VERNON NATIONAL SHOOTING PRESERVE

BY LOUISE TERRY

Hidden in the scenic hills of central New York State is a yet-undiscovered, beautiful jewel of a sporting clays club and pheasant hunting preserve. On 550 acres, with an adjoining 100 acres leased during bird season, this facility is a hunter’s, shooter’s and a target-setter’s paradise, offering a tremendous variety of possibilities. The land has quite a family history for owner Ron Acee, his wife Darcy and Ron's three sons: Simon, Jason, and Jared. Darcy, Jason, and Ron sat down with ClayShootingUSA during the recent New York State Sporting Championship to explain the history of the land and the operation, that today is, Vernon National Shooting Preserve.

Seeing the place now with a clubhouse, and an impressive, fully stocked Pro Shop, you’d never know this land and these buildings had been a working dairy farm for many years. In fact, what was the original dairy barn, transformed into the clubhouse and pheasant pens 30 years ago. Today this building has been further remodeled and has morphed into the clubhouse, complete with dining area, Pro Shop with an adjoining outdoor porch and openair pavilion. The current pheasant pens and other out-buildings have been added over time as the facility has grown.

Jason explains that his grandfather, Sam, who owned the land the club sits on today, was an avid pheasant hunter and brought Ron up the same way. So, when Ron purchased the property from his father some 30 years ago, understanding the wild pheasant population was on the decline, he got his preserve license and began doing pheasant hunts part-time in conjunction with his crop program. The hunting preserve then added clay target shooting as an additional service to their customers.

Jason recalls as a kid, Dad taking him and his two brothers shooting at a local fish and game club. With Ron’s limited hours due to farming, Ron decided to buy a few traps so they could shoot on their own farm. Jason was the most interested of his sons in the range, so he found himself spending a lot of his spare time helping his father around the club with plans of eventually running it himself.

Fast forward 20 years and you have today’s operation. As a familyrun business it takes many hands to keep it going. Darcy is the driving force in promoting and marketing the range through corporate and private events, as well as expanding the customer and member base. Ron manages the development of the range and the gun business. Jason multi-tasks between the Pro Shop, the range, and events, in addition to his day job. Darcy’s sister, Joelyn, runs the day-to-day gun transactions and inventory. So, on any given day, you will find a friendly face ready to get you out to the range or help you find the perfect firearm. Ron’s son Jared has joined in to help at the range dedicating time to the gun shop, while simultaneously running another gun shop that Ron started in Sherrill, New York. Oldest son, Simon, took over the crop business and is involved in the gun shop as well.

Upon our recent arrival at the club for the New York State Sporting Championship, Darcy and Jason suggested that Bill and I take a drive around in a cart to check out the property. After meandering around touring the grounds and taking pictures for almost 2 hours, we were blown away. First stop, we were told, was to follow the cart path right up to the top of the property to see the FITASC layouts. After driving up the long hill through the woods, we exited the woods, and the cart path transitions to an open field. The first impression is simply jawdropping. Across the top of the ridge, the most beautiful view in that part of the state presents itself. On a clear day, which we had, you can see all the way to the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains to the north and you have a 270-degree commanding view overlooking the beautiful Mohawk River Valley. It was stunning. What a fabulous place to shoot 4 parcours of FITASC.

The 16-station sporting course is set midway back down the hill, winding along in the trees, thru a combination of some open field areas combined with gullies, wooded stations over and down deep ravines, and enough varying terrain to challenge just about everyone. Further down the hill below the sporting course, there’s a 5-Stand overlay on the skeet field, and back toward the clubhouse there’s a big open meadow with a trap field where the Make-A-Break was set at the recent New York State Shoot. The 5-Stand “warmup” is in a beautiful spot beyond the clubhouse overlooking a pond which is guarded by a giant willow tree. Large open fields up the hill directly above the clubhouse central area allows for additional layouts and stations to facilitate sub-gauge and side events when hunting season isn’t open.

Their operation is a product of years of building this business as they went. 15 years ago, they opened to their members and to the public. Five years ago, they added their own “Trapmaster” card system. Today they have 3 traps set up at every station with three menus programmed into their proprietary software system for the controllers. They were fortunate that one of their club members who runs a local manufacturing business designed and built the controllers and card system to meet their needs, writing the software to keep everything running with maximum flexibility for their customers. Shooters in one squad, regardless of ability, can each choose between easier presentations, tournament-like presentations, or a super sporting menu all while shooting the course together. Solo shooters have the benefit of a delay function on both the sporting course as well as at the 5-Stand layout.

Ben Wise, the target setter for the recent New York State Sporting Championship, had a big smile on his face as he recalled when he first saw the terrain. He immediately began to envision the possibilities for a multitude of target presentations, and he was all in. Wise stated that he had a ball working on his course designs, which he wanted to ensure made full use of the terrain, while giving all shooters a fair chance at enjoying all the events. Even though he had to reset the 16 stations after the Prelim and both Main Events on the central sporting course layout, he never ran out of great ideas for the 850 target presentations he set.

As I ventured through the Pro Shop, I found that they are dealers for Browning, Beretta, Benelli, SKB, Bettinsoli, Caesar Guerini, and Fausti shotguns, including the Ladies Syren brand from Guerini and the Beretta Vittoria. They are fully stocked with an impressive selection of guns, clothing, shooting vests, ammo, and accessories. Vernon National also offers gunsmithing services and gun-fitting services on the premises.

Currently they don’t offer regular food service during the week because their traffic is sporadic. However, they do provide food service for corporate events or on weekends for groups that order ahead. During hunting season, they offer regular food service for the hungry hunters.

For shooters who are interested in pheasant, quail and chukar hunting, they’re open with their Preserve License from September thru April 1, weather permitting. They release an average of 5,000 pheasants per year. In season, they put birds out weekly for their hunting members and offer walkup hunts that are stocked the morning of the hunt for nonmembers. Vernon hosts the occasional tower shoot, which are very popular for corporate events. They have guides & gun dogs available, or hunters can bring their own dogs. There is a pistol range and a 600-yard rifle range, clays cart rentals and gun rentals. Shooting instruction is available by reservation for beginners or for those wishing to improve their game.

When asked what their “message” is, Darcy was quick to answer with a smile; “Come try us. We want everyone to feel welcome and we want to schedule more registered sporting clays events in the future. We’re open Wednesday, Friday and Sunday for nonmembers and any time for members.” Darcy explained that they are actively working to grow their corporate events to augment their day- to-day business and better support their staff. Clays and hunting memberships are available for locals in the area and for out-ofarea shooters who may come by occasionally. All are welcome.

After our very enjoyable weekend there, we have already been back to shoot some midweek practice. It’s a beautiful place run by some great people. If you’re ever in this area of the country, we suggest you plan ahead and give it a try. Call the Pro Shop for further information at (315) 829-2529 or call Darcy at (315) 272-6211. Tell her Louise and Bill sent you. n