December 1st Smoke Report
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2025 5:03 pm
It was the night before Christmas and all through the house…….well not quite yet anyway. Happy after Thanksgiving to one and all and I hope you and your family had a great Holiday week/end.
No shoots to report over the holiday weekend and several coming up this weekend in NC, VA and SC. I believe Spartanburg and Brushy Mountain shoot Saturday with weather looking cool in both locations with a high of 47. Sunday Buckhorn hosts a 300-target program with Sunday weather clear and a high of 48.
The 2026 NCTA calendar has been posted on www.nctrap.com and all that is posted is Buckhorn and Homeground events. More clubs (Watauga, Durham County, Ft. Bragg, Rockingham, CCLEOA, Charlie Brown, Old Hickory@RM) have yet to report and it is early in the process. I try hard to keep up with all of the upcoming events but sometimes I miss one. www.shootata.com should have every NC event posted regardless of what you read here or on Facebook. As I have posted before I remember one fellow that rode all the way to Old Hickory @ Bostic only to find out there was not shoot that day…….don’t be that guy….
Looking into 2026 the first big shoot at the NC Homegrounds is the SC State Shoot/NC HOF with the induction of Jim Hughes and John Miller. A typical NC HOF would be four days with two preliminary days and the championship weekend. Now it is relegated to the championship weekend with 5 or 6 trophies awarded. I guess that is better than nothing right? Then the NC State Shoot in June and the Dixie later in the year.
2026 is approaching and looking back into NC trapshooting history it is amazing the number of gun clubs that no longer exist or no longer register ATA targets. Three former state shoot locations including Piedmont in Greensboro (golf course), Tarheel GC in Advance NC (housing community) and the Pinehurst GC (golf course #8). Of course, Durham County hosted the state shoot up until the HG was built in 2001. Carolina Clay in Greensboro is under a Fed-Ex runway, Buncombe County and not sure what replaced it. Clubs that exist but no longer register targets include Rowan, Gastonia, Coharie, Buccaneer, Polk County, Old Hickory@Bostic, Charlotte Rifle&Pistol Club. A lot of history and lead dumped at these clubs over the years and hopefully the current active clubs can remain viable. You would have thought that the BIG50 shoots could help generate some interest but with prices to shoot and shells creeping upward every year some folks just say they have had enough. Also, trophies and the lack of money payouts just don’t line up with days gone by sad to say. Hopefully we will see an uptick in attendance in 2026 and only time will tell.
I apologize for the delay in getting the smoke report created. I left North Myrtle Beach at about 9:45 Sunday and drove to Asheboro to eat lunch at Kickback Jacks. Rolled into PTI and delivered my brother in law, sisnlaw, their daughter and sonnlaw flying back to TX. Headed to the house to unload the rental Sienna and headed to Cox Toyota in Burlington only to find the highway blocked. Went through downtown GSO to hit old 70 and dumped back out on 85 at Rock Creek only to encounter 8 lanes of traffic moving slowly. Night dropped the van and rode the back roads in the rain at night to my oldest son’s house in Julian and then finally back to Jamestown. I was a wee bit tired and didn’t feel very creative if you know what I mean.
A little update on my vitrectomy procedure that I had a week or so ago. All I can say is that between cataract surgery and the vitrectomy procedures my eyes are the clearest they have been in two years. I know that ophthalmologists don’t really recommend the procedure because it can be risky, but the technology and success rate is much better than years ago. Hopefully it will help me see the targets much better and we will see how it goes.
That is going to do it for this week. I asked Alexa today what was the chance for snow in the next five days. She replied 94% with accumulation of 1.2 inches of snow. Then I see Monday night some school systems are contemplating school delays or closures on Tuesday.
Have a great week everyone and enjoy the weather. Hello to Scott, Ronnie, Cowboy, Tim, Bobby, Phil, Mac, John, Art, Barron, Mark C, Mark S, Dan, John W, Jimmy D, Thea and Anne and until next week……smokem
No shoots to report over the holiday weekend and several coming up this weekend in NC, VA and SC. I believe Spartanburg and Brushy Mountain shoot Saturday with weather looking cool in both locations with a high of 47. Sunday Buckhorn hosts a 300-target program with Sunday weather clear and a high of 48.
The 2026 NCTA calendar has been posted on www.nctrap.com and all that is posted is Buckhorn and Homeground events. More clubs (Watauga, Durham County, Ft. Bragg, Rockingham, CCLEOA, Charlie Brown, Old Hickory@RM) have yet to report and it is early in the process. I try hard to keep up with all of the upcoming events but sometimes I miss one. www.shootata.com should have every NC event posted regardless of what you read here or on Facebook. As I have posted before I remember one fellow that rode all the way to Old Hickory @ Bostic only to find out there was not shoot that day…….don’t be that guy….
Looking into 2026 the first big shoot at the NC Homegrounds is the SC State Shoot/NC HOF with the induction of Jim Hughes and John Miller. A typical NC HOF would be four days with two preliminary days and the championship weekend. Now it is relegated to the championship weekend with 5 or 6 trophies awarded. I guess that is better than nothing right? Then the NC State Shoot in June and the Dixie later in the year.
2026 is approaching and looking back into NC trapshooting history it is amazing the number of gun clubs that no longer exist or no longer register ATA targets. Three former state shoot locations including Piedmont in Greensboro (golf course), Tarheel GC in Advance NC (housing community) and the Pinehurst GC (golf course #8). Of course, Durham County hosted the state shoot up until the HG was built in 2001. Carolina Clay in Greensboro is under a Fed-Ex runway, Buncombe County and not sure what replaced it. Clubs that exist but no longer register targets include Rowan, Gastonia, Coharie, Buccaneer, Polk County, Old Hickory@Bostic, Charlotte Rifle&Pistol Club. A lot of history and lead dumped at these clubs over the years and hopefully the current active clubs can remain viable. You would have thought that the BIG50 shoots could help generate some interest but with prices to shoot and shells creeping upward every year some folks just say they have had enough. Also, trophies and the lack of money payouts just don’t line up with days gone by sad to say. Hopefully we will see an uptick in attendance in 2026 and only time will tell.
I apologize for the delay in getting the smoke report created. I left North Myrtle Beach at about 9:45 Sunday and drove to Asheboro to eat lunch at Kickback Jacks. Rolled into PTI and delivered my brother in law, sisnlaw, their daughter and sonnlaw flying back to TX. Headed to the house to unload the rental Sienna and headed to Cox Toyota in Burlington only to find the highway blocked. Went through downtown GSO to hit old 70 and dumped back out on 85 at Rock Creek only to encounter 8 lanes of traffic moving slowly. Night dropped the van and rode the back roads in the rain at night to my oldest son’s house in Julian and then finally back to Jamestown. I was a wee bit tired and didn’t feel very creative if you know what I mean.
A little update on my vitrectomy procedure that I had a week or so ago. All I can say is that between cataract surgery and the vitrectomy procedures my eyes are the clearest they have been in two years. I know that ophthalmologists don’t really recommend the procedure because it can be risky, but the technology and success rate is much better than years ago. Hopefully it will help me see the targets much better and we will see how it goes.
That is going to do it for this week. I asked Alexa today what was the chance for snow in the next five days. She replied 94% with accumulation of 1.2 inches of snow. Then I see Monday night some school systems are contemplating school delays or closures on Tuesday.
Have a great week everyone and enjoy the weather. Hello to Scott, Ronnie, Cowboy, Tim, Bobby, Phil, Mac, John, Art, Barron, Mark C, Mark S, Dan, John W, Jimmy D, Thea and Anne and until next week……smokem