturday/Sunday or Monday/Tuesday. This accelerated format proves popular for the time-constrained, although a high-overall winner has yet to be produced by this shortened format. Most shooters still gravitate to the traditional four-day, 75 target per day rotation. This year’s champion was no exception.

One of the two-day rotations did however produce at least one score that mattered. Colorado’s Dan Callahan carded a 277 for a top five score out of 631 total Master class Main Event entrants.

Anyone who knows Dan knows he’s always a threat across the board at Nationals, also competing in, and often winning, the small gauge, Pump Gun and Side by Side events. This time Dan also beat 161 others to take home the coveted high gun trophy for the Side by Side event with his 92/100.

When the smoke cleared after a

Main Event

BY DANA FARRELL As is customary, the 300 target Main Event was spread across four 75 bird courses: Red, Orange, Green and Yellow, with each course set by a different person,

PHOTO CREDIT: DANA FARRELL

26

NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP

DERRICK MEIN TOOK AN EARLY LEAD

windy first day of the four-day rotation, the eventual podium placements were already beginning to shake out. Derrick Mein was tied for first, along with Jonathan Henrici on 73. Eighteen year-old phenom Joseph Fanizzi was sitting three targets back on a score of 70.

The second day found the eventual winners stacked up tight at the top of the leaderboard.

Fanizzi slid into the lead by shooting a 73 Friday, with Mein, eventual third-place Todd Hitch, and two-time National champion Zach Kienbaum all hanging close.

Moving forward, Fanizzi never relinquished his lead, remaining at the top through Saturday, and leading into the Sunday finale.

The consensus was that target difficulty was ratcheted up a notch from last year. Senior Super Veteran Master class shooter Clyde Mosby felt they were the toughest targets he had ever experienced at a national championship, an opinion that was shared by many. Tough targets coupled with windy conditions made for some frustrated shooters.

Station 10 on the Yellow course was the standout station on an otherwise moderately hard course.

It was a seven bird station, featuring a two-shot single, followed by three report pairs off a high tower set to the left front of CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

BY DAY 2 OF THE FOUR-DAY ROTATION, FANIZZI, HITCH AND KIENBAUM WERE STACKED UP NEAR THE TOP

the stand. The single was a looping right-to-left standard of moderate difficulty, showing all dome, but the tower pair consisted of a fast, edgy 90mm thrown slightly quartering away, followed by a closer standard, thrown on report from the tower. Reading the midi’s line was crucial, and coupled with a lot of spring, that target

flummoxed a lot of shooters — even the top shots. I watched more than one squad of champion level shooters get their confidence rocked on this station. Post event statistics showed a Master class success rate of only 50% here.

Forty percent was the overall average.

The forementioned wind was also a huge factor. Station 6 Green featured a report pair, with the second bird being a high, fast 90mm chandelle with a landing

SENIOR SUPER VET CLYDE MOSBY (L) FELT THEY WERE THE TOUGHEST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TARGETS HE HAD SEEN

PHOTO CREDIT: DANA FARRELL

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2021 NATIONAL CHAMPION JOSEPH FANIZZI

PHOTO CREDIT: DANA FARRELL

THE TOWER ON YELLOW 10 WAS THE HARDEST PRESENTATION OF THE EVENT

spot that varied at least 30 yards on the wind-affected flights Wednesday, compared to calmer Sunday’s calmer conditions. The NSCA has announced the creation of the Super Squad rotation, to be implemented for the 2022 National Championship — a concept devised to “...increase excitement, enhance audience appeal and present new marketing opportunities for the sport’s largest event of the year.” Shooters making the cut will be assigned to the same course on the same rotation, in theory leveling the playing field for those who qualify.

Sunday morning found Fanizzi sitting on a score of 215, two birds ahead of Mein at 213. Hitch and Kienbaum were both at 212. At the end of the day, Fanizzi turned in a score of 69 on the Red course for a four-day total of 284. Two-time past National Champion Kienbaum stepped it up with a Sunday score of 71 to leapfrog into runner-up position, leaving Mein and Hitch to slug it out for third place with matching 282s. In a heated shoot off Sunday evening Hitch prevailed, knocking Mein to M1 position.

It had been an emotion charged event — and arguably one of the toughest sets of National Championship targets in quite some time, with the high score CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

landing a full 10 targets lower than the 2020 contest. Shoot Chairman Neil Chadwick, whose job it is to vet the target presentations of each course setter, said he felt the targets were a little stiffer than last year, but not over the top for a shoot of this magnitude. “Last year [in 2020] there was a conscious effort to soften the courses, because everyone had been locked up with COVID and we wanted to give them a good time,” said Chadwick. He admitted he would’ve preferred the 2021 course shot five or six targets easier than it did, but he tries not to infringe too much on his target setters’ courses — providing they’re within reason.

All in all, targets were good and fair, albeit on the hard side. If shooters left without realizing the weak spots needing attention in their game, it was on them. The 2021 National Championship targets definitely exposed shooters’ weaknesses, as championship level targets tend to do.

Winning the National title was the latest culmination of a meteoric rise for the young Fanizzi, who at only 18 years old, has in a few short years managed to make an indelible name for himself in the world of sporting clays. He adds the 2021 National Championship

2021 LADY NATIONAL CHAMPION MEAGAN HARRINGTON

title to a growing list of accomplishments, including the silver medal at the 2021 World FITASC, three Regional Championship HOA wins, and others too many to list. Young Joseph is the epitome of grace, sportsmanship, and manners and exudes a maturity far beyond his 18 years. We shooters could not pick a better ambassador for the sport.

In the Lady category, 22 yearold nursing student wunderkind Meagan Harrington took the trophy by posting a 272/300, two birds in front of runner-up Ashley Little. This capped a brilliant year for Harrington as well, which also included the Ladies World FITASC title won in Hungary last July. The sky is the limit for Meagan, who will most certainly continue to

dazzle us with her shooting talent for many seasons to come. n

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NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP

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RU TODD HITCH, HOA JOSEPH FANIZZI, AND 3RD PLACE ZACHARY KIENBAUM

VETERANS CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1

BILL MCGUIRE WENDELL CHERRY VIRGIL MINSHEW ANDY DUFFY GREG HART BRIAN HUNTLEY MIKE KELLY EDDIE ABRAHAM DONALD O'SHEI FRANCIS BELL

SUPER VETERANS 273 271 270 266 245 236 226 208 204 174

CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1

SENIOR SUPER VETERANS CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1

JOSEPH FANIZZI ZACHARY KIENBAUM TODD HITCH DERRICK MEIN LANE SORENSEN COTY JAMES MASON JACKSON AVERY BILES MYREN JOHNSON KOLBY LAGANA

284 283 282 282 255 258 241 253 224 213

LADIES CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1

SUB JUNIORS CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1

LANE PICKLO CONNOR DANIEL GRIFFIN HOWE GAVIN NAVARRO SAM SANDER-WALDROP DRAKE COOPER ABI PAZDERSKI LANE MONTFORD MYREN JOHNSON

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

MEAGAN HARRINGTON ASHLEY LITTLE KAREN SHEDD KATIE FOX CARA MAXWELL CHELSEA BAJJALI ABI PAZDERSKI SAVANNA BARKS RAYNE MENDEZ TERRY OLSON

272 270 269 260 229 236 240 227 197 185

JUNIORS 265 261 252 243 234 240 240 233 224

CH RU 3RD M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1

JOSEPH FANIZZI TODD HITCH TURNER PARCELL KAREN SHEDD CAM DICKINSON COTY JAMES MASON JACKSON JOHN DEAN DANIELS COLTON ARRIGO KOLBY LAGANA

284 282 273 269 252 258 241 247 201 213

ROBERT FIELDS BILL HOGG PAUL QUIN SAM BENNETT EDWIN GILL BOB COFFMAN ED STITELER DOUG BURTON JOHN L. DONAHUE JR. JAMES MITCHELL

241 240 237 235 221 208 213 213 178 166

RANDY RYAN WILLIAM YACKTMAN DAVID SCHMIDT GARY WALSTROM VAN DRAKE ROY MAULTSBY SAMMY MCFADDIN JAMES GREENAWALT BUSTER KIRKLAND JON D MILSAP

267 259 253 249 241 221 200 212 170 160

WHEELCHAIR CH

KYLER JAME FAULKNER

218

INTERNATIONAL CH RU 3RD

NICOLAS BERRY ARMANDO PEREZ TRISTAN STUBBS

271 263 258

NATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP

33

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

TARGETSETTERS

34

TIM MILES

MIKE LUONGO

JOSEPH SCULL

THE MIND OF A TARGET SETTER S

o often at our local sporting clays courses we chat about technique, mechanics and mental fortitude. We go to a tournament and then talk targets for another week afterwards. How did you take that true pair? What did you think of the 45-degree dropping target off the tower at 35 yards screaming into the pond?

Where did you take that battue, at the beginning of the line or later?

We all know these conversations all too well. With that being said, I wanted to take time to dive into the minds of some successful target setters and understand what makes them tick.

How are they different? How are they alike?

Take a read in this journey, as we look at the target setter’s mind.

In this second segment of the series, you will hear from Tim Miles of Coyote Springs Sporting Clays of Tucson, and Mike CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

Luongo, Krieghoff Pro-Staff member and General Manager of Rocky Creek Sporting Clays in South Carolina. In addition, I’ll talk to Joseph Scull, owner at Cedar Creek Sporting Clays in New Jersey, and Travis Mears, exhibition shooter and President and Managing Partner of Defender Outdoor Clay Sports Ranch in Fort Worth, Texas. n How do you typically go into laying out a tournament course? Do you ever use percentages of presentations or outcomes as a baseline?

Travis Mears — First, I like to go with a basic rule of thirds on any course. For example, not in this order however, on a third of the stations I like to go on the soft side.

The next third a bit more on the medium difficulty. For the final third I like to add a little steam.

What I mean is this is the kind of station the top 10% of the shooters that showed up that day have the best chance at running. I like to go through a course before it is shot and guess a number for the HOA of the day. I can typically guess the score within one to three targets.

In this industry we have to be careful. If you want to truly see what I am about, I invite you to come out the 2022 Texas State Sporting Clays Championship in April.

Mike Luongo — Great question, I really don’t do either. I am a little different. Everything is a blank canvas. I look at the lay of the land and the direction of the sun by the hour. One thing you can be assured of is I try not to have much repetition. I set the targets for the masses. I am not really worried about the top shooters. The perfect course would be the best shooter

TRAVIS MEARS

PART II BILL ELLIOTT CONTINUES HIS SERIES ON THE SPORT’S TOP TARGET SETTERS on their best day should run it on their worst day he/she shoots an 88. I hate to see zeros on my courses. I try to blend difficulty levels on every pair.

Tim Miles — There are a few factors I consider while designing a course. I want to throw the best targets, whether it is a tournament or not. The philosophy for all courses I’m setting is always safety first, entertainment, fairness, and challenge. Everyone should get a fair go at the presentation. A visual baseline would allow the shooter to see the target for about three to four seconds while playing the factor of challenge. A general baseline of a challenging target can be anywhere between 22 to 55 yards. This is based on the environment I am given. For example, here in Tucson I can change the shooting position 400 feet left or right to produce the

TARGETSETTERS

36

“feel good” entertainment appeal on a target without the pressure of limitations. The outcome would be, by incorporating these factors it will give enough percentage of entertainment while keeping the integrity of safety and fairness for each shooter.

Joseph Scull — When I lay out a tournament course a lot of it depends on the level of the shoot.

For example, at U.S. Opens, Nationals, world shoots and regionals, the targets need to be on the more difficult side. To do smaller shoots, where you don’t have the top shooters, you have to make adjustments on how hard you set the targets. Setting a balanced course is very important. I try to not repeat the same target presentation throughout the course if possible.

A lot of times you get into a course that’s tight with sun issues, and you just have to work with what you have and make it the best you can. My main point of reference is definitely based on score outcomes as a baseline. n “Is this a pattern test versus proficiency test” is something we often hear when it comes to targets. How do you find this balance while setting targets?

Travis — I have the tendency to set what I enjoy shooting. Almost every course has targets that will show more dome or belly.

Typically, the further the target the more belly or dome I like to show.

The closer the more likely I am not afraid to throw a bit more edge.

The problem with edgy targets is it becomes a vision test. I want to give shooters no matter his or her age a fair chance with the eyes.

The ability to give everyone a fair chance helps to create a memorable, enjoyable course.

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

Mike — When I am going through a course I look at where I want to challenge someone. Chuck Frazier was master of setting a target within 30 yards. If a target setter can make someone miss under 30 yards, then they are doing a great job. Anyone can make someone miss with far and fast targets. One thing I notice, nobody ever talks about if a target setter has an off day, maybe a bad day, but they will always talk about a shooter. Target setters have bad days too. We aren’t perfect.

Tim — I do have a formula that I try to stay within to give balance. I never throw edge, speed, and distance together! This is concrete.

I try to ask these questions. Do you want to shoot trap at a sporting clays tournament? Heck no. What does the environment give me?

What can I do in this vista to give variety? I don’t want to hide targets because sporting is not a pattern game. It is a combination of both pattern and proficiency in my eyes.

Understanding your pattern does create confidence. Proficiency?

Absolutely. You have to be able to repeat in this game. At the end of the day people don’t know what they don’t know, that comes with experience.

Joseph — I’m not into trying to beat shooters with distant targets that test their proficiency or choke patterns. I prefer to set targets at a fair distance, then the main variables are the shooters’ proficiency and mindset. In spite of that, I’ve seen that a lot of shooters really can’t judge distance. I can set a target at 40 yards and a majority of shooters will think it’s at 55 plus yards. I hear them talking about how far that target on station 3 was, and hear them say it was 55 yards. Believe it or not, I sometimes use a rangefinder to

check my distance on targets, so I know the true distance. n Tricks of the trade. Where do you believe is the one place you can get a shooter out of position in a shot? Think about target presentation versus target type. How can he/she look for this, and keep from not falling into this trap?

Travis — Targets that seem to feel way up in the sky get shooters jammed up. It can be very difficult to judge the line with a lack of landmarks. Typically, when up high or off a tower I see people missing the line more than the lead. Day in and day out I take students out to a tower shot for coaching, whether it is quartering or crossing I consistently see people are missing on incorrect line, more so than lead. The ability to judge in this type of scenery is tough.

Tim — Most shooters have a wheelhouse of techniques, if you understand what that is. This is typically a go to move on a target.

This in itself is what gets people caught up. Certain shooters are more comfortable on certain shots based off of the way they shoot and get stuck in their tool box by using one wrench, or one technique.

This is complex. What I suggest is to keep learning. Quit being stuck on outcomes and focus on the process. There really is no trick, it is about understanding the right move for the target being presented.

Mike — My signature move is what I call an in-between target — not crossing, not quartering aka the Mike Luongo slider. Many people miss in front on this target.

The further this target travels in the air the less lead it needs. I have

seen this target get some of the best shooters. Some people are known for bloopers or off-spring.

Mine is fading off. Basically, a shooter typically cannot get the gun on it early enough. For some reason it makes shooters uncomfortable.

Joseph — Getting the shooter out of position is one way I can accomplish this. Set a target on an angle that shooters are not comfortable shooting it in.

Knowing they will have to make an awkward move to the second target. For example, going from a high driven target and then down to a low fast quartering target. A lot of gun movement between targets can cause poor gun management.

The top shooters will make it look easy because they have very good gun form and management. The targets that throw shooters off a lot are the 90 mm and now the 70 mm.

It is hard to judge their distance and their speed because of their size. Shooters will tend to struggle with them. These are the only target setting tactics that I’m going to give away, shooters will have to figure the rest out on their own. n Topography can play a major role in target perception versus reality. From flat corn fields with tree lines in the distance to hills and valleys. Where and how do you use this to your advantage as a setter?

Travis —Through my experience as a shooter and as instructor, I find I like to throw targets where the breakpoint may be near a landmark, tree edge, a berm, etc.

This can really wreak havoc on a shooters mind and finish. Here at Defender, we built new berms. I like throwing against these berms or what some may perceive as flat tops. Most shooters will miss the

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TARGETSETTERS

38

“I love the opportunity to set targets in a very diverse topography.”

TIM MILES

COYOTE SPRINGS SPORTING CLAYS

transition at the breakpoint shooting against this type of background. One other tactic I like to use is I don’t typically set a lot of edgy targets, however if I set one it will be under 30 yards with a drop off at the perfect breakpoint.

People seem to really lose the line here.

Mike — I see it all the time at clubs where I set targets and try to use it as often as possible. It’s pretty amazing to think you can take a normal crossing target on flat ground and put it on a rolling hill. You would not believe how much it can play with the mind of a shooter. The shooter may not realize how much the target is dropping. I use as much topography as I can. When I used to set targets in Florida, I had to be creative. It really helped me with where I am today. I use all I can use. If there is good terrain at a club where I am setting targets, I typically will not use as much distance, I can get away with more angle and speed. Hills help make the target roll nice.

Tim — I love the opportunity to set targets in a very diverse topography. From one elevation change to another elevation change is my favorite. However, those places are far and few between. Therefore, we must get strong with entertaining in a pool table environment. Most ranges are built on undesirable property.

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

This is why you must perfect your craft setting on a flat plain. I do my best to hide machines. I use the environment we are given to the highest level of its potential, given the visibility of the presentation.

Part of our obligation as a target setter is giving people the opportunity to shoot different presentations. If I have the opportunity to throw below the feet, I like to give dome with a little roll on the target to challenge the shooter.

Joseph — Yes this is one of the biggest parts of my target setting. I love having terrain to work with and I must be very careful using it. As an example, throwing targets below shooters feet can throw them off because most shooters don’t have that much opportunity to practice targets like that and they struggle with them. I like using the lay of the land, and throwing targets down the side of a hill at the same exact slope of the hill. Over water is always interesting because when shooters watch their pattern hit the water and the target not break, it gives them a false feeling of where they missed the target. Just like rabbit targets, shooters will think the target rolled through their pattern when they miss but really they shot in front of it. Big fields with open backgrounds make it hard to judge distances, so shooters will tend to over-lead them. n What do you believe is the most underestimated target presentation and why?

Travis — I believe the most underestimated target is an offspeed, edgy 20-yard crosser. I see people miss in front of this target all day long. Edge on targets give us less to look at. This target tends

to hold a fairly straight line. When a target has speed, we are comfortable being in front.

Typically, the miss on this target will be in front. We also tend to put a level of intensity and focus on targets over 35 yards or more, and a lack of intensity under 35 yards which tends to hurt us, as we do not connect enough.

Mike — A quartering bird, 100%. If you go to most courses this is the most underestimated target. I kept a shooting log over the years.

Every year it has come back to this target for me. These typically make up 70% of a course, whether these are inbound or outbound. Most grounds do not have ample space to set back-to-back crossing targets. If you can hit all these you are already at 70% no matter what.

Quartering targets may be both shallow or deep. To win you have to hit them all. Quartering battues, standards, 90s, etc. Think about it also from a target loading perspective at major tournament, this makes course flow easy. The game does not have to be stopped for someone typically to run out and load the machines. I encourage constant practice on the quartering move. How many 60-yard crossers in a tournament do we really see? If you hit all the quartering birds, you will win.

Tim — A quartering, incoming target that appears to have speed

“How many 60-yard crossers in a tournament do we really see?”

MIKE LOUNGO

ROCKY CREEK SPORTING CLAYS

but really does not at the breakpoint, I believe will often be underestimated. This target is literally almost stopping. A new shooter does not realize the lead at this point and that is why he/she has success. I’ve seen Master class shooters miss in front, C class shooters crush it, corporate event shooters break about 50% of these.

Why? This target gives a real visual connection. Just by getting the gun a hair in front of the target newbies say they can feel it. Typically, this target is easily missed in front because it’s perceived “easy” in a seasoned shooters mind and they lose focus.

Joseph — I believe a deep quartering rising target at about 30 yards, followed by a low long incoming target. The fact is with a deep rising target shooters have a tendency not to keep their eye on the top of the target and follow it up, then move the gun horizontal instead of vertical at the end of the shot. Next would be long low incoming targets this tends to make the shooter check their bird barrel relationship for too long. I believe these targets are frequently missed and underestimated. n

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AFSFINALE

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AMERICAN FIELD SPORTING GAMEBORE CLASSIC & INVITATIONAL FINALE

BY MATTHEW GAY

O

ur readers have been able to follow this new discipline and brainchild of Mark Baltazar, American Field Sporting. 2021 was the inaugural year for AFS and the invitational format. Three qualifying events were held throughout the year, which offered shooters from all classes an opportunity to be invited to this finale. After both a participation and performanceCLAYSHOOTINGUSA

based calculation, five shooters from each NSCA class (Master through D) were invited to Cypress Creek Lodge in Arkansas to compete for a Gamebore sponsor package and the designation of Gamebore Invitational Champion. (Note: No E class competitors qualified this year).

Cypress Creek, a new private club owned and operated by Kayle

CYPRESS CREEK HOSTS DAVID RADULOVICH AND KAYLE BROWNING

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AFSFINALE

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Browning and David Radulovich, aims to be a world class training facility for the clay target sports.

They offer multiple fields where shooters can experience a vast array of presentations, combined with the freedom wireless systems provide, to move around the field and practice targets at various angles. Kayle and David have utilized the unique terrain on the shooting grounds in order to replicate the potential presentations a shooter could encounter at competitions in regions all over the world. They offer instruction and training opportunities via reservation at: cypresscreekshooting.com

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The Prelim The Preliminary AFS event was held on Friday and featured four fields of challenging targets with which shooters could prepare for the finale. A pair of 25s propelled the representative from A class, T.J. Hawk, to the top spot in the Prelim, finishing with an 88. Three targets back, representing Master class and taking the runner-up slot, was Kenny Broyles. Posting an 84 and representing B class was R.T. Blanchard, who claimed the thirdplace spot to round out the leaderboard.

AFS PRELIM CH RU 3RD

T.J. HAWK KENNY BROYLES R.T. BLANCHARD

A* M* B*

88 85 84

* AFS GB Class

The Gamebore Invitational The invitees were squadded together each day to create head to head competition for the top spot in their respective classes. The CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

targets challenged the shooters to step outside of their comfort zone and push the capability of a shotgun to its limits. After two days of grueling competition, the top shooter from each class faced off on a 50 target super-final. Scoring in the super-final handicapped each shooter’s score, based on the AFS formula.

After scores were compiled, the top shooters from each class went head to head on two championship level American Field Sporting layouts, one during the daylight and one under the lights, to

determine the overall winner. After the smoke cleared, Christopher Garrison prevailed, posting a 20 on field 1 and a 16 on field 2. He was entitled to a six and a half target handicap, but it would not be needed in order to crown him the champion. His raw score won the event outright by outpacing his closest competitor’s raw score by two targets. His total winning score when handicapped was 42.5.

Christopher’s victory secured him a spot on the Gamebore team for 2022 and 50 flats of Gamebore ammunition.

AFS GAMEBORE SUPER FINAL

CH CHRISTOPHER GARRISON RU BRYAN OTTO 3RD ADAM RULE 4TH ANDREW GAUTHIER 5TH HOSS HEWITT 6TH T.J. HAWK

AFS HANDICAP GB CLASS D 6.5 C 5.143 B 4.125 M 0 AA 2.25 A .25

FIELD 1 20 11 14 15 18 15

FIELD 2 16 23 19 19 13 18

TOTAL SCORE 42.5 39.143 37.125 34 33.25 33.25

In the runner-up spot was Bryan Otto, representing C class, who posted a raw score of 34 and a total score of 39.143. Rounding out the top three and hailing from B class was Adam Rule with a raw score of 33 and total of 37.125.

Going Forward By all measures the first year of American Field Sporting was a great success. For the first time in many years a new discipline was introduced to the shooting public and garnered the attention of shooters from all classes. Several events popped up all over the world demonstrating a desire from shooters to try something new.

One of the most often mentioned compliments of this format is how smoothly it flows, and everyone seems to enjoy both the challenges and rewards of the “X-Bird.”

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Based on the overwhelming success of 2021, American Field Sporting has already announced the qualifiers for next year. This next season comes with a few changes. First, there are six qualifiers happening all over the country offering more shooters the opportunity to earn an invite to the 2022 big show, which will be held at Big Red Oak in Georgia. The invitational will also host 10 competitors from each NSCA class this year, doubling the opportunity for shooters to qualify.

For more information on the 2022 AFS Gamebore Classic you can find the most updated information on Facebook at: American Field Sporting Gamebore Classic n

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

WORKSOFART

46

MIKE’S CUSTOM WEAPONRY LLC T

hirty-two year old Mike Crumling, of Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, is one of those guys who can simply do it all.

After graduating from York College with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, he hired on at a local gun shop performing general gunsmithing tasks. Without formal gunsmithing training, he says he doesn’t know why they hired “some random art kid from college,” but it launched a successful career path and an avenue to express his creative talent.

Mike was performing a lot of stippling of polymer guns, when customers started asking him to incorporate various designs, so he CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

researched ways of expanding the concept. He happened upon some scrollwork and sketched it out.

That curiosity turned into buying engraving tools and cutting steel — a natural progression for a person of his artistic aptitude.

Mike shifted over to a custom rifle building business the gun shop had on the side, gaining more valuable experience. A couple years later the rifle business closed down, providing the incentive to strike out on his own. Now, five years later, he’s restoring, customizing and engraving firearms as a fulltime gig, under the business name of Mike’s Custom Weaponry LLC. Some factory engraving jobs for

Kolar, Silver Seitz and other gun manufacturers have found their way to his bench, but Mike’s real passion is seeking out older guns in need of repair, restoring them to working order, then customizing them — with incredibly beautiful engraving. When finished, he typically puts them up for auction on one of the online gun auction websites. So far there has been no lack of interested customers for his work.

“I sort of look for guns with mismatched serial numbers or blemishes,” he said. “I don’t want to destroy historical firearms. I don’t take something that’s pristine and make it better, I take something that’s well used and

INCREDIBLE ARTISTRY SAYS DANA FARRELL

repair anything that’s wrong with it, engrave it, refinish it, fix any issues it has and then turn it into something that then has another hundred-year life left in it.” His work is stunning, as evidenced by the photos of his finished projects.

A Lean Toward the Traditional Mike’s engraving tastes gravitate towards traditional American style, and he is a huge fan of the late, great engraver, Louis Daniel Nimschke. He also likes English guns and the rose and scroll patterns often found on many of them. He has engraved

WORKSOFART

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all types of firearms, but he really enjoys “the more unique guns” as a way to showcase his talent.

He has seen it all. People have brought him everything from mint condition Colt Pythons, down to inexpensive guns like a Hoban #45 — a cheap, single shot bolt action .22 rimfire, to work his magic on.

One of his all-time favorite projects was an Ithaca Model 37 – a simple, utilitarian, pump action hunting gun. The gentleman who brought it to him requested it be completely polished, then working from photographs the man provided, Mike engraved massive trains on both sides of the receiver, all in bulino style, with an added touch of 24 karat gold. Because the 37 lacks a side ejection port, its receiver provided an ideal, uninterrupted engraving surface on which to work. Photos of the finished product speak for themselves.

Mike applauds and respects engravers who work with hammer and chisel, but because CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

he feels pneumatics cuts a cleaner line, he uses power pneumatic engraving tools.

Employing carbide tools exclusively means he can cut up to around 60 Rockwell and can engrave modern guns with modern, harder finishes that

simply cannot be done with hammer and chisel. He puts the hammer and chisel guys on a pedestal and holds them in high regard for the extra time required for their painstaking method, but he likes to stick with pneumatic.

For all other aspects of his work, Mike likes to stick to

traditional methods, and in his words “making sure things are 100% real.” This attention to detail includes metal and wood finishes and color case hardening, which he does by surrounding the part with charcoal in a steel crucible, heating it up to 1400 degrees for a set amount of time, removing and dunking in water. He avoids the more modern finishes and techniques that help speed things up but aren’t necessarily the traditional way. He never sacrifices quality for the sake of time or cost, including the purity of his gold, which is always 24 karat. The two finishes he hires out are rust bluing and hot bluing. All others, like French grey and polishing, he does completely in-house.

Mike also works with wood, and has made gunstocks from start to finish, including the checkering.

He particularly likes finding a fancy piece of wood and turning it into custom handgun grips, using a blackening candle to make sure the fit is just perfect. An off the shelf grip will fit well enough, he

WORKSOFART

50

claims, but he shoots for the perfect fit and finish for the individual firearm.

“When I make a part, it is specifically fitted for that particular gun.” n

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NIGHTSHOOT

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PHOTO CREDIT:THADDIUS BEDFORD

PILGRIM’S FUN & GUN Night Shoot

BY MAGGIE KELCH WITH PHOTO SUPPORT BY DAVE KELCH

T

here’s something a little bit more fun when you shoot sporting clays at night. You travel in the dark from station to station, to see fire shooting out of the muzzle of shotgun, and then watch bright orange targets explode under the lights. Combine that with two challenging daytime shooting events, plus great food and you have the makings of a fun-filled weekend for both shooters and spectators.

That’s why the Pilgrim’s Fun & Gun Shoot at Night, held at the Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio, has become one of the largest shoots in the state. This CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

past year, despite cold temperatures and blustery winds, more than 300 shooters competed in the three day event, held the weekend of November 12 – 14.

Many shooters return to the Cardinal Center each year to shoot what has become a fall tradition.

This year, shooters came from as far away as Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada.

This was the fifth year that Cardinal Center has hosted the night shoot and shooters said they are already looking forward to 2022.

The Pilgrim’s Shoot is the second largest NSCA registered shoot in the state, second only to

the Ohio State Sporting Clays Championship. It is such a popular event that it sells out well in advance.

This year, the shoot included two 100-target Main Events, as well as a 100-target Prelim and a 100-target Super Sporting event that were held during the daytime.

The Red Main Event and Blue Main Event are both shot after dark. Many of the shooters participate both nights of the event choosing to shoot the Blue Main Event one night and the Red Main Event the other.

Giant light towers, like those you see on interstate highway construction sites at night, are

used to illuminate each station.

Jake Spengler, Shooting Sports Operations Manager at Cardinal Center, said that they set up 75 light towers this year to illuminate the stations and pathways on the two courses.

Everyone registered for the event enjoyed dinner on Friday and Saturday night. Friday night featured a wood–fired pizza truck and Saturday’s dinner was catered by a well-known local barbecue restaurant. To accommodate all the shooters, tables were set up under a large, heated tent so everyone could enjoy a delicious meal prior to shooting the Main Events.

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NIGHTSHOOT

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(L TO R): DEAD PAIR PODCAST HOSTS SEAN ALLEY AND JASON RAMBO PRESENTED A BROWNING MAXUS II TO RAFFLE WINNER DON PADGETT OF TN

In addition, two Browning Maxus II shotguns were awarded as raffle prizes — one Friday night and one Saturday night. All the shooters who participated in either of the Main Events were eligible for the raffle. The shotguns were won by Jason Nininger from Ohio and Don Padgett of Tennessee.

Dead Pair Podcast Prelim The 100-target Dead Pair Podcast Prelim was held Saturday on the Blue course, which primarily features flat terrain, with open farm fields. The event sponsors, Sean Alley and Jason Rambo, Dead Pair Podcast hosts, set the targets.

The blustery wind and cold temperatures led the 125 shooters to appreciate the comfortable wooden shooting stations that provide cover from the elements on the course. While the terrain may be flat, Alley and Rambo made sure that it was a fun and challenging course. Alley set the odd numbered stations and Rambo set the even numbered stations on the 16-station course.

Alley said they put a lot of thought into their first attempt at target setting. “There are three to CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

four stations that will challenge the AA and Master class shooters, and there are three to four stations that should be fine for beginners.

Everything else is in between.

Fingers crossed that it’s enjoyable for everybody!” Alley said prior to the shoot.

Jason Binando of Michigan took HOA honors in the Prelim event with a 92. He was followed closely by runner-up Bill Elliott of Ohio, who shot a 91. High Lady was Jean Johnson from Ohio with a 74. Sub-Junior champ was Logan King, of Pennsylvania, with an 88.

Taking Junior honors was Christian Seybert, from Ohio, with

DEAD PAIR PODCAST PRELIMINARY CH RU M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET

JASON BINANDO WILLIAM ELLIOTT JOSEPH ZEITLER ZACHARY THARP JEFF KNOBLAUCH TRAVIS BAILEY IAN FLYNN JEAN JOHNSON MARGARET KELCH JEAN JOHNSON LOGAN KING CHRISTIAN SEYBERT JOSEPH KAROLESKI JEFF KNOBLAUCH L. THOMAS TIPPETT

92 91 89 88 78 82 83 74 44 74 88 80 86 78 70

THE PILGRIM’S FUN & GUN IS A FAMILY EVENT FOR JAKE (L) AND LUKE (R) SPENGLER WHO WERE SETTING UP COURSE LIGHTS WITH JAKE’S CHILDREN LIAM AND ELLA

an 80. High Veteran was Joseph Karoleski, of Ohio, with an 86 and Super Veteran winner was Jeff Knoblach, of Ohio, with a 78. West Virginia shooter L. Thomas Tippett took Super Senior Veteran honors with a 70.

Sunday Super Sporting This year, for the first time, the Pilgrims Fun & Gun shoot

included a 100-bird Sunday Super Sporting event, which competitors jokingly referred to as the “Blizzard Super Sporting” because of the unexpected snow squalls that descended on Central Ohio that day.

Sixty-three shooters competed in the Super Sporting event, which was held on portions of both the Red and Blue courses. Jake Spengler said they added the Super Sporting event because they found that many shooters were

THE DEAD PAIR PODCAST PRELIM WAS SHOT ON THE BLUE COURSE ON SATURDAY WHERE LIGHT TOWERS WERE SET UP FOR THE BLUE MAIN EVENT

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NIGHTSHOOT

56

NOVEMBER IN OHIO CAN BE COLD. HALEY SATTERWHITE, OF TEXAS, KEPT HER PORTABLE HEATER CLOSE BY

Terry Gilbert with a 72 and Jim Nelson with a 62.

Main Events Under The Lights

SUPER SPORTING CH RU M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET

JASON NININGER CHRISTIAN CRAWFORD WILLIAM ELLIOTT CHRISTIAN JACKOWSKI ROMAN TREPCZYK MOHAMED ITTAYEM SAM WHITE JOHN RUTH MARY JO BIRKA LOGAN KING CHRISTIAN SEYBERT JOHN CUMMINS TERRY GILBERT JIM NELSON

86 86 85 78 74 74 76 75 72 74 79 80 72 62

coming for the weekend, and they wanted to provide them with another opportunity to shoot while they were staying in the area.

It was a great weekend for shooters named Jason. Jason Nininger, of Ohio, took HOA CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

honors in the Super Sporting. He was wrapping up a very profitable weekend as he also was one of the winners of the Browning run raffles and was HOA in both the Blue Main Event and the Red Main Event under the lights.

Nininger and Christian Crawford, of Georgia, both turned in scores of 86 in the Super Sporting. HOA was decided by predetermined station for all events.

High Lady in the Super Sporting was Mary Jo Birka, of Michigan with a 72. Sub-Junior champ was Logan King, of Pennsylvania, with a 74 and Junior champ was Ohioan Christian Seybert, who had a 79. John Cummins, of Pennsylvania, took Veteran honors with an 80. Two Ohio shooters were Senior Veteran and Super Senior Veteran champs:

Two 100-target Main Events are held on both nights of the Pilgrim’s Shoot at Night. Shooters can choose to compete in just one event, or they can shoot both the Red Main Event and the Blue Main Event. Targets for the Main Event courses were set by Jake and Luke Spengler, managers of the Cardinal Shooting Center. Blue was set on the same open, field course as the Prelim event. The Red Main Event course features both a woodlot and a farm field with an open background. More than 205 shooters took aim in the Red Main Event and 176 shot the Blue Main Event over the two nights.

Both courses were set with an equal level of difficulty. However, the blustery winds made the Blue Main Event course (and portions of the Red Main Event course that were in the open fields) even more challenging.

Shooters gathered around burn barrels to keep warm when they were not shooting and were out on the course and ready to go when the lights were lit at dusk. Shooting started at 6:00 p.m., after the sun

RED MAIN EVENT UNDER THE LIGHTS CH RU M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET

JASON NININGER ETHAN SMITH JASON BINANDO ANDREW SMITH MILFORD LOVETT MAX HATFIELD ANDREW REINSMITH DAVID MAISCH JANET PATTON ROSANNE PRUCKA MAX HATFIELD ANDREW SMITH PAOLO PERITI RONALD HOUDESHELL JIM NELSON

92 91 89 87 83 81 83 77 63 78 81 87 89 85 75

BLUE MAIN EVENT UNDER THE LIGHTS CH RU M1 AA1 A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 LADY SUB JR JR VET SUP VET SR SUP VET

JASON NININGER PAOLO PERITI CHRISTIAN CRAWFORD DYLAN MICH OWENS GRAIG DAVIS RYAN VANALLEN JERRY BEACH RON WALDOCK ZACH KAISER ALICIA LOWERY LOGAN KING ANDREW SMITH PAOLO PERITI CARL POLISENA MICHAEL GALBREATH

91 90 87 83 81 80 81 74 78 77 77 80 90 80 74

had set. The light towers did an outstanding job of lighting up the area surrounding each shooting

THE LIGHTS WERE TURNED ON AT DUSK ON THE MAIN EVENT COURSES

RESPECT LEADERSHIP RESPONSIBILITY TEAMWORK The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation thru our Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and our Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP) instill the key attributes necessary to develop the leaders of tomorrow, all while having fun and making lifelong friendships.

To find out more about our programs or to make a donation to lend your support, visit www.mysctp.com

N EW

NIGHTSHOOT

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station, and the targets were brightly illuminated.

Among the shooters who return to Cardinal Center each year to compete in the Pilgrim’s Fun & Gun Shoot was well-known champion David Radulovich. Originally from Ohio, he now resides in Arkansas where he runs Cypress Creek Shooting Lodge with Olympic shooter Kayle Browning but comes back each year for the night shoot. He, like other shooters, said he comes back to the Pilgrim’s Shoot each year because it’s one of his favorite shoots. It’s a wellrun shoot that features great targets and an opportunity to enjoy time under the stars with friends.

Jason Nininger, who took HOA in the Super Sporting, won the Blue Main Event with a score of 91. Runner-up was Paolo Periti of Ontario, Canada who was one target behind him with a 90. Periti also took home the Veteran honors for the event.

Lady champion was Alicia Lowery, of New York, with a 77. Sub Junior winner was Logan King, of Pennsylvania, who shot a 77 and Junior champ was Andrew Smith, of Ohio, with an 80.

Senior Veteran champ was Carl Polisena, of Ohio, with an 80 and Senior Super Veteran champ was Ohioan Michael Galbreath with a 74.

In the Red Main Event, Nininger took HOA with a 92. Runner-up Ethan Smith, of Ohio, was close behind with a 91. High Lady in the Red Main Event was Rosanne Prucka, of Michigan, who shot a 78. Sub-Junior and Junior honors went to two young Ohio shooters: Max Hatfield, who had an 81 and Andrew Smith who had an 87. Hatfield was also B class champion for the event and Smith was AA class champion.

Paolo Periti, of Ontario, who had finished as runner-up in the Blue Main Event, was Veteran champ in the Red Main Event with a score of 89.

Two Ohio shooters were Super Veteran and Senior Super Veteran Champs: Ronald Houdeshell with an 85 and Jim Nelson with a 75.

Despite the howling winds of November and unexpected snow squalls, shooters left tired and happy. Many are already booking their camping spots or cabins for the 2022 Pilgrim’s Fun & Gun Shoot. n

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62

USA SHOOTING SHOOTING::

A

small but dedicated (and growing) number of shooters have become interested in the Olympic shooting disciplines, driven by the challenge of the game and the hope of one day making a National or Olympic team. The USA Shooting Olympic team had their best performance in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic since 1964. Our increased quota spots and phenomenal athletes won three gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze. Among the shooting sports medals was the “one-two” gold medal punch from Vincent Hancock in Men’s skeet and Amber English in Women’s skeet. In trap, Kayle Browning won the individual silver medal, and Maddy Bernau partnered with Brian Burrows earned bronze in the Trap Mixed team event.

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

MAKING THE TEAM The question is, how does one make a National or Olympic team?

It’s not as complicated as it sounds but we are going to break down how the selection process works and what one must do in order to chase their Olympic dream.

World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Olympic Committee. The Junior division is open to athletes under 20 years of age. Shooters of all ages are eligible to make the National team if their performance places them in the top six overall.

Eligibility

The Junior National Team

Generally speaking, all shooters are eligible to participate in the selection matches provided they have registered with USA Shooting and are U.S. citizens. Shooters must sign and abide by the USA Shooting Code of Conduct.

Athletes must also adhere to all anti-doping protocols, policies and procedures promulgated by the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency,

The National Junior Olympic Program provides access to young sport shooting athletes and has become a pipeline for aspiring Olympians. They host multiple events and sanctioned state qualifiers throughout the county.

Performance at the various USA Shooting events can translate to an invite to the National Junior Olympic Championship. For

BY

MATTHEW GAY & BRANDY ELROD WITH SUPPORT FROM STACEY STEPHENS

shooters who put in the work, this path can catapult them to an appointment to the Junior National team.

The National Development Team This team is composed of promising athletes who have yet to meet the Performance Standard Average or the Individual Performance Scores but either place in the top three at the National Championships or are nominated and approved by a

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The U.S. National team consists of the top six scoring athletes based on their performance at the selection matches. The National team represents the U.S. at events around the world including World Cup events, the Continental Championship of the Americas, World Championships and the Olympic games. These team members have earned their spot

based on a scoring calculation at qualifying selection events.

For 2022 the selection process consists of two events. The first was held at the Tucson Trap and Skeet Club in January. The calculation is made by adding the qualification score to the final points awarded based on placement (three points for first place, two points for second place and one point for third place). For example, if a shooter posts a qualification score of 247 and finishes the event in first place, the aggregate score for that shooter would be 250. The top six aggregate scores will achieve National team status.

The second National team selection event of 2022 will be held

TUCSON SHOTGUN SELECTION TRAP WOMEN

TUCSON SHOTGUN SELECTION TRAP MEN

committee of coaches, athlete representatives and the Executive Director. Members of the Development team are eligible to travel and represent the United States in international competition.

The National Team

OPEN WOMEN KAYLE BROWNING AR AERIEL SKINNER CA RACHEL TOZIER MO IDA BROWN CA RYANN PHILLIPS TX SYDNEY KRIEGER AZ JUNIOR WOMEN GOLD RYANN PHILLIPS TX SILVER SYDNEY KRIEGER AZ BRONZE CHANTRY STERMER NM PARA WOMEN GOLD BRANDY ELROD TX SILVER SOPHIA BULTEMA CO

GOLD SILVER BRONZE 4TH 5TH 6TH

222+2=224 214+1=215 210+3=213

211 207 202 207 202 201 134 125

OPEN MEN JAKE WALLACE WILL HINTON DERRICK MEIN DEREK HALDEMAN BRIAN BURROWS EMILIO CARVALHO JUNIOR MEN GOLD EMILIO CARVALHO SILVER MATTHEW KUTZ BRONZE SAM BLEVINS PARA MEN GOLD JOSE MARTINEZ-PICO SILVER DOUG VANN BRONZE SAMUEL RUDLOFF

GOLD SILVER BRONZE 4TH 5TH 6TH

CA 230+1=231 GA 227+2=229 KS 226 OH 222 CA 217+3=220 CA 219 CA TX KY

219 216 214

NC CA MO

175 172 151

* full results available at usashooting.org

TUCSON SHOTGUN SELECTION SKEET WOMEN OPEN WOMEN SAM SIMONTON GA AUSTEN SMITH TX CAITLIN CONNOR LA DANIA VIZZI FL AMBER ENGLISH CO MIKENA G FULTON AZ JUNIOR WOMEN GOLD MIKENA G FULTON AZ SILVER ALISHIA F LAYNE TN BRONZE MADELINE CORBIN WI

GOLD SILVER BRONZE 4TH 5TH 6TH

243+2=245

242 240+1=*241 238+3=*241 240 234 234 223 222

*PLACE DETERMINED BY TIE BREAKER

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

TUCSON SHOTGUN SELECTION SKEET MEN OPEN MEN VINCENT HANCOCK PHILLIP JUNGMAN ADAM MCBEE HAYDEN STEWART AIDIN BURNS DUSTAN TAYLOR JUNIOR MEN GOLD AIDIN BURNS SILVER BEN KELLER BRONZE ELI ELLIS

GOLD SILVER BRONZE 4TH 5TH 6TH

TX TX TX TN TX NC

247+3=250

TX CO TX

242 237 235

244+1=245 242+2=244

*242 *242 *242

*PLACE DETERMINED BY TIE BREAKER

Para-Trap in the USA Have you been to a range and seen someone in a wheelchair, missing a limb, or have an adaptive device on their gun so they can shoot? They are classified as a para-athlete. Since 2017 Para-trap has been a part of the World Shooting Para Sports.

Para-trap started many years before this, however this was the year of the first World Cup in Lonato, Italy and the first World Championships occurred in 2018.

The USA was represented by Becky Noble in 2018 at the World Championships in Lonato, Italy and four athletes in 2021 where the first team medal was won in Para-trap for the USA by team members: Sophia Bultima, Brandy Elrod, and Sam Rudloff.

Para-trap follows the same rules for the actual shooting of international trap. The targets, the flow of the competition, and the bunkers are the same. The differentiation lies in the athlete classification, equipment, qualifying scores for a competition, as well as a few rules during competition. Para-athletes go through a series of classification qualifications for their impairments and their equipment before they can compete for score and awards.

Athletes must first provide a medical diagnostic form outlining their impairment and signed by a doctor. In some instances the World Shooting Para Sport may require more diagnostic testing to rule an athlete with an impairment. There is a minimum impairment criteria in order to compete as a para-athlete. The minimum impairment criteria uses a point system to determine if the athlete has a limb deficiency, loss of muscle power,

loss of range of motion, or leg length difference.

In order for an athlete to be classified as a para-athlete they must be classified by an official international qualifier during an event in order to compete on a World level. Athletes are classified into three sport classes for shotgun: SG-S (seated), SG-U (upper), SG-L (lower). SG-S are wheelchair athletes that compete seated in a wheelchair or on stool. The athlete must compete with their back on the backrest and they can be strapped to the backrest. Their buttocks must remain in contact with the chair throughout the movement of shooting. Their feet must be placed on a rest and cannot be placed on the ground. SG-U are athletes that must be in the standing position that have good balance and trunk function but have an upper body impairment in the non-shooting arm. The impairment can be a missing limb, a brachial plexus injury, or any other varying factor that limits the movement of the nonshooting arm. SG-L are athletes with good balance and trunk function competing from a standing position, that have an impairment in the lower limb, but cannot have any limitations in the upper limbs. SG-L and SG-U athletes cannot have any device to help them maintain a standing position. The classification follows the athlete for an indefinite length of time unless a review is needed. An athlete can classify in more than one class but cannot compete in multiple classes at a single event.

Adaptive devices may also be used in a safe manner by SG-U athletes. For example, currently

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on the USA Para-trap team there are three athletes with upper body impairments that all have either adaptive devices on their forearms, barrels, or a custom molded forearm in order to move and control the shotgun. During the classification evaluation process the classification committee must determine if the device is necessary in order for the athlete to fire the shotgun as well as move the shotgun in a safe manner.

Once the device is determined safe and necessary the item is listed on the athlete’s classification paperwork and follows the duration of classification for the athlete. SG-U athletes can also use loading stands to help load their gun safely. The most common device is a u-shaped metal stand that an athlete places their shotgun barrel in to close the shotgun.

Again this must be stated on the athletes classification paperwork in order for the athlete to utilize a loading stand.

Other areas that carry differences for Para-athletes include length of time between stations, minimum qualifying score, and awards. During a normal match athletes have 12 seconds at each station on the line if there are five or more athletes. In the Para world the

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

athletes have 15 seconds at each station if there are five or more athletes on the line. This allows for more time for athletes in a wheelchair, athletes that may need extra time opening or closing their gun, as well as athletes with lower impairments to move from station to station. In reference to awards there are no separate awards based on gender, both genders compete for the same awards in each sport class.

There are also awards for team events which are your top three scoring athletes for each sport class. At the 2021 World ParaTrap Championships the mixed team category was introduced on an exhibition level. The rules are not fully set, however during the exhibition a male and female from different sport classes were paired together. Each sport class has a different minimum qualifying score to attend World Cups and the World Championships.

The USA Para-trap team is in the beginning stages and is looking to add members. If you are interested in joining the team and/or you are wondering if you can be categorized into one of the sport classes contact Don Stith, the USA Shooting Paralympic Manager. don.stith@usashooting.org

from July 18th through August 7th at Hillsdale College’s John A. Halter Shooting Center in Michigan (Home of the USA Shooting National Team). In this event the aggregate score from the Tucson selection match is carried over and added to the qualification score from Hillsdale, then combined with placement points from the finals at Hillsdale. For example, if the above-mentioned shooter posted an aggregate score from Tucson of 250, then at Hillsdale shoots a qualification score of 246 and ends in second place the total aggregate score for that athlete would be 498.

How to Get Started For a shooter who wants to compete in the international disciplines and is a US citizen, the first step is to join USA Shooting.

The membership application can be found at usashooting.org or at the QR code below: The USA Shooting website has

a vast array of resources available for prospective shooters to learn about the rules, events, coaching resources and other topics of concern.

Any National Team member would confirm that making the team is no easy task. The amount of dedication and commitment to excellence and training is unparalleled and quite intense.

USA Shooting employs the complete athlete approach to training and development. From sport psychology to nutrition, every aspect of performance is carefully applied to produce the best possible representation for the United States on the international stage. One of the best memes available on the internet questions why someone would not be into football, asserting that it is the “most American sport ever.”

The caption underneath a group of men dressed in western garb responds, “Our national sport, gentlemen, is shooting, always will be”. A sentiment I vehemently share. n Editor’s note: Matthew Gay is a shooting instructor from Michigan, the Head Coach of the Olivet College Clay Target Team, Vice-President of the Michigan Scholastic Clay Target Program Board of Directors, a bunker trap junkie and Master class sporting clays competitor.

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L&B ELITE SHOTGUNS

BY PAUL COOK

L

&B Elite Shotguns, headquartered in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, has grown to its present form as the result of the merging of two previously independent and thriving businesses. Speaking with managing partner, Dan Lewis and Marketing Director, Jen Hellmann, Dan explained that his business, L&B Premier Firearms of Petaluma, California, joined Elite Shotguns, represented by Murry Gerber, Donny Watt Jr. and Don Watt Sr., about five years ago. Jen noted that they predominantly advertise and market under the name Elite Shotguns for simplicity’s sake. Jen tells the story of the origin of Elite Shotguns arising out of a bad sporting arm CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

purchase experience that Murry endured and a determination to build a business around the idea of putting people into the right gun the first time.

Joining mutually beneficial, highly professional business practices, and sharing insights brought to the party by Dan’s business at L&B — one centered on bringing sport shooting firearm options to the shooters’ doorstep, has been critical in the rapid growth of their new partnership.

Underlying it all, Dan and Jen both say, is an intense desire to propagate the shooting sports, all the while caring intently for the needs of sport shooters of every level.

Unexpected Change Uniting separate entities is a challenge. The merger between L&B Premier Firearms and Elite Shotguns was no different. The ability to successfully unite speaks highly of all parties and the perseverance needed to do so through difficult times even more so. In August 2021, L&B Elite Shotguns original partner, Don Watt Sr. died. Dan described him as “a godfather in the Pittsburg [sport] shooting community” as well as “iconic” and “a key part of our team.” Often going by the moniker “Big Don,” he was an infusion of energy in the sport shooting community and will be

missed by all who knew him.

Dan said that “almost immediately” after merging, Elite Shotguns began to grow. They have acquired business locations in Tucson, AZ, Vero Beach, FL, Clay City, KY and San Antonio, TX, widening the available manufacturers’ brand-offerings substantially along the way. A genuine commitment to providing for the sport shooter, no matter their experience level, means offering sporting arms across a wide variety of manufacturers and price ranges.

The more recently acquired Vero Beach Clay Shooting Sports location has also brought Elite Shotguns to a deeper presence in the sport shooting community.

Introducing the new 360CLICK quick change choke system:

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than shaving valuable seconds off a Let’s face it. We’re all human, necessary choke change so you can and we’re much more likely to do spend those seconds planning your something we should do, when it’s shot. What could actually be better easy. It’s just human nature. All other than making an easy, quick change— One and Done things being equal, we’ll make the c’mon, you know you should make that 1-Turn Choke Connection System P Briley from easy choice. change—to score better, no matter Well, what if the easy choice was more what your game. than just easier? What if the results were better?

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This location is not only a retail sales point, but also a shooting club environment. Work is under way to bring the location to the level of presence commensurate with an Elite Shotguns facility. Dan said that they also invested substantially in onsite event presence — particularly along vendor row at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas.

Elite Experience Talking about what customers can expect from Elite Shotguns, both Dan and Jen turned quickly to their staff. “We’ve assembled a group of knowledgeable sales people who care across the spectrum [of shooter experience].”

Dan said Elite Shotguns likes to “cater to the very highest and entry level shooters” via their staff.

Their approach to both potential client is the same. “We take a lot of pride in our staff, and we believe they’re second to none in the country.” Jen emphasized that “we have world class shooters on our staff … and they are available to help.” Elite Shotguns invests heavily in demo guns so that prospective purchasers can actually shoot what they are considering for purchase. “We believe so firmly in this process that we not only have [high end] demos, but all across our sales line” said Dan. Taking a longer view, Dan said “We want to get people into the right gun the first time.” He said when a customer asks, “Will this gun make me a better shooter?” our response is, “They don’t call them magic wands.” But ideally in time, and with good practice a well fit gun will offer the potential to elevate performance. Dan said getting customers in the best gun CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

for them is important because “trying to fix a mistake down the road is hard.” Jen said, “We take really good care of youth shooters,” because they don’t want these new young shooters “quitting because they’re using guns that don’t fit.”

“Top of the line customer service” is what Jen said the whole Elite Shotguns mindset is built around. “We want people to say good things about us” in the sport shooting community and Dan said, “People really appreciate that we take the time to be sure that this is the right gun for them.” Elite Shotguns may, by appointment even send a mobile showroom to your club or shooting event in an effort to make investigating options in sport shooting firearms that much easier for your group.

Elite Shotguns maintains a full line of available accessories from an equally wide variety of manufacturers. You can browse Elite's large selection of shotguns for men, ladies, and youth at Elite-Shotguns.com Retail sales stores are distributed regionally through much of the country for a first-hand sales experience. If your commitment to your sport merits a road trip, Elite Shotguns is ready to make that investment pay off with their customer service. n Get to know more about Elite Shotguns at elite-shotguns.com

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MARK BALTAZAR

BUILDING UPON ITS SUCCESS SAYS DANA FARRELL

ENTERS ITS THIRD YEAR B

orn from a love of sporting clays and a desire to provide a friendlier user experience, American Field Sporting has been on a steady upward trajectory since its launch in 2020. AFS founder Mark Baltazar has seen his innovation thrown at venues around the country, including Northbrook Sports Club, Meadows Gun Club, Covey Rise Lodge, Game Unlimited, Eagle’s Nest, Greater Houston Sports Club and Cyprus Creek Shooting Lodge. The International Field Sporting Association, overseer of American Field Sporting and all affiliated Field Sporting across the world, has promoted the discipline on a wider scale, and sanctioned events in five countries to date.

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

Now in its third year, American Field Sporting, Baltazar admits, has been a work in progress — an experiment of sorts, to seek out what shooters most want the optimal clay target game to exemplify. With the mantra “Less rules, more fun,” emphasis has been on loosening the rules that some find intimidating in FITASC, while at the same time injecting a few new, innovative elements into the mix, thereby creating a game that feels familiar, yet is fresh in its approach.

Shooter response has been overwhelmingly positive. So much so, that the NSCA has extended the AFS licensing agreement and plans to add a 50 bird AFS event to the 2022 NSCA national championship lineup, getting the

game in front of a potential audience of some 2000 people.

“The NSCA has realized the need to create a fresh game — new formats to shoot, and American Field Sporting serves that” says AFS founder Mark Baltazar. He says exposing it to the masses at Nationals will go a long way towards furthering its recognition.

AFS will also for the first time be a featured event at the World English this April at the National Shooting Complex, presenting the game to a world audience. Other AFS events are scheduled throughout the 2022 shooting calendar, including the U.S. Open, multiple Regional shoots, several state shoots, and a season ending Gamebore Classic at Big Red Oak.

Now an AllAmerican Discipline As of the 2022 shooting year, the NSCA has made American Field Sporting an All-American opportunity. Shooters can now collect All-American points for AFS like they can in sub-gauge, FITASC and sporting clays. The AFS AllAmerican points program is generously sponsored by On Target Apparel, a company owned

by Colorado shooter Jean-Michel Bertrand — an ardent supporter of the sport. On Target Apparel is known in shooting circles for its custom shooter apparel, featured by multiple state shooting organizations and gun clubs. On Target Apparel’s All-American race

AMERICANFIELDSPORTING

sponsorship further elevates American Field Sporting’s level of acceptance and legitimacy in the sporting arena.

2022 Rule Tweaks With a goal of shaping American Field Sporting into the best possible version of itself, Baltazar is cognizant that he must be open to constructive criticism — in fact, he’s actively solicited public opinion as a way of improving the format. As a result, he has employed a few rules changes, effective for the 2022 season.

According to Baltazar, “It’s not like we created new rules, we just modified existing rules that were already out there, and actually took a few rules away.”

Rule changes effective for the 2022 season: n Red field targets were previously viewed from peg 5, then shooting started on peg 1. Now, targets will be viewed from peg 1 and then shot from peg 1. n On the White field, targets were viewed from all three pegs. Targets will now only be viewed from the center-most peg, which will be renamed station 1 (previously station 2). n Instead of viewing only one target, shooters will now be able to view two on all fields. This reduces reliance on the field judges’ description of the target and instead puts the onus on the shooter.

n Two shells may now be loaded for one shot singles, but if for any reason the trigger is pulled twice, regardless of whether the bird is broken with the first shell, it is scored as a lost bird.

Rule change #4 stems from some controversy resulting from loading the shell in the wrong barrel for the one-shot single. With mechanical triggers, the gun could be discharged by pulling the trigger twice, which is contrary to the spirit of the rule. Previously, if two shells were loaded and the gun was closed, the bird was automatically scored as lost.

2022 promises yet more growth for the game. AFS Nationals will be held at Georgia’s Big Red Oak, Sept 23rd – Sept 25th. A new variation called AFS Turbo will be

73

featured there, as well as subgauge AFS. Less rules, more fun. What’s not to like about that? n Go to americanfieldsporting.com to read about American Field Sporting.

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

FLORIDAGEM

A LOOK AT AMELIA SHOTGUN SPORTS

CLUB CALL

BY MATTHEW GAY

74

A

melia Shotgun Sports is located in Yulee, Florida, a mere 10 miles from one of the top ten destinations in the United States, Amelia Island. This area is renowned for its vast collection of parks, beaches, biking trails, fishing and many other recreational opportunities.

The nearby community of Fernandina Beach, on Amelia Island, boasts centuries of history, spanning from the early Native American inhabitants to marauding Caribbean pirates, through the Spanish ascendancy, to the Civil War era.

Downtown Fernandina Beach sports historic buildings and museums, shopping and dining options for all palates. A walking tour of the historical homes located in this area is stunning. From ghost tours to pub crawls there are vast opportunities to recreate, dine, adventure and shoot.

Amelia Shotgun Sports is owned and CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

operated by Dawn Grant. Dawn is wellknown in the shooting sports industry, having been involved in the area of mental training for shooters, from beginners to Olympic team members, for the past 13 years. Her efforts to create a top-notch facility have not gone unnoticed.

The Facilities The clubhouse is best described as “rustic chic” with a touch of elegance and sophistication. The stone-faced fireplace is adorned with classic sporting artifacts and flanked by leather furnishings in a roomy sitting area. Sitting area is available outdoors on the covered patio attached to the clubhouse, allowing visitors to escape the sun while enjoying the landscape. The club offers logoed merchandise available

for sale, as well as gun rentals, cart rentals and package deals for travelling shooters.

The property has a large pole barn located adjacent to the clubhouse, which opens on three sides to offer a venue for everything from larger mental training clinics to shoot banquets. Both the clubhouse and the pole barn are available for special event rentals through their website.

Onsite lodging is available. Amelia Shotgun Sports has eight newly created offgrid RV parking sites. Perhaps the most unique lodging opportunity I have ever seen at a shooting club is the “tiny house” onsite offered for rental through Airbnb — constructed and decorated to resemble a Victorian railcar. If a traditional hotel or an upscale bed and breakfast is more one’s speed, the Amelia Shotgun Sports webpage offers links to area accommodations, resources, and points of interest.

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BHOUSE NICELY APPOINTED CLU

Amelia Shotgun Sports is nestled on 35 acres of beautifully landscaped active timber farm, located just north of Yulee. On this property the American shotgun SKEET, TRAP, AND SPORTI

disciplines are well represented, with two skeet/trap combo fields, a 5-Stand and 19 stations on their paved and groomed three-quarter mile sporting clays course.

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Fourteen of the 19 stations are outfitted with three machines each. This flexibility offers the

opportunity for shooters to shoot multiple menus, based on their desired level of difficulty.

The club offers a locale for corporate events, charity shoots, special events, plus offers monthly NSCA registered shoots. Amelia Shotgun Sports is uniquely positioned to offer warm-up and training opportunities for shooters participating in the various large winter shoots held annually in Florida, starting with the Caribbean Classic. With that in mind, management has partnered with one of the nation’s most wellknown target setters, Joseph Scull (aka the Jersey Devil). Mr. Scull has been setting championship quality targets for more than two decades across the country, including many world and national events. Adding the element of Joe’s target setting acumen to the offerings at Amelia brings a new dimension of presentations to please the most demanding competitor.

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Prelude to The Florida Circuit

LOVELY NORTH FLORIDA BACKDROP

Amelia Shotgun Sports was recently host of the 10th annual Amelia Classic. As a prelude to the annual Florida circuit, this event fell on February 6th, the day before the Caribbean Classic officially kicked off. Two hundred and fifty registered targets, set by Joe Scull, were available for shooters to fine tune their craft under tournamentlike conditions. For those shooters heading down to kick off the season on the Florida circuit, a preparatory outing on the “Jersey Devil’s” tournament targets were certainly helpful to hone one’s game.

Amelia Shotgun Sports has a very well executed website. From videos on mental training and services offered, to links to local lodging and dining, their webpage offers a complete guide for visiting not only the club but also the wider geographic area. Check out the pictures and videos under the “visit” tab to view the tiny house Victorian railcar rental — the cool factor is off the charts. Under the “about” tab, take the virtual tour and view pictures of the grounds to see the Amelia Shotgun Sports’ available amenities. You can find their website at: ameliashotgunsports.com n

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

For more information on Dawn’s Mental Training Programs you can find her offerings at: dawngrant.com Editor’s note: Matthew Gay is a shooting instructor from Michigan, the Head Coach of the Olivet College Clay Target Team, Vice-President of the Michigan Scholastic Clay Target Program Board of Directors, a bunker trap junkie and Master class Sporting Clays competitor.

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OFTEN IN ERROR, NEVER IN DOUBT

BY BRUCE BUCK BRUCE BUCK REVIEWS MIKE McALPINE’S NEW BOOK

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

INSIDE THE MIND OF A TARGET SETTER B

efore it’s your turn to shoot, you carefully watch the flight of the targets and decide on your pick-up and break points. You are confident that you know what the target is doing and that you can whack it. Then you shoot. Lost! Lost! Aarrgghh! You

did everything that you wanted to, but didn’t hit. It looked good, but the fact is that you have been outsmarted by the target setter.

The target just wasn’t doing what it seemed to be doing. What is going on in the mind of the evil geniuses who set targets? How do they fool us so often?

Enter Mike McAlpine and his new book Inside the Mind of a Target Setter. Mike has been setting targets since 1986, when sporting clays really started to catch on in the U.S. During his career he has set many of the NSCA’s targets and was the NSCA’s chief target setter. He has set over 1400 courses to date. He can also shoot and teach. He was once the NSCA’s Chief Instructor.

In his own words, “I created a twoday school and taught many people to set targets. I’ve taught, set targets, and built new clubs in 43 of the 50 states, and many places in Canada and Old Mexico.” He has set many World, National, Zone And State championships. In short, no one is more qualified to give us a book on what the target setter is trying to accomplish and how he is going about it. This 161 page book has 19 chapters and covers just about everything. I’ll go through it and point out the parts I found of great interest.

Mike mentions that sporting clays is a game invented in England and first came to the U.S. in 1980, where it was called “hunters clays.” The first U.S. National Championship was held

by Orvis in Houston in 1985.

Target presentations simulated hunted birds. Today that has certainly changed. He wants the book to provide a true understanding of how to design a course that is challenging and fun for shooters of all skill levels. A course should be interesting and not unfairly difficult. After discussing course design, he goes on to tell us how to shoot the specified targets.

All layouts require trap machines, and he devotes a chapter to the various types. Early on, he built an “Attitude Adjuster,” multi-angle trap base which would allow one to angle a trap to throw those devilish curling targets.

Besides the automatic, standard, rabbit and teal machines, he also shows a number of variations of trap towers, including those which are electrically winch-operated and those that rely on counterweights to manually raise and lower the machine for loading.

In separate small chapters McAlpine mentions how observant a setter must be of sun position

TECHNOID’SCOLUMN

and possible winds and the way they may shift during the day. He also comments on the desirability of target variety and the fact the different tournament types require different difficulty settings. Your club course should be much friendlier than your contest courses. When McAlpine sets a course, he keeps a detailed sketch book of the various layouts. He shoots each station himself and makes a note of the difficulty level.

The chapter on reading targets and their lines is most interesting.

Many shooters hold a hand up to follow the target’s flight in relation to the land. As an aside, McAlpine suggests taking an empty shell box and removing both ends. Hold it horizontally and look through it so that you can see the break point of the target. This should give a good reference as to what the target line really is.

Chandelles are constantly curving targets and he suggests that breaking by intercepting is far better than trying to swing through an arcing target. For full crossing targets it is just a matter of getting the lead right. To do that, before it’s your turn to shoot, find where you first see the target as a blur and watch to the end so that you can best judge the speed where you want to break it. A long distance is a long lead. You must know the line of the target and if you can’t determine it, shoot intercept. As to quartering targets, the most common miss is high and in front. A target setter can make a teal tricky if he leans it back rather than straight up. Most rabbits are missed with too much lead. This is particularly true with quartering away rabbits. Battues are like chandelles, but don’t show their face until they slow down. They speed up as they fall. Minis and midis look faster due to their small size, but they aren’t.

81

DIAGRAM I

The longest chapter in the book covers dozens of specific presentations wherein McAlpine discusses how he sets the station, why he does so and how the targets should be shot. Each

presentation is accompanied by a black and white illustration of the layout and target flight. Here is where you really get into the mind of the target setter.

Diagram I is of an incoming

pair with an opposite curl away from each other. It is shot as a true pair. McAlpine says that a right handed shooter should set up to shoot the right bird first, as it is easier for him to swing to the left.

DIAGRAM II

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

TECHNOID’SCOLUMN

82

Diagram II shows a rabbit chandelle and battue as a nasty right to left true pair meant to fool the shooter. The rabbit chandelle is easily seen and shot first. The problem is that the battue is set to not curl open until it is well down range. The shooter’s instinct is to shoot the chandelle and then look back to see the battue. He won’t see it because the on-edge battue doesn’t open up until it is past the chandelle. The shooter should look forward from where he breaks the chandelle to see the open battue, not look back. This is where watching the targets of those ahead of you is most advantageous.

Diagram III shows a 50 yard rabbit crosser on a down slope was a difficult shot for many because they waited until the rabbit slowed down towards the end of its run. As with many rabbits, shooters tended to miss in front, especially when it slowed down. Shooting it earlier, when the rabbit was fast made this less likely. Also, a fast moving rabbit has more spin and the shot load can more easily break it. A slow rabbit has less spin and requires a hard hit to break.

Since pellets are losing inertia at 50 yards, this is a concern.

Diagram IV shows the setting up of one of his 5-Stands. Here McAlpine has eight traps set up with three left-to-right, three rightto-lefts, one incomer and one outgoer. Targets would include fast and slow shots, a high looper or two, an overhead, a rabbit and a chandelle. He also recommends that report pairs be included, not just all true pairs, because a regular sporting clays course has that mixture.

McAlpine feels that FITASC “is possibly the best discipline of all the clay target games.”

FITASC stands for “Fédération Internationale de Tir aux Armes CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

DIAGRAM III

Sportives de Chasse,” which is French for “International

DIAGRAM IV

Federation of Shooting with Hunting Sports Weapons.” He

gives an example of a five machine FITASC stand using a high, left-to-

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right chandelle, low, fast, curling incomer, slanting away teal, 60 yard fast, high crossing target and a fast, low outgoer. Because the shooter moves between stations, the angles of the targets change.

He says that using the empty box trick to check the flight paths will help you read the line from any peg.

His thoughts on small gauge courses run against what most local course setters feel. Many setters rig the sub-gauge courses shorter and easier. McAlpine thinks that the 20 gauge will break anything that the 12 will, so a standard course is fine. He feels no need to set a 28 gauge course too soft because the 28 gauge shell is extremely efficient. The .410 does require less distance, but I was surprised when he said that a 45 yard target would be a great challenge for the .410, but can be broken. Overall, he likes a subgauge course to have a few hard or long targets, but to keep the remainder of the course at medium difficulty.

In all this was a very informative book, both for the course designer and for the shooter. It really gives you a look at what the target setter is thinking and helps to explain why they throw what they do.

The price of Inside the Mind of a Target Setter is $59.95 for the hard cover and $39.95 for the soft cover version. You can order it directly on the web at claytarget.biz That’s it for now. If you have a comment or a question, you can reach me at TheTechnoid@gmail.com Until then, boots off, beer open. n

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CLAY SHOOTING PODCASTS ENTERTAIN AND EDUCATE

BY MAGGIE KELCH

E

ducators will tell you that people learn new information and acquire news skills in many different ways.

Some people are visual learners who learn best when using visual aids like maps, diagrams and body language. Some are reading/ writing learners who learn best when reading and/or taking notes.

Others are auditory learners who benefit most from hearing a lecture or listening to instruction.

Other people are kinesthetic CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

learners who do best when they can try things out and put them into practice.

In reality, most people employ several of these different methods in order to learn new skills.

Sporting clays shooters have many opportunities to utilize each of these learning styles to improve their ability to break targets and better their scores. In the past couple of years, the internet has provided shooters who are auditory learners with the ability to

learn and improve through clay target shooting podcasts.

For those who are not technology savvy, a podcast is an audio file, similar to a radio show, broadcast on the internet. It can be downloaded to a computer or mobile device at any time and enables the listener to start, stop, rewind, and fast forward the broadcast, as well. So, listeners can “tune in” on the internet at any time and listen to a podcast (or a specific portion of it) as many

times as they like. There are a number of ways to tune into podcasts. You can listen on your computer through a website.

Simply search for the name of the podcast or go to the website for that particular podcast. You can also listen to podcasts on your phone. iPhone or iPad users can download the Apple podcasts app.

Android phone users can download the Google podcasts app.

Many people who travel a lot or

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have a long commute enjoy listening to podcasts in the car. In your car, you can listen by using Apple Carplay or Android Auto.

Here’s a look at three wellknown sporting clays shooting podcasts that are educational and entertaining. They feature wellknown shooters and shotgun industry experts and discuss a variety of topics of interest to sporting clays shooters at every level of the sport — from beginner to Master class.

Beyond the Podium beyondthepodiumpodcast.com The hosts of the Beyond the Podium podcast are two internationally-known shooters: Kayle Browning and David Radulovich. Browning began her career as a sporting clays shooter but switched to shooting bunker trap when she was a teenager in order to pursue her dream of competing in the Olympics. She has won numerous national and international shooting titles. Most recently, she won the silver medal in trapshooting in the 2020 Olympics, which were held in Japan during 2021.

Radulovich is a past member of the U.S.A. Sporting Clays team and has numerous national and international titles in sporting clays and FITASC. Browning and Radulovich recently opened Cypress Creek Shooting Lodge in Greenbrier, Arkansas. It is a world class training facility for bunker trap, sporting clays and FITASC. They began the Beyond the Podium podcast in April 2020, and posted episodes on their website throughout the year. However, they took a break from the recording studio in 2021 because CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

they needed to devote time to building and opening Cypress Creek, and Browning needed to prepare for and compete in the Olympic Games. They plan to get production underway again in the next few months.

So, what prompted them to start a podcast? When asked, Radulovich said: “Number one, honestly, the biggest reason why we did it is just because it’s fun.”

In addition to having fun, Browning and Radulovich saw the podcast as a way to share their knowledge of shooting and all that goes into being a world class competitor. The name of the podcast, Beyond the Podium, actually reflects their philosophy of the podcast itself, according to Radulovich.

“This is why we named it what we did. We wanted to not just make a podcast about really specific things like about mechanics and technique. We didn’t want it to be just about what happens in shooting, but we wanted to go beyond that. So, this is where the name comes in, we want to go beyond shooting, and talk about things that are related to shooting as well as to find other things that we can learn from to pull into shooting. And so that’s why we have the guests like physiotherapists, famous chefs, other athletes. We did it to showcase the fact that talented people have the same characteristics, and we can learn from them,” he explained.

Their podcasts feature a wide range of guests, as well as Browning and Radulovich talking about their personal journeys as competitors. One podcast, featuring Radulovich talking about how he was actively working to get himself out of a shooting slump, was one of the most popular broadcasts.

They also feature live segments, where they ask shooters to send in videos of themselves to analyze and discuss.

“One of my favorite things about our podcast was our Tuesday night ‘lives.’ We would go live every Tuesday for two hours. We just had people send us videos, and we’d analyze them and answer their questions. And that, to me is really fun. Because what ends up happening is you build an audience of people that interact with you, and it’s fun. You get to know people,” he said.

Radulovich said that about 15 hours of work goes into producing each two-hour podcast. The work is valuable though, because of the benefits it can provide to shooters.

As a podcast listener himself, he recommends them to other shooters.

“So, I think if you listen to these shooting podcasts, whether you’re a hobbyist, or you’re someone that wants to take it professionally, I think what’s so cool about them is that it broadens the field of who you can talk to. You often have pros on there, who give you tips about shooting. My favorite part is, for someone that’s new into the game, or halfway into the game or even a local pro, they can’t pick up the phone and call someone like myself or like Zach Kienbaum or Derrick Mein, but they can listen to them on a podcast,” he said.

Shotgun Sports USA shotgunsportsusa.com The host of the Shotgun Sports USA podcast is Justin Barker. He is a Master class sporting clays shooter from Warner Robins, Georgia. Barker has produced Shotgun Sports USA since 2020 but actually has been involved in the production of sporting clays podcasts for several years.

Barker began shooting sporting clays in 2016 with wellknown shooter Kevin DeMichiel.

In 2017, Barker discovered podcasts and enjoyed listening to many different podcasts on a variety of topics. However, when he could not find a podcast about sporting clays, he and DeMichiel, along with friend and fellow pro shooter Alex Clark, started the Beyond the Break podcast.

Their podcast featured some of the best shooters in the world and some of the best shooting and coaching advice. The podcast was widely regarded as a “how-to” for sporting clays.

In 2020, after a few seasons of Behind the Break, the trio decided to stop producing the podcast, as they were finding it difficult to devote the time needed for the podcasts. They all lived in different parts of Georgia and with families of their own, they found it more and more difficult to sit down and record episodes.

Later in 2020, Barker decided to do a podcast on his own. He named it Shotgun Sports USA and shifted the focus to include other shotgun sports disciplines, as well as 3-gun. In making the change, Barker said he “Wants to focus more on what happens before the trigger gets pulled.”

While the show does still feature discussions with top

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shooters, Barker also talks to companies that make the sport happen. “You have to remember, without these companies, vendors, and people, what we do would not be able to happen,” he added.

Shotgun Sports USA has been posting episodes every week since October 2020. The podcast now surpasses the listenership numbers that Beyond the Break had reached.

The Dead Pair thedeadpair.com

The hosts of The Dead Pair Podcast are Sean Alley and Jason Rambo.

They produce their podcasts in a small studio above Alley’s sign shop, Pro Sign Studio, in Westerville, Ohio. Alley and Rambo, who owns Clay Range Design Works, meet in the studio weekly to tape their podcasts, which are then edited by Julie Rambo, Jason’s wife.

They actually began their podcast when the Behind the Break podcast ended production. Both Alley and Rambo grew up hunting and target shooting. In 2017, they became registered sporting clays shooters and were hooked on the sport.

Rambo enjoyed learning more about the sport by listening to Beyond the Break. When it ceased production, he approached Alley CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

about creating a new podcast to provide information on the sport and to help other shooters. The duo debated the idea for some time and finally aired the first episode of The Dead Pair Podcast in 2020.

Now, it regularly attracts listeners in 5,400 cities, all 50 states and 86 different countries, according to Rambo.

Rambo and Alley feature guests who talk about sporting clays or FITASC from a different perspective each week. Guests range from nationally and internationally known shooters, to representatives of ammunition, accessory, and gun companies.

The focus of the discussion is on ways to help shooters improve, including how to select proper guns and equipment, how to break different types of targets and even understanding tournament etiquette.

“I really like to think that we’re helping some people like us. When we got started, we didn’t know anything about registered tournaments and how they ran — and you know, the rules and etiquette and all that stuff. And that’s something that you kind of learn as you go along. You know, if we would have had something like this when we got started, it would have made it a little bit easier. So that’s why I like to think that, hopefully, what we’re doing is helping somebody,” Rambo explained.

While they primarily tape their podcast at their studio, they also travel to shoots across the country.

At those shoots they will interview well-known shooters and gun and ammunition company representatives.

They travel around the sporting clays courses in a customized John Deere Gator with their logo emblazoned it, which leads to them being recognized by

ALLEY AND RAMBO IN THEIR WESTERVILLE, OH STUDIO

listeners. Alley said it has been exciting to travel to shoots in other parts of the country and be approached by shooters who have listened to their podcast. Meeting listeners makes them aware of how important it is to be accurate and provide good information. They take that responsibility seriously when selecting program sponsors.

“It’s a responsibility. We don’t want to be telling people something simply to sell a product.

That’s not what we’re about. It’s about being number one, we do want to be loyal to our sponsors, but we wouldn’t have them as sponsors if we didn’t feel what they were offering was a good product. I mean, that’s just bottom line. But, you know, it’s humbling,” Alley added.

One of the most popular segments on the show is “Ask the Coach.” They gather questions from listeners (usually submitted on their Facebook page) and then ask well-known sporting clays coaches to respond. Rambo said they never have a shortage of questions. “It’s been perceived really well. We get a lot of questions. We’ll advertise the name of the next coach who is coming on and we just get flooded with questions,” he said.

In November, Rambo and Alley uploaded episode number 54 of their podcast and launched a teaser video on YouTube to announce that they will begin broadcasting video features in 2022.

So, if you’re looking for some entertainment on a long road trip or want to learn how to get out of a shooting slump, take a listen to one of these podcasts. You might be surprised at what you learn. n

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LOAD, WATCH, SHOOT

D

uring a recent conversation, my good friend Murrell Smith told me about a movie he viewed with his wife, who is a clinical psychologist. The movie Eat, Pray, Love was based upon Elizabeth Gilbert’s biographic memoir of the same title. The seemingly disconnected words in the title related to the three different countries Gilbert visited during a trip around the world in her quest for self-discovery. Most people weren’t aware of the book or its author until 2010 when the story was released as a romantic drama starring Julia Roberts. The movie subsequently launched Gilbert’s career as a best-selling author and self-help guru.

Murrell is a mindful shooter and lifelong learner, especially CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

about things that relate to shooting. While his wife was captivated by the romantic drama, Murrell was intrigued that the main character was focused intently on her experience at each location without any pre-conditions or expectations of a desired outcome. Murrell told me the three separate waypoints in the heroine’s journey reminded him of the independent processes involved with shooting a muzzleloading flintlock rifle.

According to Murrell, loading the flintlock rifle is a meticulous and painstaking process that ultimately determines whether the gun will deliver a predictable shot.

In fact, there are still numerous colloquial expressions in use today that relate to muzzleloaders: bite the bullet, keep your powder dry,

flash in the pan, shooting your wad, and fizzled-out. Performing the loading process correctly requires total concentration on the task at hand.

Watching the target takes on a whole new meaning when the loading process requires so much time. Frontiersmen developed considerable patience standing quietly in the woods while watching for whitetail deer and bear, which were staples of their diet. No prudent hunter hurried the watching process because impatience would only waste a shot at a target that wasn’t within the range of his load.

The shooting process was also very deliberate, so the hunter often utilized a rock or tree limb to steady the rifle, which greatly improved the accuracy of the shot.

BY JOHN D. SHIMA Making adjustments for “Kentucky windage” was also part of the analytical process used by expert marksman to allow for wind and other factors that would influence the flight of the lead shot.

Although I wasn’t motivated to purchase a muzzleloader, I found Murrell’s “load, watch, shoot” discussion to be thought provoking. Fortunately, shooting clay targets with a contemporary shotgun is far less complicated than shooting a muzzleloading flintlock rifle. Nonetheless, I concluded the “Load, Watch, Shoot” process described by Murrell is relevant to a mindful approach to shooting clay targets with a shotgun.

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MENTALGAME

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Carefully Mindful Shooters As clay target shooters progress from shooting carefully to shooting mindfully their mental game becomes more important. Careful shooters tend to move the barrel of the shotgun into their central visual field very early in the shot sequence as they track the target.

This blended focus allows for more time to analyze the lead picture before the target reaches the break zone. In fact, careful shooters prefer to rely more on a precise lead picture than firing the gun at a precise break point.

Mindful shooters look above and beyond the barrel of the shotgun so they can watch the target continuously with their central vision. This absolute focus seems to make the clay target appear larger and slower while the barrel of the shotgun magically finds the correct lead in the break zone.

Due to the greater distances between the flight path of the targets and the position of the station, successful sporting clays competitors tend to be carefully mindful shooters. They have mastered mental and visual discipline. These elite shooters are able to quiet their mind so they can concentrate on the task at hand, and control their vision to maintain CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

their visual depth of focus primarily on the clay target while keeping the barrel of the shotgun in their secondary visual field.

A Method for the Magic More than a year after the Eat, Pray, Love conversation with Murrell I was browsing on Amazon to download audible books for my drives between San Antonio and Chicago, when I noticed a book by Elizabeth Gilbert entitled, Big Magic. I was attracted to this book because the title of my second book was A Method for the Magic. While listening to Gilbert’s semi-serious Big Magic narrative I discovered that we are kindred spirits.

Gilbert’s message in Big Magic emphasized the need for writers and artists to live creatively to discover their hidden artistic talent. Similarly, I encouraged readers of my book to shoot intuitively so they could realize their hidden shooting potential.

The common theme of these two books is that the right brain is responsible for functioning creatively and intuitively.

Therefore, individuals must learn how to quiet their left brain so they can realize their hidden shooting potential.

The ability to shoot intuitively depends on the development of the shooter’s watching and shooting reflexes. The watching reflex is controlled deliberately by the shooter’s conscious mind, and the shooting reflex is managed automatically by the shooter’s adaptive unconscious (subconscious mind). When a clay target shooter concentrates on watching the target continuously, and maintains the proper visual depth of focus in the break zone, the shotgun seems to fire automatically, and the target appears to break magically.

Seize the Moment Gilbert’s message in her journey of self-discovery was to take trips to distant locations with the intention to just enjoy the experiences that arise each day. In this way the outcomes are merely the consequence of the experience.

While teaching in the creative writing department at the University of Tennessee, Gilbert discovered books written by her predecessor, who encouraged readers to “risk delight.” He wrote that it takes courage to seize the moment and to trust your hidden creativity.

My first book, The Moment of Truth, was divided into three sections: the vision to see, the faith

to believe, and the courage to do.

This book was intended to help serious clay target shooters discover their Shooting Self. I believe it takes courage to pursue the journey of self-discovery that is necessary to shoot intuitively, and eventually realize your true shooting potential.

Become a Trickster During her discussion about creative living, Gilbert quoted radio personality Caroline Casey, who said, “Better a trickster than a martyr be.” She described martyr energy as “dark, solemn, macho, hierarchical, fundamentalist, austere, unforgiving, and profoundly rigid.” A martyr views life as a constant struggle.

Conversely, Gilbert described trickster energy as “light, sly, transgender, transgressive, animist, seditious, primal, and endlessly shape-shifting.” A trickster views life as perpetually interesting. Hence, Gilbert believed the primal human impulse for creativity as a result of trickster energy.

Although the Trinity University shooting program involved serious training sessions, I believe the time I spent practicing trick shots actually helped me become a multitime NSSA World Skeet Champion. I found traditional

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practice sessions to be mundane so I challenged myself to shoot rounds of skeet with the shotgun held at my hip, behind my back, over my head and upside-down, and even between my legs while squatting. Trick shooting helped me realize that shooting clay targets successfully had more to do with vision and trust than precision and accuracy.

Embrace Curiosity Gilbert explained that a good trickster knows the secret of karma. Metaphorically, when a trickster throws his or her ball of creativity out into the universe, he or she trusts that ball will be thrown back in unexpected ways.

The trickster just waits for the ball to return, catches it whenever it arrives, and throws it back out there again. Whereas the serious martyr feels vulnerable due to the unpredictability of the universe, the cheerful trickster enjoys the randomness because the trickster realizes it’s all just a game.

In addition to being an avid clay target shooter, Brené Brown is a renowned sociologist and an expert on human vulnerability. In her more recent book, Daring Greatly, she described her

transition from the burdensome process of grinding out manuscripts using martyr energy to the magical process of writing lightly and cheerfully using trickster energy. When describing this new experience Brown commented that she had never written a book faster, better, or with such trust.

Gilbert proclaimed, “Curiosity is the truth and the way of creative living.” Likewise, I believe curiosity is more important than passion for clay target shooters because it is tied to experiencing rather than performing. This is where fierce trust comes into the game.

Fierce Trust Innocent trust relates to a belief that a certain number of lessons and many hours of practice will lead to the attainment of a desired goal. According to Gilbert, fierce trust demands that you put forth the work regardless because you enjoy the effort, and the outcome doesn’t matter. The basic tenant of fierce trust is that you are worthy regardless of the outcome. Gilbert concluded that the neat thing about fierce trust is that failure and success essentially become

irrelevant, because you love yourself more than you love your own ego.

Dr. Kent Keith’s book entitled Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments, introduced the concept of finding meaning in the face of adversity. Keith first wrote his 10 paradoxical commandments as a 19-year-old college sophomore. According to Keith, there is a meaningful silver lining within every dark cloud of adversity if you choose to respond to it the right way.

Despite our efforts to achieve success in life, the outcomes we desire are often beyond our control. Nonetheless, we can control how we pursue success, and how we respond to each negative outcome regardless of how bad it makes us feel. My paradoxical commandment for clay target shooters is based upon my firm belief that how you are shooting is not as important as why you are shooting:

n Watch - Settle your eyes in expanded soft focus at the eye hold to quiet the mind and heighten awareness. Be curious about watching where the target is going, see it, and then watch it continuously. Your watching reflex will tell your shooting reflex how to respond.

Striving for improvement may not always lead to success in competition.

Strive to practice with a purpose anyway.

John Shima is a former five-time World Skeet Champion and was high average in 12 gauge for two years. John is the leading authority on detection of visual deceptions and prescribing appropriate visual training to unleash the power of reality for clay target shooters. For more information about the Shima Shooting MethodSM, the clinic schedule, his new Shima Shooting ExperienceSM, or to arrange a private consultation, contact John via email at john@johnshima.com

Load,Watch, Shoot The purpose of this article is to remind clay target shooters to slow down as you prepare to enter each station. Devote your undivided attention to the simple ritual involved in each step in the process.

n Load - Separate the process of loading the shotgun into two or three steps so your mind begins to think about just one thing in each moment. Think of this process as a pre-hypnotic suggestion CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

n Shoot - Fire the shotgun as the target enters the intended break zone regardless of the perceived lead picture or how uncertain you feel. The twinge of uncertainty is the sign that your eyes are in absolute focus on the target. This is where fierce trust comes into the game.

Furthermore, the purpose of this article is to remind clay target shooters to approach each day with a goal to practice with a purpose. And remember that trickster energy is more conducive to having fun than martyr energy. n

To view previous articles, go to www.johnshima.com/publications

IT’S TIME TO SHOW WHO WE REALLY ARE.

Gun owners care about the safety, preventing unauthorized access to firearms, bettering communities, helping those in need and conserving wildlife and wild places for generations to come.

You won’t hear these positive stories about real gun owners and pro-gun advocates in the mainstream media. In fact, you’re more likely to see insulting messages that try to shun or even shame gun owners due to some heinous acts of criminals. It’s time for gun owners to tell their stories, to show how we’re making a difference, to show that we don’t fit under one identity and to keep others accountable for trying to villainize lawful gun owners.

We’re calling on all gun owners to join us.

WITH YOUR SUPPORT, WE CAN DO THIS — TOGETHER.

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A LETTER TO MY FELLOW SHOOTERS I

have some observations and concerns I would like to share with you. I sincerely believe that awareness is the first step towards compliance. If a person does not know that there is a problem, or that they are violating the rules, there is no incentive to change.

I recently attended a large registered NSCA shoot with score keepers at each station. Many of the scorekeepers were not wearing eye protection. I asked a few if they had them, and asked them to please put them on, but after a while I just gave up.

Often in the past I have refused to shoot if the scorekeeper was not wearing eye or ear protection, especially if they were young. Our squad would find them the needed protection to wear before proceeding.

As a shooter I should not have to worry about this— but as responsible shooters, we all know safety is everyone’s responsibility.

See the NSCA rule book: II-A-1. It states, “It is everyone’s responsibility to report any unsafe shooting condition or action immediately to Shoot Officials.”

Even more disturbing was the fact that I saw several shooters not wearing eye protection while shooting. I know the weather was not good and sometimes the glare from the lights was bad inside the lenses, but that is no excuse.

Rule II-A-2 states, “Mandatory Eye and Ear Protection—All CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

persons, spectators, shooters, field judges and trap personnel, must wear eye and ear protection on the course at a tournament sanctioned

by NSCA.” This clearly means everyone, at all times, while on the course.

It doesn’t mean you can take them off between stations. It doesn’t mean you can simply not wear them because they are bothering you. There are situations where glasses can be a detriment, like in the rain or failing light conditions, but it is a violation to shoot without them. Period. End of story.

There is no specific penalty listed in the rule book for failure to wear glasses, although it states a competitor may be subject to possible suspension for violation of the safety rules. I see very little difference between breaking one rule or another. It is the same as pencil whipping your score card or browbeating scorekeepers for invisible chips — you are breaking a rule clearly stated in the rule book.

The rules even go so far as to require a competitor to report any rule violations to the shoot management. Do we do that often?

No. We try to encourage our own to follow the rules within the ranks.

There is another pet peeve of mine, and it seems to be getting worse, even with shooters with a lot of experience. I see many shooters walking with their actions closed. The action of a firearm

must remain open, unless in a rack or in the stand and ready to shoot.

If your feet are moving, the action should be open. Picking a gun up from the rack on your cart, then walking to the rack next to the stand, without opening the action is wrong and unsafe. To finish a station, turn around, close the action then walk to your cart with a closed action is wrong. To pick a gun up from the gun rack and walk to the station without opening the action is wrong.

Unfortunately, I see these violations at nearly every shoot I attend.

Have I ever seen an accidental discharge at a shoot? Yes. There are some who say that there is no such thing as an accidental discharge — that they are all negligent discharges. They may be correct. It does not matter. The important fact is that if the gun is handled properly, no one ever gets hurt. I have seen a pump gun fire upon closing the action. I once saw an over/under fire upon closing.

How? I’m not sure, but it can, and does happen. If the action is open the gun cannot fire.

Safety has to be first. Being a stickler for safely helps keep people from getting hurt, or worse.

We must all help police ours ranks and remind others when they break a rule, especially a safety rule.

I have been shooting clays for nearly 40 years and teaching hunter safety and shotgun for

BY ALAN R. JONES

GUESTCOMMENTARY

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nearly half that. I do not hold any certifications in shotgun coaching, but I do in hunter education, but that really should not matter.

Safety is everyone’s concern.

Again, awareness is the first step for rule compliance. New shooters should take the time to read the rule book, and a lot of us old timers should review it. You might be surprised what you will find there.

We need to do a better job promoting a safe image. It saddens me when I hear youth shooters mention rule violations they witness when transitioning from youth teams to registered events.

Thank you for your time. n Alan R. Jones Alan R. Jones is a self-employed tax accountant. He has shot registered sporting clays for nearly 35 years and is a 30-year member of NSCA. He is a certified Hunter Education Instructor for the State of Ohio and takes great pleasure in instructing the younger generations in both hunting and shotgun shooting. arjones55@frontier.com

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TEAMELJEFE

BRINGING A GOOD

CAUSE TO LIGHT RAISING AWARENESS AT TOP GUN

BY DANA FARRELL

T

he NSCA National Championship each October at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio is so much more than just the registered competition most people make the trip for. Vendors from every corner of the shotgun market are onsite offering their wares and services, industry reps meet face to face with their customer base, and entrepreneurs can be found introducing their latest shooting related creations to the sporting clays public. It’s a literal carnival of the shotgun sports.

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

Nationals week also features several not-to-miss nighttime spectator events. One such event, Top Gun, is a crowd pleasing favorite, where 18 of the country’s best sporting clays shooters duke it out under the stadium lights in front of a packed bleacher of spectators on Friday night.

An invitation-only event, Top Gun gives contestants a chance to try their hand at winning a $1000 top prize. Contestants invited each year are the elite of the elite — both men and women, consisting of several previous National Champions, U.S. Open winners,

USA Shooting Team members, and other All-Americans.

Top Gun anchor sponsor SGS Performance Eyewear, involved for more than a decade, was joined this past year by first time co-sponsor Barepelt. Together, these two sponsors provided prize purses totaling $4000, with high gun winners in both men’s and women’s categories vying for $1000, runner-up prizes of $700 and $300 third place awards.

This time, for SGS owner Frank Robertson, Top Gun took on a different focus. Instead of raising the SGS Performance Eyewear banner he usually displays each year, Frank hoisted a banner for

Team El Jefe — Zero the end of Prostate Cancer.

Team El Jefe is a local, grassroots network, and part of a larger, nationwide organization, in support of Frank’s best friend and extended family member, Gene Church, who is fighting stage 4 prostate cancer.

El Jefe — “The Boss” Gene Church taught seventhgrade biology for 35 years in Pennsylvania and was given the nickname El Jefe (the boss) by his Carlisle Area School District

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101

TOP GUN PARTICIPANTS ARE A WHO’S WHO OF SPORTING CLAYS’ HEAVY HITTERS

coworkers. Team El Jefe was launched four years ago in support of Gene, by Megan Robertson, Gene’s daughter and Frank’s daughter-in-law, when Gene was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Team El Jefe is part of Zero – The End of Prostate Cancer, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting prostate cancer and raising public awareness and funds to combat a disease that affects one in eight American men.

It dawned on Frank that Top Gun might be a good vehicle to raise awareness for this worthy cause—one that has affected his family and countless others so

ZERO - The End of Prostate Cancer n Eighty-five cents of every dollar goes to programs and activities n No other prostate cancer charity spends more per dollar on programs than ZERO - The End of Prostate Cancer n A Charity Navigator Four Star Charity

profoundly. He met with NSSANSCA Executive Director Michael Hampton Jr. and NSCA Assistant Director Nicki Bowers with hopes of using Top Gun as a platform to raise public awareness of this devastating disease that kills 93 American men each day. They said yes.

A commemorative 2021 Top Gun shirt was autographed by the 18 participants and later given to Gene in an emotional gesture of support. Team El Jefe has each year, since its inception four years ago, raised funds in Gene’s honor, but has been limited in reach to only local events, such as an

A SHIRT AUTOGRAPHED BY TOP GUN SHOOTERS WAS GIVEN TO GENE AS A TOKEN OF SUPPORT

annual 5k run. A modest goal of raising $1000 at each Team El Jefe event seems a tall order with only 19 team members, but Frank aims to influence that dynamic by using Top Gun as a vehicle to raise awareness for Gene, and by default, all prostate cancer victims.

Frank recently reached out to Zoli International President, Norbert Haussman, and received a handshake deal to secure a Zoli over/under to be raffled this coming year, to be drawn at the 2022 Top Gun. At Norbert’s

2020/2021 Prostate Cancer Facts and Figures n Every 15 minutes, an American man dies from prostate cancer — a little more than 93 deaths per day and 34,130 a year n One in eight American men will have prostate cancer during his lifetime n There are currently 3.1 million American men living with the disease

suggestion, Frank plans to sell only 100 tickets, at $100 each.

Tickets will be made available at the various shooting events across the country that Shooting Glasses Specialist attends throughout the year, with proceeds to benefit Team El Jefe and Zerocancer.org If the stars align as Frank plans they will, Gene will fly to the 2022 Nationals to pick the Zoli winner during the Top Gun event. It will be a very special night.

You can read about Gene “El Jefe” Church and donate to Team El Jefe at zerocancer.org/fight/ share-your-story/doitfordad/meganrobertson-gene-el-jefe n

n The relative 10-year survival rate is 98%, and the relative 15-year survival rate is 96% n The survival rate for advanced prostate cancer drops from nearly 100% to 30%

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CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

102

FLORIDALADIES

BY DEE ORR

FSCA HONEYBELLES ALIVE AND THRIVING IN FLORIDA B

ack in 2018, Louise Terry and I wrote an article about the new ladies’ initiative of the Florida Sporting Clays Association. Well, things have blossomed since then and we are bearing lots of fruit, in the way of a growing group of ladies joining our shooting ranks. The program was conceived by Louise Terry and Rollins Brown in 2017, then members of the FSCA Board of Directors. I took over the reins of administrating the program shortly thereafter. We started off with a bang, and by word of mouth the program has grown and grown.

As of the end of 2021, we have put 415 different ladies through our clinics. Participation numbers CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

exceed 600, due to those who come for a second, or third time and bring their friends and family along for the fun. When that wretched Covid thing arrived in 2020, we cancelled four completely full clinics and suspended operations for the next 18 months.

We started back up this past September and were met with the same enthusiasm, with clinics filling rapidly, often with waiting lists.

Our program consists of two levels of clinics. The Beginner’s Clinic starts with a classroom period where guns, ammo, clays games, etiquette and safety are discussed, followed by shooting 25 very friendly clay targets on the

course with an instructor. We have found that a one/three instructor to student ratio works well, doesn’t wear them out and minimizes lag time. It became quickly evident that we needed to add a second level course. Even though they did not need the classroom time again, they wanted to come again and again. Keeping the same ratio, we added what we call Basic Plus.

Here we skip the classroom and shoot 50 targets. All our certified instructors are female. This women-teaching-women dynamic has been paramount to our success. Not that I don’t love you male instructors, but the women seem more relaxed and open with us ladies, at least in the beginning

stages. Many of our ladies continue on to regular lessons as they grow in the sport. Our FSCA Honeybelles forum on Facebook has become a place for the ladies to support and communicate with one another, posting their milestones and photos.

Our price point is one factor that has made us so successful; it is very cost friendly. This year, Beginner’s is $35 and Basic Plus $55. the hosting clubs make this possible by providing clays at member prices, free use of golf carts and rental guns. Further, the coaches work for a small stipend of $50, as everyone feels it is a way to “give back” to a sport that has done so much for them.

FLORIDALADIES

We started with five coaches and now have 17 in our ranks. One of our ladies has moved back to Montana where she is starting a group this spring. Some of our early students have gone on to become certified instructors and have joined our ranks. We started with just Quail Creek and OK Corral and now eight clubs have hosted clinics. We are mostly operating on the East Coast with Vero Beach, Quail Creek and starting this year, South Florida, a private club that has now opened its doors to us. Polk Sporting Clays (mid-state) south of Orlando now has three resident coaches, so they are able to stand on their own. The rest require travel, as they look for ladies who can take over the program for themselves.

We operate slightly in the red.

Cost overruns and miscellaneous expenses are picked up by the FSCA. The NSCA from time to time sends us goodies to give away and offers complementary one year memberships.

We have picked up some very helpful sponsorship along the way.

My sponsor, SyrenUSA, supplies us with demo guns, and is also a title sponsor for one of our semiannual fun shoots. Good friends Les Wagner and Jackie Scarsella sponsor the fall fun shoot, which allows us to buy beautiful trophies and a nice participant gift. The

ladies have a ball at these. We originally kept it at 50 targets, but they voted for more at the recent fall event. The SyrenUSA spring shoot at Vero Beach Clay Shooting Sports on March 26 will be 100 targets. All ladies are welcome!

Winchester Ammunition, thanks to Rollins Brown, has added the Honeybelles program to its Shoot United outreach for 2022 and will be donating ammo for the clinics. This will allow lowering our prices back down to $30 and $50.

The Honeybelles have become powered by Winchester.

Finally, this year, as the clinics fill up almost immediately upon

announcement, I have negotiated with the clubs that the day they

HOA MELISSA STURDIVANT AT FALL FUN SHOOT

103

host a clinic is “Honeybelles Day” and all our ladies get member prices. This allows our alumni to have some benefit and an opportunity to gather, all the while allowing us to keep the clinic spots open to beginners and the less experienced shooters we are targeting.

We remain true to our cause: FSCA Honeybelles Mission Statement To introduce more women to shooting sporting clays and create an environment where they feel welcome, comfortable, and competent going to the clubs to enjoy shooting clays with friends and family.

We are happy to share our program and experience with any state or club that wishes to start a program of their own. Contact me at FSCAHoneybelles@gmail.com n CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

HELICENEWS

HELICE UPDATES,

RESULTS, AND UPCOMING EVENTS

BY MIMI WILFONG

T

he year 2021 will go down in the record books as one that many people would like to forget, but for helice in the United States, it was an incredible year, filled with quality events and outstanding performances. After 26 qualifying events in the 2021 year, the U.S. Helice teams were named in each of the six categories that FITASC, the governing body of helice, has identified.

Congratulations to the following members of the 2021 U.S. Helice Team: CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

2021 U.S. HELICE TEAM

2021 U.S. HELICE TEAM

MEN

MASTER

RICK PLOTE BRAD WILLIAMSON DONNIE HALEY

MICHAEL TAYLOR JIM COLE MO POWERS

SENIOR

JUNIOR

MIKE SELLERS DAVID TRIBBLE JOE DEMENT

KAZIM MUHAMMAD GARRETT VAUGHN MACIE PAGE

VETERAN

LADY

RICK MEIN JACKIE STIDHAM STEPHEN IMES, IN MEMORIAM* BRYAN JONES

MACIE PAGE LINDSEY STACHURSKI MENDY KIPER

*Stephen Imes, one of the founders of Black Prairie Helice at Prairie Wildlife, passed away unexpectedly this year. Stephen was a key influencer in the game of helice, particularly for the rapid growth of helice in the southeast United States. Stephen attended the 2019 World Championship and came back with a medal and respect from the best helice shooters in the world for his lowgun shooting style, a unique and difficult feat. Stephen’s performance in 2020 earned him a

PHOTO CREDIT: DANA FARRELL

104

$38K In Main Event

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$1,000.00 $500.00 $250.00 $250.00

Trophy Trophy Trophy Trophy

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Clay Sports Ranch

www.claysportsranch.com 8270 Aledo Rd, Fort Worth, TX 76126

csrevents@defenderoutdoors.com Office - 817-935-8378

106

HELICENEWS

PHOTO CREDIT: DANA FARRELL

BOB KELLY SHOOTS AS BEAU THOMAS LOOKS ON DURING THE AUGUST 2021 USHA QUALIFIER AT STOCKTON TRAP AND SKEET

CHRIS CROWE AND JIMMY BRYAN, WITH THEIR AWARDS AT PRAIRIE WILDLIFE AFTER THE DEDICATION OF THE “IMES FIELDS” IN HONOR OF STEPHEN IMES

berth on the U.S. Helice team again, and he is awarded a position on the team both for his contributions to the game and his outstanding performances.

Stephen is incredibly missed, but his grandson is carrying on his legacy of being a phenomenal shooter.

2021 World Championship

welcomed to the land of the Pyramids.

The United States sent a small, but mighty, team to represent our Helice Association. Brad Williamson of Mississippi, Kazim Muhammad of Dallas, Michael Taylor and his son Christopher Taylor of Montana, and Tamer Antouan of Houston were part of the almost 300 entries in the World Championship event.

In addition to the World Championship (30 targets), the weeklong event in October included the Grand Prix of Egypt (20 targets), the African Championships (30 targets), plus the Match of Nations event for both the African and World Championship.

PHOTO CREDIT: DANA FARRELL

In 2020, the World Championship was moved from Egypt to Italy due to coronavirus travel concerns, so in 2021 the World Championships were hosted in Egypt, at a recently opened, world class facility meant to wow the world as they were

When the smoke cleared, the team from the U.S. had a pile of trophies to carry halfway around the world to their trophy cases.

Michael Taylor, who is also a member of the National Sporting Clays Association Hall of Fame, posted a strong performance all week and sealed the deal at the right time, winning the Master

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

World Championship.

Kazim Muhammad, a teenager participating in his first World Championship, had all eyes on him throughout the week, as he posted incredible performance after incredible performance. He started the week by winning the Grand Prix of Egypt in both the Open and Junior categories. Next, he won

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108

HELICENEWS

the African Championship in the Junior category. Finally, he won the World Championship in both the Open and Junior category!

Brad Williamson, Christopher Taylor, and Tamer Antouan shot well all week and were excellent representatives of helice shooting in the U.S.

2022 Events

PHOTO CREDIT: DANA FARRELL

As we welcome 2022, there are many helice events scheduled for this year, at both well-established helice clubs and those that have recently opened helice rings. We invite you to attend any of these events. You can find more information at www.USHelice.com

2022 Helice Event Schedule n March 4-6 American Shooting Center, Houston, TX n March 18-20 Cottonland Gun Club, West Monroe, LA n April 1-3 Austin Gun Club, Lampasas, TX n April 22-24 Prairie Wildlife, West Point, MS n May 13-15 Dallas Gun Club, TX n June 3-5 Prairie Wildlife, West Point, MS n June 24-26 Stockton Trap and Skeet, Stockton, CA n July 8-10 Cottonland Gun Club, West Monroe, LA n July 22-24 Prairie Wildlife, West Point, MS

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

n August 12-14 Dallas Gun Club, TX n August 26-28 American Shooting Center, Houston, TX n Sept 16-18 Prairie Wildlife, West Point, MS n Oct 14-16 Cottonland Gun Club, West Monroe, LA n Oct 28-30 Prairie Wildlife, West Point, MS The 2022 National Championship will be held July 22-24 at Prairie Wildlife in West Point, MS. This event promises to be the most well-attended and memorable U.S. Championship in history, and we hope to see you there! Internationally, the World Championship for 2022 will be held in Sicily and the European Championship in Hungary. n For more information, visit the United States Helice Association at ushelice.com

WESTERN REGIONAL APRIL 1-3, 2022

WORLD ENGLISH APRIL 20-24, 2022

U.S. OPEN MAY 20-22, 2022

SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL JUNE 17-19, 2022

NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL JULY 29-31, 2022

SOUTHEAST REGIONAL SEPTEMBER 9-11, 2022

NORTHEAST REGIONAL AUGUST 19-21, 2022

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS OCTOBER 22-30, 2022

CLUBCALL

CLUB CALL

BY DEREK MOORE

110

CLAYBREAKERS

I

have been shooting at Claybreakers, in Lexington North Carolina, now for around 10 years. Way back when I found this little gem of a club, it only had a 5-Stand, which was always crowded and featured great targets. When I relocated down to North Carolina permanently a little over a year ago, a big change had been made, and a full 14 station sporting course, spread over Claybreakers’ full 90 acres, was added to the mix.

With weekly target tweaks, and the requisite full changeout for tournaments, the target presentations are left alone for a couple of weeks after each NSCA tournament for practice. Proprietor Terry Cline told me many of the top guys show up for practice and right away ask which targets are changed from the week before—and head straight for them.

The course is always challenging but fair, with a few easier targets sprinkled in to help the beginners. I believe that is why the club is seeing so much success.

I spoke with Levi Cline, his mom, Gena, who runs the 5-Stand, and dad Terry, who

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

is head cook and bottle washer. Terry started the club and built it gradually to where it is today and does everything that needs doing on a day-to-day basis to run the facility. Together, they shared their exciting plans for this growing sporting clays facility. n Derek: How long has the club been open? n Levi: The club has been around now for 12 years. n Derek: How long did you run the club as just a 5-Stand? I know it has been an attraction here in Lexington for several years. I have been here many times and it’s always busy. n Levi: We had [only a] 5-Stand for a little short of 10 years. We operated with 11 traps for maybe six of those years, so we could throw a myriad of targets. Once we put in the sporting clays course, we reduced the 5-Stand to eight traps.

n Derek: When did you expand to a sporting clays course? n Levi: It will be about two years now. We started it with 14 stations and a few weeks ago for our last tournament we just recently added Super Sporting. We bought all new MEC traps — 400 E series. It was time. We now have three traps on every station, with menus for both sporting and Super Sporting. We have a Long Range release system, with a count-up card to track the targets used. All of the traps are solar driven, so there are no cables to go wrong. n Derek: What plans do you have for the future of Claybreakers? n Terry: We have room for another course, but it will be a little while before we can do that. We need to be aware of shot fall. So, the preparation for a new course may take a while. The second course will eventually be off to the back of the club — we are looking to expand in that direction.

CLUBCALL

n Derek: So, it’s just the three of you running the place? n Levi: Yes, Mom operates the 5-Stand mainly, but fills in where needed, and my dad does pretty much everything together with me, though I am more sporting clays oriented. We joined the NSCA two years ago, and have been having four tournaments a year, and in 2022 we will increase that to five. n Derek: How about pricing? n Levi: For non-members the cost of the 5-Stand is $9 per round.

Both sporting and Super Sporting is 45 cents per target. Members pay $175 per year for an individual, and $250 for a family. As a member the targets are reduced to 35 cents each. 5-Stand is $7 instead of $9.

Carts are $10 instead of $20, and as a member you get 100 free targets to start you off.

Ammunition has been a problem for everybody, but here ammunition is available because we search it out. Primarily, right now, we sell it for shooting [only] at Claybreakers. If you shoot 100 targets you can buy five boxes, for example. Once ammunition becomes plentiful again, we will sell full cases like we used to.

We also sell reloading components when available, including hard to find lead. Finding ammunition has been okay, but more difficult in recent times. I have had weeks when I have only eight cases in inventory, though I try to keep eight to 100 cases. n Terry: You have to earn the reputation, and we intend to do that. We have a lot of young people now, so they will help it grow and they bring their friends in with them. We have signed on for SCTP — the Scholastic Clay Target Program, which has helped us tremendously. We also have hunter safety school, so many young shooters come here for that. We have a wobble trap on the 5-Stand, which can be set for a straightaway for the kids to practice seeing the target and shooting it. n

111

CLAYBREAKERS 535 RABBIT RIDGE DRIVE LEXINGTON, NC 27292 (336) 479 – 6761 OPERATING HOURS MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY www.claybreakersllc.com

CLOSED 10 A.M. – 5 P.M. 10 A.M. – 5 P.M. 10 A.M. – 5 P.M. 9 A.M. – 5 P.M. 9 A.M. – 5 P.M. 1 P.M. -- 5 P.M. tcline@claybreakersllc.com

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

112

PEOPLE, NEWS AND EVENTS

IN THE HEADLINES

2022 NSCA STATE SHOOT ASSISTANCE GRANT This year the NSCA is offering $2,000 grants to 12 clubs hosting State Shoots. These grants are to assist with shoot enhancements such as advertising the event, hospitality, a better awards package, etc. The type of enhancements are open to be determined by the host club.

The grant total is a one-time payment of $2,000 sent to the host club AFTER the conclusion of the event, once all requirements have been met. The host club will be required to provide, within 30 days of shoot completion: n Expense receipts totaling at least $2,000 for goods or services that are evidence the funds were used in the manner described on the application n A summary of how the funds were used and the impact it had to enhancing the event n A participation breakdown from the event (i.e.: Winscore report of how many participants in each class/concurrent) Information available on the NSCA website at nssa-nsca.org

NEWS UPDATES

Product manufacturers, retailers and club managers wanting to submit news for the next issue should email: info@clayshootingusa.com

CLAYSHOOTINGUSA

E.A.R. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH AUDIOCARDO Press Release The complications of untreated hearing loss are often accompanied with complaints about consistent ringing, buzzing or chirping sounds called tinnitus. World statistics indicate over 30 million people in the U.S. have this issue and over 465 million worldwide. Remedies that attempt to minimize or eradicate tinnitus include supplements, auditory maskers, hearing aids and neuropathy type therapies often administered by hearing healthcare professionals such as audiologists or otologists. A new approach that is supported by clinical research is called “THRESHOLD SOUND CONDITIONING” (TSC) and can be easily conducted over the internet with an Android or iOS device (smartphones and tablets). TSC technology is backed by over 15 years of research and clinically tested and proven with Stanford University, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Samsung Medical Center, Chung-And and Nanjing Universities.

Today E.A.R. Inc. has created a partnership with AudioCardio and will be offering the benefits of TSC therapy to all of its accounts with a one month free trial. For more information go to app.audiocardio.com/signup and use promo code EAR30.

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Value u Quality u Service

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44

Atlas Trap Company

47

LaPorte America

15

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65

Lincoln Traps

91

Beretta USA

31

Long Range

39

Cover 3

MagnaPort

84

MEC Outdoors

77

Blaser USA Inc Blue Rock Sportsmans Club Briley

69

Michigan Shooting Centers

37

British Sporting Arms

79

MTM Case Gard

45

National Shooting Sports Foundation

97

Caesar Guerini Champion Range and Target Clay Target Sports, Inc

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Pacific Sporting Arms

23,41

114

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27

43

Paxton Arms

55

Dawson Enterprises

87

PMS Firearms

95

Decot Hy-Wyd Sports Glasses Inc

58

Ponsness Warren

29

105

Promatic Inc

Cover 2

E. A. R., Inc.

50

Recoil Systems

Fabarm USA

13

Recob's Target Shop

FalconStrike

67

Remington

4-5

Fausti

35

Scholastic Clay Target Program

57

Federal Premium

63

Shamrock Leathers

29

Graco Corporation

85

SKB Shotguns

53

Gray's Shotgun Cache

85

SoftTouch Custom Stocks

108

Greystone Castle

29

Spolar

103

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107

7 59-61

78 79,99

Sportsman's Insurance Agency

45

Syren

8-9

International Case Co

51

Target Shotguns

83

Jaqua's Fine Guns, Inc.

93

Teague Chokes

21

Joel Etchen Guns

89

Wenig Custom Stocks

19

Kick's Chokes

51

Xcel Shooting Sports

49

Kolar Arms

71

Zoli Intl

75

Krieghoff International

25

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”The F3 re-defines state of the art.

It simply leaves nothing to be desired !“ Haylyn Hanks 2020 Nationals Ladies 3rd 2019 World FITASC Ladies Silver