Arkansas

Weather was great for the Grand American this year! I want to thank all the Arkansans who were able to be a part of the state picture. I was told that it was the largest turnout that we’ve had. Arkansas had a total of 139 shooters participate in the Grand. Our young shooters who participated in the AIM portion represented Arkansas well. So many won trophies that I am afraid I might forget to name someone if I start listing names. Great job, Arkansas youth shooters! And our adult shooters didn’t do so bad, either.

If you have never been to the Grand American, be sure to mark your calendars for next year (Aug. 5-15). It is an unforgettable experience. It’s an opportunity to meet new people from around the world and catch up with old friends.

I want to give a shout out to all the trap help. They did an amazing job keeping the trapline running. Also, to all the people behind the scenes, it takes a huge village to put on the Grand American, and a lot of those people do not get enough credit.

Arkansas has been blessed with several gun clubs. In the upcoming months, I will be reaching out to them and writing about them. So be looking to see when your club makes Trap & Field. To our Arkansas shooters, if you know of anyone who accomplishes a milestone in his/her shooting career, let us know—we want to be able to share.

I would like to remind everyone to read the ATA Rulebook. It is the shooter’s responsibility to know the rules. If I can be of any help, please contact me.

Psalm 118:29—O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. God bless.

I can be reached at [email protected].

Robby Pennock

ATA Delegate

Colorado

Road Warriors, Sky Warriors and Weekend Warriors: did you ever wonder what it takes to organize and run a large shoot? That is a story in itself and much too large for this newsletter. So I’m going to take it apart and talk a little about one of the most important aspects of all shoots, large or small, which is the very special men and women who attend.

The Road Warriors (the 21st Century “Mad Maxes” of trapshooting) are the large and small over-the-road, long-haul trapshooters. You can see their shiny rigs tethered to electric pedestals at every major shoot. These Road Warriors and their rigs come from every state plus Canada. Most will stop at many shoots on their way to a major shoot. Many of them put tens of thousands of miles on their rigs each year. Most are gifted and can repair almost anything with almost nothing. They can get themselves and sometimes others out of almost any jam. These Road Warriors spend their summers crisscrossing Canada and the U.S. Some follow established routes year after year, while others leave the beaten path behind, looking for new shoots and different backgrounds to test their skills.

The Sky Warriors (the 21st Century Jedi Knights of trapshooting) check their guns and climb aboard jet airplanes, heading to the city nearest a major shoot. As soon as they are back on the ground, they pick up their luggage and head to the motel of their choice. Sometimes a friend picks them up, or they rent a car. This method of travel with its rules and tight schedules can be quite stressful. Most Sky Warriors, along with many Road Warriors, will travel only to the largest of ATA shoots, for they are chasing the much-coveted All-American points.

The Weekend Warriors are the shooters who live within a day’s drive of a major shoot. Some will burn some vacation time, gather up the family and the dog, and shoot the entire shoot; others will shoot only the weekend then head home. Some, because of limited time and finances, will shoot only the ATA shoots in their area.

No matter which group you are in, you are vitally important to all shoots, for there would be no large shoots without all three groups of shooters. I hope you all know just how important you are to your state as well as the ATA.

The 2019 Grand American is now in the books, and once again Colorado was well represented with 47 shooters. We were represented in all classes as well as all categories. Well done, Colorado shooters.

First let me congratulate ATA’s President-elect Mike Herman. I know he will do a great job. Mike has worked hard for you and the ATA for many years to achieve his dream of becoming ATA President. I hope you will join with me in wishing him the best. Remember, when Mike succeeds, ATA succeeds; when ATA succeeds, we all succeed.

Speaking of succeeding, be sure to congratulate Gregory Ferguson for his stellar achievement at this year’s AIM Grand Nationals and the Grand. Gregory turned in his personal best shooting performance at the Grand by not missing any singles targets in AIM, the prelims or Grand Week. What a milestone this is for this young junior gold shooter! That was 1,200 targets in a row without a miss. Way to go, Gregory; you are surely the inspiration for other junior shooters in Colorado as well as other states.

Colorado had other sub-juniors, juniors and junior gold shooters who shot well in the AIM and Grand shoots this year: in no particular order, junior Kaden Westfall, sub-junior Riley Stevens, sub-junior Carter Slaugh, junior Brexton Slaugh, junior gold Shawn Hale, junior Colton Arrigo, junior Kailey Arrigo, junior gold Bryon Baca and two new sub-juniors, which I’m sure we will be hearing more about, Brennan Bringelson and Liam Bringelson. All did very well, as did many of our class and category shooters. Colorado had a number of new as well as repeat class and category winners this year. Again in no order, Lady I, DaShanda Bringelson, Nikki Herman, Stacy Rehor, Christina Stevens; Lady II, Kathie Ferguson, Lori Linderman, Kimberly Davis, Sandy DiGesualdo; sub-vet, Mike Herman, Michael Lestrange, Joe Leta, Dudley Mitchell, Brett Renck, Mike Storeim, Scott Wall, Allen Gregory, Nick DiGesualdo; vet, Mel Hensley, Richard Rehor, Robert Wagner, Irvin Effinger; senior vet, William Clark, Ray Stafford; open classes, Scott Obenchain, Todd Renck, Matt Slaugh, Michael Stevens, Shane Gillespie, Reid Kalsow, David Lian, Gary Linderman, Steven DiGesualdo, Scott Clark, Kevin Davis, Denis Bringelson. These are your Grand winners for this year.

We do need to increase our numbers, so please set a goal to participate in next year’s Grand American. We’ll be happy to make room for your name in the lineup of Grand winners. I know Mike Herman along with all Past Presidents, Vice Presidents, other committee members and all ATA Delegates will be happy to roll out the welcome mat for you. If you come, be sure to let me know, and I will be happy to show you around this magnificent shooting facility. “Ya’ll come see us now, you hear?”

Ruby Darling provided this quote: “You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.”—C. S. Lewis

Irv Effinger

ATA Delegate

Louisiana

I made it safely home from the 2019 Grand American, and I would like to say that weather-wise, this was the best Grand I have ever attended. Scores for me, not so much, but I would like to congratulate all who made the trip and all who were fortunate enough to bring home a trophy, make some new friends, and make new memories.

Louisiana had only 11 shooters in attendance, but several of these made sure the rest of the world knew they were there. Congratulations are in order for the Lincoln Parish AIM team for their third-place junior gold team award and to Josh Colvin for third-place individual in sub-junior A class. A very special thank you goes out to coach Amie Skipper and all the parents who help make this possible. I would also like to mention that Amie will be the LA AIM director going into the 2020 target year. Thank you, Amie, for all you have done and will continue to do for our kids. Please, Louisiana, let us help this fine group of young shooters have an even better 2020.

A couple of others who need recognition are none other than Jim Jenkins, runnerup in the Clay Target Championship with a perfect score of 200 and continued in the shootoff with an additional 307 targets before he dropped one. Jim also proved that he could shoot long-yardage as well with a fifth-place finish for the 25-26 group in the Grand American Handicap with 95. Also congratulations to LTA president Keith Crissman for sub-veteran champion with 98 in the Caesar Guerini Preliminary Handicap and D class runnerup in the ATA Prize Possessions HOA. Great shooting, guys.

For Louisiana shoot schedules and gun club contact information, please visit www.louisianatrapshootingassociation.org/index.htm. Shoot well and shoot often.

Doyle Brooks

ATA Delegate

Missouri

There were several major shoots impacted by the weather this year, except for the Grand American. While I have not been attending the Grand as many years as some of you may have, I certainly don’t remember a year with better weather for the entire shoot. If you were not able to attend, you missed a great one. Not only was the weather excellent, but several areas of the World Shooting Complex had received some attention prior to the shoot, thanks to WSRC director Monica Brackman and her staff. Once again the ATA staff and all the employees who were involved deserve a big thank you along with all the sponsors and vendors.

At 224, Missouri had the third-largest number of shooters who attended this year. Of those there were 23 who took home a total of 52 trophies, with many more in shootoffs and carryovers. Congratulations to all the 2019 Grand American trophy winners from MO.

Overall AIM and Grand attendance this year was up 1.48%, with 4,631 total shooters classified and 3,508 classified for the Grand. Anyone want to take a guess on which was the largest category of shooters? If you guessed senior vet, you were correct, at 19%. Sub-vet was next at 13% of the total. At 33% of the total. the open (those who did not declare a category) was the largest group.

One of the parts of the job as Delegate that I do not enjoy is getting involved explaining why a shooter was disqualified for an event, especially if he or she is in contention for a trophy. The most frequent reason for a disqualification is due to shooting from incorrect yardage. Most often it is because of not keeping the average card up to date or even not having one at all. It is the shooter’s responsibility to keep the average card updated or print off a current card from the ATA website prior to classification at a shoot. Please refer to Section II, C, 2, 3 and 4 of the ATA Rulebook. Keep in mind that during the shooting season, printed cards may not have the most recent scores recorded due to the time lag between the shoots and the recording of the scores. It’s easy to correct a class error but impossible to correct shooting from the incorrect yardage. I once read a quote that I wished I had thought of: “It’s okay to read the Rulebook.”

As we begin a new target year, this is the time when shooters normally review their goals. Is it to make an All-American team or a state team, or just improve your averages from last year? Whatever your goal is, I hope it involves shooting more at your local gun clubs; they need your support. I also encourage everyone to bring a friend to the gun club occasionally; you never know who might take to the sport and become your next shooting buddy.

If anyone has anything they would like to have reported on or has any questions or concerns, please contact me at [email protected] or 816-863-9003.

Shoot well and be safe!

Stephen Ricketts

ATA Delegate

New Mexico

Here it is, the end of the year. The new year started on the first of September.

The NRA Whittington Center is going to have a shoot Oct. 3-6. This is its first year. I hope it is a good shoot. They plan to make it a yearly event.

Alamogordo had a shoot Aug. 24-25. They had a good turnout. Weather was hot, and the targets were good—I just couldn’t hit them. I hope to see y’all next year. Shoot well and often.

Bob Leibel

ATA Delegate

Oklahoma

OTSA held two days July 27-28 of “Shoot what you want or need for Grand qualifications.” Eleven shooters shot several hundred targets apiece.

Iowa Park held a July 28 shoot that was well attended because of their Special 50s on the handicap. These have reached over $1,400 and are still climbing. Scores were very high in spite of a strong south wind, making targets challenging. Sonny adjusted the targets between events to give shooters the best targets possible. Pat Stacey won the doubles with 99, and Troy Collier’s 96 was next and won AA. Pat and Nathan Lemke both broke 100s in the singles for champion and A class. Dalton Jennings and David Kay both had 99s for wins. Carol Brown won the ladies’ award. Troy and Dalton tied with 96s for the handicap. When asked about a shootoff, Dalton told them to make Troy champion, and he took yardage. Several of us came close, but no 50s were broken. I heard talk about doubles from the 27, but it was time to head to the restaurant for barbecue.

I was sad to hear about Charlie Crow passing away from a heart attack. Charlie always came to our state shoot and told me he loves shooting at the OTA SP. Over the years he ran at least two 200 straights that I know of. He was at our state shoot in 2013 when the tornado blew his camper away. We never found one piece of it anywhere. Charlie will be missed by all of us, and our sincere condolences go out to his family.

Texas is so large it has 254 counties, campared to Oklahoma’s 77. On July 30 we found the OTSA clubhouse was broken into by someone familiar with our operation, probably someone who has worked for us. They knew the combination to the gate lock and even took the lock. They knew where the keys to the gun safe were, opened it and took the bank bag with $500 operating cash in it. They also had keys to the door and locked the doors when they left. They then threw a 55-gallon metal barrel through the west 4×4 office window to make it appear that’s how they got in. The phone books and paperwork on the windowsill were not disturbed. The sheriff was able to get some fingerprints that may help identify the thief.

Clay Laughlin and Don Bowers broke 48s to win Ada’s Tuesday shoot.

The Grand American had beautiful weather every day. Targets were good, leading to high scores in every event. When the best shooters from around the world compete, it is hard to win. Oklahoma shooters were able to compete and win. Some that I noticed who earned were Kya Funkhouser, Shelby Skaggs, Vickie Farmer, Randy Farmer, Charles LeadingFox, Kenyon Bert, Pat Stacey, Josh Stacey, Corbin Grybowski, Nathan Lemke, Lyndon Shumaker, William Dayton, Robert Rimer, Robert Ernsting, Christopher Diller, Jacob Diller, Eric Parks, Ron Bliss and Brayden Bliss. Eric picked up a C class trophy from 2018 in the 28-gauge event and won B class in the event this year. In the Champion of Champions, LeadingFox and Jacob Diller ran 100 straight, and Jacob won sub-junior third. Jacob also had 486×500 on the prelim singles. Kya had 487, and Josh Stacey had 496 to win AA runnerup. Shelby had 480 in the doubles and was fourth in Lady I. She was ninth on the 1,000 total for prelim week. Christopher Diller had 199s for sub-junior runnerup, and William Dayton’s 199 won senior vet runnerup. Shelby and Pat also had 199s. Vickie Farmer broke her high score in doubles, a 96, to win Class D. Randy broke 97 in handicap, where he ran the last 50 and the first 50 of the next handicap. He was 111 straight. Kya’s 98 in doubles was high sub-junior, and she ran the last 50. Klayton McGee broke the first 50 for a 97 in doubles. Corbin had 199 in singles; 99, 97 and 96 in doubles; and 96 in handicap. Jeff Trayer had 199 and 198 in singles. Kenyon Bert and Nathan Lemke were very consistent in handicap. Kenyon had 24-24-24-24 for 96, and Nathan had 20-20-20-20 for 80. Kenyon won the McGarry trophy, which was a very nice large leather shooter bag.

The Southwestern Zone team was high with 997×1,000: Dalton Jennings, 200; Denis Bringelson, 200; Stacy Rehor, 200; Pat Stacey, 199; and Nathan Lemke, 198. Some of the AIM winners were Christopher Diller, three trophies; Kya, three; Zane Arnold, two; and Ashton Huffstutlar, Colt Quisenberry, Colton Ables, Ruth Watanaue and Abagail Colton, who won junior gold high lady in the International wobble. Congratulations to Robert Ernsting, junior gold, and Christopher Diller, pre-sub, for making the 2019 AIM all-star team. Junior gold No. 1 team fourth place in skeet: Zane Arnold, Ernsting, Wyatt Krittenbrink and Clay Galbreath. Junior gold No. 1 team was also third in sporting clays. Ernsting won junior gold in the Make a Break event, junior gold third in .22 caliber handgun and junior gold third in .22 caliber bolt-action rifle. Taylor Casteel was required to shoot penalty 25-yard handicap. She still shot very well and had a 98 in singles. There were 54 Oklahoma shooters again this year, same as last year. Twenty-three of these were our young AIM shooters, who stayed and shot the Grand.

Kathy Key won the Perazzi High Tech Combo in the raffle drawing. I offered to help her break it in. Kathy plans to visit her daughter in Edmond, OK, in September. They just got moved in, but the furniture has not arrived yet.

OTSA held their End of the Target Year Shoot Aug. 17. It was very hot with very little wind. Ron Bliss won the doubles with 98, and Nathan Lemke’s 96 won A. In the singles they tied with 98s. Nathan won a coin toss for champion, while Ron won A. There were 14 entries in the handicap, so they talked Brian into shooting so they would have 15 for a half-yard punch. Guess who got the punch and is now very close to the 27-yard line? David Bacon and his son flew the helicopter over from Sapulpa, and David won mid-yardage with 91. Charles McCall took short-yardage with 89.

It was reported on the news that 14 service members have lost their lives defending our freedom in Afghanistan. Keep all the military personnel in your prayers.

Tim Deister

ATA Delegate

Texas

Another Grand is over, and, yes, it was Grand. The weather was about the best I can remember in Sparta. I hope you had a great time and shot lights out. If you didn’t, be making your plans for the 2020 Grand.

There are some “attaboys” I would like to tell you about. Randy Boeding has now registered 250,000 targets. Welcome to the Quarter Million Club. Kelly Watkins shot at his 25,000th handicap target. He said he broke it, but he did not produce any witnesses. Stevon Rainey also has registered his 25,000th handicap target. Same story but also no witnesses. Mike Turner shot at and said he broke his 25,000th doubles target. I also want to congratulate Steven Bradbury on reaching the 27-yard line at the 2019 Grand. Billy Hopson registered his 25,000th doubles target and had to do it on the make-up trap because he missed his squad. My sincere congratulations to these great guys.

Just to let you know, the shootoffs had a little extra excitement one night. What was that, you might ask (or maybe you wouldn’t, but I’m going to tell you anyway)? Patrick Hopson proposed to Hannah Martin. And, yes, she did say yes. What a fantastic couple. Good luck in this new journey in your lives.

The 2020 ATA Rulebooks will be available by the time you read this. I know many of you may have actually had one in your possession, and many more of you have not read one. Now is a good time to start. You can call the ATA office and ask them to send you one. If that is too much trouble, you can ask me for one. If you want me to read it to you, I will be glad to. The only catch with that is there will be a written test at the end.

The Grand did have a very sad and tragic event. Texas lost a very fine gentleman. Richard Harris passed away at the 2019 Grand. I can’t say enough good things about Richard. He was a gentle, caring man. Richard could be described as a gentleman’s gentleman. He will be missed and remembered in the trapshooting community all across the country. Please keep Joneel in your thoughts and prayers. Rest in peace, kind sir.

Thanks to the people who let me know about the milestones in their shooting careers so I can include them in this column. If you have news about your shooting or someone else’s, please let me know. You can talk to Princess or you can reach me at 806-679-6889. If you want, you can e-mail me at [email protected]. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

Till next time, y’all shoot well, y’all shoot often, and y’all have a great time.

Jerry O’Connor

ATA Delegate

Arizona

The Grand: the victory parade for our state team has been postponed until next year, but all hail Canyon Ferris! He had a remarkable run Aug. 6-7. Starting with the Wenig Doubles Class Championship, then the Champion of Champions (singles) followed by the Challenger Ammunition Handicap on Wednesday, Canyon shot three 100s in a row, one in each discipline. His was the only hundred straight in the Challenger ’caps, and he did it the hard way, from the 27-yard line. Canyon won the junior gold crown in the doubles and finished third in junior gold in the Champion of Champions. But alas, even Canyon is human; he fell to a 99 in Wednesday’s Kubota Doubles. He finished the week with category third place in the HOA. He is a student at Midland University in Texas, where they have foisted upon him skeet, sporting clays, International trap, International skeet and super clays, leaving little time for good old trapshooting. He deserves a parade all on his own.

Canyon was not the only one to bring some glory to Arizona. Tim Robb was the veteran runnerup in the GAH and tied for vet runnerup in the HOA, nosing out Richard Goerlich by one. Speaking of Richard, his 99 in the Doubles Championship tied for sub-veteran runnerup, but he lost out in the shootoff. Jim Copsey, who had a strong shoot from start to end, finished third in the Dawson Enterprises Doubles, and Gerry Williams’ 100 straight tied for veteran high gun in the MEC Singles.

Weather was near perfect, with temperatures in the mid 80s and no storms, and the wind was not a factor. The grounds were in fine shape, target presentation was excellent, and trap help was super. They really have things organized. There were 3,510 shooters registered, about the same as last year, with 22 coming from Arizona. For some of our gang, it was their first time in Sparta, and the consensus was, “Why did I wait so long?” With less than 1% of the competitors from AZ (and some of our best stayed home), I would say we did okay. It’s not too early to start thinking about 2020. The Bergman Travel Agency will be happy to assist.

Wake-up call! The Autumn Grand is right around the corner. The prelims start on Halloween and continue until Nov. 3. The Autumn Grand runs Nov. 4-10. It is my favorite shoot of the year. Large, but not too large; guaranteed beautiful weather with the average temperature in the mid 70s and little chance of rain; one of the best backgrounds in all of trapshooting; plenty of parking; all sorts of vendors; good food on the grounds and nearby, including Lanny’s Ice Cream; professionally run and topped by Arizona hospitality. It has been called Arizona shooting at its best.

Around the state: Pleasant Valley’s Summer Series continued July 27-28, and Scott Skaggs continued his winning ways. He posted 99s in both Saturday’s and Sunday’s singles and was the long-yardage champ in Saturday’s ’caps. Paul Jacobs finished right behind Scott in the opening singles with 98. Doug Sims, shooting in familiar territory, was high gun in both Saturday’s handicap and doubles. Mike Stewart won senior vet in the handicap, and the always dangerous Fred Frazier finished one behind Doug in the doubles, taking senior vet.

Sunday was Jay Alderman Day. He started things off with a perfect 100 in the singles and was high in both the handicap and doubles with a pair of 96s. Doug Sims and Jake Gatschet were close in the handicap with 95s. Fred Frazier won long-yardage and Roger Combs mid-yardage. Kyle Dennis had a nice 95 and topped Class A in the closing doubles.

Flagstaff held their Dead Snag Shoot Aug. 10-11, and it sure got off to a roaring start. Mark Williams and Greg Holden both ran the opening singles, taking sub-vet and veteran, respectively, while Roger Combs’ 97 won B class. Greg then shot a 97 in the ’caps followed by Hanna Hughes and Larry Bright at 95. My buddy, the seldom seen Tom McArthur traveling all the way from Sedona, was high in long-yardage. In Saturday’s closing doubles, Greg did it again. His 93 won high gun. Sunday began with singles, and Steve Long bested the field. Jim Dremler prevailed in the ’caps, and Steve Long was high in doubles.

October starts with three Big 50s in a row. First up is Lake Havasu on the fifth, then on the following day the action moves to Tri-State, and Casa Grande goes on Monday, the seventh. There is also a doubles marathon at Rio Salado Oct. 7. Next up is Tucson Oct. 12 with their monthly shoot, and then Big 50s at Casa Grande on the 14th. Casa Grande then comes back with their Harvest Shoot Oct. 18-20. Cochise GC jumps in Oct. 20, Rio Salado hosts a singles marathon on the 21st, and Casa Grande has their regular Monday Big 50s on that day also.

We are exploring ways to formalize the Arizona Winter Chain. It starts right after Christmas and ends with our state shoot at Ben Avery in March. There are 12 shoots in all, and it is rather unique on the trapshooting scene. This will be discussed in detail at the ASTA meeting during the Autumn Grand.

See you on the line.

John Bergman

ATA Delegate

Idaho

Well, the major trapshooting season is quickly coming to a close as the target year is coming to an abrupt end. For me, it’s a time to reflect on the 2019 shooting year. If you are reading my article, you must think there is something of value in my works of great wisdom (just kidding!). Or you have just read your Trap & Field from cover to cover, and now you’re going to read some of the ATA Delegates’ articles that you skimmed over to get to the real results of the shoots you attended or wish you had.

I had a great year this year, and my biggest regret is the simple fact that all of the shoots I would have liked to attend seem to come at the same time; therefore, we have to make a not-always-easy decision about where we are going to shoot. I have developed a list of clubs that are not just throwing targets as big as garbage can lids. There is way more involved: good coffee, on-grounds food, adequate parking, restroom facilities, RV parking, RV utilities, good roads on the grounds, insect control, shell availability, on-deck boards, effective communications, well-functioning traps and voice calls, friendly hotels/motels nearby, endorsed restaurants or fast food places, just to name a few.

Out west in Idaho, it seems as if the closest ATA shoots are 200+ miles away or a 10-hour drive. It makes things difficult, unless you’re a farmer like Scotty Abo, who can drive a 24-hour day to get to a shoot. I asked him in amazement how he can do this marathon driving, and he remarked, “My farming requires this.”

I have met some amazing shooters and renewed friendships with others this year: Casey Evans from Idaho, Logan Henry from Arkansas, Samantha Foppe from Missouri, Caleb Fischer from Kansas, and Bob Tomlin from Wyoming, just to mention a few dead-eyes. Casey, Logan, Samantha and Caleb were our “Dream Team” at the Grand American this year; tough shooters and wonderful people. Tomlin made the 27-yard line recently. Good job, Bob! He informed me to just call him “The Champ”!

Stuart Welton, along with Charles W. Long, Louie Morgan and Daniele Perazzi, were all inducted into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame Aug. 6, which was a well-run and very enjoyable event. This was my first time attending. Gerry Williams from Arizona was a great master of ceremonies, and the food and beverages were outstanding. If you see a picture floating around Facebook of me taking a little catnap at the event, it was only for a few seconds. It really was exciting and enjoyable. It would be worth your time to learn more about these great people. Charlie has been shooting since I was in diapers (not Depends).

My favorite shoot of the year was the Idaho State Shoot in Pocatello. That club knows how to run a great shoot. Turkey shoots will soon be starting as the weather cools down, and my favorite turkey shoot club is the Wood River TC. Great people, and the prizes are first class; however, be prepared. A lot of great shooters attend.

The Idaho State Shoot is next May on Memorial Day weekend. The program is being worked on by our board of directors and looks like it’s getting better even better. We would love to have you attend, and if you need any help, just e-mail me at [email protected] or call me at 208-751-2698. I’ll be glad to help.

We need more Idaho clubs to throw more ATA shoots!

Bob Clement

ATA Delegate

Utah

Since the end of June, there has been a shoot almost every weekend here in Utah; Heber’s annual dedicated shoot, Spanish Fork’s Fiesta Days, and Golden Spike. There was good attendance at all the shoots. It is great to see such support for our clubs. Check out all the scores on the USTA website.

This is a good time to cover two people from the Utah State Shoot that I didn’t cover in my previous article. We had two new inductees in the Utah Hall of Fame. Sharred Oaks and Ardith Stitt were both very surprised and humbled at the honor. Sharred was inducted on his shooting accomplishments and Ardith for her contributions to the sport the past 18 years.

Sean Hawley did Sharred’s induction and did a great slide show. For only 19 years old, Sharred has quite a list of accomplishments. I dare say he is the youngest inductee into the Utah Hall of Fame and very well deserving. Sharred is the son of Troy and Margo Oaks and grandson of Craig and Sharon Hart. All of these folks were on hand, and all very excited for his induction. Throughout Sharred’s shooting career, his parents and grandparents have made sure that he is a gentleman and sportsman first and foremost. Sharred is a very gracious and humble young man. I have had the pleasure of shooting with him on several occasions.

The next induction was Ardith Stitt. Ardith and husband Roger are very familiar faces at most of the shoots. Roger shoots, and Ardith is his cheerleader as well as the AIM coach in Utah. Ardith started working with youth shooters in about 2000. She began by being a fund-raiser for the SCTP program and would help send as many as six squads a year to the Grand American, with usually one squad a year finishing in the top 10. One team finished No. 3 overall! After the ATA started the AIM program, she became the Utah coordinator. Ardith was instrumental in getting Utah shooters a high school letter program for the shotgun sports. Ardith has been involved in the youth programs for 18 years. Thanks for all that you do for the youth program, Ardith.

A big congratulations go out to both Sharred and Ardith.

At the Utah State Shoot, there were 28 AIM shooters in the Singles Championship: eight sub-juniors, 16 juniors and four junior gold. High scores were as follows: ladies’ champions: Shaylee Vandam, sub-junior, 186; Caytlin Pendleton, junior, 184; Emilee Wolverton, junior gold, 196. Individual winners were sub-junior, Grayson Stuart, first, 198; Atley Painter, runnerup, 194; Brody Drury, third, 191; Chase Campbell, fourth, 185; Casey Fitzgerald, fifth, 184; junior, Dalton Van, first, 198; Hayden Vandam, runnerup, 194; Zach Foster, third, 194; Justice Sudbury, fourth, 193; Parker Fillmore, fifth, 193; junior gold, Ian Stodart, first, 192; Kami Singleton, runnerup, 179; Riley Anderson (brand new shooter), third, 176. Congratulations to all these youth shooters!

Ed Wehking

ATA Western Zone Vice President

Washington

Welcome to another installment of news from the Washington State Trapshooting Association. I hope you all enjoyed your shooting endeavors this last year and are looking forward to what 2020 has to offer as much as I am.

Washington had several shooters attend the Grand American. Zane Carver, a sub-junior from College Place, shot 2,400 targets at this year’s event, represented our state in the Champions Of Champions, and posted some good scores during the week. We are proud of all our youth shooters. Our Delegate George Seubert should have some news from the Grand, and I’ll have some of that as well as some other topics to share with you from our fall WSTA directors meeting in upcoming letters.

Progress continues for the relocation of the Spokane GC to a site just west of Spokane. Permitting processes have been started, and support from the neighbors in this area referred to as the West Plains is encouraging. This site’s close proximity to Fairchild Air Force Base may bring participation from military personnel, and there is a lot of lodging and other recreational activities not far away. We are positive these factors will enable the Spokane GC to be an integral and important venue for the shooting sports in Washington and the surrounding region. In the meantime, the club will continue to be home for some fun shoots, so we hope to see you there.

There is a link to Western Zone Big 50 events on the ATA website now for you to check scores from around the Zone and to see how events at your site stack up against the rest of the participating clubs. I’ve dedicated a lot of ink to this program in the last few months, and we still encourage your clubs to take part. In 2019 the Western Zone Big 50 produced several first-time ATA members and brought some others back to the registered game. Your club can hold Big 50 shoots whenever you’d like, and the Western Zone version can be held during the third week of each month. Please contact WSTA secretary Bruce Skelton at [email protected] to schedule these events or weekend registered shoots for the 2020 target year. We hope this continues to help grow the ranks of ATA competition, and it is a good way to get some targets and stay sharp for the big shoots.

I hope you are all having a good fall and are getting to use your trap guns as we head into the holiday season.

Shoot straight and keep your powder dry.

Sean Lewis

ATA Alternate Delegate

Wyoming

Late summer saw some good shooting across the state. Hopefully everyone is taking advantage of the weather and getting some shooting time in before the snow flies.

Clubs in Gillette, Torrington, Laramie, Cheyenne, Evanston, Buffalo and Lusk held shoots in August. Results were unknown at the time of this writing, but Evanston’s first Rocky Mountain Shoot was a great success. Joe Sudbury, Bruce Hansen and David Banks won multiple trophies. Shooters did well in spite of the windy conditions. Everyone enjoyed Rocky Mountain oysters and a variety of games Saturday night. Plan to attend this great event next year!

Ten Wyoming shooters attended the Grand. Several Wyoming shooters traveled to Pocatello, ID, for their annual Gun Appreciation Shoot. Once again, the Pocatello TC ran a well-organized shoot with excellent trophies.

As the ATA season begins to slow down, get ready for turkey shoots and other fun events. I encourage everyone to bring a friend to a fun shoot and let that experience raise their interest in competitive ATA shooting.

Nico Elardi

WSTA Director

Illinois

Hello, shooters! August was a beautiful month for shooting. At the ATA Central Zone Shoot held at Brittany, the weather held out for the shoot, and the Zone trophy list showed it. We had 170 shooters, and of the 96 trophies to win among the 10 clubs competing for them, Illinois took 24. That made it the winning-est club of the Zone. A few stand-outs: Keith Heeg won runnerup of Friday’s handicap; Frank Haynes took sub-vet champion in the class doubles with the lone 100 of the Zone; John Kravanek won runnerup of the Doubles Championship; and Stanley Crow was the winner of the Handicap Championship.

Excuse me for not touching much on the AIM Grand, but I need some coaches to let me know how awesome their shooters did. I’d love to hear from you and get it in one of my articles this fall. I do know the shoot was up about 7%. On the online trophy page, it doesn’t list which state the shooters are from, so I’m going to need some assistance. I did see that on the 200 singles, our very own Ian Lawrence took event champion!

The Grand American ended up having beautiful weather through the whole thing—how lucky! It ended up being up about 1% from last year. In the next article when I have more information available, I’ll have better numbers for you, but I counted 136 names from IL on the trophy pages. A few of our Illinois shooters ended up with titles. Ron Wolf won handicap champion for Event 2 with 99. Garrett Helms won 10 trophies, two of which were titles: Event 11 handicap champ and the Preliminary All-Around champion. Chase Horton won Event 6 doubles champion and was HOA champion of Grand Week, bringing home a ring. Bob Fritz won the Grand American Handicap after a four-way shootoff and will bring home a ring as well. Other names I saw on the list many times (but may have overlooked a few after staring at the trophy screen for so long): Elise Baker (eight trophies), Garrett Helms (10), Larry Norton (13), Chase Horton (15), Ziggy Tkaczenko (20), Ian Lawrence (15) and Hannah Martin (five).

If you have a major feat from the Grand or a cool story you’d like me to add, please send me an e-mail, and I’ll get it in: [email protected].

Lauren Mueller

ATA Delegate

Iowa

Our Iowa youth shooters continue to keep posting great scores and keeping all of us pushing our own abilities to keep up. Our Iowa youth shot very well at the state level and kept up the good work at the AIM National Championships and on into the Grand American.

Iowa was represented well at the 2019 Grand American, capturing trophies in all events except two. The list of trophy winners is as follows, and take note of all our Iowa youth on the trophy list: Shelly Heitner with 11; Evan Ingalls and David Bessine, seven each; Ben Schlatter, Cole Henning and Dale Stockdale, five each; Sam Wiley, Aiden Dietering and Keegan Kendall, four each; Kyle Wilkins, three each; Breydon Paxton, Jerry Pierce, Brent Alman, Rick Kalsow, Dave Hanneman and Christofer Gardner, two each; and Frank Sick, Tommy Keeshan, Mike Jackson, Danny Meyne, Chayden Wright, Bryce Allen Wade, Braeden Duwa, Scott Wiley, Taylor Scott, Wendell Lance, Trevor Wright, Carson Feeney, Carter Smith, Kinsey Bruggemeyer, James Simon, Alan Nicholas, Marcus Draves, Monte Kloubec, Jeffrey Roby and Bradley Harken, one each. Wow, what a great job by our Iowa trapshooters! Congratulations to all of you on a job well done.

We still have some great weather for shooting, so get out and support all of our local clubs and tell them thank you for all they do to support our sport.

Don’t hesitate to let me know if you would like to have anything included in this article or need anything. My e-mail is [email protected].

Steve Glasgow

ATA Delegate

Michigan

The Grand American really was grand, with some of the best weather ever for this event at Sparta. It wasn’t too hot, and the winds mostly stayed light. The Michigan Trapshooting Association picked up another White Flyer Mega Target Award, which will join the others behind the squadding area at Mason. Sixteen folks from Michigan showed up for the 2019 state picture.

Even though the MTA has no shoot at Mason in August, there is still a lot going on. We’ve had some electrical overload problems on the transformer serving the west campgrounds. This transformer was properly sized for the trailers of the era when it was installed but is seriously undersized for the bigger rigs of today. MTA board member Steve Olvitt is leading the project to replace the transformer and associated equipment. Between the new larger transformer and the installation, it will be about a $15,000 job. It’s not pleasant to have to spend that much money, but it is good to get a long-term fix.

Our old zero-turn lawnmower has been a maintenance headache lately. A generous donation came in, and there is a new zero-turn lawnmower in the barn. It isn’t likely that you’ll notice the new lawnmower, but this type of lawnmower is what lets our groundskeeper, Rick Shirkey, manicure the trapfields and the mounds in front of the traphouses. The mounds are shaped such that they can’t be cut well with the big tractor-mounted mower. Thanks to the donor, who prefers to remain anonymous.

The lead reclamation folks have moved their equipment to Mason. It is unlikely they will be done by the time of the Fall Team Shoot (which will be history by the time you read this), but since we don’t use Banks 9 and 10 for this shoot, they have a place to put their equipment.

With the start of the new target year in September, remember to get to your local clubs and get targets registered while the weather is still good. There are a lot of shoots before the onset of November gales and December snow.

1. B. Lewis

ATA Delegate

Minnesota

Greetings from the North Star State! I just returned from the Grand, a Grand that was very successful for a number of Minnesota shooters. The weather was, well, grand as it was warm, but rarely horribly hot and no rain during shooting time. Leading the way for Minnesota shooters were Randy Cook and Jeff Rempel. After breaking 200 in Minnesota and Wisconsin, Randy along with 50 others (including Bernie Merch and Jack Knaus) broke 200 on Clay Target day and ended up as the veteran champion. There were only two left in the shootoff when Randy missed, so he was the equivalent of second in the 2019 Clay Target. Way to go, Randy! Bernie ended up as Class AA runnerup after 200 and the shootoff, and Jack Knaus was junior runnerup after his 200 plus the shootoff. The other big Minnesota story was Jeff Rempel tying for the Grand American Handicap with a 99 in the program. He ended up fourth in the event. Eric Munson (27-yard winner) and Scott Gens (sub-vet champion) also won trophies in the GAH after breaking 97s in the program. Rich Gerlach made a big splash in the President’s Handicap by breaking a 99 from the 22-yard line. Apparently the CZ ran out of luck, as Rich ended up fourth after the shootoff.

Thanks to our Delegate Randy Jones for compiling a list of trophy winners. In addition to those mentioned above, winners from Minnesota were Peter Walker, Anthony Klassen, Ben Dietz, Durand Wagner, John Smolnikar, Troy Haverly, Dean Neumann, Nick Kubasch, Curt Peterson, John Kelly, Darwin Bridgeland, Scott Steffen, David Michaelis, David Maples and Chrystal Moon. If you read the first sentence of this paragraph, you noticed that I credited Randy for compiling the list of trophy winners, which he did, but it also spreads the blame if I left anyone off the list! I apologize for any omissions and will correct any in next month’s column.

In the National Team Races that are contested on prelim Friday’s 300 targets, the Minnesota trio of Dean Neumann, George Pappas and Troy Haverly were the sub-vet winners, while the Billy Van, Randy Cook and Paul Cyr were third in the vet division.

The shooting year in Minnesota will pretty much be over by the time you read this column. The Heartland Grand will be history, as will the Steer and Calf Shoot and the Big Ole Shoot in Alex.

By the time you read this, many of you will have put some heavy oil on your trap gun and be thinking about time in the field hunting. Good luck to all.

I can be reached at 507-456-2000 or [email protected].

Paul Cyr

 for ATA Delegate Randall Jones

North Dakota

Our 2019 state shoot was one of the largest in recent history, with 146 resident shooters competing and 56 non-residents for a total of 202 shooters. This year the Capital City GC was able to use all 12 traps with the addition of some new Pat-Traps. Our Singles Championship was fought for with a whole squad of 199s. After a long shootoff, Jason Folvag came up the champion with Perry Weiner runnerup. Zach Kemmer ended up Class AA winner followed by Pat Bosh and then Cody Tangsrud. Pat Lamont won the non-resident championship, also with 199. Dick Berland shot a personal-best 99 and followed it up with another 99 to win veteran with 198. The Doubles Championship was won by Mike Kempel with 99. Lamont was the non-resident champion with the lone 100. The Handicap Championship was shot off by a couple of Grand Forks shooters with 98, Doug Walker and Bryar Hanson. Doug wound up champion, and Bryar took junior gold. The non-resident handicap champion was Lamont with the event’s high 99. The all-around champ was Pat Bosh with 393, and Lamont was the non-resident winner with 398. Jason Folvag won the high-over-all with 971×1,000.

This year for the first time in many, many years, North Dakota hosted a Central Zone Shoot. That went over very well, with participation right in the middle of the 10 host clubs at 257 event entries. One Zone trophy came back to North Dakota. Norm Howard had the lone 100 straight in Event 1 singles to win sub-vet.

This year nine North Dakota shooters made their way to the Grand and took home nine trophies. Gabby Fischer was the first one to collect an award, for D third in Event 9 Kolar Doubles with 92. Mike Kempel was the fourth-place winner in Class A in the Winchester AA Singles with 199. Chad Gerloff shot 100 straight in the Kubota Doubles to win AA third place. Pat Bosh won the other six trophies for North Dakota. He was runnerup in the 27-yard group in the Terry Dean President’s Handicap with 96, AA third in the Wenig Doubles with 99, third in the 27-yard group in the Challenger Ammunition Handicap, third in the Caesar Guerini Preliminary Handicap with 98, 12th in the Remington Grand American Handicap with 97, and runnerup in the HOA with 977×1,000.

Perry Weiner shot very well, too. He shot five or six 100 straights in singles but didn’t put them together for a win. The rest of us (Bill Suda, Bob and Lou Ann Munson, and I) just participated. Perry shot 100 straight, Gabby a 99 and Bill Suda a 96 in the Champion of Champions event.

A couple attainment awards were also achieved recently. Dwight Knutson reached 25,000 handicap targets. I shot at and hit my 100,000th handicap target. (Let’s not talk about the other 15,000 or so I missed.)

Hope to see you down the line!

Tim Kaffar

ATA Delegate

South Dakota

South Dakota had a good turnout of shooters at this Grand American—33 competed, with a total of 58 trophies won among them. Matt Bartholow led the way with 20. He was high gun on the total 2,600 targets, second in the HOA and first in the prelim HOA. First-time attendee Wes Warning came away with five, while Lloyd Johnson, who traveled with Wes, picked up two trophies. Becky Noble did well also, winning four prizes. Mike Hettinger and Rick Puetz also did well. And once again the South Dakota team of Matt and Foster Bartholow, Tim Reed, Fred Nagel and Troy Balk won the National Team Event. Congratulations to all; it takes a lot of hard work and determination to succeed on a high level.

Back home at Crooks GC at the Al Tomnitz-Buck Jordahl Memorial held at Crooks GC in August, Truman Nelson shot at and broke his 250,000th target, putting him in the Quarter Million Club. Truman had family and friends at the club to witness the event, which was great fun for all. Truman not only has shot a lot of targets but has also given back to the game. He was Delegate for a number of years prior to my taking over and held many of the offices in our state association. Congratulations, Truman, and thanks for all your efforts in promoting and helping our sport grow.

Registered shooting has taken a back seat to hunting in SD this time of year, but it is never too early to plan a getaway to Florida or Arizona for the winter to shoot a few targets. I hope that some of you can make that happen.

Remember that next year the SD State Shoot is in Aberdeen July 15-19. If you need any info on camping or motels, contact Jerry Brick at 605-225-6383 or e-mail [email protected]. You can always contact me, and I will help as best I can, [email protected] or 605-940-4578.

Remember to take someone new to the gun club next time you go shooting.

Bob Felber

ATA Delegate

Ohio

I would like to congratulate all the shooters who participated at the 2019 Grand American and those who took home trophies. Congratulations to Joseph Charnigo on his World Clay Target Championship. Also, congratulations to Louie Morgan on his induction into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame. That is a great honor and well deserved.

The ATA Central Zone Shoot was held July 26-28. Thanks to North Lawrence F&GC for being a host club; they had a great turnout. Thanks also to Pat McCarthy for donating a Stock Lock^™ system.

As the new target season begins, please remember your local clubs. They can use all the support we can give them.

If you have any comments or questions, text me at 937-416-3979 or e-mail me at [email protected]. Have fun and bust ’em.

Mike Blair

ATA Delegate

Wisconsin

One of the most memorable and enjoyable moments this year was sitting outside at the Cardinal Center talking with Roger (I did not get his last name), who I just met. For some reason, he touched my heart. He said he had his wife’s funeral a week and a half before. To me, Roger was at the best place . . . among friends at a trapshoot. His best words to me were to stay off my bike (after I showed him photos from a bike fall). Roger, please take care of yourself. Prayers to you.

The next person was Dick (also did not get his last name), who gave me a bandage for a scrape on my foot and checked on me every day in the Kolar building at the Cardinal Center to make sure I did not need a new one.

Clem, thank you for helping me at the Grand American with my doubles stance. I did achieve a major win at the Grand and Cardinal Classic because you took time to help me. Also, I would like to say thank you to Bud Bartholow for the encouragement, faith, eyes, stance and destroy, and words “great job” no matter what my score was. Thank you, friends who came and watched me and other friends in shootoffs at the Grand American. When you are in a shootoff and look and see that you have eyes on you, you can dominate/destroy any target given to you.

For the second year now, I have been given a Brazil Team shooting shirt from Aryelu Denti, and I gave her a Team Kolar shirt. Having a friend you see only once a year is something to look forward to. I am happy to have her and her husband Ary as friends.

All I can say is I am blessed to meet new people and have great friends! We can make a difference in others’ lives with either just listening to them or helping them. Kind acts are what I would like for you to practice—practice, just like we do in trapshooting. E-mail me some acts of kindness. I would love to share them with our readers.

Al McCord sent me a message that Laura McCord shot at and hit (congrats) her 25,000th singles target in the second hundred of the Clay Target at the Grand American. Tim Thompson also shot at and hit his 25,000th singles target. Congrats to both of you.

Paul Becker and the Friends of the Wisconsin Trapshooters Association thank everyone who attended the raffle/fish fry at the Wisconsin State Shoot. The evening was a great success, organized by John Coniff for raising money for causes associated with the WTA. The evening was filled with friends, good food, donations, raffles, and silent and live auctions hosted by Dave Dressler. See you next year. If you have items to donate, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].

I attended the 51st Grand American Trapshooting Hall of Fame banquet for the first time and enjoyed the stories of the careers of Charles W. Long, Louie Morgan, Daniele Perazzi and Stuart Welton. I have had the pleasure to meet Charlie and Stuart. They all are great people for the trapshooting association.

Shooting at the Grand American in Sparta, IL, was like floating on a puffy cloud and still is for me and the others who won trophies. Congratulations for their major wins at the biggest trapshoot in the world. If you have never visited or shot at the Grand, you might want to put it on your bucket list. I would like to give a hug of thanks to everyone who worked at the Grand to make this an event for us trapshooters to enjoy.

Congratulations to all (and I hope I did not miss anyone): Charles Noel, vet handicap and 21-22 champ; Sandra Jo Jack, five Lady II trophies in singles, Singles Championship, handicap third, Doubles Championship, Super 500 Singles champion, HOA runnerup and HAA runnerup and HAA first; Don Wagner, doubles A champ and runnerup trophies; Tom Felts, doubles D runnerup; Mark Sacia, handicap vet third, vet runnerup doubles and Super 500 vet third; Fritz Thistle, doubles win; John Duwe, doubles C win; John Halambeck, third vet doubles and 500 doubles third; Bruce Wagner, singles B third, B runnerup singles, handicap first, Doubles Championship fifth and HOA B champ; George Hass, 100 (awesome) in Doubles Championship; Gerald Demulling, doubles, HAA vet runnerup and HOA vet third; Gary Reynolds, doubles senior vet champ, doubles senior vet runnerup; Cheryl Demulling, Champion of Champions, 99, runnerup, handicap runnerup; Bill Simonar, Doubles Championship, 98, third; Mike May, 100 (fantastic) in Doubles Championship, sub-vet; Harley Heinrichs, handicap; Carol Keeley, handicap third.

I do believe I was the only Wisconsin shooter to attend the Cardinal Classic in Ohio. Targets were a challenge for me and other shooters, but I was happy to win championship Lady II doubles and another doubles trophy. I lost the Singles Championship shootoff but was happy to have been in the tie-breaker.

Please let me know if I missed anyone’s wins at events. I try to look up each shoot, which can take a long time of searching through scores.

The trapshooters of Wisconsin send their condolences and prayers to the family of Terry Heeg for the loss of a wonderful man, Keith Heeg. He will be greatly missed. I was fortunate enough to see Keith at shoots and warm up my coffee in his work trailer, where I was always greeted with a smile.

The WTA Board has done a great job of organizing trapshooting events for 2019. I would like to thank every one of you for your time and patience throughout the year. I’m looking forward to a new year of trapshooting with you all.

Remember to keep smiling; I am. Winter is nearing, and I am sure your club might need some help closing up for the winter or getting ready for winter shooting. So please volunteer. Remember, you can make a difference, no matter if it is physical help or donations.

Until next month, enjoy your family and friends.

Sandra Jo Jack

for ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring

Atlantic Provinces

The St. John’s R&GC hosted our annual Memorial Shoot in mid August. This shoot provides club members and guests an opportunity to remember shooters who are no longer with us. It’s a multi-disciplinary shoot with trap, sporting clays and pistol shooting. The trap portion includes the John Molloy Singles, Dave Anstey High Gun Overall and the Roger Bidgood 2-Man Team awards. Dave Anstey handed me the keys to the traps 20 years ago and is largely responsible for getting me involved in the organizational side of things. Roger Bidgood was a founding member, and John Molloy was a young member who loved to shoot and be part of the club. They all played an important role in the club, and it’s important to keep their memories alive. Complete shoot results are on shootatlantic.com under the Club Centre and Shoot Results section.

The Petitcodiac SC has been busy with singles, doubles and handicap marathons as shooters prepared for this year’s ATA provincial shoot. The small one-trap club hosts many ATA shoots throughout the year and is one of the more active clubs. Club shooters Terry Leblanc, Dan Pollock and Paul Devereaux are also August’s Shooter Profile subjects on shootatlantic.com. Check them out relaxing at the Canadian Trapshooting Championships.

The 2019 Atlantic Provinces ATA Provincial Shoot is just around the corner as I’m writing this month’s article. Volunteers at the St. John’s R&GC have been punching in countless hours and working hard to make sure visiting shooters are treated to top-notch club facilities and trapshooting venue. Shooting and seafood are in store for everyone. This year we are offering a 900-target program over four days and a selection of local seafood that will satisfy the tastebuds and appetites of all.

For more information on the Atlantic Provinces Trapshooting Association, feel free to contact me at [email protected] or visit shootatlantic.com.

Andrea Bassan

ATA Delegate

 

New Jersey

For all those shooters who couldn’t attend the 2019 Grand, please try to attend next year. Again the weather out in southern Illinois was great. Our own Robert Malmstedt from Somerville will be one of the 2020 Trapshooting Hall of Fame inductees. So if you can possibly swing it, please try to attend his induction at the Grand next August. The dates for next year’s Grand are Aug. 5-15. The Hall of Fame dinner will be on Tuesday, Aug. 11, and tickets sell out prior to the start of the Grand, so if you’re thinking of going to support Bob, order your ticket early.

Ground Swipers R&GC held their Poor Man’s Grand Aug. 3-4. In Saturday’s 200 singles, Doug Bracher was victorious with 195. In Sunday’s doubles Sal Schiavo led, with Bob Bishop runnerup. In the handicap Fred Septak was the victor, with Sal coming in second. All winners can be found on their website groundswipers.com.

More than 20 shooters from New Jersey were at the Grand this year, down some from last year. Tony Pietrofitta again made his presence known, especially in handicap, where he earned a yard for his 98 to move to the 25 and win fourth in Event 8. Tony came back a couple of days later with a 98 in Event 13, earning 1.5 yards to 26.5 and winning third. John Tierno also had a good Grand. He posted a 99 in the Kubota Doubles. Rick Batesko also shot well in the Champion of Champions, posting a 100 and taking third place in sub-vet after carryover. Another standout score was shot by David E. Brown Jr. in the ATA World Clay Target Championship, where he broke 198 and won Class C runnerup. Others winning one trophy were Gene Moir Jr., Chris Cusumano, Robert Battista and Angelina Moir. An entire list of who won what at the Grand can be found on www.shootata.com and in this issue. Nice shooting, everyone.

All you NHRA fans missed a chance to rub elbows with Robert Hight, the AAA Auto Club-sponsored John Force team, Funny Car driver. It was in one of the handicap events, and I’m walking from Post 5 to Post 1 on the D trap, and who’s on Post 5 of the A trap, but Robert. I missed two of my five shots, thinking to myself, “Was that really Robert Hight?” Later that day, I took a walk over to the Hall of Fame Museum, where the silent auction was being held, and what do I see up for grabs but one of Robert Hight’s signed shirts with all the NHRA sponsors’ logos on it. That night at shootoffs, I saw Robert in the crowd and thanked him for donating the shirt and other items for a good cause. He was very humble and very personable.

Tom Clarke recently attained 50,000 singles targets. Longtime supporter of shooting events here in New Jersey, Dennis Hart of Millbrook, NY, shot at and broke his 250,000th registered singles target during Saturday’s 16s at the 37th Jersey Devil at Pine Belt SC Aug. 24. Jamaal Brown and Ray Padovini were tied with 197 in Saturday’s singles, and in the carryover to Sunday’s singles, Jamaal was victorious. He also won the doubles on Saturday. Sunday’s doubles was won by Louis Goodwin. Daniel Fishman and Bob Cucunato were tied with 95s in the handicap, and after a shootoff, Daniel won and Bob took runnerup. The singles on Sunday was won by Jamaal’s 100. Carlos Gomes was the HAA winner, and Jamaal was the HOA winner.

On a sad note, Ronald Zsoldos of Toms River passed away July 28. He was 74. Ron lived his whole life in Toms River and owned his own business, the Snap Shop. He was a member of Ground Swipers in Lacey Township. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Donna Pavia, son Ron, daughter-in-law Elaine, and daughter Dana Turner, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Lewis Thomas Clayton of Beachwood passed away Aug. 12. He was 65. Tom was a big supporter of Ground Swipers over the years. He was a stonemason by trade and was a partner in Clayton Construction. Tom joined the ATA in 2004 and registered 11,300 singles, 5,600 handicap and 1,550 doubles targets. He is survived by his parents Lewis and Mary, wife of 45 years Beverly, son Lewis and daughter-in-law Melissa, two grandchildren, and sister Jane. Contributions in Tom’s name can be made to Ground Swipers R&GC, Lacey Road in Lacey Township.

If you have a question or an idea for a future article, please call me at 732-546-7910 or e-mail me at [email protected].

Joe Sissano

ATA Delegate

New York

Hello and greetings from New York State. I hope everyone has had an enjoyable summer and is doing well.

The ATA Eastern Zone Shoot was held at the PA state grounds in Elysburg July 17-21, and a large number of trophies were won by New York shooters: preliminary singles, Jenna Euscher, Lady I; Preliminary handicap, Euscher, Lady I; Preliminary doubles, James Flint, AA; Donald S. Grossman, C; Brian Euscher, D; Michael Waschitz, senior vet; Euscher, Lady I; Robert Nihtila Jr. Singles, Keith Miranda, veteran, and Euscher, Lady I; Ian Darroch Handicap, Frank Benvenuto, fifth, and Euscher, Lady I; Peter Tsementzis Doubles, Urban Womer, champion with the lone 100 straight; Grossman, C; David Hazelet, D; Singles Class Championship, Justin Slater, AAA; Robert Oswald, AA runnerup, Frank Benaquisto Jr., C; David Clary, senior veteran runnerup; Euscher, Lady I; Kolar Handicap, Brian Luther, champion; Jeffrey Bubb, runnerup; Uday Madasu, fifth; Chase Wojtanik, sub-junior; Doubles Class Championship, Slater, AAA; Greg Tartick, A; Donald Alderson, C third; Chase Wojtanik, sub-junior runnerup; Euscher, Lady I runnerup; Singles Championship, Slater, AAA; Luther, AAA third; Ray Secreti, B; Andrew Baker, C; Phil Pfeifer, D runnerup; Wojtanik, sub-junior; Caleb Lindstrom, junior gold, Euscher, Lady I; Doubles Championship, Slater, AAA; Bradley Heath, AAA runnerup; Curt Robbins, AA; Handicap Championship, Urban Womer, fifth; Lindstrom, junior gold runnerup; David Woythal, veteran; all-around, Lindstrom, junior gold; high-over-all, Slater, AAA; Euscher, Lady I. This was fine shooting by these New York shooters. All trophy winners can be viewed on Bob Stuart’s webpage www.rjstuart.com and in Trap & Field.

We from New York were very happy to see that 100 shooters attended the Eastern Zone Shoot. Also, the annual Delegates meeting was held July 20. The New York State ATA Homegrounds at Cicero was awarded the Eastern Zone for 2020. The dates will be July 23-26. A preliminary day will be hosted by the NYSATA July 22.

The 2019 Grand American is now history. Forty-six New York shooters were classified. In the Champion of Champions, New York was represented by Heidi Womer in the state champion class, Isabella Mahar in sub-junior and William Wallis in senior veteran. The 2020 Grand American will take place Aug. 5-15. During the annual Board of Directors (Delegates) meeting, it was announced that the state of Illinois now has a budget, and funding for the World Shooting & Recreational Complex will continue. Also the state now has a capital improvement budget, so money can be spent at the Complex for improvements. It looks like the Grand will be staying in Sparta for a long time.

Congratulations to New York shooter Jon Reitz for making the 27-yard line for the first time. Jon broke 94 and received a half-yard at Bradford GC July 28. Good going, Jon.

If you are going out in the field for some hunting, please be careful and remember your safety rules. Always be sure of what you are shooting at and beyond. Always be respectful of landowners’ property and the environment.

See you all soon, and good shooting. May God bless.

Dave Cichelli

ATA Delegate

Ontario

Greetings from Ontario, Canada. As I write this article, it is late August, and our shooting year is all but completed.

Ontario hosted its 100th anniversary trap championships in Hamilton this summer. Ontario shooters have had some remarkable achievements this past year—in fact, so many that I could never do justice in one short article. Nor is it possible to identify more than just a few of our marksmen and ladies. But here are a few:

Dan Gris is a well-known name, particularly in the Eastern Zone. Dan obliterated the entire competition at our provincials, winning all but one of the championship events. He shot off for top singles honors at our Eastern Zone Shoot and settled with high sub-vet. He won numerous sub-vet awards at the Grand and elsewhere throughout the year. Shooters, be aware—Dan is a contender in all three disciplines.

Lloyd Beecraft was the inductee to our Ontario Hall of Fame. He too is a sub-veteran and has won not only sub-vet but championship events regularly. In the upcoming target year, Lloyd will chronologically advance in category, so veterans beware.

The Tsementzis family: father Peter has always (and continues to be) a tenacious and fierce competitor in all three disciplines. If he could attend more point shoots, he would almost certainly be All-American first team. His legacy is shared with son Chris and daughter Ana who have both followed in his footprints.

Chris has often commented that he would like nothing better than to “beat my dad,” and guess what, he has. Chris captured the junior title in the Grand American Handicap with 98. (Old dad could only muster 96.)

Ana is one of the best female ATA shooters Ontario has ever had, and she is just getting better with time. She has been in the junior gold category. Ana attends Guelph University in Ontario. She has described to me an organization called Canadian University Shooting Federation in which she has been actively involved. Currently there are 10 member clubs, and 18 are in the process of forming. There are more than 300 student members, over 50 of whom shoot in CUSF tournaments. There are 21 CUSF volunteers who run three programs: trap, skeet and target rifle. The CUSF has seven sponsors and 19 partners. The trap scores are registered.

Ana helped organize the Southern Ontario shoot at the Hamilton GC and is in the process of setting up a club at Guelph University (Guelph’s trap team won both the individual and team competitions).

For those who may not know, introducing firearm sports in any Ontario education facility is tough, tough, tough. Ana has the smarts, the skillset and the will to crack this barrier, and we wish her the best.

There are other shooters of all ages and genders who have made Ontario proud. Time will permit me to mention only one more—Lorenzo Bonaiuto Jr.

Father Frank is a frequent winner in Ontario circles and beyond. Brother Vincent is also a great shot. Both boys are top-flight hockey players and maybe someday will be pros. But like the Tsementzis family, the three Bonaiutos can all enjoy trapshooting together.

Lorenzo’s number was called at the Kolar shootoff at the Eastern Zone shoot at Elysburg, PA. Over 100 shooters went to the line. After three rounds, Lorenzo was one of only three left standing. Unfortunately, he missed in his fourth round. That was super shooting, Lorenzo.

Have a great new shooting year.

Paul Shaw

ATA Eastern Zone Vice President

Pennsylvania

We are under way with the 2020 target year, as August closed out the 2019 year. Pennsylvania had 123 shooters in Sparta, with many of them having a successful shoot. As I sort through the winners’ lists for all PA shooters, I’ll have a full review of our trophy winners in next month’s column. In the meantime, congratulations to our HOA and HAA place winners: championship week HOA: Deborah Ohye-Neilson, Chris Vendel and Steven Huber. Championship week HAA: Stephen MacNeal and Ohye-Neilson. HOA 1500: Cody Davis, Ohye-Neilson and Vendel. HOA 2600: Cody Davis, Ohye-Neilson and Vendel. Preliminary HAA: Ohye-Neilson and Vendel. Preliminary HOA: Cody Davis, Genevieve Davis, Ohye-Neilson, Vendel and Frank Pascoe.

During Preliminary Week, winners of the combined event totals: Super 500 Handicap—overall champion Ian Darroch plus Cody Davis, Ohye-Neilson, Genevieve Davis and Vendel. Super 500 Doubles—Vendel, Pascoe, Ohye-Neilson and William Natcher. Super 500 Singles—Ohye-Neilson and Peggy Carney. Congratulations to all our cumulative target winners.

Pennsylvania was also well represented at the Cardinal Classic in Ohio the following week with 219 shooters. Category shooters Chris Vendel and Susan Owens led the way with eight and five wins, respectively, with Chris earning category HAA and HOA and Susan earning category HAA honors. Tommy Hensel brought home two trophies, including event champion in the first handicap. In all, 33 shooters earned 51 trophies during their stay in Ohio, which include David Fish (three), Butch Novak (two), Brandon Deal (two), Ian Darroch (two), Nicholas Wertz (two), John DiFabio, Gerald Olseski, David Groover, Ron Gustafson, Stephanie Wrisley, Ray Bagley, Alan Marmalich, Donna Natcher, Nicholas Oyler, Philip King, Wilbur Von Steuben, James Hoffman, Mark Tragreser, Raymond Johnston, Matthew Sillings, Cody Davis, Brian James, William Natcher, Joshua Berger, Charles Buccieri, Paul Oyler, Kim Bateman, Criona Doorly, Jerome Stefkovich and Robyn Bird. Congratulations on capping off the 2019 target year.

Steve Ross

ATA Alternate Delegate