Around the ATA

Information for Around the ATA is provided to TRAP & FIELD by state and provincial ATA Delegates and/or their designated representatives. Shooters and local officials: Please inform your ATA Delegate of news about shooters and clubs in your area.

Southern Zone

Alabama

By the time you get this, we will just be finishing the Georgia State Shoot. I hope all who were there had a good time and shot well. South Carolina will be firing up, and just about every two weeks another state shoot happens. So get out there and take part in as many shoots as you can, or just stay home and take care of that all-important honey-do list. I for one am ready, if my wife will just take this ankle monitor off me. Well, that’s not fair. I have the best wife in the world; she lets me go do whatever I want, whenever I want.

I would like everyone to look at our new website, www.alabamatrap.com. It sure is awesome. Bill Willbourne took it over in the fall, did a complete overhaul, and has brought it to a new level. Please take time to look it over. Gun clubs, get your shoot dates in so you can take advantage of our new site.

Congratulations to this year’s Alabama state team: captain John White IV, .9491; Bill Parson Jr., .9355 (sub-vet); Jackie Howard, .9255; Arlie Griffus, .9223 (veteran); Bill Gregg, .9029 (senior vet); Juston Trimback, .8980; Landon Sims, .8954 (sub-junior); Tim Hall Sr., .8931; Dan Jones, .8911; Terry Edmonds, .8867; Cole Willingham, .8802 (junior); Wayne Sartwell, .8798; Anthony Hester, .8787; John Hyde, .8778; Shelby Sockwell, .8725.

Our state shoot is just around the corner—June 1-4. Our Friday-night lucky-number handicap shootoff has been bumped up this year, from $500 in gift cards to $1,000 in cash. Payout is $400 for first, $300, $200, and $100. If you shoot Friday’s handicap, you get a shot at the added money. This is truly a fun time, and you can enjoy good targets, clear weather and a chance to meet with old friends. We look forward to seeing you, and we welcome all who come.

Please keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers. Without our armed forces protecting this country, we would not be able to enjoy this great sport. When you see a soldier, thank him or her for their service.

I hope to see you all on the line somewhere soon. If you need my help or have news to report, contact me anytime at 205-410-8201 or [email protected].

Fred Jensen
ATA Delegate

Florida

March was a great month for shooting registered targets in Florida. The Silver Dollar had the Bill Jacobsen Memorial, followed by the Southern Grand, followed by the Florida State Shoot. At Robinson Ranch we had the annual Uncle Phil’s Handicap Shoot. The Jacobsen Memorial was an All-American Competition Factor 3 tournament, the Southern Grand was an CF 5 tournament, and the Florida State Shoot was an CF 4 tournament
We had a very good list of Florida winners at this year’s Southern Grand: Richard Musetti, Ron Blum, Richard Gaeta, Mark Zauhar (two), Theresa Bellerive (four), Kay Ohye, Sam Quincey, Raymond Byron, Dale Rasmussen, Matt Trammell, Billy Osceola, Bob Hutson and Stephen Zane Jr. Congratulations to all for some excellent trapshooting.

Our state shoot was very well attended and was managed flawlessly by the Silver Dollar staff. In the championship singles, Lewis Knack Jr. took home the singles championship with the lone resident 199. Category champions are as follows: Brody Riley, sub-junior; Gene Bryan, junior; Andrew Loitz, junior gold; Gerald Armstrong, sub-vet; Mark Zauhar, veteran; Ray Lee, senior vet; Karen Dickman, Lady I; and Marilyn Lehrfeld, Lady II.
Michael Evernham was doubles champion. Category winners were Kevin Whitehead, sub-junior; Bryan, junior; Loitz, junior gold; Bruce Burton, sub-vet; Zauhar, veteran; Kay Ohye, senior vet; Mallory Stanton, Lady I; and Lehrfeld, Lady II.

The handicap champions were Donald Hines, high gun; Whitehead, sub-junior; Bryan, junior; Loitz, junior gold; Armstrong, sub-vet; James Maurer, veteran; Bob Hutson, senior vet; Theresa Bellerive, Lady I; and Kim Ayers Wright, Lady II.

All-around champion was Loitz, and HOA was Matt Trammell. Congratulations to all for their exceptional shooting. For all scores, see this issue of TRAP & FIELD. Trammell will be serving as the Florida ATA First Alternate Delegate. Other changes in the FTA board will be announced next month.
Marvin Huff received his 50K certificate and pin for handicap. Congratulations!

Don’t forget our FTA Spring Championship to be hosted by the South Florida Shooting Grounds in Stuart May 19-21. Check out the club’s website for directions and RV information.

If approved, our major tournaments in March next year will roll out on these dates: Bill Jacobsen Memorial, Silver Dollar, March 8-10; Uncle Phil’s Handicap Shoot, Robinson Ranch, March 11; Florida State Shoot, Silver Dollar, March 13-18; and the Southern Grand, March 19-25.

I just received a photo and other information on the Palm Beach Co. SC. Land clearing and site preparation are all on schedule. Visit the FWC website for more construction updates.

During the Southern Grand, Jim Foster passed away. We all know Jim from his ongoing work at the Silver Dollar, where he and wife Diane Foster have been a fixture at all tournaments and other events held there. Heartfelt sympathy to Diane and family. Just prior to the state shoot, I was notified of the passing of Tom Floridio. Tom was last handicapped at the 25-yard line, where he was competitive. Condolences to the Floridio family and friends.

Please advise me of any information that can be shared with Florida trapshooters at 321-427-6553 or [email protected].

Larry Grenevicki
ATA Delegate

Georgia

As you read this, we will have just wrapped up the 94th annual Georgia State Shoot. If you made it out to shoot with us, I hope you had a good time, saw some good targets, and ate some good food. Next month I should have a write-up.

We had a great time at the 12th annual Cecil Trammell Shoot the first weekend in March at South River. Congrats to Mike Schildgen, who won the singles with 196, and Bob Boswell Jr., who won doubles with a very strong 98 in the afternoon. Sunday was a beautiful spring day in Georgia with nice weather and a little wind. Bob picked up the Doubles Championship on Sunday morning with 95. Handicap was won by Ethan Moody with a pair of 90s from the 23-yard line. Ethan is a two-time runnerup in the Georgia state Handicap Championship.

Congratulations to Al Ken, who picked up some yardage on Sunday. Looks like the new stock is coming along just fine. Al also got both D class doubles wins.

We had a few guests from Colorado and Wisconsin shoot South River. It sounds like they enjoyed themselves, and we hope they will come back. Thanks to Boone and David Adams and help (Mike Bolling) for the great food. Also thanks to Diane Bolling and everyone at South River, who always do a great job running the shoots.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Tom Lowe SG’s March shoot. We had 25 shooters total, including three new ATA shooters. It’s great to see Gary Blair out shooting again and having a pretty good day.

Congratulations to Mike Schildgen, who won singles with 98; Max Owen, who won handicap with 91; and J. T. Osborne, doubles winner with 97. Blair led HOA with 277. Also congrats to Neno Schildgen, who shot a 25 straight in handicap, and Tara McCann, who got her first 25 straight in 16s.
We had fun at the monthly shoot at Cherokee GC in Gainesville. Congratulations to the champions: Randy Knight, doubles, 95; Mike Wasielewski, singles, 99; and Emily Rankin, handicap, 94. Waz took the HOA with 284.

Congratulations to Mike Reed, who won B class singles at the Southern Grand. Boone Butler won non-resident Class A doubles winner with 97 at Florida State.

Also, congrats to a few former Georgia residents who picked up trophies at the Florida State Shoot. Our friend Lewis Knack took the Singles Championship with 199 out of a field of 394 shooters. Matt Trammell won AA with 196. Both also collected HOA and all-around trophies over the weekend.

Be safe, have fun, shoot well, and attend as many registered events as you can.

Russ Wright
ATA Delegate

Kentucky

Shooting season is here, and it’s shaping up to be a great year. Please try to support your local shoots, as small clubs are the backbone of the ATA.

Congratulations to the following shooters who won awards at the Southern Grand: Bobby Fowler, James Malin, Bradley Jones, Nick Kingrey, Aaron Willoughby, Mark Hunter, Clayborn Hunter Jr., Colin Howard, Charles Howard, Bobby Bilbrey, John Kerr and Raymond Kidd.

The state shoot is looking great again this year. I hope you have it on your calendar to attend. You won’t be disappointed! Also keep in mind that two weeks after the state shoot, Central GC has the ATA Southern Zone Shoot with other sites in Florida and North Carolina.

May God bless you with many smoked targets and great health.

Terry Dean
ATA Southern Zone Vice President

Mississippi

Mississippi sent a large contingent to the Southern Grand at the Silver Dollar SC in mid March. Mac Elliott, Jerry Tharp, All-American Larry Rickman, Kim Wilson, daughter Stephanie Wilson, Brian Harmon, former MTA president Gene Schneck and I shot in mostly cold and windy conditions. As expected, the scores reflected tough field conditions. However, both Wilsons had outstanding events. Stephanie won Lady I, beating a number of the top All-American women. Kim shot in the hardest category—sub-vet. He tied for first in handicap and finished third in a two-box shootoff.

As I write this, the Mississippi State Shoot is fast approaching. Because of the generosity of National Aviation Academy, our prime sponsor, shooters will be fed complimentary hot breakfast and lunch each day—Thursday, May 25 through Sunday, May 28. Coast R&PC, this year’s venue, is conveniently located on Highway 67 about nine miles north of the I-10/Highway 67 intersection. The new clubhouse is fully functional, and the same gourmet caterer will be preparing and serving great food.

This year’s program will be as follows: May 25—100 singles, 100 handicap and 100 doubles; May 26—100 doubles, 100 singles and 100 handicap; May 27—200 championship singles; and May 28—100 championship doubles and 100 championship handicap. Trophies for champion and in all classes and categories will be awarded on all days. Again, thanks to National Aviation Academy, the trophies are really fine.

The nearest hotel is good and offers the best deal. The Courtyard Marriott at 11471 Cinema Dr., D’Iberville, MS 39540 is nine miles from Coast R&PC. Both are on Highway 67. The “state shoot rate” is $92, which is very reasonable for Memorial Day weekend on the Coast. Their telephone number is 228-392-1200. A large block of rooms is reserved, so it should not be a problem to get a room.

Shooters are encouraged to use presquad.com to reserve a squad and post. The diligent folks doing classification, squadding and cashiering really appreciate the help you provide by pre-squadding when such a large crowd of shooters is expected.

Now for a bit of nostalgia. Looking back through the last few years, I would like to mention some things that have made an impression in the world of Mississippi trapshooting.

First, I was privileged to be on David Huber’s squad when he shot 100 straight from the 27-yard line at Capitol GC in Jackson. Being of a certain age, I cannot remember the event or even the year, but what a sight it was!

Second, there have been major improvements to Capitol GC and Coast R&PC, vis-a-vis the generosity of National Aviation Academy to the MTA plus very hard work of the trap members of both clubs. Other contributions of funds and equipment were made by members of both clubs, such that we now are proud to say we throw exceptional targets in Jackson and on the Coast.

Third, us old-timers are hanging in there. At the same time, we are picking up energetic younger shooters; e.g., three generations of Hubers and two generations of Wilsons. While we are still working on getting very young shooters to the line, we have made real progress attracting and keeping the 40+ crowd. Both clubs are in stable financial condition, and we can all look forward to many more years of comradery in doing what we love.

Fourth, on motion by the Mississippi ATA Delegate, the rule requiring 25 or more participants to earn a half-yard punch was changed to 15 or more. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all Southern Zone Delegates and many others across the ATA who voted in favor of this change. In Mississippi we have had many punches earned with winning scores of 93 to 95, where the attendance was between 15 and 20.

Fifth, the tradition of equipment upgrade to smash that extra target is alive and well in our state. John Oren, Lenny Sawyer, Jim Porter, Kim Wilson, Stephanie Wilson and myself have moved on to new stocks and/or guns, with more changes under consideration. I am sure that, inadvertently, I omitted a number of shooters and changes, so please excuse me. We all know what shooters will do for that extra broken bird!

Lastly, my term as Delegate is ending. This is my last column. Now I will aggressively pursue retirement—trap dog Henry and I will ride off into the sunrise on the way to the next registered shoot! Thank you for your help during the past three years, as this writing would not be possible without your input. Shoot well and often.

Charlie Boggs
ATA Delegate

North Carolina

The Dogwood Open Shoot will be April 20-23. I hope you will have some time to come and shoot with us. It is our first NC Homegrounds shoot this calendar year and should be a fun one to attend. I expect everyone is ready to get out and break some targets under warm Carolina blue skies. If so, come to Bostic and have an enjoyable long weekend in the foothills.

Approximately 11 NC shooters attended the Southern Grand at the Silver Dollar SC. Our highlights were Brian Kellner and Marty Hill finishing first and second, respectively, in the Garl E. Gresley Handicap. Noah Gouge made it to the winner’s circle many times throughout the week in the junior category, Steve Watson won A in the Doubles Class Championship, and Brad Barnett won a third-place veteran category points pin in the Singles Championship. Congrats to Billy Thigpen for shooting a 100 straight in singles on the first day! Great shooting to all!

Over the winter, Low Country Preserve and Buckhorn hosted several shoots. Coharie SL, Old Hickory and Durham Co. joined them in March, and Rockingham Co. will be starting the first weekend of this month. The high-country shoots at Watauga will begin late this month.

Weather is getting better, and all our clubs are holding or are planning to hold registered shoots. Dust off the trap gun and plan to shoot at some of our great NC clubs. All are putting on some good shoots and can use our continued support. Check the shoot calendar on www.nctrap.com and tarheeltrap.com for Big 50s and other NC registered shoot dates.

Remember to visit www.nctrap.com and www.tarheeltrap.com for NC shooting information. If you have any information you would like to see here, please send it to me at [email protected] or 919-357-6859.

Jeff Galloway
ATA Delegate

South Carolina

South Carolina had shooters at the Southern Grand, and there were some good scores posted. We had just two winners, David Shaeffer and Ed Clarke. Monday was the best day; the rest were windy, windy, windy and cold, but it beats a day at work.

This is the May issue, so if I didn’t see you at Georgia State, I sure hope to see you at our state shoot May 17-21. We’ve got our famous free fish dinner back this year. If you are planning to attend, get your motel reservation in; there are two college graduations that same week. Remember, three days, and we’ll have $1,000 split five ways by name draw, no shootoffs. Also we’re giving awards three deep on every event in open and category, so every possible All-American point available will be awarded.

The Big 50 shoots are taking off; Mid Carolina is the leader. They’ve had enough shooters to give punches in ’caps. Belton held their second shoot, and Greenville held an initial trial run.

At press time it was announced that the Dixie Grand is moving to the North Carolina homegrounds Oct. 3-8. Check online at shootata.com for info, and stay tuned for the rescheduled SC Hall of Fame Shoot date.

Shoot well and shoot often.

Jim Faber
ATA Delegate

Tennessee

This month we have two state shoots in the Southern Zone: South Carolina, May 17-21, Spartanburg GC, Pacolet; and Mississippi, May 25-28, Coast R&PC, Biloxi.

If you want to stay closer to home, both Nashville and Memphis are having two-day shoots May 20-21. Nashville GC is hosting the Music City Shoot. They shoot 200 singles and 100 handicap on Saturday. Then on Sunday they shoot 100 of each—singles, handicap and doubles. Memphis GC is hosting the Mid-South Open. They will shoot 200 singles on Saturday. Then on Sunday they shoot 200 handicap followed by 100 doubles. Both of these annual shoots started over a half-century ago.

Twenty-nine Tennesseans attended the Southern Grand in Florida. Those winning trophies were Hunter Morton, Amy Dement, Seth Cooper, Kerry Davis, Katie Barnett, Mitchel Loveless, Joe Dement, Troy Seiber, Chase Kopeck, Alan Loveless and Chandler Brown.

At our February board meeting, we voted to try the two-bank system. We will start six squads at a time on the odd-numbered traps, shoot 50 targets, and then move to the adjoining even trap for the final 50 targets.

June 13-14 is the Tennessee AIM Shoot, followed by the 104th Tennessee State Shoot June 15-18 at the Tennessee CTC in Nashville. Once again we will be giving resident as well as non-resident trophies and All-American Points Pins for second and third place in all categories.

Read the Rulebook, please.

Check out our website at Shootatatn.com for more info.

For questions or further information, contact me at [email protected] or 731-217-9957.

Billy Cook
ATA Delegate

Southwestern Zone

Arkansas

Unless you live in a warm climate or take the winter off and travel south to shoot all winter, you are probably experiencing the challenge of getting back “in the groove.” If you are like most of us, after the Grand is over, you shoot a little more, but after November, it’s about over for a while. Then when spring comes and weather starts to warm up, trapshooting fever begins to rise. The only problem: you haven’t shot in a while, so you go out to the gun club, and guess what . . . wow, you’re a little rusty. Sound familiar? It happens every year; why are we surprised? So, what do we do? We go to work to get our game back. “Where water ran once, water will run again.”

We are very blessed here in Arkansas with a lot of choices about where to shoot. Every year it seems like we have more options. Last month I mentioned two new gun clubs that will soon be throwing registered targets (Delta Resort and Spa in Tillar and Rocky Creek Outdoors GC outside of Texarkana). I have recently received word from Mountain Valley SA outside of Hot Springs. Mountain Valley had gone dormant from holding registered shoots for a while but are in the process of starting back up. This also means more targets will be thrown, which means more shooters, which means more ATA and state daily fees will be collected, which will help in the promotion of trapshooting in Arkansas and around the country.

On a more somber note, we recently lost Arkansas Hall of Fame member Carroll Crisler. His mischievous grin, infectious wit and overwhelming generosity will be sorely missed but never forgotten.

President Tune and others are hard at work in preparation for this year’s state shoot. More to come later.

I encourage you to give support to as many state shoots as you can this year. It is always good to see old friends and, who knows, maybe create some new ones.

Alan (Chuck) Sharp
ATA Delegate

Colorado

I’m sitting at my computer watching the beautiful spring snow falling. As most Delegates are aware, we often have times when it is hard to come up with something to write about for our monthly articles. I’ve been a bit remiss in the past few months. No excuses, but it has been a busy winter, and quite frankly, I’ve suffered from writer’s block.

My daughter Nikki and I had a great time at the Spring Grand and had an interesting adventure on the way home. I thought it might be fun to tell the story. She wrote most of the article that follows. I hope you enjoy it as much as she and I enjoyed the trip.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in Tucson, AZ. There was a slight breeze as we were making our rounds of goodbyes after the Spring Grand. We got in the truck and prepared for our 12-hour drive back to Colorado. We stopped for lunch at In-N-Out Burger and were on our way in no time. As we were leaving, a couple of friends and fellow Coloradoans were just walking into the same In-N-Out Burger. We thought for a few moments to hang out with them and convoy with them to Colorado. Unfortunately, we decided to get on the road. As we pulled onto I-10 heading east, we began our usual after-shoot discussion—you know, the usual talk about what we did well and the times that we found our heads stuck somewhere they shouldn’t be.

About 90 miles down the road, we ran into a crash big enough to close the eastbound lanes of I-10. We were forced to take a detour; I recalled my friend Dan, who was about 30 minutes behind us, talking about a similar crash on his way to Tucson that took him on a two-hour detour.

I called Dan to warn him about the detour, and he recommended an alternate route heading north. Nikki went straight to her phone, as all the younger generation do, to use the map app. But naturally, she didn’t have service on this detour and was forced to use an old stale road atlas I’ve had in the truck since time immemorial. As she’s looking at the old map, she notices a highway that goes due north and ends at another highway that will bring us straight to I-25 at Socorro, NM.

This convenient route could cut off a chunk of New Mexico and shave hours off our trip—so we thought. A couple miles on this new route, our GPS reroutes and begins telling us to turn around. Every few miles the GPS repeats those orders. Logically, we assume that the GPS wants us to return to the detour route, so we ignore it and happily go on our way. I thought in a mile or two, the GPS orders would end.

We go through several nondescript towns before entering a mining town. We heard the last warning from the GPS that we would hear for almost four hours, just before we saw a sign that said “Entering Blasting Zone.” That was the point where we thought we may have made a big mistake, but there was nowhere to turn around now.

A couple miles down the winding road, routed through the mine, we see the sign indicating that we were exiting the blasting zone. We began climbing a mountain just behind the mine, and we were met by a 25-mile-an-hour speed limit and hairpin turns the entire way. I commented, “Well, I hope it’s not like this the whole way to Highway 60.” Nikki just laughed and said, “Yeah, that would suck! At least it’s pretty up here!” Just then, we passed a sign that read, “Apache National Forest.”

We came up behind a small white car with Minnesota license plates, and I thought the vehicle looked familiar but dismissed it. Although the speed limit was 25 miles an hour, we could only manage 15 to 20 miles an hour, and the white car wasn’t doing any better. Nikki asked me why I wouldn’t go around them. I replied that we should have another car around, just in case. After all, we hadn’t seen anyone else for miles.
Nikki asked me to pull over so she could take pictures of the gorgeous landscape. Once we were back on the road, we quickly caught up to the white car again. We were descending from the peak now, and the roads began to straighten out. However, that was just a teaser. We began climbing another peak with harsh curves, and the speed limit reduced back to 25 miles an hour.

At the top of the peak it began snowing. We descended and ascended three other times, with the snowstorm worsening each time we were at a peak. We continued following the same white car nearly the entire 90 miles between the mine and Highway 60. Nikki joked that the people in that car were probably trying to hide a body, and we were ruining their plans, but I disagreed. I was sure they had been lured into this route like we had been.
As we approached a small, obscure town in Arizona, the white car we’d been following turned off, and we passed them. They pulled right back onto Highway 191 and followed us. That’s when Nikki commented that they were mad at us for foiling their body-dumping plans and were after us now. I laughed and continued to drive. Fortunately, we were finally on the last 30-mile stretch of Highway 191, and the speed limit was 65 miles an hour. We were moving now!

We finally made it to the junction of Highway 191 and Highway 60, almost four-and-a-half hours after we encountered the crash on I-10. Four-and-half hours is a long time to cover only 90 miles. We pulled into a gas station located on Highway 60, and the white car pulled in just after we did. When Nikki walked out of the restrooms, she saw me speaking with a pair of twins from Minnesota that we shot with while in Tucson. Now I know why the car looked familiar.

The twins jokingly told us they were worried about the truck that had been following them for the past 90 miles—so worried they felt the need to bring their handguns to the front of the car with them in case they were being followed for a more nefarious purpose. The truth was, Highway 191 was lacking in turnoffs (none), so we thought that seemed a little paranoid. I was following them because on this desolate road in the middle of nowhere, it might be best to have a chance to flag someone down if we had car trouble.

As we were finally heading east to Socorro, I decided to call Dan and see where they were. When they’d reached the crash area, they were just opening I-10. In fact, they were checked into a hotel in Socorro, and we still had a couple of hours to go!

We finally made it to Socorro around 10:30 p.m. to spend the night. We made it home to Colorado Springs the next day uneventfully, with no detours.
I travel to or through Tucson two to three times a year. Most of the time, the trips are pretty boring. You don’t always know where a detour might take you. In this case, we probably should have stuck to the detour instead of trying to outsmart the highway patrol and not listening to the ever-lying GPS! It turned out to be quite an adventure through a lot of country we’d never seen. I wouldn’t want to do it again, but we had a good time. I didn’t even mind dodging elk and deer the entire way.

The Colorado State Shoot is being hosted by Pikes Peak GC this year. I hope you’re all making plans to attend. The club is working hard to host a memorable shoot. Don’t forget the Southwestern Zone Shoot in July; Golden GC is our host site.

As your ATA Delegate, I’m here for you. If you have any questions or concerns or need help resolving an issue, please let me know at [email protected].

Mike Herman
ATA Southwestern Zone Vice President

Missouri

I hope that by now you have had that trophy-winning shotgun out of the safe and blown the cobwebs out of the barrel at your local trap range. I see where a number of Missouri shooters have even done a little traveling to Arizona and/or Florida. Tucson, AZ, seems to be more popular, with 26 Missouri shooters attending the Spring Grand. Robert Osburn and Samantha Foppe both brought back trophies, with several shooters in carryovers and shootoffs and some fantastic scores shot by many. There were two Missouri shooters attending the Dixie Grand at the Silver Dollar, with Gary Gooch winning a couple trophies. The Southern Grand had six MO shooters in attendance, with Foppe, Darrell Farr, Taylor Houx and Bob Glatz winning a total of 16 trophies. Sam collected 11. Congratulations to all who tied for or won trophies.

MTA at Linn Creek kicked off the season with a non-registered team shoot. In the past, we have endured just about every kind of weather that one can imagine, from cold rain, snow, howling wind and just plain cold. This year we enjoyed some of the best weather one could ask for in mid March; we actually did not need a jacket during the afternoon. This year there were 21 teams of five shooters each, shooting 50 from the 16-yard line, 50 from the 20 and the last 50, depending on team average, as far back as the 27. Teams were distributed among four divisions, based on team average. Congratulations to the winners: Division 1, KCTA (Kent Frost, Mark Moser, Stephen Ricketts, Hughie Coleman and Randy Stitt), 679; Division 2, Bandits (Ed Powell, Bobby Harrison, Butch Long, Lloyd Hinton and Dennis Harbit), 650; Division 3, John Farrell Realty (John Farrell, Kevin Showalter, Rick McGaughey, Roland Brooks and Alan Blair), 615; Division 4, Fry Targets (Ken Fry, Nick Fry, Justin Graham, Teresa Graham and Dr. James Kinnard), 563. Thanks to this year’s MTA Hall of Fame inductee Tom Rombach for selecting the trophies and the MTA staff for putting this all together. In the past, weather was not conducive to retaining shooters for a registered tournament. This year, however, was good enough to continue with an ATA shoot on Sunday, when 47 shot the singles, 45 the handicap and 24 the doubles.

During the meeting of the MTA board of directors after Saturday’s events, final plans were put into place for the Missouri State Shoot. The program was finalized and sent to the printer with minimal changes other than what I mentioned last month. By the time you read this, you should have the program; if not, it will be on the motraps.com website. One thing that I would like to mention is that the decision was made to hire dedicated target-setters for the state shoot; the MTA directors will not be setting all of the targets as in the past. Much has been and is being done to assure that each shooter has the best possible target, regardless of bank.

I would like to remind all shooters to please keep your average cards up to date. It is your responsibility to have all your scores recorded in order to be properly classified. It is also the shooter’s responsibility to have the proper yardage marked (punched) on the card. Shooting from the incorrect yardage is sure to get your score disqualified; I have witnessed this. If you are not sure about your yardage, please contact me or the ATA office to get things sorted out prior to classifying at a shoot. Just a reminder, even though you can print your average card from the ATA website, it still may not be completely up to date, due to the time lag in entering scores at the ATA office and updating the database.

It has been my pleasure serving the Missouri shooters as your ATA Delegate for the last two years. I will continue to do my best to serve you and be your voice to the ATA, and I look forward to the opportunity in the future to do so. If anyone has any concerns or anything they would like to have reported, please contact me at [email protected] or 816-863-9003. Shoot well and shoot often.

Stephen Ricketts
ATA Delegate

New Mexico

The Roadrunner TC in Alamogordo could not have picked a nicer weekend to host their Annual Shoot in the middle of March. Temperatures all three days were in the low 80s, with light winds and clear skies. This is historically the largest Annual Shoot in the state, and this year was no exception. This was a must-attend shoot for most shooters in New Mexico and west Texas; the background and the black target combination creates an environment that results in great scores. Several generous people and businesses enabled the club to provide some of the nicest buckles available for all of Saturday’s and Sunday’s events. Dalton Jennings ran both singles events to win AA on Saturday and the singles champion buckle Sunday. Richard Leos posted the only 98 in the Saturday handicap to win the mid-yardage buckle, Doug Mathews entered a 97 to take the short-yardage buckle, and Jennings had a 96 to take the long-yardage buckle. Dalton posted a 97 to lead Saturday’s doubles, followed by Orren Guffey, B; Alec Rodriguez, C; and Mark Hamel, D. The Doubles Championship was won by Jennings with the lone 98, followed by Dalton, Kyle Bristow, Tyler Jensen and Jodi Evans in the classes. Guffey, Leos, Tate Jensen, Zack Perkins and Lane Klohn were the class singles winners. The Handicap Championship ended with a three-way tie for the champion buckle. Zack Perkins ended up winning, with Dean Fraley taking the short-yardage buckle, Guffey landing the mid-yardage buckle, and Dalton taking home the long-yardage buckle. Thanks to all Roadrunner TC members for your best effort in hosting another great annual shoot.

You can attend a registered shoot every weekend in May, as trapshooting in New Mexico is in full swing. The Raton TC is hosting a two-day shoot the first weekend along with Silver City hosting a one-day shoot. Roswell has a one-day shoot the second Saturday, along with Farmington’s two-day shoot that weekend. Belen will be hosting a state shoot warm-up the Sunday before the state tournament, so start your travels early, stop by Belen for their one-day shoot on Sunday, and then head for Raton and the NRA Whittington Center, for the start of the New Mexico State Shoot on Wednesday.
As always, you can reach me at [email protected].

Dale Rechtenbach
ATA Delegate

New Mexico

Dale Rechtenbach
ATA Delegate

Oklahoma

Duncan GC held their first registered shoot of the year on Feb. 19. Weather was warm with a light southeast wind, encouraging a good turnout. Chad Carver was high in the singles with 99 and handicap with 93. Sub-junior Colton Ables was high in the doubles with 89.

Ada GC’s Tuesday night fun shoot was won by Preston Lynch with 50 straight (25 singles and 25 handicap). Good shooting, Preston.

OTSA held the last derby shoot of the winter on Feb. 26. In the singles Lyndon Shumaker and Brian Northup broke high scores of 48. Tim Mount and Bob Campbell had 47s. Mount was high in the handicap with another 47. Matthew Hale’s 46 was second, and Paul Hooper was third with 43. Bill Dean’s 45 was high in the doubles, with Mike Meeks’ and Bob Campbell’s 39s next.

In figuring the state trap teams, some interesting things were noticed. In the 2016 target year, we had a total of 267 shooters. We gained seven new female and 50 new male shooters. Of these, 188 were category shooters: 24 female, 11 junior gold, 21 junior, 40 sub-junior, 42 sub-vet, 26 veteran, 47 senior vet and one chair. Last year at the Grand American, 39 of the 53 Oklahoma shooters were category shooters. We had only 10 registered male shooters who qualified for the men’s team this year.

Congratulations are in order for the 2017 Oklahoma trapshooters team:
Men’s—Patrick Stacey, .9536; Mike Grove, .9039; Brian Northup, .9028; Terry Johnson, .8969; Paul Brooks, .8959. Lady I—Shelby Skaggs, .9208; Ashton Huffstutlar, .8893; Vickie Farmer, .8458. Lady II—Rose Shaffer, .9253; Mikie Hooper, .8107. Junior—Zane Arnold, .9086; Josh Casteel, .9021; David Upton, .8815; Clay Galbreath, .8745; Tyler Barkhimer, .7245. Sub-junior—Colton Ables, .8920; Clay Laughlin, .8740; Brayden Bliss, .8696; Collin Rindal, .8676; Jared Marshall, .8616. Junior gold—Corbin Grybowski, .9544; Michelle Wagar, .8233. Sub-veteran—Robert Rimer, .9389; Rick Bliss, .9332; Ron Bliss, .9229; Charles LeadingFox, .9175; Steve Barnett, .8841. Veteran—Monty Tolleson, ,9022; Robert Felgenhauer, 8913; Richard Shaffer, .8870. Senior veteran—Tom Batt, ,9363; William Dayton, .9170; Gary Nichols, .9149; Jon Guy, .9041; Verlin (Doc) Koper, .9003. Chair—Tom Richey II, .7153.

We did not have anyone qualify for ladies’ or men’s Rookie of the Year.

Shawnee Twin Lakes TR had cool weather for their March 5 shoot. Mike Meeks was high in singles with 97 and doubles with 91. Chad Carver headed the handicap with 93.

OTSA’s March 11-12 shoot was also held in very cool weather, but attendance was great and scores high. In Saturday’s singles Ron Bliss led with 96. Kevin Nanke’s 92 topped the handicap. Sunday’s singles was won by Colt Quisenberry with 99, and Pat Stacey and Jeff Trayer were next with 98s.

Brayden Bliss won the handicap with 96, and Josh Stacey was next with 93. in the doubles, Pat Stacey was high with 93, and Rick Bliss was next with 91.

An OTSA board meeting was held after the shoot to finalize the state shoot program. Programs will be printed and available at the Missouri State Shoot. See Ron Bliss or myself if you want one.

This year there will be runnerup awards for all category shooters. Oklahoma is usually a Competition Factor 3 for All-American points. We also ordered good weather for the shoot.

Duncan GC’s March 19 shoot was well attended. The wind played havoc with the targets all day. They worked hard to give us the best targets possible. Pat Stacey broke 98 to win the singles and 95 to win the doubles. Paul Hooper won the handicap with 92.

Brian Northup and I have tickets available for a chance to win the ATA high tech Perazzi Combo shotgun. For a $20 investment, someone will be the proud new owner of the Perazzi valued at over $25,000.

With the warm weather we have experienced during March, registered shooting in Oklahoma is off to a good start. Tulsa GC reported a good turnout for their first shoot after rebuilding. They are still looking to acquire another Pat-Trap.

Let’s all support our local clubs, as they depend on us to survive. A lot of the time these clubs are short-handed due to someone not showing up. From my experience of running the Shawnee club for nine years, I can tell you this is a common problem. Offer to help when you can. We have all been there and done it before. Even something as simple as helping pick up voice pulls from four traps can be a big help. Unrolling cords from singles to be ready for the handicap and rolling them back up for the doubles can be helpful. Helping is contagious. Sometimes when you do this, other shooters come out to help as well. Anything we can do to make things run smoothly helps everyone.

Remember to support law enforcement and military personnel who protect us.

Tim Deister
ATA Delegate

Texas

Trapshooting is in full swing again all across Texas. It’s time to get out and smell the gunpowder.

Zone IV will have their shoot May 19-21 at the Ft. Worth GC. The Zone I shoot will be at Amarillo June 16-18. Both of these will be very good shoots. The people at both clubs do a great job. These are very important shoots for those trying to make the Texas state team.

I had a report from Drew Fryman about the Waco S&TC. They had a raffle; winner of the gun safe was Joe Altom, and winner of the gift card was Jerry Ulmer. Drew said they had a very good turnout for their February shoot, with 38 shooters attending. The people there are working very hard to get Waco back into trapshooting. Go and support them when you can. We need every club we have to be successful.

Make your plans now to attend the Texas State Shoot in Amarillo July 4-9. Amarillo plans to have their annual Firecracker Shoot July 1-2. That will give you a chance to warm up for the state shoot.

Don’t forget, our Southwestern Zone Shoot sites this year are Waco and Amarillo. Waco will shoot July 13-16, and Amarillo will shoot July 14-16.
If you need information on Texas shooting, visit our website at texastrap.com. All shoots and clubs are listed there, plus lots of other information.
Congratulations to Tanner Mathias on shooting his first 100 straight. We all knew he would do it; it was just a question of time. Tanner is a fine young man and a great shooter. I wonder if these young people realize what a sacrifice their moms and dads make to allow them to shoot. There’s lot of travel and expense involved for mom and dad. A special thanks to parents who do this.

Well, other than mentioning “read the Rulebook,” I guess I’m done. I hope to see everyone at a shoot soon. Till next time, y’all shoot well, y’all shoot often, and y’all have a great time.

Jerry O’Connor
Delegate

Western Zone

Arizona

I was hoping we could squeak in the state shoot this month, but the printer waits for no man. The long-term weather forecast for the shoot looks good; we will see if it turns out to be true.

This is going to be a watershed year for Arizona trapshooting. Three longtime directors are leaving the ASTA board: Tim Robb, who has been a director since trapshooting started; Ken Schatz, who single-handedly brought the 21st century to the secretary-treasurer’s office; and Richard Lane, always a wise and steady hand. Thanks a million, guys. A number of worthy candidates have volunteered for the openings, but all have big shoes to fill.

A few final thoughts on the Spring Grand: with the possible exception of the Grand American itself, it is the best-run large shoot that I have encountered. In other parts of the country, shoots of this size usually go on well into the night, and the trap personnel are not up to Tucson’s standards. Some folks who help make this happen are the ladies behind the windows, such as Char and Mary; Jerrie at the trophy desk; Steve Williams and Linda Williams; Jim Jones, our Zone Vice President; all the guys and gals on the trapline, including the Air Force bunch; and Doug Sims. Well done! We should also thank the vendors. I see many of them working late into the evening. Besides, every year I find many of my best (but slightly worn) shirts being used as RV rags, I always leave better attired than when I arrive. They are a most important part of our sport.

Around the state: two major events in the Winter Chain happened this month, Casa Grande’s Breast Cancer Awareness Shoot and the Pre-Spring Grand Warm-Up at Ben Avery. “Think pink” was the watchword at Casa Grande, and this always leads to some interesting outfits. Paul Sawrey kicked things off for Arizona in the opening singles, and we dominated in the day’s doubles with Ken Mlynarz at high gun with 98, Phil Vasquez taking B, and Ron Schroer winning senior vet. On Thursday Ron did it again in the doubles, and Rosie Kingery won D singles. I also noted some nice scores by Don Volz, but he was listed as a Colorado shooter. Funny, I thought that Don and Tiger were married. Friday featured three events, starting with Ken Mlynarz’s 100 in singles to win AA and Mike Podkin’s victory in B. Jesse Zamora then took the 18-21 yard group in the ’caps as did Chase Grubb for the 22-24 shooters. Schroer won AA in the doubles, and Wayne Thompson topped all senior vets. Saturday started with doubles, and Steve Johnson was tops in AA. Next came 100 singles, and Alan Nicholas and Mike Podkin finished with 197s. Alan won A, and Mike triumphed in B. Kaitlin Quan tied for high lady but lost on a forfeit. The midday event was the ’caps, and Ken Vanderpool was high gun at 22-24, as was Kaitlin in ladies’. The shoot finale was 100 doubles, and the Arizonians showed up. Ken Mlynarz won AA, Bob Mlynarz took B, Quan C, and Schroer once again beat all other senior veterans. Mike and Jenny Podkin of Squad Ready donated T-shirts, with all proceeds going to the Casa Grande Breast Cancer Center. Everyone declared this a very successful shoot.

Not to be outdone, Ben Avery’s Spring Grand Warm-Up was held in near-perfect conditions. It was the type of weather that makes people flock to Arizona in the winter. Shooters came from 25 states and provinces. Gerry Williams started things off right with 100 in the singles, taking vet. The Mlynarzes then prevailed in doubles, with Ken winning AA and Bob B. Wayne Thompson was high in B in Thursday’s doubles, and Max Peevyhouse’s 100 won A in the singles. Bob Dobbs took C in the same event. Last up was handicap, and our old friend Denny Neff tied in the 22-24 yard group. Friday started with ’caps, and Greg Holden, shooting at 27 yards, was high gun at 97. Then along came another handicap, and it was time for some Ben Avery regulars. Tony De Simone won 18-21 with a nice 96, and Larry Kennon tied in 22-24. Saturday started with 200 singles, and Dan Vogel of Montana ran ’em. Our guys and gals just fell short. We came back in the afternoon’s ’caps, with Jesse Zamora winning 18-21, Quan tying at 22-24, and Peevyhouse tying in the long-yardage group. In Sunday’s doubles two familiar names popped up with 98s: Jim Sharp won Class A, and Jay Alderman took senior vet. Handicap was the last event, and Tim McDonald shot a 97, winning 18-21 after a shootoff.

All is not lost in Arizona during the upcoming months. Flagstaff and Pleasant Valley will be springing into action, and Tucson holds a registered shoot every month. They will also be a Western Zone site in July. See you on the line.

John Bergman
ATA Delegate

Utah

The Spring Grand has come and gone, and the turnout was great! The Singles Championship alone had 810 entries. Utah had 29 shooters who made the trek south in hopes of finding warmer weather, and for the most part, they were not disappointed. Several days hit 80°. It was, however, a little breezy to downright windy a few days. Thus, scores were not always as high as one would expect.

Notable trophy winners on numerous events were Sean Hawley and Sharred Oaks during Pre-Grand week as well as Grand week, with Sharred taking junior honors on both the class doubles and championship doubles with 100 straight. Breaking 100 in doubles is no small feat in itself, but I am here to tell you that during the class event, it was extremely windy; great shooting, Sharred! Jayme Anderson was one of six shooters who broke 200 straight during the Singles Championship, and he went on to win AAA honors after overtime. Sub-junior Hayden VanDam won so many events neither he nor his father Trent could remember how many. Way to go, Hayden! Father and son Chris and Austin Kinder both brought home hardware, as did Linda Gibson and Lori Martin. Lori also broke the first half of the 200-bird singles race on quite a challenging morning. Good job, Lori. All the scores can be found on trapshooters.com and the story in last month’s T&F. If I missed any other Utah trophy winners, I apologize.

Now that the Spring Grand is over, the beginning of shooting season really begins. The Round Robin, which runs through March at select clubs throughout Utah, is a great way to get new shooters involved in our sport. Late March is the real kickoff to ATA shoots at small clubs around the state. The volunteers who run these clubs work very hard to put on a fun shoot for us all. Please help support all our clubs as much as you can.
The ATA Average Book just came out, and some local shooters of note are Hawley and Oaks. Sean led men’s ranks with the high all-around average as did Sharred in junior ranks. Sharred took it one step further and had the high singles average in the ATA. Good job, Sean and Sharred.

Pre-squadding for the Western Grand in Vernal has started and is filling up fast. Sean and Stacy Hawley work very hard to make it a good shoot. They always make sure that great trophies, food and entertainment are available. Vernal has a lot to offer the non-shooting members of the family as well. There are rivers to run, dinosaur bones to see, and golf balls to be hit. Come on out and enjoy the Uintah Basin and do a little shooting as well.

Vernal is also one of the 13 Western Zone Shoot sites July 13-16. The ATA is adding $3,000 for the all-around to be paid out on the Lewis class for five classes, two pays per class at 60/40 split. There is an automatic, no-cost entry for everyone shooting all 400 all-around targets.

The state shoot is slated for June 21-26 at Spanish Fork GC. The program is being written as we speak, so keep your eyes open for more information. The officers are hard at work making sure you have a good time.

Just a reminder that the NRA sometimes has grants available for gun clubs that host charitable events for women and children and/or cancer fundraisers, etc. Gun clubs can go to the NRA website and find the form and give it a try. Grant writing is an art, where some thought must be put into the request, but don’t let that stop you.

The ATA has mailed five free memberships to each of the clubs in Utah to be given to brand-new ATA shooters. There is nothing that says we have to use these only at the club where they were mailed. For instance, a club that can’t find any new shooters could mail their allotment to a club that could support more than five. Try to find someone who has never registered a target and get them involved in our great sport!

Ed Wehking
ATA Delegate

Washington

The long winter here has transitioned to a rainy spring. We’ve been able to put the snow shovels away, but there is no shortage of mud. Regardless, the shooting season is off to a fine start, and excitement is building for the shoots upcoming.

The Camas Prairie Handicap was well attended at the Walla Walla GC, with about 148,000 targets thrown during the three-day run. The number of youth and new shooters participating is very encouraging, and everybody there seemed to have a great time. I’d like to throw a shout-out to the Colton GC, as over 40 members of this club from the Palouse farming region took part. If you haven’t shot ATA targets at this or any of the numerous clubs in rural Washington, I encourage you to give them a try. I think you’ll be happy with their efforts and hospitality.

As you read this, shooters from all over will be packing their gear in preparation for the Inland Empire Handicap. This four-day tournament is rich in history and is one of the oldest and longest-running shoots in the Pacific Northwest. This is a great shoot, and it happens right at the peak of shooting season here.

I am anticipating a great Washington State Shoot June 22-25. The WSTA board and all trapshooters in our state owe a big thanks to our Delegate George Seubert for raising sponsorship dollars. Youth shooters from any state are eligible for shells and sponsorship aid for this shoot. There is over $30,000 in added money this year also, so we know we’ll see stiff competition for all shooters, in and out of state. The trophy committee will have a great package to offer, rounding out what will be a great program, and don’t forget the WSTA’s famous Saturday night steak dinner.

Another popular event during the last few state shoots has been a silent auction. This is a great fundraiser and a way to take home some nice items to aid in your outdoor activities. All shooters and gun clubs are welcome to contribute items. Anyone wishing to contribute may contact me at [email protected], or just bring items at the beginning of the shoot. One great idea is a punch card or gift certificate for some rounds of targets at your club. Maybe you’ll get some new visitors at your facility!

I’d like to mention again all that George and Karma Seubert have done for trapshooting in the Northwest. From raising added money to youth sponsorships and providing ATA life memberships to some lucky young shooters, the Seuberts have really made an impact on trapshooting here. I am also grateful that George has suggested I take a turn at writing these letters, as it is a great experience.

I know I’ll have some great things to share about the Northwest Grand results in the next article, so stay tuned. Until then, take a kid, new shooter or one who hasn’t been around for a while to the club and smoke some targets. Shoot straight and keep your powder dry!

Sean Lewis
ATA Alternate Delegate

Central Zone

Illinois

Hello, shooters. By the time you read this, the trapshooting family will soon be back together at the state shoot. I don’t know about you, but it’s my favorite week of the year. Everyone reunites to catch up and tell their best shooting stories.

Unfortunately, one family member from the community has passed: Larry Mohr, who built Brittany SP on his farmland when the shooters of Illinois needed a new home. At this beautiful facility, he taught me everything I know about shooting and how to maintain his legacy at the range. I plan on doing everything I can to keep it running as smoothly as he has for the last 18 years. My grandpa will be greatly missed by many. I want to thank everyone who came out to say goodbye and to those who sent donations to the Brittany Youth Shooting Group in his name. It really meant a lot to all the family.

I would love to extend an invitation to everyone, whether you’ve attended for years or you have only thought about competing, to come and shoot at the state shoot. We will continue to grow and make improvements. I’m looking forward to seeing you all again!

Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate

Indiana

Greetings, shooters! It’s tough to believe that when you are reading this in May, our 2017 registered target season is upon us! I hope everyone has had a nice, uneventful winter and early spring and is looking forward to great weather and lots of clay targets in the air.

The Indiana central zone shoot will be May 5-7 at Roachdale GC. The northern zone shoot will be May 12-14 at Fulton Co. GC, with the southern zone shoot that same weekend at Indian Creek SC. The program for each shoot will be 200 championship singles targets on Saturday plus 50 pair of doubles then 100 handicap on Sunday. All three clubs will be having “Fun Day” targets on the Friday of their shoots; contact the individual clubs for details.

The 123rd Indiana State Trapshooting Championships at Indiana GC will be July 4-9. The ITA Spectator Experience will be back for the second year with even more events planned for non-shooters. The ITA Board has approved and work has begun on a major electrical upgrade project that is scheduled to be completed prior to the state shoot; new electric is being run for the trapline, clubhouse and shellhouse plus many of the existing campsites and vendor row. A few more camp spots are being added on the east side of the campground. If you have any questions about the shoot, camping or sponsorship opportunities, please let me know.

Don’t forget about the ATA Central Zone shoot at the Evansville GC site July 28-30. Keep an eye on indianatrap.com and shootATA.com websites in addition to TRAP & FIELD, as all of the shooting schedules are finalized for the target year. On the indianatrap.com website, click on “Calendar of Events” to see which clubs are shooting when. I hope to see you all at several!

I am sad to report Indiana lost a shooter recently; Mike Beroshok passed away. Mike was a regular at several central and northern Indiana clubs and will be truly missed. I remember how happy I was for Mike when he won the handicap belt buckle at Fall Creek’s Shoot for the Cure last fall, besting the field with a 97 on a tough day when the next scores were 94 and below. May Mike rest in peace.

Also I want to pass on my condolences to the Mohr family and all our next-door neighbors in Illinois after the passing of Larry Mohr from Brittany SP. My thoughts and prayers are with Larry’s granddaughter, Illinois ATA Delegate Lauren Mueller, as well as his daughter Michelle Mueller, who does our computer services at the Indiana State Shoot.

As always, don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything. My e-mail is [email protected].

Jason Barnett
ATA Delegate

North Dakota

Just because it has been winter in North Dakota doesn’t mean North Dakota shooters have been sitting around waiting for the snow to melt. Some have passed some major mile markers. Leonard Raddohl achieved 250,000 registered targets at Case Grande. Leonard started his career in 1982 and has registered 134,150 singles, 100,500 handicap and 16,200 doubles. Stan Petz shot at his 75,000th singles target at Case Grande. Stan started registering targets in 1991. Roger Johnson achieved his 25,000th singles target at Case Grande. Roger started shooting in 1990. Tim Kaffar reached 100,000 singles targets at Tucson T&SC and one month later recorded his 250,000th combined target. He has 100,450 singles, 87,000 handicap and 62,600 doubles. Tim started registering in 1981. Brian Knutson made it to the 27 with a 97 at Ben Avery.

Twenty-two North Dakota shooters made their way down to the Spring Grand. Some of the top scores: Mike Schell 96, 93 and 91 in Class C doubles. Brian Knutson shot a 100 straight in singles and followed it up with another 100 in the carryover to win sub-vet in the preliminary singles. He also had a 97 in doubles to win Class A. JoMarie Knutson shot a 95 and 96 in handicap. Richard Berland broke a 97 in Class C singles. Bob Munson hit 100 straight in singles and a 96 in the championship handicap to win senior vet. Bill Suda shot a 96 and two 95s in handicap. Jeff Iverson also broke 95 in handicap.

Don’t forget to make plans to attend the North Dakota State Shoot July 20-23 in Bismarck. We have a full line-up of non-resident trophies.
See you down the line.

Tim Kaffar
ATA Delegate

Ohio

Congratulations to the Ohio shooters who won trophies at the Southern Grand American: Roger Brenner, Ronald Bryant, Adam Bush, Andrew Bush, Emanuel Butdorf, Mike Dehabey, Ryan Denes, Michael Erter, Barbara Grant, Laramie Hedrick, Otto Kocmit, Mark Kroger, Edward McCloskey, Louie Morgan, J. M. Perrill, Madison Pitstick, Austin Pohlman, Jeff Schlichter, Ashley Stumbo, Mary Thompson, Michael Wengerd, Mark Wessell, George Whyde and William Williams.

The OSTA board met in February, and the Ohio State Shoot is looking good for this June. The BOD has sponsors for every event. Krieghoff and Gun & Trophy Insurance are two new sponsors, and all sponsors who participated in 2016 are returning. The golf cart and trailer, along with Kubota RTV 400, are still going to be offered by the BOD this year. The BOD is trying to obtain 14 guns to be given away at this year’s state shoot. This will consist of a $10 gun option on every event. A name will be drawn for every event to determine the winner. There will be well over 700 trophies and awards for residents and non-residents.

The BOD is proofreading the program as I write this; you should be getting your copy in the near future. Bingo seemed to be a big hit at last year’s shoot, so it will be offered again this year. Check your program for time and dates.

There are several clubs holding registered shoots this time of year, and I invite all of you to attend your local clubs to participate in these events. Make sure you have the required number of targets so you do not have to be penalized at one of the major tournaments. Don’t forget the zone shoots May 20-21. You must shoot the 400 targets in your respective zones to be eligible for the all-Ohio team.

I will leave you with words of wisdom from a good friend of mine: keep your head down, follow through and “bust ’em.”

Roger McNamer
ATA Delegate

Eastern Zone

Connecticut

Spring is officially here, and true to form, March came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. The snowstorm of a few weeks ago lingers and made winter leagues challenging, to say the least. The CTA hosted the Hall of Fame banquet. This year’s inductee was our CTA president Tony Minervini. Also honored with Special Service Awards were Bob Hruskocy, Ron Kulmann and Jason Marshall. This memorable event was held at Bristol F&G. I will report on the evening next time.

The rush is on to complete our program book and get it in the mail. You can also check it out on the website www.cttrap.com. Check out the upcoming shoot schedule and make your plans to come and support our sport. Our first shoot will be held at Hamden F&G April 30.

Congratulations to Eddie Hale and Noelle Feucht on their trophy wins at the Southern Grand in Florida. Eddie and Noelle claimed B runnerup honors in singles events with 98 and 95, respectively, and Noelle earned eighth place in the championship handicap with 94. Well done!

Contact me anytime with any questions. I would be glad to be of assistance, and I hope to hear from you with any information you would like for me to share here. I can be reached at [email protected]. I look forward to seeing you out on the line.

Rich Latouf
ATA Delegate

New Jersey

It’s March 22 as I write this month’s contribution. Winter storm Stella (the weather bureau is now naming winter storms, too!) was initially forecast as a major blizzard for the Northeast and New Jersey in particular; however, they forgot to take into account the body of water called the Atlantic Ocean, which happened to bring warm air to the mix and resulted in rain along many of the coastal communities. The North Jersey CTC needed to resort to bringing in a front-end loader to pick up and carry the snow to each end of the facility. There was so much snow they couldn’t push it! Mother Nature at her worst!

Two shooters from New Jersey ventured out to Tucson for the Spring Grand in February, and both brought home a trophy in the championship singles. Mark Wade broke 200 in the event and shot off with six other shooters. After the first round, it was down to two: Mark and Stacy Rehor. Mark missed one in the second round and had to settle for the sub-vet prize. Chris Cusamano broke 198 in the same event and was B runnerup. Nice shooting, guys.

The Southern Grand just finished up at the Silver Dollar in Odessa, FL. High winds and cooler-than-normal temperatures were the norm early in the week. It did warm up for the championship events, and the wind remained too. Twenty-two New Jerseyans were able to compete during the March tournament, many missing the effects of Stella back home. Daniel Brandreth led the group, winning two trophies, while Thomas Clarke, Joe Sissano, Peter Frederiks, Mark Wade, Emily Malone, Justin Malone, Thomas Green Sr. and Butch Zeppone each won one. You can see who won what on rjstuart.com and in this issue of T&F.

By this time, you should have had the opportunity to pick up a 2017 state shoot program at your local gun club. If the weather has kept you home all winter, you can log onto the New Jersey ATA website njsta.com and read the electronic version of the program. Rudy and I missed a shooter when compiling the men’s second team. In the printed version, Chris Cusamano’s name was omitted from the list. He qualified third on the men’s second team. His name does appear in the electronic version that’s on our website. Sorry, Chris, for the omission.

This month we’re writing about our second 2017 inductee into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, Louis Pagliughi. Induction will take place June 3 at 4 p.m. in the clubhouse; refreshments will be served.

Lou was born in March 1890; he along with seven siblings grew up on his dad’s farm in Vineland. His parents came to America from Italy in the 1800s. They had a peach orchard and grew mainly sweet potatoes and other vegetables on their 30 acres. Lou’s dad and uncles also opened a country store, where they sold their various crops along with general merchandise, including gasoline and automobile repairs. Growing up, Lou would go small-game hunting with his dad and uncles. Lou married Minnie in 1920, and they decided to build their own three-bedroom house. Hunting in that area at that time was so good that doctors, lawyers and other hunters from the Philadelphia area would travel to Louis’ home and sleep over for a few days for guided hunts. Selling shooting supplies and firearms began innocently enough. Lou started out purchasing shells and components for himself, and because they lived in a remote area of the state, his neighbors would ask him to buy ammo for them as well. His son Robert worked with his dad in building the business. Louis Jr. followed in his uncle’s love of auto repair and had his own shop. Lou started out converting the family general store on his farm, initially retailing ammo, components and firearms and eventually wholesaling as well. He kept adding to the existing store to accommodate the expanding business. Lou helped small clubs throughout the area promote shooting clay targets. For clubs that couldn’t afford the upfront cost of buying targets and shooting supplies, Lou would let them pay for them after they were sold. All this time, Lou was also becoming a great trapshooter, winning awards in the area, state and region. Lou’s initial state championship was the 1934 New Jersey state handicap title, where he recorded a high of 93. In 1938 he won the singles with 198. Then in 1955, at the age of 65, he captured the all-around with 370. Shoots at Pine Belt in the summer always had a bushel of Lou’s sweet peaches on hand for free. Lou passed away in 1964 at the age of 75. He and Minnie had two boys, Louis Jr. and Robert, and nine grandchildren. During his career he shot at 31,875 singles, 13,400 handicap and 11,810 doubles targets.

If you read your 2017 program, you’ll see a lot of shoots going on at your local club this month, getting you ready for your state shoot May 31-June 4. Again this year, the Delaware ATA Trapshooting Association is holding their state shoot at the Pine Belt SC in Shamong May 26-29, so come on out and warm up on the traps at Pine Belt prior to our state shoot!

On a sad note, two shooters associated with the Howell TC passed away suddenly in March: Chuck Algonas, a former shooter, and a puller on Howell’s Field 1; and Haskell Pelcman, who helped Gene load the houses and won his share of awards there as well. Both will surely be missed.

Haskel J. Pelcman died suddenly at his home in Brick Feb. 28; he was 65 years old. He could be found working at the Pro Desk in the Lakewood Home Depot. He enjoyed singing a capella songs from the 1950s and 1960s; loved trivia games; was a master carpenter, woodworker and animal lover; and enjoyed NASCAR racing, cooking, and trapshooting in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and especially the Cardinal Center in Marengo, OH, each August. Haskel is survived by Carol Burkley, his wife of 44 years, plus daughter Jodie Goodwin and husband John, grandson Jayce, and siblings, nieces and nephews. Haskel joined the ATA in 1992. During his career he shot at 86,000 singles, 60,000 handicap and 48,000 doubles targets.

Charles (Chuck) Algonas passed away in his sleep on Feb. 19. He and his wife lived in Point Pleasant, and he was an automobile mechanic. Chuck had been working Sundays at Howell TC on Field 1 for over a decade. He joined the ATA in 1974 and continued breaking targets until 2011. Chuck broke 100 in handicap on Monday of the Delaware State Shoot back in the early 1990s. During his career he shot at 87,925 singles, 47,550 handicap and 19,050 doubles targets.

If you have a question or idea for an article, I can be reached at 732-546-7910 or [email protected].

Joe Sissano
ATA Delegate

New York

Hello to everyone. Now that spring has arrived, I hope everyone is out and shooting plenty of registered targets. We hope you attend many tournaments this year.

Unfortunately, New York State has lost another great shooter, and I have lost another good friend. Michael Moran of Delevan passed away March 15. Mike was a great guy who always had a smile on his face and a kind word for everyone. He would kid me each year about being sure that the photo of the New York Grand attendees was displayed at the homegrounds in Cicero. I do not know what I am going to do now without him reminding me each year. Mike was a 2011 inductee into the NYSATA Hall of Fame and a member of the ATA Quarter Million Club. Mike joined the ATA in 1980. During his career, Mike registered 125,100 singles, 81,050 handicap and 48,750 doubles targets. NYSATA wishes his wife Josie and his family members our deepest sympathies. Goodbye, my dear friend, and may God bless you.

During the Southern Grand, shooters from New York did very well. In the Preliminary Singles, Justin Slater was junior gold runnerup and William Kutch was veteran runnerup; in the Preliminary Handicap, fifth place was taken by Urban Womer, and junior gold runnerup was Slater; in the Preliminary Doubles, Slater was junior gold runnerup, Mike Mincel was senior vet runnerup and Susan Gullotta was Lady II runnerup; in the David Shaeffer Jr. Singles, Heidi Womer was A runnerup and Slater was junior gold winner; during Tuesday’s doubles, AA winner was Urban Womer and senior vet runnerup was Mincel; in the Singles Class Championship, Curt Robbins was AA winner, Keith Welch was veteran runnerup, and Lady I winner was Heidi Womer; in the Clay Floyd Doubles, AAA runnerup was Slater, and B runnerup was Eddie Cotton; in the Garl E. Gresley Handicap, Heidi Womer was Lady I winner; during the Doubles Class Championship, Brian Luther was A runnerup, C winner was Richard Sharp, and sub-vet runnerup was Urban Womer; in the Doubles Championship, Slater was event champion with 100 straight; during the Singles Championship, Slater was junior gold runnerup; in the Handicap Championship, junior gold runnerup was Slater, sub-vet winner was Urban Womer, and chairshooter champion was James Reinhart; and in the all-around, Slater was junior gold winner, and Urban Womer was sub-vet runnerup. This was excellent shooting by these fine New Yorkers.
Congratulations go to Justin Slater for winning the Doubles Championship at the Southern Grand with 100 straight. This is the second time in three years that a New York junior gold shooter won the doubles title with 100. Christopher Vendel did it in 2015. Great going, Justin; all of us from New York are very proud of you.

If you would like to win a new Ford 2017 F-150 four-door 4×4 pickup truck, you can do it by winning the White Flyer Target Challenge at the 2017 Grand American. What you will have to do is break 200 in the Clay Target Championship, 100 in the Doubles Championship, and 100 in the Grand American Handicap. To make the deal a little sweeter, White Flyer is also throwing in a pallet of White Flyer targets. Not to be a downer, but this has never been done at the Grand American. You must be at the top of your game. Good luck!

We will be starting our shooting season at the homegrounds in Cicero, NY, with the Empire Grand May 10-14. We plan on providing an excellent tournament for everyone. We hope you all plan to attend.

If there is anything you want to have me write about in future articles in TRAP & FIELD, please e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks, and I hope to see you all soon. Good shooting, keep your powder dry, and break all those targets. I wish you all well, and may God bless.

Dave Cichelli
ATA Alternate Delegate

Ontario

Greetings from Ontario, Canada. I write this article shortly after returning from the Southern Grand in Florida.

It is seasonably cold here. It was unseasonably cold for much of the Southern Grand. We had a contingent of shooters at the Silver Dollar who did comparatively well against a tough field. I was reminded by Helen Smith (former Canadian National Shooting Team member and wife of Smoky Smith, a former president of the Ontario Provincial Trapshooting Association) that Ontario fielded a squad that hailed from “northern” Ontario (Sturgeon Falls area) and a squad comprised of “southern” Ontario shooters (mostly from the Cambridge area). Of course, there were other Ontario shooters who shot on squads comprised of people who hailed from across North America. Smoky was scheduled to attain 100,000 targets at the Florida State Shoot; congratulations, Smoky!

Just getting to tournaments is often challenging, especially by air and especially from Canada. Let me explain some problems encountered recently by trapshooters traveling with Air Canada via Terminal One at Toronto Pearson Airport.

In January I missed a direct flight (Toronto to Tampa) en route to the Dixie. Barry Turner from the eastern provinces missed his connecting flight (Toronto to Tampa), and in February Lloyd Beecroft missed his flight (Toronto to Phoenix, en route to the Spring Grand in Tucson).

The common denominator was that we all were with Air Canada and went through Toronto Terminal One. Lloyd was three hours and 15 minutes early and was still delayed through senseless red tape to the point that he missed his flight. Here is what happens when a shooter and his/her trapgun arrive at Toronto Terminal One.

You stand in line until ticket processing personnel open their kiosks and start processing travelers.

You will be directed to stay in line and encouraged to go to a computer terminal and get your boarding pass printed. What you should do is advise attendants that you must go to the attendants who deal with oversized or specialty issues like firearms. If you fail to do this, or attempt to do this and are met with resistance, you will waste valuable time. Get to the specialty line ASAP.

When you finally are face to face with the employee who deals with firearm, you will most likely be told:

1. You or your travel agent didn’t let them know you would be traveling with a firearm.

2. The airline employee cannot find the firearm declaration forms. The forms are quite simple, and you check off two boxes: that the firearm is unloaded, and that there is no ammunition in the case. One copy goes into the gun case, you keep a copy, and the others are kept for airline use.
3. There will be charges, generally $35 for a luggage fee and $50 for a “firearm handling fee.”

You check your “checked luggage,” which goes on the conveyor belt. You will then be directed to take your gun case to a nearby area, where the case will be put on another conveyor belt and X-rayed. By now Air Canada personnel have disappeared, and you are at the mercy of bureaucrats who will likely tell you (as they did me), “Your gun and case will go to the destination airport, and you can pick them up there.”

When you tell them you have an ATF Form 6 that must be reviewed by U.S. Customs and compared to the serial number of the firearm you intend to temporarily import into the U.S., you will most likely be told (as was I) that Customs need not inspect the firearm or look at any forms.
If you argue with them, they often get defensive and righteous. In fact, the response I was given to my question of, “If I am right and U.S. Customs & Border Protection does need to inspect the firearm, how do they do it?” You may be told, as I was, “They’ll just break open the gun case.”

At this point, your checked luggage has been sent down one conveyor belt and your firearm down another. Air Canada personnel as well as the X-ray people appear unaware of any next steps.

So what is the next step? Here goes:

 You go through the security clearing line, where you and your carry-ons are X-rayed, examined, frisked, etc.
 You then go to the U.S. Customs inspection and clearance area to use an automated machine where you insert your passport, verify information, and get a slip of paper that you take with your passport to another line until your turn comes to see a U.S. Customs agent.
 In front of this agent, you will declare that you have a firearm. You will be sent to the “secondary” clearance area and stand in line again until you can talk to personnel in this room. Personnel will tell you that your gun case and all checked luggage must be located (somewhere downstairs amongst all the other checked baggage) and brought to this inspection room, where they can physically compare your firearm serial number to your ATF Form 6. You will be directed to take a seat and wait (and wait). You can’t even use your cell phone, as cell phone use is prohibited here.
 Eventually your firearm and checked luggage will appear at the inspection area, where you are patiently waiting. This wait alone is often an hour or more. But now you are good to go, right? Wrong!

Now a firearm officer has to be paged to come to the inspection area. This usually takes 15 minutes or more. Once present, the gun case is opened, the serial number compared to the ATF Form 6, the gun case closed and locked. It as well as the checked baggage is sent back down a conveyor belt.
You have by now either missed your flight or are perilously close. If it is still possible to make your flight, you will have to literally run to the gate and hope you can board and that your gun case and luggage make the same flight.

So what is a possible solution? Well, you can drive, change airlines, leave your gun at home and maybe borrow one at the range (which is not practical), arrive at the airport even earlier (this makes no sense as airline personnel are not open for business in many cases until two to two-and-a-half hours in advance of flights).

Perhaps Air Canada should pay attention to how Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport deals with the identical situation, which goes as follows:
1. Arrive at the check-in kiosk.
2. An attendant will ask you to lock your gun case and follow (with the gun case) a short distance, where the locked case is X-rayed.
3. The gun case goes on a conveyor belt, as does your checked-in baggage. You never see either again until at the destination airport (in Toronto).
4. Depending on the line, this whole process can take 20 minutes or less.

My opinion: Air Canada can’t be this inept, so there must be an ulterior motive. I suspect they are trying to discourage people from carrying firearms on aircraft. They get well paid for the service they provide. Or, perhaps the blame rests with Terminal One, which has put in place an incompetent system that negatively impacts on all passengers and airline carriers.

My suggestion is that you try to avoid Terminal One in Toronto if you intend to travel with firearms. Or if you have no choice, be aware of the procedures and do your best to keep ahead of the curves and not miss your flight.

Paul Shaw
ATA Eastern Zone Vice President

Pennsylvania

As you’re reading this, I hope you are able to see the May flowers that are to have arrived after the April showers. I’m writing this in the middle of March, and the lamb part has not shown up yet. Our onion snow ended up being 20 to 32 inches in northeastern Pennsylvania. While most of us were digging out from Old Man Winter’s last gasp, 86 PA shooters were competing at the Southern Grand in Florida. Those ended up bringing home a total of 54 trophies, with Deborah Ohye-Neilson (13), Luke Cowart (seven), and Ken Darroch (six) needing to create a little extra space on the way home. Other winners from PA included Mark Polojac (two), Sheldon Hostetter (two), Frank Pascoe (two), Donald Neilson (two), Jerome Stefkovich (two), Darrell Cook, Fred Olinick, Peggy Carney (four), John Spangler, Frank Koscelnak (three), Emerson Bornman (three), Donald Schaffer (two), KayLynn Hamilton, Roger Shallenberger, Orville Hunter and Kim Bateman (two).

A few weeks earlier, PA shooters brought home some hardware from Tucson in the Spring Grand championship doubles and handicap events. Polojac earned AA champ in the doubles, while Spangler led all shooters to win the Handicap Championship. Steven Miller earned sub-vet runnerup, and Stefkovich veteran runnerup honors in the Handicap Championship. Congratulations to all Pennsylvania shooters at both events.

The ATA released data on number of targets thrown during the 2016 target year. The PSSA was one of five clubs throughout the country to throw over two million targets, ending with 2,156,975. Pennsylvania clubs ranked third in number of targets thrown with 4,151,100, behind Ohio (4,760,325) and Illinois (6,043,650). In total, Pennsylvania had 59 clubs throw registered targets in 2016, with the following five leading the way: Bradford GC, 172,550; North End, 144,125; Bedford, 135,675; Keystone Sportsmen, 117,800; and South End, 99,525. Congratulations to all PA shooters and clubs in making our state one of the best in trapshooting in the country.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Keystone Open at the PSSA homegrounds this month, and, as always, let me know of any achievements or noteworthy accomplishments.

Steve Ross
ATA Alternate Delegate

Around The ATA – May 2017

Around The ATA – May 2017

Around the ATA

Southern Zone

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

Mississippi

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee

Southwestern Zone

Arkansas

Colorado

Missouri

New Mexico

New Mexico

Oklahoma

Texas

Western Zone

Arizona

Utah

Washington

Central Zone

Illinois

Indiana

North Dakota

Ohio

Eastern Zone

Connecticut

New Jersey

New York

Ontario

Pennsylvania

About the Author: T&F Staff

Around The ATA – May 2017

Around The ATA – May 2017

Around the ATA

Southern Zone

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

Mississippi

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee

Southwestern Zone

Arkansas

Colorado

Missouri

New Mexico

New Mexico

Oklahoma

Texas

Western Zone

Arizona

Utah

Washington

Central Zone

Illinois

Indiana

North Dakota

Ohio

Eastern Zone

Connecticut

New Jersey

New York

Ontario

Pennsylvania

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About the Author: T&F Staff

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