Good evening from Jamestown North Carolina. I imagine everyone is glad the rain moved on, and I hope everyone is safe and dry. A couple of shoots this weekend including Ft. “Bragg” Liberty and Durham County Wildlife Club.
Several shoots this Saturday with Durham County and Ft. Liberty offering 300 target programs. Both locations will have temps in the high 80’s and a 40% chance of rain. I mean they are 80 miles apart so the weather should be very similar. Marty posted the program for their shoot and hopefully Scarlett will post hers soon.
I traveled to the Grand in Sparta for the first time in 2006. I rode up with JC Nunn and Elmo Matkins and Joe Nimer also traveled to this new Grand location. For those of us that got to shoot in Vandalia this was a big change for these fellows and almost overwhelming. I told JC to just think – 20 on the West side and 100 on the East side. I was shooting pretty good in 2006 and was on the 24-yard line at that time. I had the pleasure of shooting with Jeff Galloway when he broke his first 200 straight and shooting with Dave Daily when he broke the first 99 of the morning in the Grand American Handicap sponsored by Remington.
That was 18 years ago, and I decided it was time to return for the 125th Anniversary Grand American. Lane Murray and I rode up on Tuesday and shot three handicap events and the Clay Target Championship. We booked an AIRBNB in Pinckneyville Illinois, and it was great. From the time we left until the time we got back to NC it did not rain a drop and the weather was windy and cooler.
You ask yourself whether it is worth traveling that far and spending that money when you aren’t setting the world on fire shooting. I mean if you were breaking AA scores hey it would be a no brainer to make the trip. I made the trip to make memories and take a few pictures and celebrate fellow shooters accomplishments plain and simple.
The trip up was great traveling 158-52-77-64 it was 736 miles of Tuesday traffic. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Mt. Vernon and as soon as I stepped out of the car was greeted by a panhandler that asked if I was from around there and I said – no. Walked in to advise the staff that they had a panhandler outside and the non-binary they/them advised me that the fellow had missed the bus and needed money. He walked over to Lane and told him a different story……Anyway went to check the room and as soon as I hit the hall pot smoke hit me. I checked out the room and it was ok but back to the desk to talk with the person. I said I drove 736 miles and never smelled dope until I walked into this no-smoking hotel. They/them said well do you have a room number and I said don’t you think it might be your job to go check it out? Lane and I found a Panera close to the hotel and you guessed it the fellow that missed the bus……can’t make this stuff up.
We drove about 50 miles to the Grand and one thing Illinois has a lot of is corn and soybeans. We arrived at the complex and entered the event center to a long line at cashiering, squadding and classification. All was handled very quickly, and they have a kiosk to print out your squad info and checks. The summary sheet includes your bank info and scores after the event is registered. If you pre-register you can basically pick the bank you want to shoot for all events. I wound up shooting on bank 13 for four events and bank 12 for the GAH. Marty, Greg and George shot mostly on bank 5 which was near the East side practice traps. Banks were situated so that bank 12 would go four traps west and bank 13 would go four traps east. The scorers did a great job, and I only had one broken target in 500 targets.
North Carolina shooters showed up at the Grand including Colson Allen, Isaac McCoy, Jacob Gossett, Tim Davis, Hunter Galloway, Noah Gouge, and there could be more. Mark Cox shot himself back to the 27 and was presented his pin by ATA President Billy Cook.
I did a search of all the NC winners and here is what I came up with. #5 Trapshooting USA Handicap – Sub-Jr RU Jacob Gossett 96 - #8 Rio Handicap Sub-Jr RU Jacob Gossett 95 - #11 Krieghoff Handicap – 5th Hunter Galloway 98 – JR Isaac McCoy 99 - #13 Blaser Handicap 23-24.5 RU Jacob Gossett 97 - #16 President Billy Cook Handicap Presented by Perazzi 23-24.5 3RD Tim Davis 95 – JR RU Colson Allen 98 - #19 Challenger Ammo Handicap 11th Noah Gouge 97 - #24 Grand American Handicap by Elite 23.0 – 24.5 5TH Colson Allen 95.
There were vendors on the East and West side but not as many as I remember in 2006. Some of the buildings on the West side were not rented this year. 3047 in 2023 and 3058 event entries for 2024 with a similar turnout (under 2000) for the Saturday GAH. If you combined the AIM shoot and the Grand you could approach the 4000-entry number possibly. I have not heard any info from the ATA on attendance.
Facebook is already abuzz with praise and criticism of the Grand at Sparta with the biggest dig at the IDNR. There was quite a police presence at the Grand, but it looked like the AIM Grand was where all the issues were. With all the golf carts and ATV’s and electric bikes and scooters it was a busy place. Some said the campgrounds were in great shape as opposed to previous years. All in all, I had a great time and the food in the events center was really pretty good. We consumed Italian sausages from one vendor and a brisket sandwich from another. Ice cream was a daily treat supplied by Lanny’s Homemade Ice Cream!
My goal for this trapshooting season is to shoot more and return to the Grand in 2025 a bit more competitive. I pretty much stopped shooting singles and doubles and had just enough handicap targets to not shoot penalty at the Grand. Like the t-shirt says NOBODY CARES WORK HARDER.
Have a great week everyone and I hope to see some of you at the Dixie Grand in September! Hello to Scott, Ronnie, Cowboy, Tim, Bobby, Phil, John, Mac, Will, Thea and Anne and until next week……smokem