Hi everyone. I have finally recovered from the Grand and it was great! Wonderful scores and people all 10 days. Illinois shooters scored regularly in all the categories, yardage groups and classes throughout the shoot. There are so many I can't mention them all so look at the shoot reports in Trap and Field magazine. There are some notable events that I do want to talk about. In the team races, the Veteran, Senior Veteran and Junior Gold teams all won first place. The Junior, Sub Junior and Lady 2 teams won second place. Good shooting everyone. Ricky Merriman came out of nowhere and won the Grand American Handicap with a 100 straight. This is one of those Cinderella stories that the Grand is famous for through the years. Congratulations, Ricky, on a job well done! Finally, Landon Sievers continued his scorched Earth summer by winning the HOA of the Grand. Landon has won wherever he has gone this year. It is fitting that he wins the award that shows continued excellence through the entire shoot. Congratulations, Landon, you continue to amaze me.
Because of all the shooting that has gone on the last month, I have a boat load of milestones that have been reached. At the 25,000 plateau, David Buker, Thomas Clarke, Stacie Segebart and Debbie Hale have reached this in Handicap. Stanley Crowe and David Masko reached this in Singles. At the 50,000 plateau, Ian Lawrence, Norman Lemay, Dennis Baker and Rick Arkebauer have all done this in Handicap. At the 75,000 plateau, Marvin Kuebler did it in Doubles and Lynn Hamlin did it in Handicap. At the 100,000 plateau, Frank Payne did it in Handicap and Kent Temple, Mark Johnson, Garrett Helms and Ron Wolf did it in Combined Targets. Finally, Leland Hassler has shot 200,000 Doubles. If you add all these targets up, this is one hell of a lot of shooting. I am in awe of all this shooting.
Sadly, I have to report the passing of two Illinois trap shooters. Eldon Trent was a very colorful individual. When he showed up at a trap club you knew you were in for a laugh or two. He was also a really good shot in his day. I know his friends miss him terribly. Mike Miller was a fixture at Southern Zone clubs and clubs across the Midwest for years. He was a good man, a better friend and a damn good shooter. It is hard for me to think of going to shoots knowing they will not be there. Rest well gentlemen.
I want to tell you about a gun club that everyone should go and shoot at some time in their shooting career. The Chillicothe Sportsmen's Club is located a few miles north of Chillicothe, Illinois on Route 29. It is affectionally called Chilli by everyone who shoots there. It has 4 trap fields and a nice club house with some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. The club is unusual in that you shoot into a levee that holds back the Illinois river. Because of the brown, green background, they shoot white targets day and night. I know this sounds strange, but they stand out well and are easy to break. It is a great place to go, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good place to shoot.
Shoot well, have fun and support your local clubs
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi everyone. I have a boat load of milestones to list this month, so I better get to it. John Morgan, John Rauscher and Dan Barlett have all shot 25,000 Singles. Harvey Schultz and Mark Chiodini have Shot 25,000 doubles, Tim Murphy and James Hugenberg have shot 25,000 Handicap targets.
Ron Fearheiley, Jack Anderson and Thomas Bates have shot 50,000 Singles. Steve Johnson has shot 50,000 Doubles targets. Ron Fearheiley and Ian Lawrence have shot 50,000 Handicap targets.
Dan Staker and Ken Jones have both shot 75,000 targets. Dan is in Singles and Ken is in Handicap.
Finally, Brent Ausbrock and Glenn Simpson have shot 100,000 combined targets. WOW, this is super impressive guys! Keep up the good work.
A few weeks ago, I made a pleasant drive through southern Illinois to the Edwards County Sportsman Club to go to their Founder's Shoot. It is their big shoot of the year, and they ran it like a well-oiled machine. They had 13 squads of Singles and Handicap, along with 10 squads of Doubles. They have a dedicated group of volunteer workers that make it all work. They also have a friendly group of shooters that welcome anyone new to the place. Edwards County is a great example of making a lot out of very little. What I mean by that is they only have a small amount of land and they have fit in two trap fields and a rifle range into that area. Because of the lay of the land, the trap fields are off set from each other. Don't worry about this, there is a fence and a line of trees that separate them, so it is no big deal. The grounds and club house are immaculate, and it is a great place to shoot. If you think you would like to shoot there, it is located a mile north of Albion Illinois on Route 130. Check them out, you will not regret it.
The shell of the new Hall of Fame building is done. All that remains is to finish the inside. We have people that have said they will install the electricity, and heating and air conditioning. When that is done, we need insulation and dry wall, and we will be ready to walk in and hang pictures. If you would like to donate your expertise or your money to do these final steps, I and the Board of Directors would really appreciate your help. Remember your donation is tax deductible.
I've been looking at shoot reports from around the Midwest and Illinois shooters are doing really well. There are so many categories, classes and yardage group wins I can't list them all. Read the shoot reports in Trap and Field Magazine. I do want to mention two notable events. At the Arkansas State Shoot, Ryan Lewis was both the Out-of-State Handicap Champion and the HAA Champion. Sixteen Illinois shooters won 68 trophies at the shoot. At the Michigan State Shoot, Ian Lawrence won the Out-of-State Doubles, HAA and HOA Championships. Congratulations to all of you. I'm proud to be an Illinois shooter.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi, everyone. I want to start with some milestones shooters have reached in Illinois. Steve Dinkleman and Donald Schneider have shot 25,000 Singles targets. Dave Bockhold and Tal Parmenter have shot 25,000 Handicap targets. Anthony Fortino has shot 50,000 Singles targets and Charles Vanderveen has shot 75,000 Singles targets. Well done all you guys!
The Illinois Central Zone shoot was held at the Peoria Skeet & Trap club over the Memorial Day weekend. The weather was perfect, good scores were shot and everyone had a good time. Both the Singles and Doubles were won by Ken Mitchell and the Handicap and HOA were won by Willam Christensen. By the way, if you have never shot at Peoria, you need to put it on your to do list. It is a pretty well-run club.
As I am writing this, the Illinois State Trap shoot has just finished up. It was a GREAT shoot! Our attendance was way up, good scores were shot everywhere, and the weather was perfect until the rain god got us during the last event on Sunday. We have some incredible youth shooters in Illinois as witnessed by all 5 of our Championships that were won by kids. Wyatt Williams won the Singles. Wyatt Sibley won the Doubles. Ian Freeman won the Handicap and Landon Sievers won both the HAA and the HOA. I'm starting to feel like the only thing I'm good for is to carry their shell bags. Besides winning Championships, the kids put on some amazing displays of shooting. The squad of Steve Margherio, Landon Sievers, Wyatt Williams, Sam Gilman and Drake Reynolds broke three 499 x 500 and a 998 x 1000 in the Singles Championships. Just awesome!
On behalf of the Illinois Board of Directors and the Mohr family I want to give a big thank you to all of you that shot at our shoot this year. It means a lot to us that you came and helped make our shoot so great. I said earlier that the weather was perfect until the very end. We were forced to postpone the Handicap until Monday due to bad weather. About 100 shooters were forced to pull out because they had to be at work the following day. We went from a Comp 5 shoot to a Comp 4 shoot due to this. We have appealed this to the Executive Committee because we had no control over the weather. Stay tuned, I'll let you know what happens.
Get out and shoot, have fun and support your local clubs.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi everyone. I want to begin with some sad news. Longtime Southern Zone trap shooter, Monty Houge, died recently. Monty shot for years and was well liked and respected. He will be missed by his family and friends.
Another Illinois shooter is reaching a milestone. Charles Vanderveen is closing in on 75,000 singles targets. Congratulations, Charles.
The Illinois Southern Zone trap shoot was held at Brittany Shooting Park on the weekend of May 5 and 6. They had a great turnout of shooters which was amazing considering the spotty weather we had. The shooting was red hot and when the dust cleared, our All-State Junior shooters schooled the rest of us. Landon Sievers won the Singles, Handicap and High All Around. He tied for the Doubles but lost in a shoot off to another Junior shooter, Wyatt Williams. These kids make it tougher and tougher on old guys. Landon, when you start giving lessons let me know. Congratulations to all the shooters and winners at Brittany.
I received a phone call from the Morrison Sportsman's club in April to come up and shoot there. As I write this, I just got back from there and let me tell you I was completely blown away by the facility. Morrison is in the northwest part of the State across the river from Clinton, Iowa. It is the most picturesque club I have seen in Illinois. It sits up on a hill surrounded by trees, except for the trap line. There is a field in front of the traps that slopes down to a tree line that doesn't affect the shooting. The whole place is clean, modern and well maintained. It felt like a state park to me. However, the best thing about the club are the people. I have never met a friendlier group of people that treated me like a prince while I was there. In short, the place is awesome! If you think you might want to shoot there, the contact information is on the ISTA website. If you go, you will not be disappointed.
Shoot well and have fun!
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi everyone. I have to begin with some sad news. Three Illinois shooters have passed in the last few weeks. Steve Camaron, Gary Bridgewater and Murl Peradotti are no longer with us. All three were good men and great shots, Gary and Steve won State Championships back in the day. It bothers me when we lose guys like this. If my shooting career is a mosaic picture, these gentlemen are stones that have fallen off the picture and start to diminish it.
I'm excited to tell you about a club I shot at for the first time a few weeks ago. Round Grove Sportsman Club has been at its location since 1950. It is just a few miles off of Route 70 at the Martinsville exit. It has two fields that are clean and well run by volunteer labor. The whole place, if this is important to you, is handicap accessible. You shoot into a pine tree background over a slough of a lake. I really enjoyed myself there because of the friendly, relaxing atmosphere at the club. If you are looking for somewhere to shoot, check them out, you will not regret it.
The reason I was invited to shoot at Round Grove was that two shooters, Avery Curry and Marc Granrath, two good friends, both shot their 100,000 Singles target on the same squad. I was thrilled to be there and congratulate them. The following shooters are close to milestones and I'm sure will have reached them by the time you read this; Richard Epley 25,000 Handicap targets, Marc Granrath 25,000 Doubles targets and Sue Staker 50,000 Handicap targets.
How about we bring a little fun back into trapshooting. Most ATA shooters do not shoot all three events at a trap shoot. There is a lot of down time that they could be shooting if there was something fun to shoot. At a large shoot, take the bank that no one wants to shoot and have fun side events. Throw a 50 bird, non-registered pump gun, SxS or sub gauge event. Have a Lewis class or a purse of some variety. A small club could throw a 50-bird derby on Saturday with purses and a potluck. Sporting clays did this, and it became so popular, that these events are now being registered. I think you would find a lot of shooters doing this if it was available.
I want to give you an update on the HOF. I naively thought that putting together a legal contract, so we could build, would be a simple, quick process. Boy was I wrong. Surveyors and lawyers move glacially slow in Macoupin County. I just got the contract signed two days ago as I write this. This has shorted construction time so we will not have a building up by the State shoot. We will have the concrete pad poured so you can see the dimensions of the building. Construction of the building will take place after the State Shoot. I'm sorry about this, but it's the best we could get done.
I need to take a moment to thank the Mohr family for their generosity to the ISTA with the terms of the contract. We are leasing the land for 99 years at $1 per year. If they ever sell the land, we get our full construction costs back after the sale. When you see the Mohrs, be sure to thank them.
By the time you read this, the Illinois State shoot will be upon us. I am looking forward to seeing all of you at the shoot. Good luck there and any other shoots you compete at this season.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate