February 23rd Smoke Report
Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2026 9:53 pm
Another windy and wet weekend in North Carolina. Just a few more weeks until warmer temps and mild breezes. Like I have said before some of our biggest snow in this area came in March.
Several shoots were in the books for the weekend, and two events cancelled due to weather. Watauga cancelled early on with temps in the 20’s, high winds and Morgan said about 4 inches of snow. Buckhorn faithfully showed up to work Sunday, and the threat of rain and high winds led to a decision to wait till warmer days.
Rockingham managed to host their first BIG50 of the year and early on it was a little moist and the lighting was bad. Nobody got drenched during singles and by the time handicap began it was clearing up. Mark Cox led the singles shooters with 48, led handicap shooters with 45 and the doubles shooters with 43. It wasn’t a huge turnout, but memories were made. Big shout out to youth shooters Ronan Weary and Jackson Whitaker. Great to see them and hope they will be back to shoot with us again.
If you are looking to get some birds in the Brushy Mountain Gun Club in Hurt VA published their 2026 shoot calendar. They have opted to host BIG50’s because their group of shooters is a little older and the format works well for their customers. They shoot the first Saturday of the month and that is March 7th. Dennis Fitchner runs the shoots and does a great job, and lunch is available at some of the events. Classic VA gun club with a nice clubhouse, skeet fields and several sporting clay layouts.
Tom Shelley had a bite on his Kolar and hopefully this deal will go through. Chris Powell has been looking for a good deal for a young shooter, and this might be the gun that will take him to the next level. Tom has one stipulation and that is for this Kolar to be used to outshoot Jimmy Wilson….
In case you are thinking about attending the Southern Grand there is a freeze warning for Odessa Florida for Monday and possibly Tuesday. Of course, by March it should be a lot warmer, but I have been there when it was chilly. The Silver Dollar is an interesting place to shoot. One year when JC Nunn was alive, we were shooting singles on the golf side of the club. We had gotten to the club super early and went to the clubhouse on the gun club side. I noticed some of the help they had hired and it looked like they were hired off the street. There was one young lad that looked like she had a sleepless night. Lo and behold she wound up scoring singles for us. We shot out first post and when we moved, she called out 10-10-9-8-10……..we weren’t shooting doubles. They have a good bunch of refs that re either retired or former shooters and that helps make things run smoother.
Massachusetts snowbird John Sandell commented he was shooting in shorts, but the temps were dropping into the 30’s. The Northeast is getting hammered by a huge snowstorm and being in Florida is much nicer than that. I talked to Terry Roush last week and he seems to be enjoying the weather, and he said the Keever’s were down their wintering also.
When I arrived at the Rockingham Gun Club Saturday there was a pile of wood and assorted panels from the screened in porch. They had been removed to open the porch for more rockers and picnic tables. Demolition and construction of the new trap stat house should begin in a month or so. The new building will be like the old one but it will have an office, and the entire building will move back 30 feet from traps one and two.
That will do it for this week, and the weather looks nice with a chance of rain Thursday. No shoots on tap this week and the next NC event will be a BIG50 at Watauga. Hello to Scott, Ronnie, Cowboy, Tim, Bobby, Phil, Mac, John, Art, Barron, Mark C, Mark S, Dan, John W, Jimmy D, Thea and Anne and until next week……smokem
Several shoots were in the books for the weekend, and two events cancelled due to weather. Watauga cancelled early on with temps in the 20’s, high winds and Morgan said about 4 inches of snow. Buckhorn faithfully showed up to work Sunday, and the threat of rain and high winds led to a decision to wait till warmer days.
Rockingham managed to host their first BIG50 of the year and early on it was a little moist and the lighting was bad. Nobody got drenched during singles and by the time handicap began it was clearing up. Mark Cox led the singles shooters with 48, led handicap shooters with 45 and the doubles shooters with 43. It wasn’t a huge turnout, but memories were made. Big shout out to youth shooters Ronan Weary and Jackson Whitaker. Great to see them and hope they will be back to shoot with us again.
If you are looking to get some birds in the Brushy Mountain Gun Club in Hurt VA published their 2026 shoot calendar. They have opted to host BIG50’s because their group of shooters is a little older and the format works well for their customers. They shoot the first Saturday of the month and that is March 7th. Dennis Fitchner runs the shoots and does a great job, and lunch is available at some of the events. Classic VA gun club with a nice clubhouse, skeet fields and several sporting clay layouts.
Tom Shelley had a bite on his Kolar and hopefully this deal will go through. Chris Powell has been looking for a good deal for a young shooter, and this might be the gun that will take him to the next level. Tom has one stipulation and that is for this Kolar to be used to outshoot Jimmy Wilson….
In case you are thinking about attending the Southern Grand there is a freeze warning for Odessa Florida for Monday and possibly Tuesday. Of course, by March it should be a lot warmer, but I have been there when it was chilly. The Silver Dollar is an interesting place to shoot. One year when JC Nunn was alive, we were shooting singles on the golf side of the club. We had gotten to the club super early and went to the clubhouse on the gun club side. I noticed some of the help they had hired and it looked like they were hired off the street. There was one young lad that looked like she had a sleepless night. Lo and behold she wound up scoring singles for us. We shot out first post and when we moved, she called out 10-10-9-8-10……..we weren’t shooting doubles. They have a good bunch of refs that re either retired or former shooters and that helps make things run smoother.
Massachusetts snowbird John Sandell commented he was shooting in shorts, but the temps were dropping into the 30’s. The Northeast is getting hammered by a huge snowstorm and being in Florida is much nicer than that. I talked to Terry Roush last week and he seems to be enjoying the weather, and he said the Keever’s were down their wintering also.
When I arrived at the Rockingham Gun Club Saturday there was a pile of wood and assorted panels from the screened in porch. They had been removed to open the porch for more rockers and picnic tables. Demolition and construction of the new trap stat house should begin in a month or so. The new building will be like the old one but it will have an office, and the entire building will move back 30 feet from traps one and two.
That will do it for this week, and the weather looks nice with a chance of rain Thursday. No shoots on tap this week and the next NC event will be a BIG50 at Watauga. Hello to Scott, Ronnie, Cowboy, Tim, Bobby, Phil, Mac, John, Art, Barron, Mark C, Mark S, Dan, John W, Jimmy D, Thea and Anne and until next week……smokem