2012 Weekly Blurbs
2012 Weekly Blurbs
It is a brand new year - can we post another 52 weeks of dribble?
Weekly Blurb 1/2/2012
Happy New Year to everybody and we hope you had a great holiday. This is a great time of the year and we really appreciate the day off for sure. I don't have a ton of info to share for the new year but I am looking forward to winter being over real soon. We had one actually two trapshoots over the weekend and we have a report from one of them.
All of our bionic trapshooters are doing well and both Lewis Wyatt and Tom Cox were at the Rock Saturday. Tom is resting better and Lewis seems to be moving around quite well. I had a chance to talk with Andrew Carroll Sudnay and he is pain free and doing great since the new hip. I had a nurse at work ask me how I was doing after my knee replacement and I assured her that I had never had a knee replaced.
We slid up to to the Rock Saturday and never fired a shot. There were a lot of folks shooting and I got some good pictures and video. Lewis had his 7 year old grandson Orion with him and they spent some time together shooting his BB-Gun before Lewis came down to shoot some practice. I had no idea that Lewis had been teaching Orion to score but the little fellow scored 4 rounds, and totaled the scores after the scores were shot. I took some video and we will try to get that posted soon.
When JC got there Leiws told me to tell JC not to shoot to get warmed up until he got finished with Orion. JC slipped out and shot a round and waited for Lew to hit the line. There was some jaw-jackin and some mental manipulation during the rounds and the long and short of it is that Lewis had a bad day. JC was on his game and broke a strong 25 in his last round in the wind. I have video of some of those two and will hope to get it up Monday.
Sunday the Buckhorn Gun Club hosted the 1st registered trapshoot of the New Year and had a good group show up. John Miller broke the lone 100 for the singles, Ed Stevens broke a 91 for the caps and John Miller broke a 91 to win the doubles and secured the HOA with 280x300. The weather was warm but it did get a little dark for the caps and the wind jumped up for the doubles. BGC's next registered shoot is the 22nd so mark your calendar accordingly.
Only 21 days until the start of the Dixie Grand in Odessa Florida. 740 miles into the Sunshine State can be a lot of fun and the Silver Dollar is a nice place to shoot. Several NC shooters will particiapte and they include Jeff and Hunter Galloway and Billy Thigpen and Bill Howe. I am sure there are more "thinking" about going and we wish all of them the best.
Hopefully we will get some scores from Old Hickory@Bostic Monday and we will post them unless one of their members puts them up. In 2012 if you need info posted please contact me via email and the addy is freddydacrusher@hotmail.com. We "TRY" to publish up-to-date shoot dates in a timely manner and if you cancel a shoot please let me know ASAP. I will post it here and also on the single thread I update on www.trapshooters.com.
If you have shoot results and want to post the info you will need to setup an account on the site. If you want me to post them I can do that also. If you can afford a shotgun you probably can afford a camera and please take some pictures. If you have a shoot and you cancel it the day of the shoot due to weather or for whatever reason - let me know. That way I won't be looking for scores to be posted.
We are off into another year and since I posted every week last year I am wondering if I can keep it up for another year. Is it worth the time it takes to patch together the little pieces of fabric that represents the shooting community in our great state? I would say yes and we will try to keep you entertained during the dark and dreary winter months prior to the start of the meat of the 2012 shooting season. I thought about creating a New Years resolution list but figured I might offend folks and opted to can it for this year. I want to start off on a good foot with all of the people.
Most of you know Ronnie Manuel and he has been back shooting for awhile now. Well guess who showed up at the Rock? It was Ronnie's son Greg and the young man is quite a shot just like his daddy. I believe he has the bug and we hope he can get out to shoot and practice more often. We have some Lewis Class Shoots coming up and heck he might even join the ATA. Heck maybe his daddy will sign him up for his birthday or something.
Oh, Jim Bray showed up at the Rock last week and his wife got him a new pistol for Christmas. He looked good and I have no idea when he registered his last target. He has been very busy at work but he has had time to get out and do some deer hunting. He shot a "17" pointer which was really an "18" pointer. The deer was so big and heavy he couldn't even get him in the truck. He had to go home and get a skid steer just to get the hoss loaded. When he took the head to the taxidermist it only had 17 points and the fellow told Jim to go try to find the point that broke off. Jim gave it his best shot but he never found #18. It sure was good to see Jim and we hope he will get back to shooting trap someday soon.
I hope everybody has a great start to the week and it looks like it is going to be super cold come Tuesday. Don't forget about the chatroom we have and if you want and invite email me and we will get you the hookup. I know that I sent a shout out to a bunch of folks but it was hard to remember all the folks every week. So, I am going to suspend that for 2012 except for one person and that is Lou Carter. When I first started the blurb I was hit and miss and Lou never knew when or if I would post the info. Well Lou, if it weren't for you I probably wouldn't be as close to carpal tunnel surgery as I am now. Until we blurb again..........Smokem
All of our bionic trapshooters are doing well and both Lewis Wyatt and Tom Cox were at the Rock Saturday. Tom is resting better and Lewis seems to be moving around quite well. I had a chance to talk with Andrew Carroll Sudnay and he is pain free and doing great since the new hip. I had a nurse at work ask me how I was doing after my knee replacement and I assured her that I had never had a knee replaced.
We slid up to to the Rock Saturday and never fired a shot. There were a lot of folks shooting and I got some good pictures and video. Lewis had his 7 year old grandson Orion with him and they spent some time together shooting his BB-Gun before Lewis came down to shoot some practice. I had no idea that Lewis had been teaching Orion to score but the little fellow scored 4 rounds, and totaled the scores after the scores were shot. I took some video and we will try to get that posted soon.
When JC got there Leiws told me to tell JC not to shoot to get warmed up until he got finished with Orion. JC slipped out and shot a round and waited for Lew to hit the line. There was some jaw-jackin and some mental manipulation during the rounds and the long and short of it is that Lewis had a bad day. JC was on his game and broke a strong 25 in his last round in the wind. I have video of some of those two and will hope to get it up Monday.
Sunday the Buckhorn Gun Club hosted the 1st registered trapshoot of the New Year and had a good group show up. John Miller broke the lone 100 for the singles, Ed Stevens broke a 91 for the caps and John Miller broke a 91 to win the doubles and secured the HOA with 280x300. The weather was warm but it did get a little dark for the caps and the wind jumped up for the doubles. BGC's next registered shoot is the 22nd so mark your calendar accordingly.
Only 21 days until the start of the Dixie Grand in Odessa Florida. 740 miles into the Sunshine State can be a lot of fun and the Silver Dollar is a nice place to shoot. Several NC shooters will particiapte and they include Jeff and Hunter Galloway and Billy Thigpen and Bill Howe. I am sure there are more "thinking" about going and we wish all of them the best.
Hopefully we will get some scores from Old Hickory@Bostic Monday and we will post them unless one of their members puts them up. In 2012 if you need info posted please contact me via email and the addy is freddydacrusher@hotmail.com. We "TRY" to publish up-to-date shoot dates in a timely manner and if you cancel a shoot please let me know ASAP. I will post it here and also on the single thread I update on www.trapshooters.com.
If you have shoot results and want to post the info you will need to setup an account on the site. If you want me to post them I can do that also. If you can afford a shotgun you probably can afford a camera and please take some pictures. If you have a shoot and you cancel it the day of the shoot due to weather or for whatever reason - let me know. That way I won't be looking for scores to be posted.
We are off into another year and since I posted every week last year I am wondering if I can keep it up for another year. Is it worth the time it takes to patch together the little pieces of fabric that represents the shooting community in our great state? I would say yes and we will try to keep you entertained during the dark and dreary winter months prior to the start of the meat of the 2012 shooting season. I thought about creating a New Years resolution list but figured I might offend folks and opted to can it for this year. I want to start off on a good foot with all of the people.
Most of you know Ronnie Manuel and he has been back shooting for awhile now. Well guess who showed up at the Rock? It was Ronnie's son Greg and the young man is quite a shot just like his daddy. I believe he has the bug and we hope he can get out to shoot and practice more often. We have some Lewis Class Shoots coming up and heck he might even join the ATA. Heck maybe his daddy will sign him up for his birthday or something.
Oh, Jim Bray showed up at the Rock last week and his wife got him a new pistol for Christmas. He looked good and I have no idea when he registered his last target. He has been very busy at work but he has had time to get out and do some deer hunting. He shot a "17" pointer which was really an "18" pointer. The deer was so big and heavy he couldn't even get him in the truck. He had to go home and get a skid steer just to get the hoss loaded. When he took the head to the taxidermist it only had 17 points and the fellow told Jim to go try to find the point that broke off. Jim gave it his best shot but he never found #18. It sure was good to see Jim and we hope he will get back to shooting trap someday soon.
I hope everybody has a great start to the week and it looks like it is going to be super cold come Tuesday. Don't forget about the chatroom we have and if you want and invite email me and we will get you the hookup. I know that I sent a shout out to a bunch of folks but it was hard to remember all the folks every week. So, I am going to suspend that for 2012 except for one person and that is Lou Carter. When I first started the blurb I was hit and miss and Lou never knew when or if I would post the info. Well Lou, if it weren't for you I probably wouldn't be as close to carpal tunnel surgery as I am now. Until we blurb again..........Smokem
Weekly Blurb 1/9/2012
Good morning and what a weekend. When there are no shoots to report all you have is Bowl Games and NFL playoff games. Looks like the G-Men and Tebow Broncos are moving on. Now I am not saying there is nothing to report on but it is slim pickings this week.
I guess the big news of the week is the 2 yard handicap reduction that you may or may not receive until a review is done by the handicap folks. Yep – go to www.shootata.com and see if you are shooting closer to the trap house. Now listen – regardless of what the site says you must shoot from the yardage that appears on your current ATA card. The new cards with the reductions (if you get one) will be arriving sometime. There is a lot of info on www.trapshooters.com and look for the comments by KY delegate Terry Dean.
There has been a lot of practicing going on at the local clubs and we got some good video of Lewis Wyatt and JC Nunn going at each other. That twosome is fun to watch and JC really bears down when somebody is gunning for him. He went out Thursday and said he just wasn’t shooting too good that day. I asked him if anybody was there and I told him that was why he was struggling because he didn’t have anybody to drop the hammer on.
Take a look at the shoot schedule because we added a few dates for the Gastonia Gun Club. I also posted the shoot list for the Rockingham GC that included the registered shoots and the Lewis Class “non-registered” fun shoots. If you have shoot info for me to post please email it to me or you can post it yourself if you would like. I also maintain a thread on www.trapshooters.com for shooting events in NC.
Hunter and Jeff have been slipping up to the Rock also to get ready for the Dixie Grand here in a few weeks. There is a thread running on trapshooters.com about the Silver Dollar GC going up on their practice target rates. I believe they charge $7 per round and according to the Dixie program it will only be $4.50 for the competition schedule. Jeff has been practicing well and we know he loves to shoot in Florida. I remember the year he achieved AA27AA and spent the entire month of March staying and shooting at the Silver Dollar. That was some kind of graduation present I would say.
Our friend Bill Goscinski from New Has got the ok to have his knee replaced and will be back to shooting July. He went out shooting this weekend and his bad knee really got to hurting him. He has shot at our NC Homegrounds and also got to shoot with Jeff and Hunter at the Hawaii State Shoot several years ago. I believe he signs on trapshooters.com as 682ILNY.
I have been chatting with Gene “Hap” Hapney that lives in Arizona. I met Gene at the Grand in I think 2005 and have been friends ever since. He has a nephew that is living in South Carolina and shoots in Spartanburg. We are trying to convince Hap to come shoot at SC in May and then shoot with us in June.
I hope everybody has a great week and I hope to get out to shoot this coming weekend. With the MLK holiday upon us I might take off an this Friday and spend some time on the pattern board. That might give me a few answers to some questions I have. Hopefully the weather will warm up and maybe it will be nice this weekend. I want to send out a shout to Lou down in Sunny FLA. Until the next time……….smokem….
I guess the big news of the week is the 2 yard handicap reduction that you may or may not receive until a review is done by the handicap folks. Yep – go to www.shootata.com and see if you are shooting closer to the trap house. Now listen – regardless of what the site says you must shoot from the yardage that appears on your current ATA card. The new cards with the reductions (if you get one) will be arriving sometime. There is a lot of info on www.trapshooters.com and look for the comments by KY delegate Terry Dean.
There has been a lot of practicing going on at the local clubs and we got some good video of Lewis Wyatt and JC Nunn going at each other. That twosome is fun to watch and JC really bears down when somebody is gunning for him. He went out Thursday and said he just wasn’t shooting too good that day. I asked him if anybody was there and I told him that was why he was struggling because he didn’t have anybody to drop the hammer on.
Take a look at the shoot schedule because we added a few dates for the Gastonia Gun Club. I also posted the shoot list for the Rockingham GC that included the registered shoots and the Lewis Class “non-registered” fun shoots. If you have shoot info for me to post please email it to me or you can post it yourself if you would like. I also maintain a thread on www.trapshooters.com for shooting events in NC.
Hunter and Jeff have been slipping up to the Rock also to get ready for the Dixie Grand here in a few weeks. There is a thread running on trapshooters.com about the Silver Dollar GC going up on their practice target rates. I believe they charge $7 per round and according to the Dixie program it will only be $4.50 for the competition schedule. Jeff has been practicing well and we know he loves to shoot in Florida. I remember the year he achieved AA27AA and spent the entire month of March staying and shooting at the Silver Dollar. That was some kind of graduation present I would say.
Our friend Bill Goscinski from New Has got the ok to have his knee replaced and will be back to shooting July. He went out shooting this weekend and his bad knee really got to hurting him. He has shot at our NC Homegrounds and also got to shoot with Jeff and Hunter at the Hawaii State Shoot several years ago. I believe he signs on trapshooters.com as 682ILNY.
I have been chatting with Gene “Hap” Hapney that lives in Arizona. I met Gene at the Grand in I think 2005 and have been friends ever since. He has a nephew that is living in South Carolina and shoots in Spartanburg. We are trying to convince Hap to come shoot at SC in May and then shoot with us in June.
I hope everybody has a great week and I hope to get out to shoot this coming weekend. With the MLK holiday upon us I might take off an this Friday and spend some time on the pattern board. That might give me a few answers to some questions I have. Hopefully the weather will warm up and maybe it will be nice this weekend. I want to send out a shout to Lou down in Sunny FLA. Until the next time……….smokem….
Weekly Blurb 1/16/2012
Happy MLK holiday to all and yes I am off and headed to the Rockingham Gun Club just as soon as I can get the car cranked. It has been a cold weekend and I haven't been to the club the last two weekends for some reason. During the winter months I hibernate a little and implement the 60 degree rule. No shoots to report the scores so I will just have to talk about other things so here goes.
Got the word that Jim Faber was a little under the weather and in the hospital. Evidently he had some respiratory problems and is on the mend according to Bill Howe. I will keep an eye on trapshooters.com for any updates on his progress and when he will come home from the hospital.
In case you missed it we had some twisters in Western NC near the Homegrounds. Bill Keever checked on the property and everything is ok at this time and that is a relief. I remember years ago sitting in the old clubhouse when a storm rolled in. As Charlie Brown was stepping up on the porch there was a bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder back to back. It scared everybody pretty bad and it blew out all the voice call controllers in the trap houses. Bob Schultz was nice enough to swap all the bad units out and we didn't miss a beat for the shoot. Hopefully those ERAD control boxes are grounded in case lightning hits like that again.
Two shoots in North Carolina this weekend with Gastonia on Saturday and Buckhorn on Sunday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for both events. Folks are also getting ready for the Dixie with Bill Howe and Billy Thigpen heading South next weekend. You can keep up with our NC shooters at the Dixie by going to www.rjstuart.com and using their site to check scores live during the day and then later that night when all the scores are posted. Hopefully they will have a webcam or two working this year. Big news hit this week with word that the ATA and the HOF will be moving to Sparta. I don't have all the details and hopefully we will get the official rundown from our delegate Terry Roush. There were also some new categories created for All-American points and the biggest news was the 2 yard reduction in handicap. I won't go into all of the details because I don't want to publish something that isn't exactly correct. That is correct - 2 yard reduction that will have to be approved and then your card will appear in the mail. Lane Murray checked the ATA webite and noticed a "skirt" icon beside JC Nunn's name and a "lipstick" icon beside my name.
On a more serious note there is a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth over on trapshooters.com. It is sad to see all of the unhappy people complaining about everything under the sun. The ATA is going through some changes and every organization has some growing pains but it is the best organization for trapshooting in the world as far as I am concerned. I for one know that Terry Roush and Hunter Galloway along with all of the other people steering the ATA are going to do what is best for the sport.
Of course there are a band of brothers over there that keep the pot stirred up and don't forget the personal attacks that are supposedly not suppose to happen on the site. I have always tried very hard not to post anything negative over there because I don't think it would be a good reflection on me or for the sport of trapshooting in our state or in general. Believe me if I wanted to I could make life miserable for a few of those rocket scientists but it seems that they are pretty miserable already.
I talked with Dave Daily Sunday and he was in Atlanta headed to the "Motor City" Detroit. He just got in from Los Angeles Friday and back on the road again. JC got out to shoot during the week and went head to head with his buddy JT and Lewis and not sure who whooped who. JC was hunkered down in the nest over the weekend and said it was a little too cold to shoot. Lane Murray went out Saturday and tested a 31 bushing Clay 1 ounce load. He said it was a bit stout and Lewis had the chrono to prove it. Hunter Galloway stuck around the house and unfortunately had to watch Carolina get their hats handed to them by the Noles.
Ok - that is about it and have a great week. I would really like to see about a foot of snow on the ground before February the 1st. Also, I am on the hunt for some outrageous shooting shorts for the 2012 shooting season. I am turning 57 in August and one of my granfathers trademarks was wearing shorts 365 days of the year. I can't quite live up to that so I have to work another angle. I would like to give a shout out to Lou down in sunny Florida and hopefully he will show up and shoot a bit at the Dixie. Until next week................smokem:)
Got the word that Jim Faber was a little under the weather and in the hospital. Evidently he had some respiratory problems and is on the mend according to Bill Howe. I will keep an eye on trapshooters.com for any updates on his progress and when he will come home from the hospital.
In case you missed it we had some twisters in Western NC near the Homegrounds. Bill Keever checked on the property and everything is ok at this time and that is a relief. I remember years ago sitting in the old clubhouse when a storm rolled in. As Charlie Brown was stepping up on the porch there was a bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder back to back. It scared everybody pretty bad and it blew out all the voice call controllers in the trap houses. Bob Schultz was nice enough to swap all the bad units out and we didn't miss a beat for the shoot. Hopefully those ERAD control boxes are grounded in case lightning hits like that again.
Two shoots in North Carolina this weekend with Gastonia on Saturday and Buckhorn on Sunday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for both events. Folks are also getting ready for the Dixie with Bill Howe and Billy Thigpen heading South next weekend. You can keep up with our NC shooters at the Dixie by going to www.rjstuart.com and using their site to check scores live during the day and then later that night when all the scores are posted. Hopefully they will have a webcam or two working this year. Big news hit this week with word that the ATA and the HOF will be moving to Sparta. I don't have all the details and hopefully we will get the official rundown from our delegate Terry Roush. There were also some new categories created for All-American points and the biggest news was the 2 yard reduction in handicap. I won't go into all of the details because I don't want to publish something that isn't exactly correct. That is correct - 2 yard reduction that will have to be approved and then your card will appear in the mail. Lane Murray checked the ATA webite and noticed a "skirt" icon beside JC Nunn's name and a "lipstick" icon beside my name.
On a more serious note there is a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth over on trapshooters.com. It is sad to see all of the unhappy people complaining about everything under the sun. The ATA is going through some changes and every organization has some growing pains but it is the best organization for trapshooting in the world as far as I am concerned. I for one know that Terry Roush and Hunter Galloway along with all of the other people steering the ATA are going to do what is best for the sport.
Of course there are a band of brothers over there that keep the pot stirred up and don't forget the personal attacks that are supposedly not suppose to happen on the site. I have always tried very hard not to post anything negative over there because I don't think it would be a good reflection on me or for the sport of trapshooting in our state or in general. Believe me if I wanted to I could make life miserable for a few of those rocket scientists but it seems that they are pretty miserable already.
I talked with Dave Daily Sunday and he was in Atlanta headed to the "Motor City" Detroit. He just got in from Los Angeles Friday and back on the road again. JC got out to shoot during the week and went head to head with his buddy JT and Lewis and not sure who whooped who. JC was hunkered down in the nest over the weekend and said it was a little too cold to shoot. Lane Murray went out Saturday and tested a 31 bushing Clay 1 ounce load. He said it was a bit stout and Lewis had the chrono to prove it. Hunter Galloway stuck around the house and unfortunately had to watch Carolina get their hats handed to them by the Noles.
Ok - that is about it and have a great week. I would really like to see about a foot of snow on the ground before February the 1st. Also, I am on the hunt for some outrageous shooting shorts for the 2012 shooting season. I am turning 57 in August and one of my granfathers trademarks was wearing shorts 365 days of the year. I can't quite live up to that so I have to work another angle. I would like to give a shout out to Lou down in sunny Florida and hopefully he will show up and shoot a bit at the Dixie. Until next week................smokem:)
January 23rd Smoke Report
Hello Monday January 23rd and it's a little moist in Jamestown this morning. Warm one day and then freezing the next is not my idea of what winter needs to feel like. I like to see ice thick on the lake and birds searching for food among other wintery things. Oh well maybe it will start snowing in the next few weeks and I would like that a lot.
Two trapshoots in NC over the weekend with Gastonia and Buckhorn registering targets. I have no shoot reports out of either venue and I hope to have that posted by Monday night. I did however correspond with Jack Young and he shot at Gastonia Saturday. He said that six shot the singles in the rain and that he had a 77 shooting with some injured shoulders. Jack shot back in the 70's and told me that one of the things on his bucket list was to get back to shooting. Welcome back Jack and hope to meet you soon somewhere shooting in North Carolina.
Two shooting events this coming weekend in North Carolina and both on Saturday the 28th. Old Hickory@Bostic will host their monthly registered shoot with a typical 300 target program. Weather for Bostic Saturday is 63 degrees with a slight chance of a sprinkle and you know how weather forecasts are. Also Saturday the Rockingham Gun Club will hold their first Lewis Class "non-registered" shoot of the new year. Start time will be 2PM and we had 25 shooters attend the December event. Weather for Reidsville looks like mid 50's with a chance of a shower and we hope it is as dry as a bone.
Folks were arriving at the Silver Dollar this weekend and some got classified Sunday. The new categories are being utilized and if I had classified today I could have declared the sub-vet category. I read about this on trapshooters.com and we will see how it works out. I will try to call Bill Howe today and get some info on how North Carolina shooters are doing at the Dollar. Remember - http://www.rjstuart.com for info on the Dixie Grand.
Dave Daily was in California two weeks ago and in Detroit last week. When he left Detroit Friday it was 2 degrees and snowing when I talked to him in the Atlanta airport. Not sure where he will be working this week. Tom "Spy2" Shelley has been in Alabama deer hunting and I will try to post the pics of all the deer he killed. He called me Sunday and was driving through Atlanta about noon on his way home. JC got out to the club last week and got some quality practice in. He has been laying the hammer down on folks lately and I hope he keeps it up all season long. July 13th he will turn 89 and he is like the eveready bunny he just keeps on ticking.
Hunter Galloway and I slipped over to see Donnie Parks Thursday. Hunter had to pick up some shells for the Dixie and I broke down and bought some shells to shoot singles. Donnie Parks has got a full head of grey hair but he looks great. He said I was looking old but what do you expect turning 57 this year. We went to the warehouse and loaded up about 30 flats of shells into that Denali. While we were getting checked out Steve Watson flew into the complex in his BMW and was there to pick up reloading supplies. While Donnie was helping Steve, Steve was looking and me and I was looking at him like - don't I know you from somewhere. Steve sent me a prvate message on trapshooters.com to confirm the fredmon sighting.
When we got back to Greensboro I had to unload all of those flats into Hunter's home and into my vehicle and that was a workout. Hunter was in Vandalia a week or so ago at the ATA Hall Of Fame. He took the time to make copies of Trap & Field articles that included my Annie Oakley win, NC State Junior win at the Tarheel GC and also an article about Hunter's dad and JC Nunn. I will get the article posted from the 1968 State Shoot at the Tarheel GC near Advance and right near Parks. I appreciate him taking the time to get those bits of NC shooting history.
I have decided to change the name of the weekly blurb to simply the "smoke report". Since my signon name on tarheeltrap.com is "smokem" I only thought that it would be fitting to change the name. Blurb to me sounds sort of strange and I hope nobody minds the change. I would make it the NC Smoke Report but I tend to report on more than just our fine state. Normally I try to write down items to discuss on the smoke report but somehow manage to forget them by Sunday night.
I took a look at the VA State website this week and was happy to see that it was up to date and full of information. We have threatened to slip up North across the border to shoot in the commonwealth since we have VA shooters slipping South across the border. If I have time I am going to do a week by week monthly calendar and post it on the site in case you want to shoot in the state of VA.
Also while looking at the VA site I noticed that Ray Laughters was back to shooting and won Class C singles with a 95 at Kettlefoot January 7th. Ray shot quite a bit at the NC Homegrounds and we also got to see him at the Watauga GC. He had a serious automobile accident a few years ago and had other medical issues to overcome. He dropped out of site and I am sure glad to see him back out shooting. I left him a message to call me Friday and lo and behold he called me back. It was great to reconnect and we hope to shoot with him real soon.
I also called VA shooter Ted Carwile and finally got his wifes email address so that I send him the NC shoot schedule. He was out rabbit hunting and evidently shoots at the Lynchburg range if I am not mistaken. For several years Ted shot upwards of 20,000 registered targets a year and might have slacked of in 2011. He is a great guy and one heck of a shot. He has a bad habit of breaking 200 straights at the NC Homegrounds for some unknown reason.
In case you were asleep Sunday it looks like the Patriots and the Giants are headed back to the Super Bowl. I am going with the Giants because you guessed it - I am not a big Patriots fan sad to say. One game was lost by a kick and one game was won by a kick. It has always amazed me just how important one target can be in trapshooting. I remember the 189 I broke at the SC State shoot one year when Darvin Cornett broke the lone 200 and didn't play the Lewis. That 189 paid me $254 bucks thank you very much! Sometimes you are the hero and sometimes you are the zero.
I slid up to the Rock Saturday morning early and it was a pretty dreary day. There were a few folks at the pistol pit and nobody at the skeet or trapfields until I got there. I jumped out of the truck and opened up the clubhouse, turned on the heater and put on a pot of coffee. It was raining lightly and then here came a few bands of heavy showers. I drug the chair over that Elmo used to sit in and stuck it in his favorite spot. I placed my chair in front of the windows and read a magazine and drank a cup of joe. JT showed up and we sipped another cup and then Wayne Banks arrived. We finally caught a break in the weather and Wayne and I slipped out and shot 50 singles targets. There was no wind, no rain and very little sunlight. I was shooting a 7/8's load using Extra-Lite and they will really blow a target up. I broke a 23 and a 24 and that won't win anything but it was better than sitting at home.
Have a great week and come on winter cause you know the power companies are losing money with these warm temps. Also, good luck to all the NC shooters competing at the Dixie Grand this week. Check back this evening for scores from Gastonia and Buckhorn. I want to send a shout out to Lou in sunny Florida and I hope you shoot great at the Dixie. Until next time....................Smokem
Two trapshoots in NC over the weekend with Gastonia and Buckhorn registering targets. I have no shoot reports out of either venue and I hope to have that posted by Monday night. I did however correspond with Jack Young and he shot at Gastonia Saturday. He said that six shot the singles in the rain and that he had a 77 shooting with some injured shoulders. Jack shot back in the 70's and told me that one of the things on his bucket list was to get back to shooting. Welcome back Jack and hope to meet you soon somewhere shooting in North Carolina.
Two shooting events this coming weekend in North Carolina and both on Saturday the 28th. Old Hickory@Bostic will host their monthly registered shoot with a typical 300 target program. Weather for Bostic Saturday is 63 degrees with a slight chance of a sprinkle and you know how weather forecasts are. Also Saturday the Rockingham Gun Club will hold their first Lewis Class "non-registered" shoot of the new year. Start time will be 2PM and we had 25 shooters attend the December event. Weather for Reidsville looks like mid 50's with a chance of a shower and we hope it is as dry as a bone.
Folks were arriving at the Silver Dollar this weekend and some got classified Sunday. The new categories are being utilized and if I had classified today I could have declared the sub-vet category. I read about this on trapshooters.com and we will see how it works out. I will try to call Bill Howe today and get some info on how North Carolina shooters are doing at the Dollar. Remember - http://www.rjstuart.com for info on the Dixie Grand.
Dave Daily was in California two weeks ago and in Detroit last week. When he left Detroit Friday it was 2 degrees and snowing when I talked to him in the Atlanta airport. Not sure where he will be working this week. Tom "Spy2" Shelley has been in Alabama deer hunting and I will try to post the pics of all the deer he killed. He called me Sunday and was driving through Atlanta about noon on his way home. JC got out to the club last week and got some quality practice in. He has been laying the hammer down on folks lately and I hope he keeps it up all season long. July 13th he will turn 89 and he is like the eveready bunny he just keeps on ticking.
Hunter Galloway and I slipped over to see Donnie Parks Thursday. Hunter had to pick up some shells for the Dixie and I broke down and bought some shells to shoot singles. Donnie Parks has got a full head of grey hair but he looks great. He said I was looking old but what do you expect turning 57 this year. We went to the warehouse and loaded up about 30 flats of shells into that Denali. While we were getting checked out Steve Watson flew into the complex in his BMW and was there to pick up reloading supplies. While Donnie was helping Steve, Steve was looking and me and I was looking at him like - don't I know you from somewhere. Steve sent me a prvate message on trapshooters.com to confirm the fredmon sighting.
When we got back to Greensboro I had to unload all of those flats into Hunter's home and into my vehicle and that was a workout. Hunter was in Vandalia a week or so ago at the ATA Hall Of Fame. He took the time to make copies of Trap & Field articles that included my Annie Oakley win, NC State Junior win at the Tarheel GC and also an article about Hunter's dad and JC Nunn. I will get the article posted from the 1968 State Shoot at the Tarheel GC near Advance and right near Parks. I appreciate him taking the time to get those bits of NC shooting history.
I have decided to change the name of the weekly blurb to simply the "smoke report". Since my signon name on tarheeltrap.com is "smokem" I only thought that it would be fitting to change the name. Blurb to me sounds sort of strange and I hope nobody minds the change. I would make it the NC Smoke Report but I tend to report on more than just our fine state. Normally I try to write down items to discuss on the smoke report but somehow manage to forget them by Sunday night.
I took a look at the VA State website this week and was happy to see that it was up to date and full of information. We have threatened to slip up North across the border to shoot in the commonwealth since we have VA shooters slipping South across the border. If I have time I am going to do a week by week monthly calendar and post it on the site in case you want to shoot in the state of VA.
Also while looking at the VA site I noticed that Ray Laughters was back to shooting and won Class C singles with a 95 at Kettlefoot January 7th. Ray shot quite a bit at the NC Homegrounds and we also got to see him at the Watauga GC. He had a serious automobile accident a few years ago and had other medical issues to overcome. He dropped out of site and I am sure glad to see him back out shooting. I left him a message to call me Friday and lo and behold he called me back. It was great to reconnect and we hope to shoot with him real soon.
I also called VA shooter Ted Carwile and finally got his wifes email address so that I send him the NC shoot schedule. He was out rabbit hunting and evidently shoots at the Lynchburg range if I am not mistaken. For several years Ted shot upwards of 20,000 registered targets a year and might have slacked of in 2011. He is a great guy and one heck of a shot. He has a bad habit of breaking 200 straights at the NC Homegrounds for some unknown reason.
In case you were asleep Sunday it looks like the Patriots and the Giants are headed back to the Super Bowl. I am going with the Giants because you guessed it - I am not a big Patriots fan sad to say. One game was lost by a kick and one game was won by a kick. It has always amazed me just how important one target can be in trapshooting. I remember the 189 I broke at the SC State shoot one year when Darvin Cornett broke the lone 200 and didn't play the Lewis. That 189 paid me $254 bucks thank you very much! Sometimes you are the hero and sometimes you are the zero.
I slid up to the Rock Saturday morning early and it was a pretty dreary day. There were a few folks at the pistol pit and nobody at the skeet or trapfields until I got there. I jumped out of the truck and opened up the clubhouse, turned on the heater and put on a pot of coffee. It was raining lightly and then here came a few bands of heavy showers. I drug the chair over that Elmo used to sit in and stuck it in his favorite spot. I placed my chair in front of the windows and read a magazine and drank a cup of joe. JT showed up and we sipped another cup and then Wayne Banks arrived. We finally caught a break in the weather and Wayne and I slipped out and shot 50 singles targets. There was no wind, no rain and very little sunlight. I was shooting a 7/8's load using Extra-Lite and they will really blow a target up. I broke a 23 and a 24 and that won't win anything but it was better than sitting at home.
Have a great week and come on winter cause you know the power companies are losing money with these warm temps. Also, good luck to all the NC shooters competing at the Dixie Grand this week. Check back this evening for scores from Gastonia and Buckhorn. I want to send a shout out to Lou in sunny Florida and I hope you shoot great at the Dixie. Until next time....................Smokem
January 30 Smoke Report
The month of January went by quick didn't it? With all the odd weather wea re having and I think they said it would be in the 60's again Wednesday. Not much going on this weekend and we hope to get the scores from OH@Bostic sometime Monday. Rockingham held their monthly Lewis Class Shoot and the 13th Annual Dixie Grand came to a close yesterday.
The Dixie Grand is over and NC shooters claimed some prizes over the week of competition. 13 NC shooters participated in the events and the winners included Bob Schultz, Charlie Brown, Tom Wilkinson and Michael Petrone and there might be others that someone will remind me of. Great shooting guys and we know you had some windy and overcast conditions to deal with.
Lewis Wyatt broke a 92 to win the Lewis Class Fun Shoot at the Rock January 28th. JC Nunn gave him a run for his money and posted the 2nd highest score. The weather was great and the wind a little tricky for the 100 target event. We had a good turnout and we appreciate everybody for coming out. Other winners included Winky Mabe, Greg Manuel and Freddy Redmon.
I gave Marty Hill a call this week to ask about whether Charlie Ackroyd was still shooting ZZ birds? He said that they use to shoot them at Deep River and that had been a few years back. Marty said he went to Coharie to shoot with Al, Mac and Gorgeous George Brown. They were testing out their ATA 2 yard reductions to see how well they broke the birds. Marty said he used the stool some and stood for the other posts. His knees and hips are giving him a fit and we hope he gets that worked out!<.P Speaking of Deep River I called to see if I could speak with Greg Ferguson aks Cy-Kick on trapshooters.com. He is doing well and confessed that he actually got out to shoot some registered ATA targets a few weeks back. He used to make awards for handicap that involved a measuring stick with a leather strip on it that described where the yard or 1/2 yard were shot. I will have to post some pictures so that you can see what I am talking about.
It looks like there is a lull in the trapshooting action in NC until the 18th. I might be missing a shoot and maybe a BIG50 at Old Hickory and if the weather holds up BGC will probably slip a shoot in you just never know. It looks like there are several shoots in VA early in February in case you want to slip North across the border.
At about 10PM the Galloway's were near Columbia SC and had just gotten past their second wreck slowdown of the day. Their 1st slowdown was on I-75 where 10 people lost their lives early Sunday morning. That really makes for a long day with shooting and then having to drive 740 miles home. When possible JC and I come back the next day when a lot of driving is involved. I drive and JC is my wingman when he isn't sleeping.
I hope everyone has a great start to the week and the Pro-Bowl stunk as far as I was concerned. Have a great Super-Bowl week and I hope the Giants stomp a mudhole in the Pats. I want to send a shout out to the one and only FLA Lou. Until next time - Smokem............................................
The Dixie Grand is over and NC shooters claimed some prizes over the week of competition. 13 NC shooters participated in the events and the winners included Bob Schultz, Charlie Brown, Tom Wilkinson and Michael Petrone and there might be others that someone will remind me of. Great shooting guys and we know you had some windy and overcast conditions to deal with.
Lewis Wyatt broke a 92 to win the Lewis Class Fun Shoot at the Rock January 28th. JC Nunn gave him a run for his money and posted the 2nd highest score. The weather was great and the wind a little tricky for the 100 target event. We had a good turnout and we appreciate everybody for coming out. Other winners included Winky Mabe, Greg Manuel and Freddy Redmon.
I gave Marty Hill a call this week to ask about whether Charlie Ackroyd was still shooting ZZ birds? He said that they use to shoot them at Deep River and that had been a few years back. Marty said he went to Coharie to shoot with Al, Mac and Gorgeous George Brown. They were testing out their ATA 2 yard reductions to see how well they broke the birds. Marty said he used the stool some and stood for the other posts. His knees and hips are giving him a fit and we hope he gets that worked out!<.P Speaking of Deep River I called to see if I could speak with Greg Ferguson aks Cy-Kick on trapshooters.com. He is doing well and confessed that he actually got out to shoot some registered ATA targets a few weeks back. He used to make awards for handicap that involved a measuring stick with a leather strip on it that described where the yard or 1/2 yard were shot. I will have to post some pictures so that you can see what I am talking about.
It looks like there is a lull in the trapshooting action in NC until the 18th. I might be missing a shoot and maybe a BIG50 at Old Hickory and if the weather holds up BGC will probably slip a shoot in you just never know. It looks like there are several shoots in VA early in February in case you want to slip North across the border.
At about 10PM the Galloway's were near Columbia SC and had just gotten past their second wreck slowdown of the day. Their 1st slowdown was on I-75 where 10 people lost their lives early Sunday morning. That really makes for a long day with shooting and then having to drive 740 miles home. When possible JC and I come back the next day when a lot of driving is involved. I drive and JC is my wingman when he isn't sleeping.
I hope everyone has a great start to the week and the Pro-Bowl stunk as far as I was concerned. Have a great Super-Bowl week and I hope the Giants stomp a mudhole in the Pats. I want to send a shout out to the one and only FLA Lou. Until next time - Smokem............................................
February 5th Smoke Report
Greetings and another weekend is in the history books. At the time of this writing the Super Bowl is 17 -15 Patriots. Halftime show was ok and the commercials entertaining but very costly. We are living in an entertainment driven economy and the “bailed out” car companies had to spend a pretty penny to run their ads.
NO SHOOTS TO REPORT – but we have shoots coming up towards the end of the month. We have Gastonia 18th – Buckhorn 19th and Old Hickory @ Bostic the 25th. I have posted shoot dates for Virginia in case you just have to get out and shoot real bad. It won’t be long until I will have a lot of shoots to report. Also – Coharie published their calendar and I will get that scanned and posted Monday.
I caught Terry Jordan on Facebook chat this week and he was back home. He shot rather well at the Dixie and he was shipping some new wall charts this weekend. He commented that he had sold 621 Vandalia charts and 1150 Sparta charts since he started creating these tools. I have an 8’ Vandalia chart and took a picture of the same field at the Grand in 2005. Hopefully we will get to meet him face to face one day.
Jeff Galloway has created a Facebook page for North Carolina AIM and we have created a spot on this website also. I am not sure of all AIM will provide but Jeff should be posting info very soon. When I started shooting in the mid 60’s nothing was organized for kids my age. We were pretty much on our own with little participation. I am going to sift through all of my pictures and post all of the youngster’s that have shot in North Carolina.
It looks like we have a NC shooter traveling and he called me from Edisto Beach South Carolina Thursday. He said that it was so warm the other day he almost got a sunburn sitting outside looking at the ocean. He had a word for J-Bird that he wanted to me pass along. He wanted me to tell J-Bird that he better get some practice in because when he got back to the Rock he was going to lay a whooping on him.
Jimmy Wilson has been keeping entertained by attending Carolina Hurricane hockey games. He jumped on Facebook to tell me that the Canes won 2-1 and that a group from BGC had attended and got to see the game in a Skybox. Now that sounds like a lot of fun and I wasn’t invited for some unknown reason? Jimmy asked about JC and I told him that he had been practicing quite a bit. Jimmy told me to tell him that he would be gunning for him this year and we both agreed that we could hear JC laughing.
It is 9:55 and the New York Giants have defeated the New England Patriots. It was a close game and could have been won on the last play. It was quite a game and we have one officer that is going to catch more grief than he could imagine in the morning. All I can say is that I hope the Redskins do better next year.
I hope everybody has a great week and since we missed getting to the club this weekend I better get to the club next weekend for sure. You better take advantage of the warmer weather while we can because the warm weather has got to end sometime. I would like to send a shout out to the man in the sunshine state – Lou we hope you are doing well. Until next week………………you might as well Smokem
NO SHOOTS TO REPORT – but we have shoots coming up towards the end of the month. We have Gastonia 18th – Buckhorn 19th and Old Hickory @ Bostic the 25th. I have posted shoot dates for Virginia in case you just have to get out and shoot real bad. It won’t be long until I will have a lot of shoots to report. Also – Coharie published their calendar and I will get that scanned and posted Monday.
I caught Terry Jordan on Facebook chat this week and he was back home. He shot rather well at the Dixie and he was shipping some new wall charts this weekend. He commented that he had sold 621 Vandalia charts and 1150 Sparta charts since he started creating these tools. I have an 8’ Vandalia chart and took a picture of the same field at the Grand in 2005. Hopefully we will get to meet him face to face one day.
Jeff Galloway has created a Facebook page for North Carolina AIM and we have created a spot on this website also. I am not sure of all AIM will provide but Jeff should be posting info very soon. When I started shooting in the mid 60’s nothing was organized for kids my age. We were pretty much on our own with little participation. I am going to sift through all of my pictures and post all of the youngster’s that have shot in North Carolina.
It looks like we have a NC shooter traveling and he called me from Edisto Beach South Carolina Thursday. He said that it was so warm the other day he almost got a sunburn sitting outside looking at the ocean. He had a word for J-Bird that he wanted to me pass along. He wanted me to tell J-Bird that he better get some practice in because when he got back to the Rock he was going to lay a whooping on him.
Jimmy Wilson has been keeping entertained by attending Carolina Hurricane hockey games. He jumped on Facebook to tell me that the Canes won 2-1 and that a group from BGC had attended and got to see the game in a Skybox. Now that sounds like a lot of fun and I wasn’t invited for some unknown reason? Jimmy asked about JC and I told him that he had been practicing quite a bit. Jimmy told me to tell him that he would be gunning for him this year and we both agreed that we could hear JC laughing.
It is 9:55 and the New York Giants have defeated the New England Patriots. It was a close game and could have been won on the last play. It was quite a game and we have one officer that is going to catch more grief than he could imagine in the morning. All I can say is that I hope the Redskins do better next year.
I hope everybody has a great week and since we missed getting to the club this weekend I better get to the club next weekend for sure. You better take advantage of the warmer weather while we can because the warm weather has got to end sometime. I would like to send a shout out to the man in the sunshine state – Lou we hope you are doing well. Until next week………………you might as well Smokem
February 13th Smoke Report
Another week closer to Spring and man was that some cold bone chilling wind this weekend? No wonder there were no shoots in the state because somebody must have got tipped off that it was going to be cold! Looking at next weekend the weather might be a lot better for some shooting in the state.
There are three shooting events in NC next weekend with Gastonia on the 18th and Buckhorn on the 19th. Rockingham hosts their monthly non-registered lewis class shoot on the 18th and the start time is 2PM. Before you know it there will be shoots every weekend and March looks when it begins.
I caught George Sudderth on Facebook Saturday night and he said it was 8 degrees and the wind was blowing 50MPH. He told me that Tom Pitts is getting ready to retire at the end of the month after 35 years of service. He works for Watauga County and evidently works in GIS creating maps for the tax department. Tom Shelley has already got Pitts lined up loading shells for George, Shelley and who knows who else?
I talked to Dave Daily Saturday and he was at Disney in Florida. He said it was 80 degrees on Friday and he was getting ready for the 30 degree weather to roll into the sunshine state. He told me that they would be dining at Chef Mickey’s with the grandkids and returning to SC in a few days.
Maybe some of you are basketball fans and may have watched the Duke Carolina game the other night. Hunter and Jeff were at the game and if you watched the game you know that Duke won on a last second shot. I called Hunter after the game and he didn’t sound too happy. I called him the next day and asked him this question. Hunter, when the Duke player hit that game winning shot what was the first thing you said. Hunter said “take me to the emergency room” – I tried not to laugh but every time I think about it cracks me up.
I was looking through the ATA website and noticed that we had two NC shooters show up in the All American list for 2011. Addison Callan made the Sub-Junior 1st team with 851 points. Charlie Brown made the Senior-Vet 1st team with 1,443 points and only 456 points behind SrVet Captain Kay Ohye. NC shooters salute you guys and thanks for putting NC in the books in 2011.
Plenty of shooters are getting their new average cards in the mail and some of you are two yards closer to the trap house. Some folks have shot with their new yardages and some had great success at the Dixie Grand. I was so close to the trap house I turned mine down because it sure would have been embarrassing to break poor scores from the 19.
Ok – not a ton of info this week and I hope the weather gets warm soon. I will have shoot reports from three events next week so that will give you a little reading while sitting by the fire. We have a shooter traveling and I will get a trip report from him sometime this week. Have a great week and I hope Lou is enjoying all that cool weather in sunny Florida. Until next week……………………..Smokem
There are three shooting events in NC next weekend with Gastonia on the 18th and Buckhorn on the 19th. Rockingham hosts their monthly non-registered lewis class shoot on the 18th and the start time is 2PM. Before you know it there will be shoots every weekend and March looks when it begins.
I caught George Sudderth on Facebook Saturday night and he said it was 8 degrees and the wind was blowing 50MPH. He told me that Tom Pitts is getting ready to retire at the end of the month after 35 years of service. He works for Watauga County and evidently works in GIS creating maps for the tax department. Tom Shelley has already got Pitts lined up loading shells for George, Shelley and who knows who else?
I talked to Dave Daily Saturday and he was at Disney in Florida. He said it was 80 degrees on Friday and he was getting ready for the 30 degree weather to roll into the sunshine state. He told me that they would be dining at Chef Mickey’s with the grandkids and returning to SC in a few days.
Maybe some of you are basketball fans and may have watched the Duke Carolina game the other night. Hunter and Jeff were at the game and if you watched the game you know that Duke won on a last second shot. I called Hunter after the game and he didn’t sound too happy. I called him the next day and asked him this question. Hunter, when the Duke player hit that game winning shot what was the first thing you said. Hunter said “take me to the emergency room” – I tried not to laugh but every time I think about it cracks me up.
I was looking through the ATA website and noticed that we had two NC shooters show up in the All American list for 2011. Addison Callan made the Sub-Junior 1st team with 851 points. Charlie Brown made the Senior-Vet 1st team with 1,443 points and only 456 points behind SrVet Captain Kay Ohye. NC shooters salute you guys and thanks for putting NC in the books in 2011.
Plenty of shooters are getting their new average cards in the mail and some of you are two yards closer to the trap house. Some folks have shot with their new yardages and some had great success at the Dixie Grand. I was so close to the trap house I turned mine down because it sure would have been embarrassing to break poor scores from the 19.
Ok – not a ton of info this week and I hope the weather gets warm soon. I will have shoot reports from three events next week so that will give you a little reading while sitting by the fire. We have a shooter traveling and I will get a trip report from him sometime this week. Have a great week and I hope Lou is enjoying all that cool weather in sunny Florida. Until next week……………………..Smokem
February 20th Smoke Report
Winter weather has finally arrived in the Piedmont. After a beautiful Saturday the skies clouded up the rain came and then the snow. AT the time of this writing it has all about stopped here in Jamestown. It will be interesting to see just where the greatest amounts fell. Normally this could turn into a weather pattern with snow coming for the next few weeks.
We had there shooting events in the state this weekend. Steve Watson sent me the scores for the Gastonia shoot and it looks like they had a good turnout. 15 shooters shot the singles with Dean Egert winning the singles with a 94 and the only shooter to break a 25. Nine shooters stepped to the line for the handicap with Mike Pobiega winning with an 86. I don't know if they shot doubles or not. I also have scores from the January shoot and will try to post them this week.
Rockingham County Gun Club hosted their monthly Lewis Class shoot and they had 14 shooters shoot the program. The weather was great for the singles with Carolina blue skies and then the high clouds slipped in for the handicap. JC Nunn led all shooters in the singles with a 48 and we had four with 47's and two with 46's all bunched together. We got the handicap cranked up and we had all the 2 yard reductions to factor in for all the yardages.
We had a long yardage squad with Tommy Brown and Charlie Rinehart and then a 3, 5 and four man squad. JC Nunn shot from the 20 and he was on a 5 man 20 yard squad. He wasn't letting the target get far from the house before he unleashed that Green Dot 1 and 1/8 ounce load from that full choke AL-2 Beretta. I shot with him in the singles and he wasn't chipping any of the targets.
When the smoke settled JC had broken 48, Roland Whitely broke a 46 and Ronnie Manuel a 45. JC won the event with a 96 with Roland and Ronnie breaking 92's. Of course 90's hit the second Lewis and guess who broke a 90 after missing their 99th bird from post 5 trap 2? Everybody had a great time and we informed JC that he would be shooting 2 yards farther back at the next Lewis Class shoot. Needless to say he knew we were kidding and let out that laugh on the way to the truck.
We had a few shooters traveling and they include the Callan's on their way to shoot in Tuscon. Dave Daily was in Alabama heading into South Carolina and was about 200 miles away from his daughter's home. He was on the tailend of a 2600 mile road trip and was looking forward to getting back to Myrtle Beach. We have three NC shooters in Tuscon and we hope to get a report from Arizona starting Monday.
I will check on the scores for Buckhorn Monday and get those scores posted as soon as possible. We have a shoot coming up this Saturday and it will be held at Old Hickory@Bostic. Hopefully their weather will cooperate and have a great turnout. March will be here before you know it and there are 7 shoots scheduled next month. Before you know it folks will be complaining about how hot it is.
One last story before we sign off here. JC told the story Saturday about a shooter that showed up to shoot last week and started a conversation with Tom Cox. Tom asked the gentleman about when and where he shot and the fellow stated that he had shot back in the 70's. Tom thought and asked the gentleman if he knew JC Nunn and the shooter quickly commented that "JC Nunn" died years ago. Of course JC was laughing the entire time he was telling the story and then he got Tom Brown laughing.
I hope everybody has a safe Monday morning and it looks like the temps might slip back into the 70's in a few days. All I know is that the bugs are going to rough this year with very few super cold days to kill some of them off. We will be checking on the Tuscon scores and will get them up if any of our shooters are on the leader board. I hope Lou is doing well in Florida and until next week............................Smokem
We had there shooting events in the state this weekend. Steve Watson sent me the scores for the Gastonia shoot and it looks like they had a good turnout. 15 shooters shot the singles with Dean Egert winning the singles with a 94 and the only shooter to break a 25. Nine shooters stepped to the line for the handicap with Mike Pobiega winning with an 86. I don't know if they shot doubles or not. I also have scores from the January shoot and will try to post them this week.
Rockingham County Gun Club hosted their monthly Lewis Class shoot and they had 14 shooters shoot the program. The weather was great for the singles with Carolina blue skies and then the high clouds slipped in for the handicap. JC Nunn led all shooters in the singles with a 48 and we had four with 47's and two with 46's all bunched together. We got the handicap cranked up and we had all the 2 yard reductions to factor in for all the yardages.
We had a long yardage squad with Tommy Brown and Charlie Rinehart and then a 3, 5 and four man squad. JC Nunn shot from the 20 and he was on a 5 man 20 yard squad. He wasn't letting the target get far from the house before he unleashed that Green Dot 1 and 1/8 ounce load from that full choke AL-2 Beretta. I shot with him in the singles and he wasn't chipping any of the targets.
When the smoke settled JC had broken 48, Roland Whitely broke a 46 and Ronnie Manuel a 45. JC won the event with a 96 with Roland and Ronnie breaking 92's. Of course 90's hit the second Lewis and guess who broke a 90 after missing their 99th bird from post 5 trap 2? Everybody had a great time and we informed JC that he would be shooting 2 yards farther back at the next Lewis Class shoot. Needless to say he knew we were kidding and let out that laugh on the way to the truck.
We had a few shooters traveling and they include the Callan's on their way to shoot in Tuscon. Dave Daily was in Alabama heading into South Carolina and was about 200 miles away from his daughter's home. He was on the tailend of a 2600 mile road trip and was looking forward to getting back to Myrtle Beach. We have three NC shooters in Tuscon and we hope to get a report from Arizona starting Monday.
I will check on the scores for Buckhorn Monday and get those scores posted as soon as possible. We have a shoot coming up this Saturday and it will be held at Old Hickory@Bostic. Hopefully their weather will cooperate and have a great turnout. March will be here before you know it and there are 7 shoots scheduled next month. Before you know it folks will be complaining about how hot it is.
One last story before we sign off here. JC told the story Saturday about a shooter that showed up to shoot last week and started a conversation with Tom Cox. Tom asked the gentleman about when and where he shot and the fellow stated that he had shot back in the 70's. Tom thought and asked the gentleman if he knew JC Nunn and the shooter quickly commented that "JC Nunn" died years ago. Of course JC was laughing the entire time he was telling the story and then he got Tom Brown laughing.
I hope everybody has a safe Monday morning and it looks like the temps might slip back into the 70's in a few days. All I know is that the bugs are going to rough this year with very few super cold days to kill some of them off. We will be checking on the Tuscon scores and will get them up if any of our shooters are on the leader board. I hope Lou is doing well in Florida and until next week............................Smokem
February 27th Smoke Report
Good moning and I trust you had a great weekend. Saturday was super windy and Sunday was a pefect day for shooting in North Carolina. We had one shoot over the weekend and we have two shoots coming up this week. We had NC shooters at the Spring Grand and will give a brief report on their performances.We also had s shooter reach a milestone this week and we will tell you who he is in a moment.
Old Hickory @ Bostic had a shoot Saturday and we will try to get that shoot report as soon as possible. Old Hickory @ Bostic will hos their monthly BIG50 this Thursday the 1st of March. Coharie Shooting League will hold their first registered shoot of the new year this Saturday the 3rd. Mac throws some good targets and they have ERAD's on both fields now!
The Spring Grand in Tuscon Arizona is over and it looks like the attendance was way up over 2011. 50 fields with 40 two bank traps made the shoot run much smoother. In years past they had to limit the singles championship to 150 targets due to the crowd and the smaller number of traps. Tuscon looks like a beautiful location to shoot and we would really like to make it out there one day.
NC had three shooters at the Spring Grand and they included Lewis Wyatt and Jim and Addison Callan. I talked to Lewis earlier in the week and he was having a great time. They were in the dry camping area behind trap 8. Town was about 15 miles away and they were cooking all their meals in the camper. Looking at Lew's scores he didn't set the world on fire but he gave it a good try.
Jim and Addison have fared a little better with Addison breaking back to 96's in handicap earlier in the week, Addison put back to back 98's together in the championship singles on Saturday. Jim has been posting scores and overviews of their day to day shooting activities and we appreciate that very much.It was great to see Addison shooting with his SubJr 1st Team All American team patch on his shooting jacket - quite an accomplishment! I would imagine that Jim will give a synopsis of their adventure with all of the important details sometime this week.
Jimmy Wilson reached a milestone this week when he turned 50 years old. It snuck up on him and me and we missed the party that they held at the club last Sunday. BGC was busy over the weekend with SCTP shooters braving that wind the state experienced Saturday. Jimmy and the crew worked with student's from St. Mary's High School in Raleigh and Doug and Kim had a few from the DCWC. Charlie Brown attended to score the group since they frequent his club from time to time. Sunday Jimmy and the crew hosted about 50 students from Duke Duck's Unlimited group. All in all about 120 rounds of trap were shot between the Duke students and all of the other shooters at the club.
This is leap year and we have an extra day in February. March is here and unless the cold sets in we are looking forward to Spring in a big way. With gas predicted to hit the $5 mark it remains to be seen what this will do to trapshooting in general. I read today that the reason gas prices are high is that 3 refineries have been shutdown around the nation. That remains to be seen but high gas prices are going to kill folks travel plans whether they shoot or not.
I hope everybody has a great week and we hope the weather will cooperate for the two shooting events this week. It won't be long before the Southern Grand and we have a few NC shooters to track at that shoot. I thought I would be able to attend the GA State shoot until I found out my youngest son was getting married that weekend - maybe next year. I want to send a shout out to Lou down in sunny Florida and until next time.................................Smokem
Old Hickory @ Bostic had a shoot Saturday and we will try to get that shoot report as soon as possible. Old Hickory @ Bostic will hos their monthly BIG50 this Thursday the 1st of March. Coharie Shooting League will hold their first registered shoot of the new year this Saturday the 3rd. Mac throws some good targets and they have ERAD's on both fields now!
The Spring Grand in Tuscon Arizona is over and it looks like the attendance was way up over 2011. 50 fields with 40 two bank traps made the shoot run much smoother. In years past they had to limit the singles championship to 150 targets due to the crowd and the smaller number of traps. Tuscon looks like a beautiful location to shoot and we would really like to make it out there one day.
NC had three shooters at the Spring Grand and they included Lewis Wyatt and Jim and Addison Callan. I talked to Lewis earlier in the week and he was having a great time. They were in the dry camping area behind trap 8. Town was about 15 miles away and they were cooking all their meals in the camper. Looking at Lew's scores he didn't set the world on fire but he gave it a good try.
Jim and Addison have fared a little better with Addison breaking back to 96's in handicap earlier in the week, Addison put back to back 98's together in the championship singles on Saturday. Jim has been posting scores and overviews of their day to day shooting activities and we appreciate that very much.It was great to see Addison shooting with his SubJr 1st Team All American team patch on his shooting jacket - quite an accomplishment! I would imagine that Jim will give a synopsis of their adventure with all of the important details sometime this week.
Jimmy Wilson reached a milestone this week when he turned 50 years old. It snuck up on him and me and we missed the party that they held at the club last Sunday. BGC was busy over the weekend with SCTP shooters braving that wind the state experienced Saturday. Jimmy and the crew worked with student's from St. Mary's High School in Raleigh and Doug and Kim had a few from the DCWC. Charlie Brown attended to score the group since they frequent his club from time to time. Sunday Jimmy and the crew hosted about 50 students from Duke Duck's Unlimited group. All in all about 120 rounds of trap were shot between the Duke students and all of the other shooters at the club.
This is leap year and we have an extra day in February. March is here and unless the cold sets in we are looking forward to Spring in a big way. With gas predicted to hit the $5 mark it remains to be seen what this will do to trapshooting in general. I read today that the reason gas prices are high is that 3 refineries have been shutdown around the nation. That remains to be seen but high gas prices are going to kill folks travel plans whether they shoot or not.
I hope everybody has a great week and we hope the weather will cooperate for the two shooting events this week. It won't be long before the Southern Grand and we have a few NC shooters to track at that shoot. I thought I would be able to attend the GA State shoot until I found out my youngest son was getting married that weekend - maybe next year. I want to send a shout out to Lou down in sunny Florida and until next time.................................Smokem
Thursday March 1st, 2012
What a beautiful day and I hope you have a chance to get out and enjoy the weather. Thank goodness NC was spared any damage from the line of storms that roared through some midwest states.
The news reported about a country singer that got tossed around in his tour bus in Branson MO. That is a little close as far as I am concerned and some of the of the twisters were rated F4's.
Tornado sirens have been replaced with weather radios and if you don't have one in your house you might want to consider getting one. They can be programmed to only alarm you for warnings in your local area. You don't want that thing going off all night for a warnig 250 miles from your home.
March is here and the Florida chain is at the Silver Dollar this week with only a few more weeks until the Southern Grand. I called Bill Howe Tuesday night to see if he had any info from the Old Hickory@Bostic shoot. He is gearing up for the SG and I hope he does well.
JC is going to slip out to the Rock today to get a little practice. He has been on a tear lately and hoping to lay a little lumber on Lewis in the very near future.
I know this is unusual for me to post anything on a Thursday but I had a little cabin fever and just had to share. I told JC that it would be a beautiful day to be sitting up under a tent somewhere waiting to shoot.
The lovely and talented Kim McKinney asked me to setup a section for the SCTP group and I would imagine she will be populating the section with practice dates and hopefully some action shots of the new shooters. I sure wish they had been around back when I was shooting my 20 gauge hammer gun. That gun hammered me for several hundred rounds until I got big enough to shoot a 12.
Have a great Thursday and hopefully we will have something to write about for the next smoke report this weekend. Until then.........................Smokem
The news reported about a country singer that got tossed around in his tour bus in Branson MO. That is a little close as far as I am concerned and some of the of the twisters were rated F4's.
Tornado sirens have been replaced with weather radios and if you don't have one in your house you might want to consider getting one. They can be programmed to only alarm you for warnings in your local area. You don't want that thing going off all night for a warnig 250 miles from your home.
March is here and the Florida chain is at the Silver Dollar this week with only a few more weeks until the Southern Grand. I called Bill Howe Tuesday night to see if he had any info from the Old Hickory@Bostic shoot. He is gearing up for the SG and I hope he does well.
JC is going to slip out to the Rock today to get a little practice. He has been on a tear lately and hoping to lay a little lumber on Lewis in the very near future.
I know this is unusual for me to post anything on a Thursday but I had a little cabin fever and just had to share. I told JC that it would be a beautiful day to be sitting up under a tent somewhere waiting to shoot.
The lovely and talented Kim McKinney asked me to setup a section for the SCTP group and I would imagine she will be populating the section with practice dates and hopefully some action shots of the new shooters. I sure wish they had been around back when I was shooting my 20 gauge hammer gun. That gun hammered me for several hundred rounds until I got big enough to shoot a 12.
Have a great Thursday and hopefully we will have something to write about for the next smoke report this weekend. Until then.........................Smokem
March 5th Smoke Report
We apologize for the delay in getting you the weekly smoke report. The website just came back up about 10 minutes ago and thank you Justin.
Snow in March in North Carolina - you gotta love it. Not sure of what the snow totals are but most of it is North of the NC line. We hope all of our trapshooting friends in surrounding states fared well with all of the damage due to the storms. Coharie had to cancel their shoot Saturday due to torrential rains in the area. Hopefully they can make that date up sometime.
Old Hickory @ Bostic held their monthly BIG50 last Thursday and Bill Howe was nice enough to send me the scores with his new IPHONE. Mike Gilbert won the singles and the caps and Bruce Whittemore won the doubles. Mike won the flip with Bruce for the HOA. Glad to see that they are continuing to spread the lead at OH@Bostic.
Spartanburg shot Saturday and some of the Watauga Cartel braved the bad weather and headed South. Tom Shelley, Tom Pitts, John Waters and Steve Watson. Shelley had a good day and after not shooting for about 4 months he broke a 98 in singles and a 94 in handicap from the 24 yard line. Fortunately a 95 was broken to save him from the punch. Pitts took a whooping except for doubles and Pitts edged Shelley by one bird. Not sure how John and Steve did but I know they all had a good time.
I just took a look at the SC scores from Spartanburg and Tom Shelley won the HOA for the day with a 273 just one target more than AA SC shooter Kevin Stephens. If Shelley had put a 9 in front of that doubles score he would have been looking at a 282x300 - look out George Shelley is a coming!
Old Hickory @ Rocky Mount will hold their first registered shoot of the year this weekend. They will shoot the 10th and not sure of the program at this time. I would imagine that they will host a typical 300 target program and we should have the info sometime this week. They have three traps now and I hope they have good weather for the event.
JT Brewer has got a new smoke pole a 90T. He has been dialing it in and shot it pretty good until the rib screws fell out of it. By the grace of God he managed to find both of the screws - can you believe it? Glenn had a 25 going until he missed his last target Thursday. JC is taking advantage of being retired and shooting when the weather is good. He has been getting a lot of practice in that is for sure!
I slipped out to the Rock Sunday and it was super windy and cold. I took advantage of the hot java and the couch while others watched the birds go up - up and away. I put on my wind pants and my winter shooting jacket to brave that wind. No I did not shoot and maybe we will get to shoot this weekend.
Jim Callan posted an interesting in-depth look at a new shotgun that is hopefully going to be produced for competitive trapshooting. It looks like a good design and Addison was really smoking the birds in that video. I would mention the model but at the moment I cannot access tarheeltrap.com for the info. I really enjoyed shooting my AL-391's and you never know I might shoot them again.
I hope everybody has a great week and the trapshoots will start rolling here before too long. Also the Southern Grand is next week and it is always fun to follow along using the rjstuart website. Also there is a live webcam in the clubhouse for you to catch your favorite trapshooter and the big boys and girls will be at the SG. Maybe even Lou will be shooting at the SG. Until next time.................................Smokem
Snow in March in North Carolina - you gotta love it. Not sure of what the snow totals are but most of it is North of the NC line. We hope all of our trapshooting friends in surrounding states fared well with all of the damage due to the storms. Coharie had to cancel their shoot Saturday due to torrential rains in the area. Hopefully they can make that date up sometime.
Old Hickory @ Bostic held their monthly BIG50 last Thursday and Bill Howe was nice enough to send me the scores with his new IPHONE. Mike Gilbert won the singles and the caps and Bruce Whittemore won the doubles. Mike won the flip with Bruce for the HOA. Glad to see that they are continuing to spread the lead at OH@Bostic.
Spartanburg shot Saturday and some of the Watauga Cartel braved the bad weather and headed South. Tom Shelley, Tom Pitts, John Waters and Steve Watson. Shelley had a good day and after not shooting for about 4 months he broke a 98 in singles and a 94 in handicap from the 24 yard line. Fortunately a 95 was broken to save him from the punch. Pitts took a whooping except for doubles and Pitts edged Shelley by one bird. Not sure how John and Steve did but I know they all had a good time.
I just took a look at the SC scores from Spartanburg and Tom Shelley won the HOA for the day with a 273 just one target more than AA SC shooter Kevin Stephens. If Shelley had put a 9 in front of that doubles score he would have been looking at a 282x300 - look out George Shelley is a coming!
Old Hickory @ Rocky Mount will hold their first registered shoot of the year this weekend. They will shoot the 10th and not sure of the program at this time. I would imagine that they will host a typical 300 target program and we should have the info sometime this week. They have three traps now and I hope they have good weather for the event.
JT Brewer has got a new smoke pole a 90T. He has been dialing it in and shot it pretty good until the rib screws fell out of it. By the grace of God he managed to find both of the screws - can you believe it? Glenn had a 25 going until he missed his last target Thursday. JC is taking advantage of being retired and shooting when the weather is good. He has been getting a lot of practice in that is for sure!
I slipped out to the Rock Sunday and it was super windy and cold. I took advantage of the hot java and the couch while others watched the birds go up - up and away. I put on my wind pants and my winter shooting jacket to brave that wind. No I did not shoot and maybe we will get to shoot this weekend.
Jim Callan posted an interesting in-depth look at a new shotgun that is hopefully going to be produced for competitive trapshooting. It looks like a good design and Addison was really smoking the birds in that video. I would mention the model but at the moment I cannot access tarheeltrap.com for the info. I really enjoyed shooting my AL-391's and you never know I might shoot them again.
I hope everybody has a great week and the trapshoots will start rolling here before too long. Also the Southern Grand is next week and it is always fun to follow along using the rjstuart website. Also there is a live webcam in the clubhouse for you to catch your favorite trapshooter and the big boys and girls will be at the SG. Maybe even Lou will be shooting at the SG. Until next time.................................Smokem
March 12th Smoke Report
Good morning and what a great weather weekend in the TarHeel State. We had one registered shoot this weekend and we hope to have the results sometime today. We have two shoots coming up this weekend and we will discuss them a little later. Pretty weather is upon us and we hope all the cold weather goes away! The Masters is right around the corner and the state shoot schedule is about to thicken up.
I chatted with George Sudderth Monday and he had 3 inches of snow on the ground. George only has 1300 registered targets this season and shot last at the Wing Fling in October. He had an 83 in handicap that weekend and I know he is looking forward to better caps scores real soon. Tom Shelley confided in me and stated that he had George's and Tom Pitts number this year so stay tuned. George is hoping to make it to the Buckhorn shoot the 18th and maybe some of the Watauga Cartel will accompany him. Oh, Tom Shelley shot great at the Spartanburg GC and wound up winning the HOA also. I didn't know that when I created the smoke report last Monday.
I chatted with Bob Batke from Ohio last Saturday and he said he was headed to a local registered shoot near Canton. He called it a "Pot" shoot and he explained that they have a pot on each 50 of the caps. 1st 50 - middle 50 and of course the last 50. He stated that the 1st 50 pot was up to 2400 bucks and he sure would like to hit that pot of money. I mentioned the idea to Tom Cox last Sunday and mentioned yesterday that he would publish our new setup for the approximately 2200 plus dollars we have in our current "mid50" pot. A portion of the fee to play the pot will be spread out between the three pots. I am not sure what the fee will be for the pots.
The Southern Grand starts today and we have several NC shooters participating in the event. Bill Howe and Billy Thigpen are there along with Jeff and Hunter Galloway. I talked with Jackie Roush earlier in the week and she said the weather was great but windy for the Chain shoot at the Dollar. She mentioned that they would be golfing and getting ready to take a Kay Ohye refresher clinic. Terry commented that an 86 won the caps one day and that Kay Ohye had a 72 & 73 in handicap - now that was windy! Hunter and Jeff got to the Dollar Saturday night about 10:45 and Hunter said he slept like a bald headed baby when I talked to him Sunday! We wish all of our NC shooters well and keep a check on their scores by visiting http://www.rjstuart.com.
I was sifting through some scores from Gastonia and noticed that Charlie Keiger was shooting again. I took a chance and gave him a call and spent a few minutes catching up. Some of you remember his daughter Elizabeth Keiger and her early days of shooting. She is going to college at Marymount Manhattan and I believe it wont be long before she graduates. Charlie also mentioned that he would be attending the Southern Grand with Crews Walden. He mentioned that Bill Billings is back to shooting but I am not clear if he will be attending the SG with them also. Regardless we hope they have a great time and we will look for them on the leader board.
Have you bought gas lately and did you feel like you were violated. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but here it is. I read on trapshooters.com that White Flyer is increasing their target price to $11 per case. I also heard that our entry fees will increase at the North Carolina Homegrounds. I am not sure and do not know exactly what the price per 100 will be for the Dogwood - State and Hall Of Fame shoots at the HG. I should know something very soon and will publish it. The Dogwood program will be available very soon and we will get that on the site.
I don't know if you have bought new factory ammo but it is alsmost 10 bucks a box. Remington evidenlty really doesn't care about the target loads and from what we were told Remington primers have not been available for months (more like 18 months). When Hunter went by Parks last week they were out of Remington Nitro 7.5's and it could be that Remington is more interested in the loads for hunters and not so much for the competition shooter. It remains to be seen whether Remington will offer any type of rebate for their shells at the Grand. Trapshooters.com was full of horror stories regarding trying to get their rebates to be honored by Remington.
You might have heard me mention the Australian Olympic shooter Russell Mark. He married a gal from NC and he is quite a shot. February 22nd he got a brand new "High Rib" DT-11 Beretta and managed to break a score last week that was one bird below the "WORLD RECORD". He broke 145+50 for a 195 at the Australian Olympic trials in Melbourne. He has posted quite a bit of info on Facebook and he looks like he has a great chance to win a medal in London at the next Olympics. I will post the picture of the new DT-11 sometime this week. If you frequent trapshooters.com look for the thread listed as "secret weapon" by Aussie Dan.
It looks like Charlie Brown has scheduled a few more shoots this year and we are glad to see it. Their 1st shoot is Sunday April 1st and if I can get away I might try to make it down. Karole and John Miller will be helping along with some folks from the Buckhorn GC. If you have never shot at Charlies you really need to make an effort to attend! They throw some great targets and I have a wooduck trophy in my trophy case to prove it.!
I did make it up to the Rock yesterday and JT, JC, Tommy Brown, Ronnie Manuel, Lane Murray, Doug Starr and a few more were shooting. We spent time with a new club member showing him a little about trapshooting. His name is Mark Keller and he did great for his 1st time on a trapfield. I will post his video sometime Monday for your viewing pleasure.
Two shoots coming up this weekend with the Rock hosting their monthly Lewis Class "non-registered" fun shoot Saturday. Start time is 10AM and we will shoot 50 singles and 50 handicap targets. Sunday the Buckhorn Gun Club will host their monthly ATA registered trapshoot and it will be a typical 300 target program.
That is about it for the smoke report and we hope you have a great week. The weather looks great all week except for a little rain on Tuesday. If my wife will give me a hall pass I might be at the range both Saturday and Sunday. I want to say hello to my friend in Florida - hey Lou. Until next week..........................Smokem
I chatted with George Sudderth Monday and he had 3 inches of snow on the ground. George only has 1300 registered targets this season and shot last at the Wing Fling in October. He had an 83 in handicap that weekend and I know he is looking forward to better caps scores real soon. Tom Shelley confided in me and stated that he had George's and Tom Pitts number this year so stay tuned. George is hoping to make it to the Buckhorn shoot the 18th and maybe some of the Watauga Cartel will accompany him. Oh, Tom Shelley shot great at the Spartanburg GC and wound up winning the HOA also. I didn't know that when I created the smoke report last Monday.
I chatted with Bob Batke from Ohio last Saturday and he said he was headed to a local registered shoot near Canton. He called it a "Pot" shoot and he explained that they have a pot on each 50 of the caps. 1st 50 - middle 50 and of course the last 50. He stated that the 1st 50 pot was up to 2400 bucks and he sure would like to hit that pot of money. I mentioned the idea to Tom Cox last Sunday and mentioned yesterday that he would publish our new setup for the approximately 2200 plus dollars we have in our current "mid50" pot. A portion of the fee to play the pot will be spread out between the three pots. I am not sure what the fee will be for the pots.
The Southern Grand starts today and we have several NC shooters participating in the event. Bill Howe and Billy Thigpen are there along with Jeff and Hunter Galloway. I talked with Jackie Roush earlier in the week and she said the weather was great but windy for the Chain shoot at the Dollar. She mentioned that they would be golfing and getting ready to take a Kay Ohye refresher clinic. Terry commented that an 86 won the caps one day and that Kay Ohye had a 72 & 73 in handicap - now that was windy! Hunter and Jeff got to the Dollar Saturday night about 10:45 and Hunter said he slept like a bald headed baby when I talked to him Sunday! We wish all of our NC shooters well and keep a check on their scores by visiting http://www.rjstuart.com.
I was sifting through some scores from Gastonia and noticed that Charlie Keiger was shooting again. I took a chance and gave him a call and spent a few minutes catching up. Some of you remember his daughter Elizabeth Keiger and her early days of shooting. She is going to college at Marymount Manhattan and I believe it wont be long before she graduates. Charlie also mentioned that he would be attending the Southern Grand with Crews Walden. He mentioned that Bill Billings is back to shooting but I am not clear if he will be attending the SG with them also. Regardless we hope they have a great time and we will look for them on the leader board.
Have you bought gas lately and did you feel like you were violated. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but here it is. I read on trapshooters.com that White Flyer is increasing their target price to $11 per case. I also heard that our entry fees will increase at the North Carolina Homegrounds. I am not sure and do not know exactly what the price per 100 will be for the Dogwood - State and Hall Of Fame shoots at the HG. I should know something very soon and will publish it. The Dogwood program will be available very soon and we will get that on the site.
I don't know if you have bought new factory ammo but it is alsmost 10 bucks a box. Remington evidenlty really doesn't care about the target loads and from what we were told Remington primers have not been available for months (more like 18 months). When Hunter went by Parks last week they were out of Remington Nitro 7.5's and it could be that Remington is more interested in the loads for hunters and not so much for the competition shooter. It remains to be seen whether Remington will offer any type of rebate for their shells at the Grand. Trapshooters.com was full of horror stories regarding trying to get their rebates to be honored by Remington.
You might have heard me mention the Australian Olympic shooter Russell Mark. He married a gal from NC and he is quite a shot. February 22nd he got a brand new "High Rib" DT-11 Beretta and managed to break a score last week that was one bird below the "WORLD RECORD". He broke 145+50 for a 195 at the Australian Olympic trials in Melbourne. He has posted quite a bit of info on Facebook and he looks like he has a great chance to win a medal in London at the next Olympics. I will post the picture of the new DT-11 sometime this week. If you frequent trapshooters.com look for the thread listed as "secret weapon" by Aussie Dan.
It looks like Charlie Brown has scheduled a few more shoots this year and we are glad to see it. Their 1st shoot is Sunday April 1st and if I can get away I might try to make it down. Karole and John Miller will be helping along with some folks from the Buckhorn GC. If you have never shot at Charlies you really need to make an effort to attend! They throw some great targets and I have a wooduck trophy in my trophy case to prove it.!
I did make it up to the Rock yesterday and JT, JC, Tommy Brown, Ronnie Manuel, Lane Murray, Doug Starr and a few more were shooting. We spent time with a new club member showing him a little about trapshooting. His name is Mark Keller and he did great for his 1st time on a trapfield. I will post his video sometime Monday for your viewing pleasure.
Two shoots coming up this weekend with the Rock hosting their monthly Lewis Class "non-registered" fun shoot Saturday. Start time is 10AM and we will shoot 50 singles and 50 handicap targets. Sunday the Buckhorn Gun Club will host their monthly ATA registered trapshoot and it will be a typical 300 target program.
That is about it for the smoke report and we hope you have a great week. The weather looks great all week except for a little rain on Tuesday. If my wife will give me a hall pass I might be at the range both Saturday and Sunday. I want to say hello to my friend in Florida - hey Lou. Until next week..........................Smokem
March 19th Smoke Report 2012
March 19th Smoke Report
Good morning and it looks like a off again on again rainy week here in Greensboro. The 32nd Annual Southern Grand has come to an end and we had some NC winners and congrats to them. We had two shooting events over the weekend and have two registered shoots coming up this week.
Here are some of the winners - Jeff Galloway, Brad Barnett and Charlie Brown won doubles trophies. Bill Howe won a handicap trophy during the week. If I missed anybody we apologize and it has been interesting tracking it all week. The daily writeups will be in the Lodge - Out-Of-State Trapshoot Info.
Ronnie Manuel led all shooters at the Rockingham Lewis Class Shoot Saturday. The weather was great and we had two squads step to the line. JC Nunn didn't make it due to having a headache early Saturday morning. He is doing fine and hopes to be out shooting this week. Young Zax Tate won the mid lewis and Ray Shisler took the low lewis. Ray brought Steve Karas out to the shoot Saturday and his rehab is going great. He looked well and hopes to be back out shooting very soon.
VA shooters rolled into Buckhorn Sunday and won all the events! John Domas won the singles with a 99 and Ted Carwile won caps with a 95 and doubles with a 97. Jack Young rolled up from Charlotte to shoot the singles and hit the lewis to boot. The Watauga boys slid into Mebane and George pretty much laid it on his travel squad. Tom Shelley put the hammer down on Pitts, tied him in doubles and then won the flip. Everybody had a great time and the weather held up which was much appreciated.
Two registered events this weekend with Rockingham hosting their 1st registered shoot of the new year. Typical 300 target program and we have changed our MID50 pot up this year. We have split the monies between the 1st50, 2nd50 and last50. Not sure of what it will cost to enter but this gives you 3 chances to hit the $$ when shooting the handicap.
Old Hickory@Bostic will host their monthly shoot this Saturday and we hope to get something posted early this week. I know everybody misses Charlie and we appreciate the work they are doing to keep the shoots rolling on. I also appreciate the efforts of getting me the scores in a timely manner. Could somebody get Al Bost to send me the scores from OH@Rocky Mount please? As I was leaving the Buckhorn Gun Club Jimmy wanted me to get a message to JC. Jimmy wanted me to let him know that it had become obvious that JC was dodging Jimmy. I called JC Sunday afternoon and passed on the message Jimmy had given me. JC just laughed and told me to tell Jimmy that he wasn't dodging him he was just playing mind games with him! JC turns 89 in July and as far as I know plans to shoot and travel with me all year!
With all of the excitement going on in Florida I didn't do too good of a job gathering tidbits of information for the smoke report this week. Oh, Jackie Roush did pick me up a pair of super loud knee shorts in Florida and we will be sporting them on Saturday's at the bigger shoots. Now I just need to find a loud shooting shirt to match the color scheme.
Folks it is that time of the year again and it feels great! The cold weather is over except for the snow in Tuscon AZ as we speak. Pollen is in the air and before you know it the smell of suntan lotion and bug spray will be wafting through the air. Before you know it we will be shooting at the Dogwood and then eating fish on Saturday at the SC State Shoot in Spartanburg!
I hope everybody has a great week and we will try to do a little better for the smoke report next Monday! It looks like Lou Carter shot Wednesday through Sunday with a solid 97 in doubles on Wednesday. Lou we sure miss you up here in NC and hopefully we will get down there to see you sometime! Jeff is trying to get me to accompany him to the Florida State shoot next week! Until next time..............................Smokem
Good morning and it looks like a off again on again rainy week here in Greensboro. The 32nd Annual Southern Grand has come to an end and we had some NC winners and congrats to them. We had two shooting events over the weekend and have two registered shoots coming up this week.
Here are some of the winners - Jeff Galloway, Brad Barnett and Charlie Brown won doubles trophies. Bill Howe won a handicap trophy during the week. If I missed anybody we apologize and it has been interesting tracking it all week. The daily writeups will be in the Lodge - Out-Of-State Trapshoot Info.
Ronnie Manuel led all shooters at the Rockingham Lewis Class Shoot Saturday. The weather was great and we had two squads step to the line. JC Nunn didn't make it due to having a headache early Saturday morning. He is doing fine and hopes to be out shooting this week. Young Zax Tate won the mid lewis and Ray Shisler took the low lewis. Ray brought Steve Karas out to the shoot Saturday and his rehab is going great. He looked well and hopes to be back out shooting very soon.
VA shooters rolled into Buckhorn Sunday and won all the events! John Domas won the singles with a 99 and Ted Carwile won caps with a 95 and doubles with a 97. Jack Young rolled up from Charlotte to shoot the singles and hit the lewis to boot. The Watauga boys slid into Mebane and George pretty much laid it on his travel squad. Tom Shelley put the hammer down on Pitts, tied him in doubles and then won the flip. Everybody had a great time and the weather held up which was much appreciated.
Two registered events this weekend with Rockingham hosting their 1st registered shoot of the new year. Typical 300 target program and we have changed our MID50 pot up this year. We have split the monies between the 1st50, 2nd50 and last50. Not sure of what it will cost to enter but this gives you 3 chances to hit the $$ when shooting the handicap.
Old Hickory@Bostic will host their monthly shoot this Saturday and we hope to get something posted early this week. I know everybody misses Charlie and we appreciate the work they are doing to keep the shoots rolling on. I also appreciate the efforts of getting me the scores in a timely manner. Could somebody get Al Bost to send me the scores from OH@Rocky Mount please? As I was leaving the Buckhorn Gun Club Jimmy wanted me to get a message to JC. Jimmy wanted me to let him know that it had become obvious that JC was dodging Jimmy. I called JC Sunday afternoon and passed on the message Jimmy had given me. JC just laughed and told me to tell Jimmy that he wasn't dodging him he was just playing mind games with him! JC turns 89 in July and as far as I know plans to shoot and travel with me all year!
With all of the excitement going on in Florida I didn't do too good of a job gathering tidbits of information for the smoke report this week. Oh, Jackie Roush did pick me up a pair of super loud knee shorts in Florida and we will be sporting them on Saturday's at the bigger shoots. Now I just need to find a loud shooting shirt to match the color scheme.
Folks it is that time of the year again and it feels great! The cold weather is over except for the snow in Tuscon AZ as we speak. Pollen is in the air and before you know it the smell of suntan lotion and bug spray will be wafting through the air. Before you know it we will be shooting at the Dogwood and then eating fish on Saturday at the SC State Shoot in Spartanburg!
I hope everybody has a great week and we will try to do a little better for the smoke report next Monday! It looks like Lou Carter shot Wednesday through Sunday with a solid 97 in doubles on Wednesday. Lou we sure miss you up here in NC and hopefully we will get down there to see you sometime! Jeff is trying to get me to accompany him to the Florida State shoot next week! Until next time..............................Smokem
March 26th 2012 Smoke Report
March 26th Smoke Report
Good morning and what an interesting weather weekend in North Carolina. Some storms produced up to four inches of hail in one part of North Carolina. We had two trapshoots in North Carolina this weekend and we have Ft. Bragg and Charlie Brown's this weekend.
Bill Howe sent me the shoot report for Old Hickory and they had a good turnout despite the threat of rain and windy conditions. Gary Hicks won the singles and Ray Gaultney won the caps and the doubles. Bill Howe managed to take the HOA for the event. Old Hickory will have an active shooting schedule that includes BIG50 shoots on most 1st Thursday's of the month.
Rockingham Gun Club held their 1st shoot of the new year dubbed the "Spring Open". When I arrived at the club it was pretty much socked in with low clouds and then here came the rain. Addison Callan won the singles, with Winky Mabe winning the caps and HOA. Jeff Galloway came out a little late and won the dubs with a 91. We had two shooters registering targets for the first time and they were Jr Zax Tate and Bruce Litaker. Both shot well and Bruce won his singles class and yardage in his 1st shoot. JC Nunn shot well and ran his last 50 in singles for a 96. He also was part of a squad that included Winky Mabe and Roger Shaffer that all broke 24's in their second caps field. Roger Shaffer shot rather well with his singles and caps scores in the 90's.
Two registered shoots in NC this weekend and they include Ft. Bragg the 31st and Charlie Brown the 1st of April. I haven't talked to Marty yet and I would imagine that he will post their program and it might be posted right now. I will try to get their program and also the program for Caharlie's shoot Sunday. Both locations are great places to shoot and we hope to make it out a little more this year to some of the NC events.
We posted a link to the Dogwood Shoot which will take place at the NC Homegounds April 26th - 29th. If you have never attended a shoot at the HG you are in for a treat. 12 program traps with one practice trap and they use ERAD voice releases for all fields. If you plan on attending the NC State Shoot in June this will give you a great chance to get the lay of the land before our State's biggest shoot.Also, be sure to make reservations for the State shoot because some of the motels are a liitle iffy and the Jameson and HI Express fill up fast... Quaility - Ramada and Super 8 are not my favorite places to stay.
North Carolina shooters stuck around for the Florida State shoot and both Charlie Brown and Bob Schultz won early in the week. Other folks that won included Jerry "Flagalarto" Bryant winning resident doubles Sunday with a 98. Ex NC shooter Phil Berkowitz took 4th in the caps Sunday with a 94 from the 18 yard line. Marty's friend Karen Dickman won the LADY 1 with a solid 96 in Sunday's caps. Also GA's Jerry "blade819" Granacki won his yardage in the Sunday caps event. There might have been more and if I missed you we apologize.
Dave Daily flew back from Los Angeles Friday and was sitting in Detroit Michigan Sunday afternoon. He will be back in Friday and then off for three weeks. He is trying to get some birds in and is shooting another gun due to sending his Browning to the factory. I told him good luck on getting it back in a timely manner and at this time he looking to buy a Beretta Combo. He did mention that Myrtle Grove is holding registered shoots and also monthly BIG50's. If you are planning to vacation in the Myrtle Beach area you might consider calling ahead in case you wan to register some birds.
The Galloway's are prepping to head out to San Antonio in the next few weeks. Hunter will be attending ATA meetings and Jeff will be pounding targets hopefully like he did at the Southern Grand. Jeff shot well at the SG and we hope he can get dialed in at the Texas shooting complex. He had some great doubles scores and also posted a 198 during the Championship Singles at the SG. We wish him the best and we hope they have a safe trip.
Some of you may have noticed that I have been taking videos along with pictures of shooting events. Look for more of those as time goes on. I try to take a 1 minute clip at a time and it is fun watching folks mash and miss targets. I do my best not to interfere with people shooting. Many times folks don't even know I got a picture or a video of them until after I took it. If you don't want your picture taken just let me know and we will respect your request.
I hope everybody has a great week and we will try to keep our ear to the ground for info for the Smoke Report. I will be checking with my spy in Boone to see what George is up to. Also might touch base with some other good contacts to see whats what in the trapshooting world. Looks like Lou Carter shot some at the Florida State shoot and we sure hate we weren't down there to give him a little inspiration. Good morning Lou and come shoot with us at the State Shoot. Until next week..................................Smokem..
Good morning and what an interesting weather weekend in North Carolina. Some storms produced up to four inches of hail in one part of North Carolina. We had two trapshoots in North Carolina this weekend and we have Ft. Bragg and Charlie Brown's this weekend.
Bill Howe sent me the shoot report for Old Hickory and they had a good turnout despite the threat of rain and windy conditions. Gary Hicks won the singles and Ray Gaultney won the caps and the doubles. Bill Howe managed to take the HOA for the event. Old Hickory will have an active shooting schedule that includes BIG50 shoots on most 1st Thursday's of the month.
Rockingham Gun Club held their 1st shoot of the new year dubbed the "Spring Open". When I arrived at the club it was pretty much socked in with low clouds and then here came the rain. Addison Callan won the singles, with Winky Mabe winning the caps and HOA. Jeff Galloway came out a little late and won the dubs with a 91. We had two shooters registering targets for the first time and they were Jr Zax Tate and Bruce Litaker. Both shot well and Bruce won his singles class and yardage in his 1st shoot. JC Nunn shot well and ran his last 50 in singles for a 96. He also was part of a squad that included Winky Mabe and Roger Shaffer that all broke 24's in their second caps field. Roger Shaffer shot rather well with his singles and caps scores in the 90's.
Two registered shoots in NC this weekend and they include Ft. Bragg the 31st and Charlie Brown the 1st of April. I haven't talked to Marty yet and I would imagine that he will post their program and it might be posted right now. I will try to get their program and also the program for Caharlie's shoot Sunday. Both locations are great places to shoot and we hope to make it out a little more this year to some of the NC events.
We posted a link to the Dogwood Shoot which will take place at the NC Homegounds April 26th - 29th. If you have never attended a shoot at the HG you are in for a treat. 12 program traps with one practice trap and they use ERAD voice releases for all fields. If you plan on attending the NC State Shoot in June this will give you a great chance to get the lay of the land before our State's biggest shoot.Also, be sure to make reservations for the State shoot because some of the motels are a liitle iffy and the Jameson and HI Express fill up fast... Quaility - Ramada and Super 8 are not my favorite places to stay.
North Carolina shooters stuck around for the Florida State shoot and both Charlie Brown and Bob Schultz won early in the week. Other folks that won included Jerry "Flagalarto" Bryant winning resident doubles Sunday with a 98. Ex NC shooter Phil Berkowitz took 4th in the caps Sunday with a 94 from the 18 yard line. Marty's friend Karen Dickman won the LADY 1 with a solid 96 in Sunday's caps. Also GA's Jerry "blade819" Granacki won his yardage in the Sunday caps event. There might have been more and if I missed you we apologize.
Dave Daily flew back from Los Angeles Friday and was sitting in Detroit Michigan Sunday afternoon. He will be back in Friday and then off for three weeks. He is trying to get some birds in and is shooting another gun due to sending his Browning to the factory. I told him good luck on getting it back in a timely manner and at this time he looking to buy a Beretta Combo. He did mention that Myrtle Grove is holding registered shoots and also monthly BIG50's. If you are planning to vacation in the Myrtle Beach area you might consider calling ahead in case you wan to register some birds.
The Galloway's are prepping to head out to San Antonio in the next few weeks. Hunter will be attending ATA meetings and Jeff will be pounding targets hopefully like he did at the Southern Grand. Jeff shot well at the SG and we hope he can get dialed in at the Texas shooting complex. He had some great doubles scores and also posted a 198 during the Championship Singles at the SG. We wish him the best and we hope they have a safe trip.
Some of you may have noticed that I have been taking videos along with pictures of shooting events. Look for more of those as time goes on. I try to take a 1 minute clip at a time and it is fun watching folks mash and miss targets. I do my best not to interfere with people shooting. Many times folks don't even know I got a picture or a video of them until after I took it. If you don't want your picture taken just let me know and we will respect your request.
I hope everybody has a great week and we will try to keep our ear to the ground for info for the Smoke Report. I will be checking with my spy in Boone to see what George is up to. Also might touch base with some other good contacts to see whats what in the trapshooting world. Looks like Lou Carter shot some at the Florida State shoot and we sure hate we weren't down there to give him a little inspiration. Good morning Lou and come shoot with us at the State Shoot. Until next week..................................Smokem..