June 15th Smoke Report
Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2026 10:18 pm
Belated greetings and I hope everyone had a great weekend. A little tired after 4 days of cool weather at the NC Homegrounds. Of course, the comment about the weather was a joke but that will be discussed later. One shoot this weekend and the Rockingham County Gun Club will host a BIG50 Saturday.
The North Carolina State Shoot is in the record books and for those of you that attended it was a hot experience. No rain and minimal winds with temps in the mid 90’s created a dangerous environment to compete in. Trying to hydrate and stay focused along with sweat in your eyes and dodging biting flies sounds like fun right? Oh, it did rain on Sunday afternoon before the handicap shootoffs….
Big shoots do not run on their own and it takes people to do it. I could list every individual that I could think of but that would take a while. I know Marty will be posting something on Facebook and I hope to post it on this site. Hats off to the NCTA and HOF boards for all their efforts and to all the folks that made the shoot run so smooth.
Our championship weekend winners include a young fellow and an older fellow. The young fellow won the Championship singles with the lone 199, Championship doubles with a 97 and the HOA with a 387 and the HAA with a 973 and his lowest score was a 91 in caps on Sunday. The older fellow shot his first handicap targets at the Rockingham County Gun Club on April 2nd, 2017, and broke 42x50. Fast forward to June 14th, 2026 he broke a 97 from the 27-yard line to become the NC State Handicap Champion. Hopefully you know that the young fellow is none other than Caleb Mathis and the older fellow is Mark Spoon. Dan Johnson brought it to my attention that Caleb won a trophy in every single event in the 5-day competition. Congratulations gentleman and you have a year to prepare to defend your titles. Now there are a ton of other folks that won and you can find them at www.shootscoreboard.com
Saturday several shooters came for a visit, and they included Billy Thigpen, Ray Gaultney, Steve Morgan, Bob and Carolyn Keever and Tommy Brown. Billy looked good but is unable to shoot due to strength in his legs. He cannot set his camper up anymore and I know he wishes he could shoot again. Ray looks good and only lives twelve minutes from the club. He quit a few years ago and was known for only shooting handicap and doubles. He was always neatly dressed on the line and I can’t remember him ever wearing shorts. He was so happy the Homegrounds moved to him because he hated the drive to Pinehurst and Durham for the state shoots. Steve Morgan rode up with Lane Murray and of course most of you know Steve recently lost his wife Pat. Steve has some issues with stamina and he said there was no way he could shoot in that heat. Bob and Carolyn dropped by and someone commented that they recently sold their motorhome so their motorhome traveling days are over. I can go back to the pictures I took of the campers, and their big motorhome was right on the corner in spot #1. Finally, Tommy Brown has been battling prostate and bladder cancer and has lost about 50 pounds. He looks good and has had issues setting his release trigger. He can mount the gun, set the release trigger and at times he will release the trigger before he calls for the target. Donnie Pigg in South Carolina quit shooting due to similar issues and Tommy mentioned that Tiffany Decker has experienced the same thing. It was great to sit with Ray on the porch and Billy in the clubhouse to reminisce about the days gone by.
One interesting note and it is something that Caleb Mathis texted me as he was heading to the Outer Banks with his grandparents. He mentioned that he might be the first person since Sherwood Jenkins 1999+2000 to win Singles, Doubles and HOA back to back. The most interesting thing is that I had been talking to Sherwood right before I read his text. I am planning on getting Sherwood and Caleb together on the phone, if possible, to talk about their accomplishments.
Perfect squad – yes, a singles squad comprised of some great competition shooters that included Chris Powell, Colson Allen, Mark Spoon, Mark Cox and Allen Davis. Not sure what 100 it was but when Al Bost let me take a picture of the scoresheet, I was happy they were able to make that memory together. Allen told Chris that the “C” Class days were over for him…..
BIG50 this Saturday at the Rockingham County Gun Club with registration at 8:30 and shooting soon thereafter. The weather looks good with temps in the high 80’s and moderate wind. We are offering $50 for a 50 straight in handicap or as we would like to call it 50450……and a ½ yard punch! Also, Buckhorn will host their midweek BIG50 on the 24th!
That will do it for this week and if I forgot anyone or anybody I do apologize. I will be working on some content about the Mathis brothers and dad and also Ronan Weary as time allows. Hello to Scott, Ronnie, Cowboy, Tim, Bobby, Phil, Mac, John, Art, Barron, Mark C, Mark S, Dan, John W, Jimmy D, SPY2, HGIII, Thea and Anne and until next week……smokem