December 13th Smoke Report

Weekly Trapshooting Info
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smokem
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December 13th Smoke Report

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Good morning, and just a few more days until Christmas. Yeah, it is that time of year again. For some it is a great time of the year and for others not so much. For those of us that are getting older memories of those that have gone on come flooding back during the holiday season.

I found out that Joe Bouvrette has passed. I found out on Facebook, and it was posted by the Morganton Gun Club. I checked with a few of the Watauga faithful and found out that Joe had been talked to on Tuesday. He passed unexpectedly and that it about all I know. Morg said that Joe was looking forward to the 2022 targets season with a new Beretta Multi-Target shotgun. Please keep his family in your prayers at this time.

Most of you are aware of the tornado damage in Kentucky and in Tennessee. It was reported that the Nashville Gun Club suffered some damage and they felt repairs could be made in a timely manner to get operations back underway. Please remember all those families that were affected by those storms.

Some of you might know John Sandell when he was helping organize BIG50 events at the Charlotte Rifle & Pistol Club. Well, he slipped up North to Massachusetts to be closer to the grandkids. He is however shooting at the Minuteman Sportsman Club in Billerica MA. Looks like a great club with SC, Trap, Skeet and 5-stand with very good reviews on the venue. John is a smoke report reader and I appreciate him taking time to read about what is happening back in NC. His wife Grace also shoots, and I never had the pleasure of meeting his better half. John I hope you have a great holiday season and I am planning a trip up your way in 2022. I have a friend that is a dispatcher in Bangor, and he has invited me up for a visit.

Lane Murray sent me a few screenshots of “premium” shells at the Sportsman’s Warehouse here in Greensboro. Are you ready to spend $10.99 for Federal Top Guns, or $14.99 for STS Light Target premium shotgun shells? So, $36 targets and $6.00 for ATA/NCTA daily fees and $80 for STS light targets shells equals about $122 to shoot 100 singles targets at the Homegrounds. I guess this price increase is going to separate the men from the boys. And of course that did not include any options on the 100 targets……..

Local industry experts seem to think that the retailers are tacking on a price increase to take advantage of the times that we are in. To be honest that is the first time I have seen Remington shells on any shelf in Greensboro in about a year. My local expert stated that February tends to be the month that the premium shells are produced for the target shotgun market. That remains to be seen and some tend to think that the prices we are seeing now is the future of target shotgun shell prices. Folks are already saying that they are either cutting back or laying off shooting like they did when shells and components were readily available and at a reasonable price. When I hear that registered trapshooting is down %20 at the smaller shoots that is alarming. The bigger shoots like the satellite grands seem to be doing ok and shells seem to magically appear at those events. Not sure what the future holds for the sport, but I will always try to stay optimistic.

Carolina Clay hosted their Christmas practice at the Rockingham County Gun Club Saturday. The weather looked iffy all day but not 1 target was shot in the rain. The event consisted of 25 wobble, 26 skeet doubles and a bean bag event. Sam McInteer from VA won the event with her dads borrowed gun and broke a 21 in wobble is some serious wind. Not sure how many folks attended but we had 3 squads of youngins shooting. We had a great meal and the speaker for the event was from the Gideons. Just about time he was going to speak the power went out at the club and we continued under the emergency lights in the building. All-American John “Jack” Williams was inducted into the Carolina Clay Hall of Fame and his name has been added to a long list of former CC shooters. The 2022 SCTP Championship shoot will be held in late April or early May, and we are looking forward to hosting that event.

Tom Shelley sent me a few pictures of his lovely cabin with his fireplace and all types of wildlife hanging on the walls. He is also looking for shells that wont stick in his Kolar. His loader has been at Mec for 6 weeks and he is looking forward to getting it back on the bench. Now that he is married, he won’t have any excuses not to come out and shoot. Always good to hear from him from up on the hill….

I have been approached to host some 300 bird marathon target events at RCGC. Not sure if or when they will be scheduled but as soon as we know we will publish it. I do know that the Piedmont Gun Club in Gordonsville VA hosts a 300-target singles marathon in January and a 300-target handicap marathon in February. The 26th of this month the Christiansburg VA Gun Club will host their monthly shoot in case you want to get out of the house.

A big shout out to George Powell from South Carolina. He shot 20,000 registered targets last year and that is something to brag about. Bill Howe usually is our high target attainment leader every year and not sure how that shook out this year. When Terry Roush was the delegate, he created a nice newsletter that captured all that pertinent data for the target year. Hopefully Bob Schultz the current delegate will put something out on Facebook, and we will hopefully post it over here.

I am out of info, and I hope everyone has a great week. Just a few more days for shopping and preparing that list of all the food that will be prepared. Hello to Scott in PA, Ronnie, Cowboy, Tim, Bobbie, Thea and Anne and until next week…………………………..smokem
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smokem
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Re: December 13th Smoke Report

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December 14th Smoke Report
Post by smokem » Sun Dec 13, 2015 9:26 pm

Good morning and it tis the season to be jolly. Great weather in North Carolina and who could believe such warm temps for the TarHeel State. Two shoots this week with LCP hosting their weekly BIG50 and Ft. Bragg hosting their last registered shoot.

I have the info from LCP and thanks to Pat Childers for the weekly info. That reminds me that I need to redo his account for this site. The following info is from Pat's weekly newsletter. Another week with good conditions some good shooting. We had eight shooters this week for the Big 50. The targets looked good and Harold Smith blasted a 48 to take Top Gun for the week. Wayne Averill was second with a 44. Charlie Bertrand, Terry Lewis, Mike Ciccolella, Mike Petrone, Pat Childers and Heyward Lowry also participated. Thanks to all and hope to see you all next week.

Ft. Bragg shot Saturday and brings an end to a great run for trapshooters that enjoyed this facility. I have a ton of photos that I took while shooting at Ft. Bragg and I will try to find and get all of them up with links to the slideshows. The turnout was great and shooters attended from the NC mountains to the NC coast. Randy "Boone" Jones broke a 99 in "C" class to pace all singles shooters. Jeff Abarbanell got the punch for his 93 with Steve Watson 1 bird off. James "LowLight" Wilson won the doubles with a solid 96 and Steve won the HOA with a 276 and only a "pair" ahead of James Wilson.

Marty thanked all the folks that helped run the shoot and also everyone that has ever attended an event at FBGC. Lot's of great memories shooting their with the Thanksgiving turkey dinners, Frank the manager, aircraft in the air while shooting, all orange Lawry targets, Gorgeous George Brown hand pulling shootoffs, Pattersons, Charlie Ackroyd shooting his truckbed, the red range flag flying, Tom Elbertson, Sherwood Jenkins laughing at my AL-391 after I broke a 96 in handicap.........JBird.....and the list goes on and on......good times!

One of my favorite memories was wanting to win one of the Ft. Bragg dogtags that had the winner categories on the back. Back when I was shooting much better I got to shoot doubles with Jimmy Wilson and I made the mistake of calling for two pairs before I cranked the squad up. He immediately brought this to may attention that I could only ask for one pair. I took a deep breath and commenced to breaking a 96 in doubles.

After the round was over Greg High walked up to look at the scores and commented - D**n Freddy I didn't know you could shoot doubles that good and with that I commented - I didn't know that either....Years later I dropped my keys out in the grass at Buckhorn and once I found out I was missing them I contacted Jimmy and he said that he did have a set of keys. Not sure how I identified them but he commented that there was a Ft. Bragg dogtag on it and I immediately said that is mine. He said you didn't win doubles at Ft. Bragg and of course I had to refresh his memory.......I did learn one valuable lesson and it is look at one pair in competition and two pairs in a shootoff......

I left out a club last week and I apologize and it was Old Hickory @ Rocky Mount. Not sure how I missed it and will try to do better in the near future.

Not much more going on this week and I believe LCP has their BIG50 Wednesday and their monthly shoot on the 19th. Not sure if it is on the master "State Official" calendar or not. Hello to Hap, Scott, Lou and and Chase had a birthday and until next week......................Smokem
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smokem
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Re: December 13th Smoke Report

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December 15th Smoke Report
Post by smokem » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:25 am

Good morning and I hope you enjoyed the great weather over the weekend. I actually made it out to practice Saturday and it was great. Not a ton of stuff going on in the trap world locally and no shoots to report over the weekend. With Christmas only 10 days away folks are plotting and planning to get out of town and hunker down at home.

Hunter and Terry made it back safely from the EC meeting Wednesday and I guess before you know it the Dixie Grand will be here. Always fun going to Florida in January and bringing back oranges, fudge and olive oil soap. I remember one year when Jeri Wilson broke a 96 in the main handicap and was runner-up but she won a good chunk of change for her efforts.

While I was shooting Saturday Lane and Hunter Murray participated in a pistol match at the Rock. From what I hear tell Hunter shot rather well and might have actually outshot his dad. Hunter walked over to the trap field to get a drink and a soda and as he walked by he mentioned that his dad might need to take and Advil. I asked Hunter why he needed to do that and he said that his dads head might be hurting after he outshot him....Hunter was shooting a .45 Kimber and Lane was shooting his new Dan Wesson.

Dave Daily is in Baltimore working and June is recovering from hip replacement surgery. She has struggled with pain and is still in excruciating pain and will be visiting the doctor today. Dave had both knees replaced at one time and recovered nicely with very few problems. I hope she gets this worked out and on her way to being pain free.

I got a call from Captain Gary McDaniel Monday about two shotguns he had in his office. One was an 870 Trap All-American circa 1974 according to Jeff Galloway. They only made 1000 and this gun is 100%. One of the DA investigators brought it in from a friends widow. Hopefully it will find a good home and I hope Jeff gets a shot to own it.

Rockingham will be hosting their last Lewis Class Fun Shoot on the 21st of December. Start time is 2pm and the cost is $20 for 100 birds (50 16's/50 caps-1 yard past ATA yardage). Fun time had by all and three Lewis Class payouts and we had 17 folks last month.

Have a great week everybody and hello to Hap, Scott and Lou and until next week....................................Smokem
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smokem
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