2011 Weekly Blurbs
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 6:03 pm
Weekly Blurb 3/28/2011
Greetings from chilly Greensboro North Carolina. What a dreary weekend and it looks like a cool week upcoming also. Most areas got rain and some areas heavy at times. I am really looking forward to warmer weather and I hope it arrives real soon.
I posted info about Jack Eller passing this week and thanks to Don Sutton for the info. Jack was a great guy and shot quite a few registered targets in his career. The last time I got to see him was when I was visiting Dan Johnson at the Rowan County Wildlife Club. He did recognize me and we talked a bit about the old days in Pinehurst.
Rockingham shot Saturday and the only precip that fell was sleet. John Miller won the singles, Chase Reese won the caps with Ted Carwile winning the doubles and HOA. I hope to have the shoot report from Ft. Bragg real soon.
Two shoots this upcoming weekend with Coharie hosting a typical 300 target program and Rockingham hosting a 500 target singles marathon. Targets are $18 per hundred with daily fees with more targets being offered if time allows. Wetaher is looking good on the long range forecast.
The Florida State Shoot is over and it looks like several shooters won including Charlie Brown and Bob Schultz. I would imagine that folks are getting geared up for the GA State Shoot - Hog Heaven - Dogwood and of course the local shoots. Before you know it we will be rolling into Bostic for the NC State Shoot.
We are just a few weeks away for the Dogwood (April 14 - 17) at the Homegrounds. If you have never shot at the HG this will be your only chance to shoot there before the NC State Shoot. I have been to the Dogwood and the wind blew 30mph, hopefully the weather will cooperate. It looks like the Hog Heaven shoot starts April 13th and runs throug the 17th. Hopefully that scheduling won't hurt the NC attendance.
It seems like Spartanburg is getting a few things together including a new and improved website. The upcoming state shoot is May 11 - 15 and the site stated that all singles and handicap targets would be shot over all 8 fields. Doubles will be shot bank style according to the website. They have a fish fry on Saturday and it is has always been very good.
It looks like JC will be traveling with me to Bradford PA in July. We will be attending the 92nd Annual Konne-Yaut Indian Pow-Wow. JC will turn 88 the 13th of July and we will celebrate his birthday at the club. My mom was in town over the weekend and had an early present for my birthday. When I opened the bag I couldn't beleive my eyes. It was an authentic indian headress and it came from Arizona. It will make it's first trip to Bradford for the Sunday morning ceremony.
That is about all I have to offer for the week and hopefully we will have more to report next week. It is going to be a busy full week and I actually got to tour the new jail Friday. Anyway, have a great week and hopefully we will see you at the Rock Saturday. Hey to Lou, Lew - Dan The Man, Big Jim & Buckeye, Jose and Bobby Hill.
Weekly Blurb 3/21/2011
It is all over and the crying is done! The 2011 Southern Grand has come and is gone into the history books. Leo Harrison has proven that a one armed man is better than a two armed man or woman. Leo won the singles with a 200 and 50 in the shootoff. He broke one of two 97's and then outlasted KY youngster Jenna Knott after 75 in front of a crowd. He took the HOA with a 396x400 which meant he broke a 99 in the doubles.
I stayed to watch the shootoff with Jenna and the ever humble Leo posed for pictures with the young lady and in a great act of kindess he gave her the 8 box leather bag marked 2011 Southern Grand Handicap Champion.
Some NC shooters took a few trinkets home including Dennis Taylor, Addison Callan, Billy Thigpen and Charlie Brown. Jeff Galloway missed the "A" Class HAA by "1" bird.
We had a great time shooting and JC laid it on me up until the singles and the Sunday handicap. He made a rookie mistake Sunday and stepped to the line with his blunderbuss choke. He said that choke was so open he was chipping targets on adjacent fields.
We spent some time with the NC crowd and the folks that stay a the Dollar for more than just one shoot. Maybe one day when I retire I will move down there and ref a few rounds.
I really haven't checked attendance for the Southern Grand but it looked pretty crowded. I believe there were 117 squads today if I am not mistaken. We ate at Skeeter's grill and I have pictures to prove it. I talked at length to Skeeter over a bacon cheeseburger and it was delicious.
Some folks are headed back today but JC and I will head back in the AM for the 660 mile trip. As soon as we get back there are shoots on the schedule to work at and attend.
I have not checked to see if scores have been posted from Rocky Mount - Old Hickory or Buckhorn. Hopefully we can get those up in a timely manner.
I am sitting out in the hallway of the lobby at the motel. My wireless isn't working in my room so I am banished to the hallway like Funky Winkerbean the "Hall Monitor".
I am posting the blurb early so that we can get tucked in to get up in the wee hours of the morning. Several mornings the fog was dense and they also did a controlled burn (that I caught in some of my pictures) that stunk to high heaven.
Oh - Jenna was shooting a new Blaser and she was really mashing the targets. I should have taken a picture of her and all the youngins playing cards in the clubhouse before her shootoff.
I hope everybody had a great weekend and hopefully a good start to the week. I have a lot of work waiting for me when I get back to the SD and I will be hunkered down all week (short week) thank goodness. Oh - I got to talk with Lou and he is still just as handsome as ever and also shot his singles with one of the best looking gals on the grounds - how did he rate that? He is always fun to talk to and I believe that he might just miss the NC crew a wee bit.
Lewis Wyatt tried to work a little mojo on JC stating that if JC didn't shoot good in Florida Lewis would give him a good whipping when he got back to North Carolina.
Ok - that is it and we hope to see some of you folks at a gun club in the near future! Hey Lew - Lou - DAN - Big Jim - Jeri - Andrew - Jef - Grandpa and Grandma.......
Weekly Blurb 3/14/2011
Hello to all and what a great weather weekend in North Carolina. Saturday was a bit windy and Sunday was almost perfect for shooting. There was only one registered shoot in NC this weekend and we will talk about that a little later.
The Southern Grand cranks up in the AM Monday and you can keep up with all the activity by going to http://www.rjstuart.com. You can see that scoreboard as the scores are posted and also there is a function that allows you to see what a person actually breaks in each event.
I am not sure of how many NC shooters will attend but it looks like quite a few will be shooting at the Silver Dollar GC. The last time we attended we shot like #### and Richard Colley sent me an email to cheer me up because he knew I was really struggling. Hopefully it will be much better this year and of course the crippler will be there also. We will be posting updates on a day to day basis so keep any eye on tarheeltrap.com.
The Gastonia GC shot Saturday and they had a good turnout. In fact they have had good turnouts at both shoots already this 2011 season. Jef Solomon won the singles, doubles and the HOA. Bill Howe had Jef on the ropes until the doubles and that is when Jef tied it up. Jef and Bill flipped for the HOA with Bill the winner.
Three shoots coming up this weekend in NC for the folks that won’t be traveling to the Southern Grand. Saturday the 19th – Old Hickory @ Bostic and also Old Hickory @ Rocky Mount. Sunday the 20th the Buckhorn GC will host a typical 300 target program. We hope everybody shoots well and I am expecting some scores so that I can get them posted.
I talked with former NC shooter Dave Daily today and he is currently in Greensboro Georgia. He has been on vacation for two weeks and spent a week at Disney with the grandchildren. He hasn’t shot a target since the Konne-Yaut Indian shoot in July 2010. Hopefully he will get some birds in before the South Carolina State Shoot in May.
I ran across “Fudd” Shaffer’s number Saturday and decided to give Fudd a call. How can I aptly describe Fudd only to say that he looks like a ruggedly handsome muscle bound mountain man from the hills of Kentucky? We met Fudd at the Konne-Yaut shoot in 2009 and we hit it off right away. He had back surgery and is on the mend and hopefully he will be ready to shoot at the Indian shoot in July. Fudd is from Indiana and travels with Jerry Bruns who is another character that you would just have to meet.
JC Nunn has been testing his guns lately and is ready for the Southern Grand. He bought a new John Deere tractor mower and he was getting his yard all mowed and trimmed before the trip. He is going to concentrate on the singles and the caps and will sit out the two doubles events on Thursday and Friday. He is saving himself for the caps events and if he gets hot the fellow just might win something. I would like to make a prediction and that is the Crippler will win something at the event.
I was looking at a thread on trapshooters.com about whether shooting was down in your area. I wanted to comment on the subject and I still might post a comment. One neat thing about this website is that you can look a year or two back and see how many people shot at the same club on a similar date. Let’s face it, we have lost some shooters to all types of issues. Some are gone because of finance, some are raising families, some have lost interest and found other hobbies. Whatever the reason you got to admit, trapshooting is alive and well in the State Of NC.
The calendar for NC shoots is posted and from what I can tell you can shoot about every weekend in NC this year. Now some clubs have cut back like Ft. Bragg and unfortunately Charlie Brown won’t hold any registered events this year. The truth of the matter is that clubs that hold registered shoots have to have good help to run the shoots. Running a shoot is almost like Church – 10% of the club is doing 90% of the work. If you are apprehensive about scoring don’t be. One of the things I enjoy the most about shooting is watching folks shoot. Scoring doubles for me is actually fun if you can believe that. So what I am saying is get involved and help out – what could it hurt.
We are about to enter the meat of the competition season and I can’t wait for it to begin. As many of you know I listen to some type of music when I shoot. One of the reasons is to cut down on all of the noise on and around the trap field. As you get older some folks lose some of their hearing and with plugs in people tend to talk real loud up and down the line. I am asking all shooters to please be considerate of the scorers and shooters on the line. If I can hear you listening to music I know that folks on the line with plugs or muffs can really hear you. Folks might say too bad so sad that is just the way it is. Well if you think like that then maybe your turn will be coming at an event when the chips are on the line. Just think about it – that is all I am asking…..
Ok – I hope everybody has a great start to the week and it looks like it is going to be about 75-80 and sunny in Odessa all week. I am just thankful I don’t live in Northern Japan – what a modern day tragedy. Hello – to Lew - Lou – Dan – Jackie & Terry.
Weekly Blurb 3/7/2011
Good morning and we hope everybody had a great Saturday because it was super wet here in Greensboro Sunday. The weather held off Saturday and both Coharie and Rockingham held events with dry conditions.
Coharie held their first shoot of the year and it looks like they had a great turnout with some new shooters attending. From the shoot report it looks like the wind was creating some issues for the shooters. Mac prevailed and managed to win the HOA even with and 87 in the singles event. I had talked about slipping down there but I was on call with the SD and didn't make it.
Rockingham hosted a club trap/skeet fun shoot saturday and 23 shooters showed up for the event. Past club Prez Roger "Hotshot" Haney won the event with a 46 on the trap event and a 48 on the skeet event. He proved that pound for pound he is the best around. Lewis Wyatt thought he had a foot up on the crippler JC Nunn and wound up tying him with an 81. We will be holding another one of these events in the near future.
Since we are talking about skeet lets talk Buckhorn. The BGC crew had a little cookout Saturday night and I was suprised to get a few pictures of a well known trapshooter shooting skeet. He was still using the "weight forward" stance when addressing the target and showed great form looking at the pictures. I would really like to know how many targets he broke just for the record.
One shoot this week and it will be held at the Gastonia Gun Club. They will be hosting a typical 300 target program and they had a great turnout for the last shoot. Hopefully the wind will settle down for this weekend and I hope they have great weather also. Phillip Putnam has worked really hard getting that trap program established and it looks like he is doing a great job.
Folks are plotting and planning for the upcoming Southern Grand at the Silver Dollar Gun Club in Odessa Florida. It looks like NC will have a good number of folks attending this year and we hope to see some of them in the winners circle. I hope the weather is great and we hope the gas isn't 5 bucks a gallon by then.
I am really looking forward to the shooting season and also to this time of year. The days will get longer and the weather will be getting warmer. Let's hope that the expense of trapshooting doesn't become to overwhelming for the average shooter. The word on the street is that shooting related supplies/shells are going up in May 15 per cent and that is going to be a killer.
We hope everybody has a great week and if anything important pops up we will put it on the front page. If you have any stories or pictures regarding trapshooing please feel free to send them my way. Hello to Lew - Lou - Dan - Terry - Jacki and Donna......
Late breaking news: As I was about to turn in I checked my private messages. There were three words - "PAIN IS COMING". It seems that someone read my post "Lordy Lordy Skeet Sure Is Sporty". Go to NC Trapshooting then NC club news to read the article and view the pictures.
If anything happens to me or if you see me walking with a limp do not approach me if the big guy is around because pain might be coming your way also......
Weekly Blurb 2/28/2011
Good morning to you and I hope you got to get out and enjoy a beautiful weather weekend. Folks are getting out practicing and also shooting some registered birds taking advantage of great conditions.
Gas is going up, lead is going up but it looks like folks are still traveling, flying, eating and shooting from what I can tell. I sure hope gas doesn’t hit 5 bucks a gallon because that might be a killer for a lot of activities.
Now normally I don’t start out with gloom and doom and sure will not continue from this point forward. I guess the most important thing a person can have is good health and for those of you that are sick we will remember you in our prayers.
Buckhorn hosted a shoot Sunday and all I know is that Gail page went from a lawn ornament last Saturday to the singles winner with a “STRONG” 99. We will get the scores up just as soon as we get with Mr. Wilson.
The Callan’s should be making it back across the earth after their trip to Arizona for the Spring Grand in Tuscon. I know those fellows had to bring something back home after all that good shooting they did. Jim will post a picture story when he gets back and gets settled after being gone for almost a week. I will let you know when it appears in the “Travelogue” section of the site.
I was AWOL from the shooting scene this weekend and here is the reason why. Yes I am married (going on 26 years) and my wife owns a state licensed childcare facility. We have raised generations of children for almost 30 years. We went to the Zoo Saturday with Zach (going on 7 June 6th) and little Nick just about to turn 3. The Zoo was great with one small issue a double stroller was rented. The boys would not have made it around the Zoo without it and it is the closest I have ever been to being crippled without getting hit by a car. Word to the wise – if you have two kids get two stroller’s.
2010 North Carolina State Handicap Champ Chase Reese will be getting his Eagle Scout award this Sunday the 6th at 3 in Kinston NC. He follows along in a list of Eagle Scout recipients that include Jeff Galloway and Chris Shoulars, both North Carolina “Singles Championship” winners. Good luck to Chase and hope to see him on the line real soon.
Two shoots in NC this week with a BIG50 at Old Hickory the 3rd and Mac cranks up his program this weekend at Coharie. Those White Hats are really taking things serious and the scores are showing it. Mac noted that both fields now have ERAD voice calls on them and that is great. I hope both locations have above average attendance and you just never know who is going to show up where.
If I missed anybody or anything please forgive and hopefully with warmer temps there will be more shooting and more tales to share. I do have pix to post from the Gastonia shoot and hope to get those up Monday night. Have a great Monday and hello to Lou – Lew – Dan and Terry.
Weekly Blurb 2/21/2011
Good morning and it has been a tough week for the NC trapshooting community. As many of you know Elmo Matkins passed away last week and was laid to rest today in Reidsville NC. It was a military funeral and that is first time I have ever been to one. The 21 gun salute and the folding of the flag was impressive. The minister was not only Elmo’s pastor he was also Elmo’s friend. Elmo might be gone but he will never be forgotten.
I was glad to see all the trap shooters that showed up for Elmo Matkin’s ceremony. Here is a brief rundown of all that attended – Berk Stephens and wife, Doc Spencer and Betty Dan, Scott Louise and Chris Shoulars, Lewis Wyatt and his wife, Donna and Darvin Cornett, JC Nunn, Terry and Jackie Roush, John Woolsey, John Kerns, Jim Bray and his wife, Steve Morgan and his wife, Don Krites and his son, JT Brewer, Hunter and Jeff Galloway and possibly more shooters attended.
There were three shoots in NC this weekend and we some info on a few of them. It looks like the Old Hickory boys stomped another mud hole in the Red Hats Saturday. They are up on us 2-0 and it will be hard digging out of that hole for sure. A quick rundown for Old Hickory showed Mike Pobiega as the singles champ, Philip Putnam got a ½ yard with the lone score in the 90’s and Bill Howe won the doubles with NC State President Billy Thigpen winning the HOA.
I won’t say that there was more wind at the Rock but only the weatherman knows for sure. Charlie Brown won the singles and then packed up his guns, John Miller got his second punch in two visits to the Rock with an 86 and then his wife Karole won the doubles with an 82. Last but not least John Miller took the HOA with a 250 x 300. We had homemade spaghetti with meatballs and “Elmo” cobbler made by Lee Ann. Bob Goodman sent me an email asking for the recipe because he said it might be the best cobbler he has ever eaten.
We had a couple of new young shooters from VA Saturday. Levi Bolan was 9 and his brother Hunter was maybe 12 or 13. Their mother brought them down to shoot and when I clipped the ERAD on Levi he looked at his brother and said “man this is different”. They shot well for the conditions and I think they had a good time also. I posted pictures of them on the thread for the shoot results.
I got news from the hill that I didn’t get the entire story from BamBam. According to Tom Shelley, BamBam started practice off rough with a 21 then a 19 and wound up strong with a pair of 24’s. Those guys have got a monster on their hands with Tom Pitts. I believe if my memory is good Tom whipped them all in doubles at the last “Wing Fling” in 2010. He got to study some Harlan Campbell tapes and now he is getting tough. I hope everybody gets out from under all that snow and gets some practice in real soon.
I just got an email with the “Elmo” peach cobbler recipe from Lee Ann. I posted the recipe on tarheeltrap.com just in case you have someone that cooks in your family. I am going to help my wife whip up a cherry cobbler maybe this week. I also sent the recipe to Bob Goodman for his wife to make him some Elmo peach cobbler.
That is about it for this week and I hope everybody gets out shooting real soon. March is full of NC shoots and don’t forget about the Southern Grand also. Hey Lew – Lou and Dan…….
Weekly Blurb 2/14/2011
Good morning and it was a great weekend for flying kites or loading shells. We made a trip to the Rock Saturday and the wind was whipping through the trees something fierce. I decided to leave the clean gun in the truck and try to get back out to shoot a little later this week.
I guess everybody that visits the site has been reading about Elmo Matkins. He has had a tough time the last several weeks and we hope that he is resting comfortably. He should be in a regular room and we might try to get up and see him sometime this week. He has had a ton of local visitors and even Don Kaufman came up to visit.
We have a father and son heading out West to shoot at the Spring Grand in Tuscon Arizona. I know that they are looking forward to the trip and we can’t wait for the story and pictures from their adventure. The Spring Grand dates are February 22-27 in case you want to see if these guys show up on the leader board.
There is a lot of shooting going on this week in North Carolina. Bragg hosts a BIG50 Wednesday night starting at 5 PM. We were going to take of work to come down and play thinking that it was a daytime shoot like the OH@Bostic club. Saturday both Rockingham and OH&Bostic will host a typical 300 target program with Buckhorn hosting a typical 300 target program Sunday the 20th.
From what we can tell the weather is going to be great for all the events with temps in the mid 60’s Saturday. That should give the Red Hats a good shot at tying up the score with the White Hats at Old Hickory in Bostic. Those White Hats must have popped open a can of spinach with all the high scores they broke that day. If you think about it Charlie Smith sort of reminds me of Popeye if he was wearing a sailor suit. I guess that would make Lillian Olive Oil now wouldn’t it.
My spy in Florida gave me a bit of info about the Patterson’s. Evidently Chuck had a convention or meeting of some sort in the Orlando area. They got together with our resident NC/FLA folks (you know who I am talking about) and did a little shopping etc.. Word is that they might be visiting NC sometime soon in the near future. I sure miss Sandi and Chuck and really hate that they had to move out to California.
I chatted a bit with George “BamBam” Sudderth on Facebook the other night. He said that he was going to do some shooting this weekend so that he could get ready for the upcoming season. He said something about Pitts being tight, Shelley being crazy and Morg being busy. I would imagine that the Watauga crew is planning for some good shoots this spring. Hopefully I can get up more than just for the Chicken Wing Fling.
Lane took a trip up to Rockingham today and shot a little skeet. Evidently there was more laughing than good shooting from what I heard. They had quite a crew up at the trap range shooting today including Charlie Rinehart and Roland from up in VA. Gary, Norman, JT, Glenn and Jim Haughton all got hooked into moving targets in lieu of the upcoming shoot the 19th.
The Rock is hosting a non-registered shoot the 5th of March that will offer 25 skeet, 25 doubles skeet, 25 16 yd trap and 25 23 yard trap. It should be an interesting day for all to enjoy and I can’t wait to see who the eventual winner will be. It has been years since I have shot a round of skeet and I believe the last time I did it was on the old skeet field at the Rock.
Also, mark your calendars for the 5th of April. The Rock will be hosting a 500 target singles marathon to give folks a chance to get some singles in. Right now we have about 20 folks signed up to shoot some or the entire program. It is very rare you get to shoot 500 singles targets in one day. They use to have a 500 target marathon in Pinehurst NC and I believe Don Sutton won it one year. It might have been offered during the Annie Oakley shoot if I am not sadly mistaken.
I did get a note from Don “Pappy” Sutton the other day and he is excited about some medical procedures that might help him escape some of the pain he endures with his back. We loaned him a Beretta AL-391 last year and got him back to hurling lead in the air. Evidently the 391 is a little more forgiving with recoil and he is able to shoot without getting pounded. I would sure like to see him standing beside me on the line with JC – Hunter – Cliff Dowdy – now those are some old-timers.
I haven’t been in the chatroom like I should lately. Been hanging out on Facebook too much and neglecting the chatroom folks. Make a note – 9PM – we will try to get in about that time to see what is shaking. I noticed that John Woolsey – Ronnie Manuel – Richard Colley and a few others have slipped in and out without being detected. Before you know it the time is going to change and folks won’t be stuck in the house.
I believe I am about typed out for the evening and we will be working on next weeks blurb come Monday. I still think I will crank up “Hotshot of the Week” award and keep a running list of the real performer of the weekend. I will need some help in nominating these folks. Have a great Monday and a great week and we will keep you posted on Elmo’s progress. Hey Lew and Lou and Dan………….
Weekly Blurb 2/7/2011
Good morning and it looks like an interesting weather week for North Carolina. Congrats to the Packers for an impressive win against the Pittsburgh Steelers. With that out of the way we have one shoot this weekend and it will be held at the Gastonia GC.
Ft. Bragg is hosting a BIG50 shoot the 16th and if the weather is good we might haul the tailgunner down for some sandhill clays. Next in line we have the shoots at the Rock and OH R&PC@Bostic the 19th. The White Hats broke a shoe off on us the last time and I might have to shoot to get in on the action. Last but not least the Buckhorn crew will shoot the 20th to end up the month of February.
Elmo is back at home and resting and the doc said that if he was still having issues he would have to be admitted back to the hospital. Please take a moment to pray for Elmo and his family. If you have ever taken care of a loved one you know how it is.
The Rock hosted a Lewis Class shoot this Saturday and it looked like we were going to get rained out. It was cool and cloudy but the wind wasn’t blowing too awful much. We had 6 shooters step to the line and it was neck and neck up till the last trap. Tommy Brown took the top Lewis with Ronnie Manuel taking the next spot..
We have some NC shooters out and about and our mystery traveler and comedian Lewis Wyatt got back to NC yesterday. He took a whirlwind trip to the Florida Keys and back up to shoot at the Dixie Grand. I gave him a call once and awhile and we are sure glad he got to shoot with Jeff and Hunter in the sunshine state.
I don’t know if you have checked shot prices but Lane had to pay 45 bucks a bag for shot last week. With premium shells selling for almost 10 bucks a box the Wally World Federals are looking better every day. I got a contact for Rio shells but the fellow hasn’t responded to my emails. If anyone hears of any shell deals please email me!
I know folks are getting cabin fever and with the uncertain weather folks are looking forward to Spring. Of course the Southern Grand is about a month away and that trip always brings a smile to my face. I am looking forward to seeing a person that snuck down there to live named Lou.
JC is doing great and we visited him the other day and took him a few AL-2 Beretta parts. He is getting all of his guns ready for the season and has been shooting a newer Al-391. He rode up Saturday to the club and declined on getting out in the wet and cold. He said that at his age he couldn’t afford getting sick. Mark it on your calendar and don’t forget that J-Bird turns 88 the 13th of July.
I haven’t heard a peep out of PA transplant Dan Johnson. He is laying down in the weeds plotting and planning a return to competition trapshooting. He has a lot of things to get done like find a place to live and get the family down to NC. One great thing is that I will have my camera ready to take a picture of his lovely wife Mary. She really doesn’t like for me to take pictures of her. Time will tell and we will see when Dan “The Man” steps back out on the line in NC.
Dave Daily should be back from his 40th wedding anniversary in the Dominican Republic. He has been shooting at the club in Myrtle Grove and I might plan a weekend trip to shoot in one of their BIG50 shoots this year. I will try to get a schedule of shoots and post it on the site.
This wasn’t a particularly news producing weekend and we will have to work a little harder for the next edition of the blurb. It looks like Gary Hicks is really shooting good according to the shoot report from the Old Hickory club. I imagine they are getting “tuned up” for the Hat to Hat competition the 19th.
Have a great Monday and if we have any breaking time sensitive news. We might break down and post a mid-week blurb if something really pops up. Want to give a shout out to Lew, Lou and Bign – have a good one…….
Weekly Blurb 1/31/2011
Good morning and I hope you had a great weekend whether you got to the gun club or not. We have quite a few things to talk about in this weekly blurb so hold onto your shooting hat.
Elmo Matkins was admitted to the hospital last Monday and will be released hopefully in the morning. He wasn’t eating and anything he took in was not staying down. The docs decided to adjust his medications and keep an eye on him. Hopefully he will be back in the mix real soon and I know he had plenty of visitors including Lane Murray, Shoulars, Ron Anderson and Ronnie Manuel.
Also on the mend is Andrew Carroll from the Buckhorn GC. He had surgery on his right hand to help restore some feelings to his hand and fingers. Evidently snapping all those beanie-weanie cans has had an affect on his trigger finger and hand. He has been advised to start using his hand immediately and hopefully he will be back to shooting really soon.
The Buckhorn crew hosted a Duke University “Ducks Unlimited” event Friday at the club. The weather could have been a little warmer and the sun a little brighter. All in all the 48 guys and 2 gals that attended had a great time. They shot 13 squads worth of targets and were assisted by Ike, Chuck & Auman Woody, Bobby, Tim and Big Jim.
It looks like the Buckhorn crew is also attending a Hurricane Hockey game this upcoming weekend and I believe there are 10 or 12 couples attending the game. Someone has some strings because they will have a “suite” for the game. That is a great way to watch the game for sure and I hope they have enough finger food to feed the Bear Jimmy Wilson. Hopefully I will have some info to report from that gathering of the Buckhorn faithful.
Upcoming shooting events include a BIG50 in White Hat land and a new Lewis Class for the folks in Red Hat land. The folks at Old Hickory@Bostic will host a BIG50 on the Thursday the 3rd of February. The folks at the Rockingham Gun Club will be testing out a new format for their Lewis Class shoot this Saturday the 5th of February. The new format is 25 from the 16, 20, 22 and 25 from your ATA yardage. We will probably keep the Lewis Class payouts the same but we are looking at some other options at a later shoot. Then Gastonia the 12th, the Rock and Old Hickory@Bostic will have a rematch the 19th with Buckhorn GC ending out the month on the 20th. It won’t be long before March will be upon us and I can’t wait.
The Dixie Grand is over and man what a time NC shooters had in the Sunshine State. Charlie Brown, Tom Wilkinson, Larry High, Billy Thigpen, Bill Howe, Jeff & Hunter Galloway, Lewis Wyatt, the McKinney crew, the Roush’s and if I missed anybody please forgive me. I would take time to name all of the winners but that would be a lot of typing. We tried to give the highlights from the Dixie on a day to day basis. Let’s just say that NC was well represented at this prestigious ATA event. I know that folks are planning right now to attend the Southern Grand in March.
I would like to get one thing straight and that is about the rumor that I didn’t go to the Dixie because I attended a figure skating event. I had not planned to attend the Dixie and just happened to get some “FREE” tickets to attend the early session on Saturday morning. Even our mystery traveler called me this afternoon telling me that he and the wife were viewing the men’s finals from the Greensboro Coliseum and to slip my hand up and wave so that they could see me. As he was hanging up the phone he was laughing for some unknown reason.
We had some visitors at the Rock Saturday. Pete Pearce, North Davis and Doug Henderson showed up for a little practice and it was great to hear that Pete and Davis are going to start shooting again. From what I hear Pete ordered 3 ERADS and Davis was murdering targets from the 16 and the 27 yard line. Doug Henderson is the DA for Guilford County and is a sporting clays shooter for all practical purposes. I hope to actually get out and shoot some sporting clays with Mr. Henderson in the very near future.
We went to the Rock Sunday to shoot a little practice. I wore shorts and it was perfect weather for them. I stepped to line and mashed 25 singles and it was downhill from there. Danny Lloyd, Tommy Brown, JC Nunn, Glenn “Sky King” Brewer, Doc Gonzalez, Doug Starr, Lane Murray, Tom Cox and there were others spreading the lead.
I hope everybody has a great week and if you know of any good deals on shotgun shells please let me know. With shot at 38 bucks a bag this is sure getting to be a pricey sport. If you have any funny dirt to dish just email me at freddydacrusher@hotmail.com. Hey Lew and Lou see you in March……
Weekly Blurb 1/24/2011
Greetings to you on this chilly morning in the Piedmont Plateau of North Carolina. This wasn’t a big shooting weekend in North Carolina but folks were still out practicing in the cold this weekend. I guess the biggest news this weekend was the birth of Kelsey Galloway. She came into the world Saturday night at 6 pounds 1 ounce and 19 inches long. She is the daughter of Andy and Traci Galloway and of course Hunter Galloway’s first granddaughter.
Our mystery traveler checked in from Venice Florida today and is just a few days from getting to the Dixie Grand. They spent some time in the Keys and said the alligators were everywhere trying to get warm and out of the cooler water. The temps in the Keys approached the low 80’s and our mystery traveler is already working on his farmers tan.
Called Dave Daily tonight and he had just gotten on the ground in Indianapolis. He said there was six inches of snow on the ground and about 10 degrees. I know he is a happy man with the Steelers winning their AFC division playoff. I would imagine Uncle Rick is jumping for joy also in Pittsburgh.
JC has been slipping out to the Rock and tuning in the old AL-391 I sold him about the time I bought the Kolar in 2006. He has been trying to get parts for his AL-2 and I found two items that he has been looking for last week. He was dug in this weekend looking at the games yesterday and waiting on warmer weather.
I have some news from the hills that I would like to share with you. It gets lonely up on the hill and I asked one of the hill people for some hearsay and here it is:
Hearsay from the Mountains - Going to sum it up in one word. BURRRRR!!!!!!!
Weather to day. Its a sunny 18 degrees outside today, snow is not falling its blowing by with a 45 mph tail wind, and that wind is kicking the wind chill down around -8 degrees. And this is a good day. I believe that you could count the days above freezing on one hand since Thanksgiving. The club, well I haven't seen the club since the second week in November. We had to call off the January meeting, because we couldn't reach it for snow. So every-things a norm for the mountains.
Spoke to Morg the other nite on the phone, I went by Christmas and that was the last time I saw him. He is still chained to the leg of that Jeweler’s bench making an honest dollar, but he has visions of shooting more in 2011. I think he still has Ms Kitty setting in the safe hidden away. George (Bam Bam) is spending his winter setting at the reloading bench and at the computer working on his Clinic material for the up and coming year. It is my understanding that Shelley goes by routinely for a friendly match of trap shooting on the wall chart. Funny thing is George still beats him on the wall chart, figure that. Shelley has just gotten back from his yearly coyote feeding frenzy in Alabama. Last time I saw him, he was hosting a new beard. He had read where you could ugly a deer too death, well this drove his brother-in-law too buying shoot houses because he was tearing them up so badly. Me, well I'm getting use to Grand Paw, have my first grandson Oran he got here the week before Thanksgiving. So maybe if father time looks on us kindly I can turn him into one of those range rats running around.
That's about it for the mountains, I understand this snow is going to leave about mid March. By that time we should have shells loaded up for a little practice. Just in time for The Dogwood, Spring, Summer, Warmth, Green Grass, Orange Targets, O! sorry a little cabin fever. That's about it, the Cartel is hunkered down waiting for spring thaw.
Thank you Tom Pitts for a little hearsay from off the hill. Speaking of hearsay I hear that Lou Carter is shooting a little bit and might make it a day to the Dixie. Seems like his time is occupied by working at a sporting clays range and that could be interesting.
The Dixie starts this week at the Silver Dollar trap club in Odessa Florida. I know that some NC folks are there and others plan to be there. So by the time the blurb hits next Monday all the fun will be over and we will see how our North Carolina brethren fared.
February is right around the corner with registered shooting around the state. We had a question about league shooting in NC and I wish someone would startup something like that or even maybe give it a go. I know Maryland has league shoots all through winter and have some huge payouts. It is all non-registered so that you don’t kill your averages during the winter.
Rockingham might try a new format for the Lewis Class shoots and here it is. 25 from the 16 – 25 from the 20 – 25 from the 22 and 25 from your ATA card. We would have the same Lewis style payouts and I thing it would be pretty interesting!
Ok – it is about bedtime for me and it will be a super busy week for me for sure. We hope your team won this weekend and cannot wait until the Superbowl February 6th. If you would like the link to the chatroom just email me at freddydacrusher@hotmail.com and we will send you the link.
One last comment before I go. I have been chatting with Sandy Mitchell about every night about the good old days of trapshooting in NC. If you knew Sandy you would remember him during the Pinehurst days and all the folks back then. It has been great catching up so get in the room and say hello to Sandy if you can. Take care and travel safe!
Weekly Blurb 1/17/2011
We hope you had a good weekend and it was a great weather weekend for our area anyway. Two good days of shooting weather and we have some reports on the two registered events in the state.
We have a mystery traveler that I talked to this week. He and his lovely wife are tooling around Florida and will drop back by the Silver Dollar GC for the last few days of the Dixie Grand. We won’t give his name because you just never know who is reading the blurb that might have bad intentions.
This was a big football weekend and we checked in on former NC resident Dave Daily at his home in Myrtle Beach. I called him and asked if folks from Pittsburgh new what a fumble was? Evidently he had a crew of Pittsburgh transplants at his house for a football gathering. We will probably get to shoot with him at the South Carolina State Shoot in May.
We have been adding things to the website when we find them and I have been digging through my archives for old shoot reports. Unfortunately we don’t have all of the articles I have written going back to 2002. I have also been moving interesting things that I find on Trapshooters.com to the Lodge area.
One of my goals has been to collect information on all of our Hall Of Fame inductees including the information that was presented at the ceremony and also pictures of the event and shooter. If you happen to have any of the old HOF programs I would like a copy or a scanned image of the info.
The chat room is up and running and it has been hit and miss here lately. I have opened it up to not require a valid email address and we will see how that goes. Folks have had issues logging in and getting a valid password to use the room. Also, if you have tried to register on the TarHeelTrap website and can’t get logged in please let me know ASAP. Use freddydacrusher@hotmail.com to contact me – Thanks!
I have been tempted to start the “Hotshot of the Week” back up and I think it would be a good thing. For the folks that continue to shoot and spend their money there ought to be some type of recognition for their efforts. If you would like to nominate someone for the weekly “Hotshot of the Week” designation, just drop me an email with your choice and tell me why you think they should be the weekly Hotshot..
Old Hickory Rifle & Pistol Club held a registered shoot this weekend and from the looks of the scores they had some good weather. Henry McGinnis won the singles, Chris Ricketson won the caps and Jef Solomon won the doubles. Chris Ricketson also won the HOA with a 283x300 for the daily target program.
The Rockingham Gun Club also held a registered shoot with Chris Shoulars winning the singles after a shootoff with Tommy Brown, John Miller won the handicap with Tommy Brown winning the doubles and the HOA. We had enough handicap shooters for a punch and Mr. Miller got a ½ yard punch for his great shooting.
I called Charlie Smith Saturday night and asked him about a lighthearted competition between the two clubs involving the singles event on Saturday. It would be a total score of the 5 shooters he chose and of course 5 shooters from our site. He agreed and by the time I called him Saturday he changed the format to include another 5 shooters for a total of 10 competitors. So in the end we pitted his top ten against our top ten and we came out 10 birds short of a win. He has agreed to give us a chance to tie it up in February and only time and targets will tell if the Red Hats at the Rock can outgun the White Hats at Old Hickory.
It looks like a break in registered shoots for the next few weekends with OH@Bostic hosting the 1st shoot of February the 3rd with a BIG50. If you have never been to Gastonia it is a neat place to shoot and sort of reminds me of West Penn Sportsman near Delmont PA. They shoot the 12th with Rockingham and Old Hickory@Bostic the 19th and bringing up the rear last bust not least Buckhorn the 20th.
I hope you have a great Monday and it looks like cool weather most of the week with high temps this weekend in the high 30’s. I have the day off and might slip up to the Rock for a little practice. Hey Lew and Lou……..
Weekly Blurb 1/10/2011
Weather seems to be the main focus of the news media lately and by the time you read this Monday morning precipitation might be falling in your area. With the predictions of snow and then ice it might be a miserable start to the week.
Rockingham Gun Club hosted a non-registered shoot Saturday and we had 10 shooters step to the line. With temps in the 30’s and wind in the 20’s it was a little sporty. There were a few times that when I put the gun up to call for the target, two lost targets were still in the air. Lane Murray bested all shooters with a 46/43 with Lewis Wyatt hitting the next Lewis 18 targets shy of the top score. RCGC will host their first registered shoot of the New Year the 15th. We hope that you can join us for some winter shooting fun. The weather forecast is calling for low 40’s and partly sunny.
Jimmy Wilson called me earlier in the week and advised me that Russell and Jennifer Nuti would be stopping by Buckhorn for a visit. I called JC and we worked out a little road trip to visit the Nuti’s and to see Dan “The Man” Johnson. When we got there Jennifer and Russell were working with Jennifer’s sister showing her how to shoot trap. They both looked great and I took some pictures of Russell shooting alone and with Dan Johnson.
I took a look at the last time Russell shot a registered target and it was in August 2006 at the Dixie Trap Club. Jennifer registered her last targets in 2007 I guess at the Alabama State Shoot. Dan registered his last targets at the Bedford County Sportsmen’s Club in June 2007. Dan shot a hodge podge round to get used to a loner smokepole today and then took Russell out for a pretend shootoff round. Dan only missed one and that isn’t too shabby for a shooter that hasn’t registered a target since 6/24/2007.
I took some pictures of everybody today and will try to get them posted for your viewing pleasure. I also took a picture of the bag of sand Gail Page won for the 93 she broke last weekend. Dan asked Bobby if he wanted to take her trophy home and he acted like he didn’t want any part of it.
I want to share a little story with you to keep you from making the same mistake a local shooter made this week. Evidently this person had a problem bird that kept sitting on his SUV mirror and would relieve itself on the side of his vehicle. If the window was rolled down a little bit the bird would sit on the window and proceed to rain down chocolate chip streaks on his seats. Alas the shooter had a brilliant idea that involved his trusty BB Gun. The result was a shattered window and a bird that returned to the side mirror confused as to where the window was. “Sticky Note” when in doubt do not get the BB gun out.
The “TarHeelTrap” chatroom is back up and running and we have sent out invitations to about 40 people. The following folks have checked in since the new room went up. They include Richard Colley in Tennessee, Hap in Arizona, Tommy Brown, Lane Murray, Jimmy Wilson, Jeff Hashbarger in Tennessee, Marty Hill, AwMan Woody, Sandy Mitchell in Texas, Terry Jordan in Canada, Tom Cox and last but not least Ronnie Manuel. If Dan reads this please get me your email addy and we will send you the link. If you have cabin fever just drop me an email at freddydacrusher@hotmail.com and we will email you the link. We talk about all types of stuff but it is a great way to keep up with each other and to discuss elements of our sport.
I know this is sore subject for some and for others not too much. This is for the release trigger shooters out there. I just purchased some “Release” trigger decals that can be placed on your stock. I have large ones and small ones and they are .50 cents each. That is exactly what I paid for them and hope to get one on my Kolar this week. I hope the decal stays on my gun as long my “Release Sticker” did. I don’t want to get these to folks and they not adhere to the gun. If you want to order your own the fellows address is as follows – Vernon Shaffer – 1860 Rosstown Road – Lewisberry PA 17339. He charges .50 cents a piece for the large or the small. I will take some pictures and put them under the Buy Or Sell thread in the The Lodge. His thread is on Trapshooters.com in case you want to check it out.
Just recently I found a thread regarding a portable gun rack for 3 or four guns. Most of you know that Roger Bynum built me a handmade gun rack that holds 4 guns. I also had Lane Murray pick me up an aluminum Winchester gun rack that holds three guns. Now at the big shoots we can rest 7 guns under the big top. Anyway, I emailed Jeff Galloway and also Hunter Galloway the info on the gun rack but forgot to include the .pdf document. I did however explain that the info was found on ts.com and went on about my business. The next day I get an email for Jeff and it is a one liner that says “What the H*** Freddy”?
When I read that all I thought was that I had sent an email without the .pdf and resent the email to both Jeff and Hunter. Then I hear the rest of the story and in graphic details. When the email was sent to Hunter his wife Debbie read the message and since no attached document was sent she did the next best thing. She typed into her browser address bar the following – ts.com and then all heck broke loose. Guess what – ts.com which was my abbreviation for trapshooters.com turns out to be a website for you guessed it “transsexuals”.
Yep there Mrs. Galloway was knee deep in a graphic cornucopia of all types of odd images on her 21” flat panel display. She immediately began to think of me in a “bad” way and maybe thinking that I had a dark side that she somehow had missed along the way. And that her trapshooting son had been traveling with me since 2003 shooting around the Southeast and also to the Dixie Grand with Debbie, Jeff and Hunter. When Hunter called me to see why I had sent him a link to an odd website I had to do some serious explaining. So – please for God’s sake please spell trapshooters.com out when sending it to your trapshooting friends.
Here is the report for the top 5 pictures viewed on my Photobucket account as of January 8th. Out of the top 5 photos 4 of them are of Pat Ireland. At # 5 Pat’s picture at the Silver Dollar on the golf cart in his pink shirt. At #4 is the picture of Pat, Jim Mitchell and John Hiter on the front porch of the old NC Homegrounds clubhouse. At #3 is the picture of Pat shooting at the Southern Grand on the club side from the 27 yard line. At #2 is the picture of Terry Dean’s lean and mean shooting machine squad at the Southern Zone at the NC Homegrounds. At #1 is the picture of Ralph Harrelson, Jim Dodson, Pat Ireland and John Hiter on the front porch of the old NC Homegrounds office/clubhouse. These 5 pictures total views exceeds 5000 picture views on the internet.
That is about it for now and we hope you have a great week. If you get trapped in the house this week it might be a good time to clean up the shop, load some shells, clean some guns or maybe even see what the wife needs done around the house. Also I would like to thank Jef Solomon for the kind words regarding the return of the “blurb”. Jeff is an air traffic controller I think at the Charlotte Mecklenburg airport and I thought I had a high stress job. I posted the pix I took today and you can find them by going to www.nctrap.com and look for Fred Redmon’s pictures. The folder name is BGC Nuti 1/9/2011. Hey Lou and Lew……….
The Blurb Is Back 1/6/2011
Hello everybody remember me? I got to check the last time I posted one of my “blurbs” and it has been about 7 months. I know that some of you folks got a kick out of reading my ramblings and I guess I missed it to a certain extent. I am looking to the future and I really feel like I can post something of interest at least once a week unless there is some breaking news.
Back when I was shooting all the time and traveling I had a bunch to write about. Then I cut back quite a bit and also spend a lot of Saturday’s scoring at the Rockingham Gun Club for their monthly shoots. The biggest thing that happened is that I have struggled the last two years shooting decent scores. When you go from AA25 A to C20B it sort of takes the wind out of your sails. But that in itself is no excuse to give up or quit trying or break out the crying towel.
Before I get to yakkin about a lot of stuff here are a few things I did to get my shooting turned around a little bit. One thing I did was visit the eye doctor and got my 1st prescription for distance at the ripe age of 55. I should have had my eyes checked two years ago. I also got to looking at some factors that might have got my shooting off track. I determined that about the time I added extended posts to my comb my troubles began. I decided to take those out prior to my trip to the Indian shoot in July and my my it made quite a difference. Now, am I back on track who knows but one thing I do know is that I am looking forward to shooting this year and that is a good feeling.
Enough about me but I just wanted you to get a feel of what has been going on with me. Now, onto other matters at hand and some not so pleasant. I know that we all were saddened by the loss of Pat Ireland and none more than me. Pat was one of the few folks that shot at and loved the Pinehurst GC. I would imagine that a white balloon will be released in his honor at the 2011 NC State Trapshoot.
JC Nunn is alive and well and will turn 88 this July. He is still working 2 days a week at the auto auction and we try to call him every day to see how he is doing. We are planning to travel to the Grand this August Lord willing and his health is good. J. D. Holland isn’t doing too well the last time we heard and lost his wife last year. His vision is poor and he has sold all of his shells and components. We are going to try to call him to see how he is doing and might try to get him out to the club so he can get out of the house. Cliff Dowdy is back to shooting some and is still buying high dollar trap guns just like always.
We talked to Dave Daily and is busy and living in Myrtle Beach. He confirmed that the Myrtle Grove Gun Club is holding monthly shoots and the dates are available on their website. He will be celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary and will be traveling to the Dominican Republic for his vacation. Normally he goes to Cancun but is a little wary of all the drug cartel junk going on in and around Mexico.
As many of you know Dan Johnson is back in North Carolina and will be working in the Sanford area. He is working on figuring out where he wants to live before he brings the family down from Pennsylvania. We are going to try to get him a gun to shoot so that he can keep Jimmy busy and help Jimmy hone his shooting skills. Dan did appear and scored at the January 2nd shoot at Buckhorn.
Hunter Galloway is now the official ATA Secretary and will be serving in that capacity for however long his term is. That is quite an honor and I know he will serve the ATA and all trapshooters well. Now we have Terry Roush and Hunter serving the ATA and both from the Tar Heel state. Jeff is still in school studying gunsmithing and living on the family farm in Caswell County. He is also working part time at the airfield in Chapel Hill. Jeff has already been practicing for the Dixie Grand and shot 3 afternoons this week at the Rock.
Trapshooting dates for 2011 have been posted with a few clubs still to report. It doesn’t look like there are any less trapshoots in NC with the exception of the Ft. Bragg club. I know they will be hosting a reduced schedule and we hope to get down there to shoot this year. Rockingham will be hosting a 500 bird singles marathon in early April so please mark your calendars.
Has anybody heard anything out of “Sweet” Lou down in Florida? Maybe I will drop him an email or give him a call to see how he has been doing. Dan moved back and you never know maybe Lou will come see us maybe for the NC State Shoot. Speaking of another Lew and we are speaking of Lewis Wyatt. Last year Lewis planned to attend the Grand with his son and he never made it. He was wrecked by a lady that sideswiped his motor home on his way to pick up his son. Lewis was ok and his motor home was totaled and he has purchased another similar vehicle. I had the pleasure of watching Lewis assist his grandson shoot a BB gun at stationary targets at the Rockingham Gun Club. The entire scene was heartwarming and I have pictures to prove it.
I had the pleasure of talking to Jim Daughtridge the other day. He is doing well and has been playing a lot of golf and has shot very little. We encouraged him to come on back out and shoot with us in 2011 and he stated that he might get back in the shooting scene as soon as it warms up.
Pete McCall is shooting again according to info on trapshooters.com. It looks like he is shooting with one eye and evidently broke a 50 straight in an event. He has had some vision issues for quite some time and it has really curtailed his shooting. We wish him the best and we hope he will head to NC in 2011.
That is about it for my return back to the blurb. My hope is to post a blurb every Sunday night for your reading pleasure on Monday morning. Some may be lengthy and some might be short you will just never know. With gas predicted to go as high as 5 bucks a gallon it remains to be seen just how much shooting folks will continue to do. For those of you that don’t shoot as much we will try to keep you up to date on what is happening in North Carolina.
Since I posted on Thursday night I ought to have enough juicy info to post by Sunday night. According to Jimmy Wilson the Nuti’s are going to drop by the club for a visit and Dan will be there also.
Have a great Friday and weekend and we hope it doesn’t snow 6 inches Tuesday…..
Greetings from chilly Greensboro North Carolina. What a dreary weekend and it looks like a cool week upcoming also. Most areas got rain and some areas heavy at times. I am really looking forward to warmer weather and I hope it arrives real soon.
I posted info about Jack Eller passing this week and thanks to Don Sutton for the info. Jack was a great guy and shot quite a few registered targets in his career. The last time I got to see him was when I was visiting Dan Johnson at the Rowan County Wildlife Club. He did recognize me and we talked a bit about the old days in Pinehurst.
Rockingham shot Saturday and the only precip that fell was sleet. John Miller won the singles, Chase Reese won the caps with Ted Carwile winning the doubles and HOA. I hope to have the shoot report from Ft. Bragg real soon.
Two shoots this upcoming weekend with Coharie hosting a typical 300 target program and Rockingham hosting a 500 target singles marathon. Targets are $18 per hundred with daily fees with more targets being offered if time allows. Wetaher is looking good on the long range forecast.
The Florida State Shoot is over and it looks like several shooters won including Charlie Brown and Bob Schultz. I would imagine that folks are getting geared up for the GA State Shoot - Hog Heaven - Dogwood and of course the local shoots. Before you know it we will be rolling into Bostic for the NC State Shoot.
We are just a few weeks away for the Dogwood (April 14 - 17) at the Homegrounds. If you have never shot at the HG this will be your only chance to shoot there before the NC State Shoot. I have been to the Dogwood and the wind blew 30mph, hopefully the weather will cooperate. It looks like the Hog Heaven shoot starts April 13th and runs throug the 17th. Hopefully that scheduling won't hurt the NC attendance.
It seems like Spartanburg is getting a few things together including a new and improved website. The upcoming state shoot is May 11 - 15 and the site stated that all singles and handicap targets would be shot over all 8 fields. Doubles will be shot bank style according to the website. They have a fish fry on Saturday and it is has always been very good.
It looks like JC will be traveling with me to Bradford PA in July. We will be attending the 92nd Annual Konne-Yaut Indian Pow-Wow. JC will turn 88 the 13th of July and we will celebrate his birthday at the club. My mom was in town over the weekend and had an early present for my birthday. When I opened the bag I couldn't beleive my eyes. It was an authentic indian headress and it came from Arizona. It will make it's first trip to Bradford for the Sunday morning ceremony.
That is about all I have to offer for the week and hopefully we will have more to report next week. It is going to be a busy full week and I actually got to tour the new jail Friday. Anyway, have a great week and hopefully we will see you at the Rock Saturday. Hey to Lou, Lew - Dan The Man, Big Jim & Buckeye, Jose and Bobby Hill.
Weekly Blurb 3/21/2011
It is all over and the crying is done! The 2011 Southern Grand has come and is gone into the history books. Leo Harrison has proven that a one armed man is better than a two armed man or woman. Leo won the singles with a 200 and 50 in the shootoff. He broke one of two 97's and then outlasted KY youngster Jenna Knott after 75 in front of a crowd. He took the HOA with a 396x400 which meant he broke a 99 in the doubles.
I stayed to watch the shootoff with Jenna and the ever humble Leo posed for pictures with the young lady and in a great act of kindess he gave her the 8 box leather bag marked 2011 Southern Grand Handicap Champion.
Some NC shooters took a few trinkets home including Dennis Taylor, Addison Callan, Billy Thigpen and Charlie Brown. Jeff Galloway missed the "A" Class HAA by "1" bird.
We had a great time shooting and JC laid it on me up until the singles and the Sunday handicap. He made a rookie mistake Sunday and stepped to the line with his blunderbuss choke. He said that choke was so open he was chipping targets on adjacent fields.
We spent some time with the NC crowd and the folks that stay a the Dollar for more than just one shoot. Maybe one day when I retire I will move down there and ref a few rounds.
I really haven't checked attendance for the Southern Grand but it looked pretty crowded. I believe there were 117 squads today if I am not mistaken. We ate at Skeeter's grill and I have pictures to prove it. I talked at length to Skeeter over a bacon cheeseburger and it was delicious.
Some folks are headed back today but JC and I will head back in the AM for the 660 mile trip. As soon as we get back there are shoots on the schedule to work at and attend.
I have not checked to see if scores have been posted from Rocky Mount - Old Hickory or Buckhorn. Hopefully we can get those up in a timely manner.
I am sitting out in the hallway of the lobby at the motel. My wireless isn't working in my room so I am banished to the hallway like Funky Winkerbean the "Hall Monitor".
I am posting the blurb early so that we can get tucked in to get up in the wee hours of the morning. Several mornings the fog was dense and they also did a controlled burn (that I caught in some of my pictures) that stunk to high heaven.
Oh - Jenna was shooting a new Blaser and she was really mashing the targets. I should have taken a picture of her and all the youngins playing cards in the clubhouse before her shootoff.
I hope everybody had a great weekend and hopefully a good start to the week. I have a lot of work waiting for me when I get back to the SD and I will be hunkered down all week (short week) thank goodness. Oh - I got to talk with Lou and he is still just as handsome as ever and also shot his singles with one of the best looking gals on the grounds - how did he rate that? He is always fun to talk to and I believe that he might just miss the NC crew a wee bit.
Lewis Wyatt tried to work a little mojo on JC stating that if JC didn't shoot good in Florida Lewis would give him a good whipping when he got back to North Carolina.
Ok - that is it and we hope to see some of you folks at a gun club in the near future! Hey Lew - Lou - DAN - Big Jim - Jeri - Andrew - Jef - Grandpa and Grandma.......
Weekly Blurb 3/14/2011
Hello to all and what a great weather weekend in North Carolina. Saturday was a bit windy and Sunday was almost perfect for shooting. There was only one registered shoot in NC this weekend and we will talk about that a little later.
The Southern Grand cranks up in the AM Monday and you can keep up with all the activity by going to http://www.rjstuart.com. You can see that scoreboard as the scores are posted and also there is a function that allows you to see what a person actually breaks in each event.
I am not sure of how many NC shooters will attend but it looks like quite a few will be shooting at the Silver Dollar GC. The last time we attended we shot like #### and Richard Colley sent me an email to cheer me up because he knew I was really struggling. Hopefully it will be much better this year and of course the crippler will be there also. We will be posting updates on a day to day basis so keep any eye on tarheeltrap.com.
The Gastonia GC shot Saturday and they had a good turnout. In fact they have had good turnouts at both shoots already this 2011 season. Jef Solomon won the singles, doubles and the HOA. Bill Howe had Jef on the ropes until the doubles and that is when Jef tied it up. Jef and Bill flipped for the HOA with Bill the winner.
Three shoots coming up this weekend in NC for the folks that won’t be traveling to the Southern Grand. Saturday the 19th – Old Hickory @ Bostic and also Old Hickory @ Rocky Mount. Sunday the 20th the Buckhorn GC will host a typical 300 target program. We hope everybody shoots well and I am expecting some scores so that I can get them posted.
I talked with former NC shooter Dave Daily today and he is currently in Greensboro Georgia. He has been on vacation for two weeks and spent a week at Disney with the grandchildren. He hasn’t shot a target since the Konne-Yaut Indian shoot in July 2010. Hopefully he will get some birds in before the South Carolina State Shoot in May.
I ran across “Fudd” Shaffer’s number Saturday and decided to give Fudd a call. How can I aptly describe Fudd only to say that he looks like a ruggedly handsome muscle bound mountain man from the hills of Kentucky? We met Fudd at the Konne-Yaut shoot in 2009 and we hit it off right away. He had back surgery and is on the mend and hopefully he will be ready to shoot at the Indian shoot in July. Fudd is from Indiana and travels with Jerry Bruns who is another character that you would just have to meet.
JC Nunn has been testing his guns lately and is ready for the Southern Grand. He bought a new John Deere tractor mower and he was getting his yard all mowed and trimmed before the trip. He is going to concentrate on the singles and the caps and will sit out the two doubles events on Thursday and Friday. He is saving himself for the caps events and if he gets hot the fellow just might win something. I would like to make a prediction and that is the Crippler will win something at the event.
I was looking at a thread on trapshooters.com about whether shooting was down in your area. I wanted to comment on the subject and I still might post a comment. One neat thing about this website is that you can look a year or two back and see how many people shot at the same club on a similar date. Let’s face it, we have lost some shooters to all types of issues. Some are gone because of finance, some are raising families, some have lost interest and found other hobbies. Whatever the reason you got to admit, trapshooting is alive and well in the State Of NC.
The calendar for NC shoots is posted and from what I can tell you can shoot about every weekend in NC this year. Now some clubs have cut back like Ft. Bragg and unfortunately Charlie Brown won’t hold any registered events this year. The truth of the matter is that clubs that hold registered shoots have to have good help to run the shoots. Running a shoot is almost like Church – 10% of the club is doing 90% of the work. If you are apprehensive about scoring don’t be. One of the things I enjoy the most about shooting is watching folks shoot. Scoring doubles for me is actually fun if you can believe that. So what I am saying is get involved and help out – what could it hurt.
We are about to enter the meat of the competition season and I can’t wait for it to begin. As many of you know I listen to some type of music when I shoot. One of the reasons is to cut down on all of the noise on and around the trap field. As you get older some folks lose some of their hearing and with plugs in people tend to talk real loud up and down the line. I am asking all shooters to please be considerate of the scorers and shooters on the line. If I can hear you listening to music I know that folks on the line with plugs or muffs can really hear you. Folks might say too bad so sad that is just the way it is. Well if you think like that then maybe your turn will be coming at an event when the chips are on the line. Just think about it – that is all I am asking…..
Ok – I hope everybody has a great start to the week and it looks like it is going to be about 75-80 and sunny in Odessa all week. I am just thankful I don’t live in Northern Japan – what a modern day tragedy. Hello – to Lew - Lou – Dan – Jackie & Terry.
Weekly Blurb 3/7/2011
Good morning and we hope everybody had a great Saturday because it was super wet here in Greensboro Sunday. The weather held off Saturday and both Coharie and Rockingham held events with dry conditions.
Coharie held their first shoot of the year and it looks like they had a great turnout with some new shooters attending. From the shoot report it looks like the wind was creating some issues for the shooters. Mac prevailed and managed to win the HOA even with and 87 in the singles event. I had talked about slipping down there but I was on call with the SD and didn't make it.
Rockingham hosted a club trap/skeet fun shoot saturday and 23 shooters showed up for the event. Past club Prez Roger "Hotshot" Haney won the event with a 46 on the trap event and a 48 on the skeet event. He proved that pound for pound he is the best around. Lewis Wyatt thought he had a foot up on the crippler JC Nunn and wound up tying him with an 81. We will be holding another one of these events in the near future.
Since we are talking about skeet lets talk Buckhorn. The BGC crew had a little cookout Saturday night and I was suprised to get a few pictures of a well known trapshooter shooting skeet. He was still using the "weight forward" stance when addressing the target and showed great form looking at the pictures. I would really like to know how many targets he broke just for the record.
One shoot this week and it will be held at the Gastonia Gun Club. They will be hosting a typical 300 target program and they had a great turnout for the last shoot. Hopefully the wind will settle down for this weekend and I hope they have great weather also. Phillip Putnam has worked really hard getting that trap program established and it looks like he is doing a great job.
Folks are plotting and planning for the upcoming Southern Grand at the Silver Dollar Gun Club in Odessa Florida. It looks like NC will have a good number of folks attending this year and we hope to see some of them in the winners circle. I hope the weather is great and we hope the gas isn't 5 bucks a gallon by then.
I am really looking forward to the shooting season and also to this time of year. The days will get longer and the weather will be getting warmer. Let's hope that the expense of trapshooting doesn't become to overwhelming for the average shooter. The word on the street is that shooting related supplies/shells are going up in May 15 per cent and that is going to be a killer.
We hope everybody has a great week and if anything important pops up we will put it on the front page. If you have any stories or pictures regarding trapshooing please feel free to send them my way. Hello to Lew - Lou - Dan - Terry - Jacki and Donna......
Late breaking news: As I was about to turn in I checked my private messages. There were three words - "PAIN IS COMING". It seems that someone read my post "Lordy Lordy Skeet Sure Is Sporty". Go to NC Trapshooting then NC club news to read the article and view the pictures.
If anything happens to me or if you see me walking with a limp do not approach me if the big guy is around because pain might be coming your way also......
Weekly Blurb 2/28/2011
Good morning to you and I hope you got to get out and enjoy a beautiful weather weekend. Folks are getting out practicing and also shooting some registered birds taking advantage of great conditions.
Gas is going up, lead is going up but it looks like folks are still traveling, flying, eating and shooting from what I can tell. I sure hope gas doesn’t hit 5 bucks a gallon because that might be a killer for a lot of activities.
Now normally I don’t start out with gloom and doom and sure will not continue from this point forward. I guess the most important thing a person can have is good health and for those of you that are sick we will remember you in our prayers.
Buckhorn hosted a shoot Sunday and all I know is that Gail page went from a lawn ornament last Saturday to the singles winner with a “STRONG” 99. We will get the scores up just as soon as we get with Mr. Wilson.
The Callan’s should be making it back across the earth after their trip to Arizona for the Spring Grand in Tuscon. I know those fellows had to bring something back home after all that good shooting they did. Jim will post a picture story when he gets back and gets settled after being gone for almost a week. I will let you know when it appears in the “Travelogue” section of the site.
I was AWOL from the shooting scene this weekend and here is the reason why. Yes I am married (going on 26 years) and my wife owns a state licensed childcare facility. We have raised generations of children for almost 30 years. We went to the Zoo Saturday with Zach (going on 7 June 6th) and little Nick just about to turn 3. The Zoo was great with one small issue a double stroller was rented. The boys would not have made it around the Zoo without it and it is the closest I have ever been to being crippled without getting hit by a car. Word to the wise – if you have two kids get two stroller’s.
2010 North Carolina State Handicap Champ Chase Reese will be getting his Eagle Scout award this Sunday the 6th at 3 in Kinston NC. He follows along in a list of Eagle Scout recipients that include Jeff Galloway and Chris Shoulars, both North Carolina “Singles Championship” winners. Good luck to Chase and hope to see him on the line real soon.
Two shoots in NC this week with a BIG50 at Old Hickory the 3rd and Mac cranks up his program this weekend at Coharie. Those White Hats are really taking things serious and the scores are showing it. Mac noted that both fields now have ERAD voice calls on them and that is great. I hope both locations have above average attendance and you just never know who is going to show up where.
If I missed anybody or anything please forgive and hopefully with warmer temps there will be more shooting and more tales to share. I do have pix to post from the Gastonia shoot and hope to get those up Monday night. Have a great Monday and hello to Lou – Lew – Dan and Terry.
Weekly Blurb 2/21/2011
Good morning and it has been a tough week for the NC trapshooting community. As many of you know Elmo Matkins passed away last week and was laid to rest today in Reidsville NC. It was a military funeral and that is first time I have ever been to one. The 21 gun salute and the folding of the flag was impressive. The minister was not only Elmo’s pastor he was also Elmo’s friend. Elmo might be gone but he will never be forgotten.
I was glad to see all the trap shooters that showed up for Elmo Matkin’s ceremony. Here is a brief rundown of all that attended – Berk Stephens and wife, Doc Spencer and Betty Dan, Scott Louise and Chris Shoulars, Lewis Wyatt and his wife, Donna and Darvin Cornett, JC Nunn, Terry and Jackie Roush, John Woolsey, John Kerns, Jim Bray and his wife, Steve Morgan and his wife, Don Krites and his son, JT Brewer, Hunter and Jeff Galloway and possibly more shooters attended.
There were three shoots in NC this weekend and we some info on a few of them. It looks like the Old Hickory boys stomped another mud hole in the Red Hats Saturday. They are up on us 2-0 and it will be hard digging out of that hole for sure. A quick rundown for Old Hickory showed Mike Pobiega as the singles champ, Philip Putnam got a ½ yard with the lone score in the 90’s and Bill Howe won the doubles with NC State President Billy Thigpen winning the HOA.
I won’t say that there was more wind at the Rock but only the weatherman knows for sure. Charlie Brown won the singles and then packed up his guns, John Miller got his second punch in two visits to the Rock with an 86 and then his wife Karole won the doubles with an 82. Last but not least John Miller took the HOA with a 250 x 300. We had homemade spaghetti with meatballs and “Elmo” cobbler made by Lee Ann. Bob Goodman sent me an email asking for the recipe because he said it might be the best cobbler he has ever eaten.
We had a couple of new young shooters from VA Saturday. Levi Bolan was 9 and his brother Hunter was maybe 12 or 13. Their mother brought them down to shoot and when I clipped the ERAD on Levi he looked at his brother and said “man this is different”. They shot well for the conditions and I think they had a good time also. I posted pictures of them on the thread for the shoot results.
I got news from the hill that I didn’t get the entire story from BamBam. According to Tom Shelley, BamBam started practice off rough with a 21 then a 19 and wound up strong with a pair of 24’s. Those guys have got a monster on their hands with Tom Pitts. I believe if my memory is good Tom whipped them all in doubles at the last “Wing Fling” in 2010. He got to study some Harlan Campbell tapes and now he is getting tough. I hope everybody gets out from under all that snow and gets some practice in real soon.
I just got an email with the “Elmo” peach cobbler recipe from Lee Ann. I posted the recipe on tarheeltrap.com just in case you have someone that cooks in your family. I am going to help my wife whip up a cherry cobbler maybe this week. I also sent the recipe to Bob Goodman for his wife to make him some Elmo peach cobbler.
That is about it for this week and I hope everybody gets out shooting real soon. March is full of NC shoots and don’t forget about the Southern Grand also. Hey Lew – Lou and Dan…….
Weekly Blurb 2/14/2011
Good morning and it was a great weekend for flying kites or loading shells. We made a trip to the Rock Saturday and the wind was whipping through the trees something fierce. I decided to leave the clean gun in the truck and try to get back out to shoot a little later this week.
I guess everybody that visits the site has been reading about Elmo Matkins. He has had a tough time the last several weeks and we hope that he is resting comfortably. He should be in a regular room and we might try to get up and see him sometime this week. He has had a ton of local visitors and even Don Kaufman came up to visit.
We have a father and son heading out West to shoot at the Spring Grand in Tuscon Arizona. I know that they are looking forward to the trip and we can’t wait for the story and pictures from their adventure. The Spring Grand dates are February 22-27 in case you want to see if these guys show up on the leader board.
There is a lot of shooting going on this week in North Carolina. Bragg hosts a BIG50 Wednesday night starting at 5 PM. We were going to take of work to come down and play thinking that it was a daytime shoot like the OH@Bostic club. Saturday both Rockingham and OH&Bostic will host a typical 300 target program with Buckhorn hosting a typical 300 target program Sunday the 20th.
From what we can tell the weather is going to be great for all the events with temps in the mid 60’s Saturday. That should give the Red Hats a good shot at tying up the score with the White Hats at Old Hickory in Bostic. Those White Hats must have popped open a can of spinach with all the high scores they broke that day. If you think about it Charlie Smith sort of reminds me of Popeye if he was wearing a sailor suit. I guess that would make Lillian Olive Oil now wouldn’t it.
My spy in Florida gave me a bit of info about the Patterson’s. Evidently Chuck had a convention or meeting of some sort in the Orlando area. They got together with our resident NC/FLA folks (you know who I am talking about) and did a little shopping etc.. Word is that they might be visiting NC sometime soon in the near future. I sure miss Sandi and Chuck and really hate that they had to move out to California.
I chatted a bit with George “BamBam” Sudderth on Facebook the other night. He said that he was going to do some shooting this weekend so that he could get ready for the upcoming season. He said something about Pitts being tight, Shelley being crazy and Morg being busy. I would imagine that the Watauga crew is planning for some good shoots this spring. Hopefully I can get up more than just for the Chicken Wing Fling.
Lane took a trip up to Rockingham today and shot a little skeet. Evidently there was more laughing than good shooting from what I heard. They had quite a crew up at the trap range shooting today including Charlie Rinehart and Roland from up in VA. Gary, Norman, JT, Glenn and Jim Haughton all got hooked into moving targets in lieu of the upcoming shoot the 19th.
The Rock is hosting a non-registered shoot the 5th of March that will offer 25 skeet, 25 doubles skeet, 25 16 yd trap and 25 23 yard trap. It should be an interesting day for all to enjoy and I can’t wait to see who the eventual winner will be. It has been years since I have shot a round of skeet and I believe the last time I did it was on the old skeet field at the Rock.
Also, mark your calendars for the 5th of April. The Rock will be hosting a 500 target singles marathon to give folks a chance to get some singles in. Right now we have about 20 folks signed up to shoot some or the entire program. It is very rare you get to shoot 500 singles targets in one day. They use to have a 500 target marathon in Pinehurst NC and I believe Don Sutton won it one year. It might have been offered during the Annie Oakley shoot if I am not sadly mistaken.
I did get a note from Don “Pappy” Sutton the other day and he is excited about some medical procedures that might help him escape some of the pain he endures with his back. We loaned him a Beretta AL-391 last year and got him back to hurling lead in the air. Evidently the 391 is a little more forgiving with recoil and he is able to shoot without getting pounded. I would sure like to see him standing beside me on the line with JC – Hunter – Cliff Dowdy – now those are some old-timers.
I haven’t been in the chatroom like I should lately. Been hanging out on Facebook too much and neglecting the chatroom folks. Make a note – 9PM – we will try to get in about that time to see what is shaking. I noticed that John Woolsey – Ronnie Manuel – Richard Colley and a few others have slipped in and out without being detected. Before you know it the time is going to change and folks won’t be stuck in the house.
I believe I am about typed out for the evening and we will be working on next weeks blurb come Monday. I still think I will crank up “Hotshot of the Week” award and keep a running list of the real performer of the weekend. I will need some help in nominating these folks. Have a great Monday and a great week and we will keep you posted on Elmo’s progress. Hey Lew and Lou and Dan………….
Weekly Blurb 2/7/2011
Good morning and it looks like an interesting weather week for North Carolina. Congrats to the Packers for an impressive win against the Pittsburgh Steelers. With that out of the way we have one shoot this weekend and it will be held at the Gastonia GC.
Ft. Bragg is hosting a BIG50 shoot the 16th and if the weather is good we might haul the tailgunner down for some sandhill clays. Next in line we have the shoots at the Rock and OH R&PC@Bostic the 19th. The White Hats broke a shoe off on us the last time and I might have to shoot to get in on the action. Last but not least the Buckhorn crew will shoot the 20th to end up the month of February.
Elmo is back at home and resting and the doc said that if he was still having issues he would have to be admitted back to the hospital. Please take a moment to pray for Elmo and his family. If you have ever taken care of a loved one you know how it is.
The Rock hosted a Lewis Class shoot this Saturday and it looked like we were going to get rained out. It was cool and cloudy but the wind wasn’t blowing too awful much. We had 6 shooters step to the line and it was neck and neck up till the last trap. Tommy Brown took the top Lewis with Ronnie Manuel taking the next spot..
We have some NC shooters out and about and our mystery traveler and comedian Lewis Wyatt got back to NC yesterday. He took a whirlwind trip to the Florida Keys and back up to shoot at the Dixie Grand. I gave him a call once and awhile and we are sure glad he got to shoot with Jeff and Hunter in the sunshine state.
I don’t know if you have checked shot prices but Lane had to pay 45 bucks a bag for shot last week. With premium shells selling for almost 10 bucks a box the Wally World Federals are looking better every day. I got a contact for Rio shells but the fellow hasn’t responded to my emails. If anyone hears of any shell deals please email me!
I know folks are getting cabin fever and with the uncertain weather folks are looking forward to Spring. Of course the Southern Grand is about a month away and that trip always brings a smile to my face. I am looking forward to seeing a person that snuck down there to live named Lou.
JC is doing great and we visited him the other day and took him a few AL-2 Beretta parts. He is getting all of his guns ready for the season and has been shooting a newer Al-391. He rode up Saturday to the club and declined on getting out in the wet and cold. He said that at his age he couldn’t afford getting sick. Mark it on your calendar and don’t forget that J-Bird turns 88 the 13th of July.
I haven’t heard a peep out of PA transplant Dan Johnson. He is laying down in the weeds plotting and planning a return to competition trapshooting. He has a lot of things to get done like find a place to live and get the family down to NC. One great thing is that I will have my camera ready to take a picture of his lovely wife Mary. She really doesn’t like for me to take pictures of her. Time will tell and we will see when Dan “The Man” steps back out on the line in NC.
Dave Daily should be back from his 40th wedding anniversary in the Dominican Republic. He has been shooting at the club in Myrtle Grove and I might plan a weekend trip to shoot in one of their BIG50 shoots this year. I will try to get a schedule of shoots and post it on the site.
This wasn’t a particularly news producing weekend and we will have to work a little harder for the next edition of the blurb. It looks like Gary Hicks is really shooting good according to the shoot report from the Old Hickory club. I imagine they are getting “tuned up” for the Hat to Hat competition the 19th.
Have a great Monday and if we have any breaking time sensitive news. We might break down and post a mid-week blurb if something really pops up. Want to give a shout out to Lew, Lou and Bign – have a good one…….
Weekly Blurb 1/31/2011
Good morning and I hope you had a great weekend whether you got to the gun club or not. We have quite a few things to talk about in this weekly blurb so hold onto your shooting hat.
Elmo Matkins was admitted to the hospital last Monday and will be released hopefully in the morning. He wasn’t eating and anything he took in was not staying down. The docs decided to adjust his medications and keep an eye on him. Hopefully he will be back in the mix real soon and I know he had plenty of visitors including Lane Murray, Shoulars, Ron Anderson and Ronnie Manuel.
Also on the mend is Andrew Carroll from the Buckhorn GC. He had surgery on his right hand to help restore some feelings to his hand and fingers. Evidently snapping all those beanie-weanie cans has had an affect on his trigger finger and hand. He has been advised to start using his hand immediately and hopefully he will be back to shooting really soon.
The Buckhorn crew hosted a Duke University “Ducks Unlimited” event Friday at the club. The weather could have been a little warmer and the sun a little brighter. All in all the 48 guys and 2 gals that attended had a great time. They shot 13 squads worth of targets and were assisted by Ike, Chuck & Auman Woody, Bobby, Tim and Big Jim.
It looks like the Buckhorn crew is also attending a Hurricane Hockey game this upcoming weekend and I believe there are 10 or 12 couples attending the game. Someone has some strings because they will have a “suite” for the game. That is a great way to watch the game for sure and I hope they have enough finger food to feed the Bear Jimmy Wilson. Hopefully I will have some info to report from that gathering of the Buckhorn faithful.
Upcoming shooting events include a BIG50 in White Hat land and a new Lewis Class for the folks in Red Hat land. The folks at Old Hickory@Bostic will host a BIG50 on the Thursday the 3rd of February. The folks at the Rockingham Gun Club will be testing out a new format for their Lewis Class shoot this Saturday the 5th of February. The new format is 25 from the 16, 20, 22 and 25 from your ATA yardage. We will probably keep the Lewis Class payouts the same but we are looking at some other options at a later shoot. Then Gastonia the 12th, the Rock and Old Hickory@Bostic will have a rematch the 19th with Buckhorn GC ending out the month on the 20th. It won’t be long before March will be upon us and I can’t wait.
The Dixie Grand is over and man what a time NC shooters had in the Sunshine State. Charlie Brown, Tom Wilkinson, Larry High, Billy Thigpen, Bill Howe, Jeff & Hunter Galloway, Lewis Wyatt, the McKinney crew, the Roush’s and if I missed anybody please forgive me. I would take time to name all of the winners but that would be a lot of typing. We tried to give the highlights from the Dixie on a day to day basis. Let’s just say that NC was well represented at this prestigious ATA event. I know that folks are planning right now to attend the Southern Grand in March.
I would like to get one thing straight and that is about the rumor that I didn’t go to the Dixie because I attended a figure skating event. I had not planned to attend the Dixie and just happened to get some “FREE” tickets to attend the early session on Saturday morning. Even our mystery traveler called me this afternoon telling me that he and the wife were viewing the men’s finals from the Greensboro Coliseum and to slip my hand up and wave so that they could see me. As he was hanging up the phone he was laughing for some unknown reason.
We had some visitors at the Rock Saturday. Pete Pearce, North Davis and Doug Henderson showed up for a little practice and it was great to hear that Pete and Davis are going to start shooting again. From what I hear Pete ordered 3 ERADS and Davis was murdering targets from the 16 and the 27 yard line. Doug Henderson is the DA for Guilford County and is a sporting clays shooter for all practical purposes. I hope to actually get out and shoot some sporting clays with Mr. Henderson in the very near future.
We went to the Rock Sunday to shoot a little practice. I wore shorts and it was perfect weather for them. I stepped to line and mashed 25 singles and it was downhill from there. Danny Lloyd, Tommy Brown, JC Nunn, Glenn “Sky King” Brewer, Doc Gonzalez, Doug Starr, Lane Murray, Tom Cox and there were others spreading the lead.
I hope everybody has a great week and if you know of any good deals on shotgun shells please let me know. With shot at 38 bucks a bag this is sure getting to be a pricey sport. If you have any funny dirt to dish just email me at freddydacrusher@hotmail.com. Hey Lew and Lou see you in March……
Weekly Blurb 1/24/2011
Greetings to you on this chilly morning in the Piedmont Plateau of North Carolina. This wasn’t a big shooting weekend in North Carolina but folks were still out practicing in the cold this weekend. I guess the biggest news this weekend was the birth of Kelsey Galloway. She came into the world Saturday night at 6 pounds 1 ounce and 19 inches long. She is the daughter of Andy and Traci Galloway and of course Hunter Galloway’s first granddaughter.
Our mystery traveler checked in from Venice Florida today and is just a few days from getting to the Dixie Grand. They spent some time in the Keys and said the alligators were everywhere trying to get warm and out of the cooler water. The temps in the Keys approached the low 80’s and our mystery traveler is already working on his farmers tan.
Called Dave Daily tonight and he had just gotten on the ground in Indianapolis. He said there was six inches of snow on the ground and about 10 degrees. I know he is a happy man with the Steelers winning their AFC division playoff. I would imagine Uncle Rick is jumping for joy also in Pittsburgh.
JC has been slipping out to the Rock and tuning in the old AL-391 I sold him about the time I bought the Kolar in 2006. He has been trying to get parts for his AL-2 and I found two items that he has been looking for last week. He was dug in this weekend looking at the games yesterday and waiting on warmer weather.
I have some news from the hills that I would like to share with you. It gets lonely up on the hill and I asked one of the hill people for some hearsay and here it is:
Hearsay from the Mountains - Going to sum it up in one word. BURRRRR!!!!!!!
Weather to day. Its a sunny 18 degrees outside today, snow is not falling its blowing by with a 45 mph tail wind, and that wind is kicking the wind chill down around -8 degrees. And this is a good day. I believe that you could count the days above freezing on one hand since Thanksgiving. The club, well I haven't seen the club since the second week in November. We had to call off the January meeting, because we couldn't reach it for snow. So every-things a norm for the mountains.
Spoke to Morg the other nite on the phone, I went by Christmas and that was the last time I saw him. He is still chained to the leg of that Jeweler’s bench making an honest dollar, but he has visions of shooting more in 2011. I think he still has Ms Kitty setting in the safe hidden away. George (Bam Bam) is spending his winter setting at the reloading bench and at the computer working on his Clinic material for the up and coming year. It is my understanding that Shelley goes by routinely for a friendly match of trap shooting on the wall chart. Funny thing is George still beats him on the wall chart, figure that. Shelley has just gotten back from his yearly coyote feeding frenzy in Alabama. Last time I saw him, he was hosting a new beard. He had read where you could ugly a deer too death, well this drove his brother-in-law too buying shoot houses because he was tearing them up so badly. Me, well I'm getting use to Grand Paw, have my first grandson Oran he got here the week before Thanksgiving. So maybe if father time looks on us kindly I can turn him into one of those range rats running around.
That's about it for the mountains, I understand this snow is going to leave about mid March. By that time we should have shells loaded up for a little practice. Just in time for The Dogwood, Spring, Summer, Warmth, Green Grass, Orange Targets, O! sorry a little cabin fever. That's about it, the Cartel is hunkered down waiting for spring thaw.
Thank you Tom Pitts for a little hearsay from off the hill. Speaking of hearsay I hear that Lou Carter is shooting a little bit and might make it a day to the Dixie. Seems like his time is occupied by working at a sporting clays range and that could be interesting.
The Dixie starts this week at the Silver Dollar trap club in Odessa Florida. I know that some NC folks are there and others plan to be there. So by the time the blurb hits next Monday all the fun will be over and we will see how our North Carolina brethren fared.
February is right around the corner with registered shooting around the state. We had a question about league shooting in NC and I wish someone would startup something like that or even maybe give it a go. I know Maryland has league shoots all through winter and have some huge payouts. It is all non-registered so that you don’t kill your averages during the winter.
Rockingham might try a new format for the Lewis Class shoots and here it is. 25 from the 16 – 25 from the 20 – 25 from the 22 and 25 from your ATA card. We would have the same Lewis style payouts and I thing it would be pretty interesting!
Ok – it is about bedtime for me and it will be a super busy week for me for sure. We hope your team won this weekend and cannot wait until the Superbowl February 6th. If you would like the link to the chatroom just email me at freddydacrusher@hotmail.com and we will send you the link.
One last comment before I go. I have been chatting with Sandy Mitchell about every night about the good old days of trapshooting in NC. If you knew Sandy you would remember him during the Pinehurst days and all the folks back then. It has been great catching up so get in the room and say hello to Sandy if you can. Take care and travel safe!
Weekly Blurb 1/17/2011
We hope you had a good weekend and it was a great weather weekend for our area anyway. Two good days of shooting weather and we have some reports on the two registered events in the state.
We have a mystery traveler that I talked to this week. He and his lovely wife are tooling around Florida and will drop back by the Silver Dollar GC for the last few days of the Dixie Grand. We won’t give his name because you just never know who is reading the blurb that might have bad intentions.
This was a big football weekend and we checked in on former NC resident Dave Daily at his home in Myrtle Beach. I called him and asked if folks from Pittsburgh new what a fumble was? Evidently he had a crew of Pittsburgh transplants at his house for a football gathering. We will probably get to shoot with him at the South Carolina State Shoot in May.
We have been adding things to the website when we find them and I have been digging through my archives for old shoot reports. Unfortunately we don’t have all of the articles I have written going back to 2002. I have also been moving interesting things that I find on Trapshooters.com to the Lodge area.
One of my goals has been to collect information on all of our Hall Of Fame inductees including the information that was presented at the ceremony and also pictures of the event and shooter. If you happen to have any of the old HOF programs I would like a copy or a scanned image of the info.
The chat room is up and running and it has been hit and miss here lately. I have opened it up to not require a valid email address and we will see how that goes. Folks have had issues logging in and getting a valid password to use the room. Also, if you have tried to register on the TarHeelTrap website and can’t get logged in please let me know ASAP. Use freddydacrusher@hotmail.com to contact me – Thanks!
I have been tempted to start the “Hotshot of the Week” back up and I think it would be a good thing. For the folks that continue to shoot and spend their money there ought to be some type of recognition for their efforts. If you would like to nominate someone for the weekly “Hotshot of the Week” designation, just drop me an email with your choice and tell me why you think they should be the weekly Hotshot..
Old Hickory Rifle & Pistol Club held a registered shoot this weekend and from the looks of the scores they had some good weather. Henry McGinnis won the singles, Chris Ricketson won the caps and Jef Solomon won the doubles. Chris Ricketson also won the HOA with a 283x300 for the daily target program.
The Rockingham Gun Club also held a registered shoot with Chris Shoulars winning the singles after a shootoff with Tommy Brown, John Miller won the handicap with Tommy Brown winning the doubles and the HOA. We had enough handicap shooters for a punch and Mr. Miller got a ½ yard punch for his great shooting.
I called Charlie Smith Saturday night and asked him about a lighthearted competition between the two clubs involving the singles event on Saturday. It would be a total score of the 5 shooters he chose and of course 5 shooters from our site. He agreed and by the time I called him Saturday he changed the format to include another 5 shooters for a total of 10 competitors. So in the end we pitted his top ten against our top ten and we came out 10 birds short of a win. He has agreed to give us a chance to tie it up in February and only time and targets will tell if the Red Hats at the Rock can outgun the White Hats at Old Hickory.
It looks like a break in registered shoots for the next few weekends with OH@Bostic hosting the 1st shoot of February the 3rd with a BIG50. If you have never been to Gastonia it is a neat place to shoot and sort of reminds me of West Penn Sportsman near Delmont PA. They shoot the 12th with Rockingham and Old Hickory@Bostic the 19th and bringing up the rear last bust not least Buckhorn the 20th.
I hope you have a great Monday and it looks like cool weather most of the week with high temps this weekend in the high 30’s. I have the day off and might slip up to the Rock for a little practice. Hey Lew and Lou……..
Weekly Blurb 1/10/2011
Weather seems to be the main focus of the news media lately and by the time you read this Monday morning precipitation might be falling in your area. With the predictions of snow and then ice it might be a miserable start to the week.
Rockingham Gun Club hosted a non-registered shoot Saturday and we had 10 shooters step to the line. With temps in the 30’s and wind in the 20’s it was a little sporty. There were a few times that when I put the gun up to call for the target, two lost targets were still in the air. Lane Murray bested all shooters with a 46/43 with Lewis Wyatt hitting the next Lewis 18 targets shy of the top score. RCGC will host their first registered shoot of the New Year the 15th. We hope that you can join us for some winter shooting fun. The weather forecast is calling for low 40’s and partly sunny.
Jimmy Wilson called me earlier in the week and advised me that Russell and Jennifer Nuti would be stopping by Buckhorn for a visit. I called JC and we worked out a little road trip to visit the Nuti’s and to see Dan “The Man” Johnson. When we got there Jennifer and Russell were working with Jennifer’s sister showing her how to shoot trap. They both looked great and I took some pictures of Russell shooting alone and with Dan Johnson.
I took a look at the last time Russell shot a registered target and it was in August 2006 at the Dixie Trap Club. Jennifer registered her last targets in 2007 I guess at the Alabama State Shoot. Dan registered his last targets at the Bedford County Sportsmen’s Club in June 2007. Dan shot a hodge podge round to get used to a loner smokepole today and then took Russell out for a pretend shootoff round. Dan only missed one and that isn’t too shabby for a shooter that hasn’t registered a target since 6/24/2007.
I took some pictures of everybody today and will try to get them posted for your viewing pleasure. I also took a picture of the bag of sand Gail Page won for the 93 she broke last weekend. Dan asked Bobby if he wanted to take her trophy home and he acted like he didn’t want any part of it.
I want to share a little story with you to keep you from making the same mistake a local shooter made this week. Evidently this person had a problem bird that kept sitting on his SUV mirror and would relieve itself on the side of his vehicle. If the window was rolled down a little bit the bird would sit on the window and proceed to rain down chocolate chip streaks on his seats. Alas the shooter had a brilliant idea that involved his trusty BB Gun. The result was a shattered window and a bird that returned to the side mirror confused as to where the window was. “Sticky Note” when in doubt do not get the BB gun out.
The “TarHeelTrap” chatroom is back up and running and we have sent out invitations to about 40 people. The following folks have checked in since the new room went up. They include Richard Colley in Tennessee, Hap in Arizona, Tommy Brown, Lane Murray, Jimmy Wilson, Jeff Hashbarger in Tennessee, Marty Hill, AwMan Woody, Sandy Mitchell in Texas, Terry Jordan in Canada, Tom Cox and last but not least Ronnie Manuel. If Dan reads this please get me your email addy and we will send you the link. If you have cabin fever just drop me an email at freddydacrusher@hotmail.com and we will email you the link. We talk about all types of stuff but it is a great way to keep up with each other and to discuss elements of our sport.
I know this is sore subject for some and for others not too much. This is for the release trigger shooters out there. I just purchased some “Release” trigger decals that can be placed on your stock. I have large ones and small ones and they are .50 cents each. That is exactly what I paid for them and hope to get one on my Kolar this week. I hope the decal stays on my gun as long my “Release Sticker” did. I don’t want to get these to folks and they not adhere to the gun. If you want to order your own the fellows address is as follows – Vernon Shaffer – 1860 Rosstown Road – Lewisberry PA 17339. He charges .50 cents a piece for the large or the small. I will take some pictures and put them under the Buy Or Sell thread in the The Lodge. His thread is on Trapshooters.com in case you want to check it out.
Just recently I found a thread regarding a portable gun rack for 3 or four guns. Most of you know that Roger Bynum built me a handmade gun rack that holds 4 guns. I also had Lane Murray pick me up an aluminum Winchester gun rack that holds three guns. Now at the big shoots we can rest 7 guns under the big top. Anyway, I emailed Jeff Galloway and also Hunter Galloway the info on the gun rack but forgot to include the .pdf document. I did however explain that the info was found on ts.com and went on about my business. The next day I get an email for Jeff and it is a one liner that says “What the H*** Freddy”?
When I read that all I thought was that I had sent an email without the .pdf and resent the email to both Jeff and Hunter. Then I hear the rest of the story and in graphic details. When the email was sent to Hunter his wife Debbie read the message and since no attached document was sent she did the next best thing. She typed into her browser address bar the following – ts.com and then all heck broke loose. Guess what – ts.com which was my abbreviation for trapshooters.com turns out to be a website for you guessed it “transsexuals”.
Yep there Mrs. Galloway was knee deep in a graphic cornucopia of all types of odd images on her 21” flat panel display. She immediately began to think of me in a “bad” way and maybe thinking that I had a dark side that she somehow had missed along the way. And that her trapshooting son had been traveling with me since 2003 shooting around the Southeast and also to the Dixie Grand with Debbie, Jeff and Hunter. When Hunter called me to see why I had sent him a link to an odd website I had to do some serious explaining. So – please for God’s sake please spell trapshooters.com out when sending it to your trapshooting friends.
Here is the report for the top 5 pictures viewed on my Photobucket account as of January 8th. Out of the top 5 photos 4 of them are of Pat Ireland. At # 5 Pat’s picture at the Silver Dollar on the golf cart in his pink shirt. At #4 is the picture of Pat, Jim Mitchell and John Hiter on the front porch of the old NC Homegrounds clubhouse. At #3 is the picture of Pat shooting at the Southern Grand on the club side from the 27 yard line. At #2 is the picture of Terry Dean’s lean and mean shooting machine squad at the Southern Zone at the NC Homegrounds. At #1 is the picture of Ralph Harrelson, Jim Dodson, Pat Ireland and John Hiter on the front porch of the old NC Homegrounds office/clubhouse. These 5 pictures total views exceeds 5000 picture views on the internet.
That is about it for now and we hope you have a great week. If you get trapped in the house this week it might be a good time to clean up the shop, load some shells, clean some guns or maybe even see what the wife needs done around the house. Also I would like to thank Jef Solomon for the kind words regarding the return of the “blurb”. Jeff is an air traffic controller I think at the Charlotte Mecklenburg airport and I thought I had a high stress job. I posted the pix I took today and you can find them by going to www.nctrap.com and look for Fred Redmon’s pictures. The folder name is BGC Nuti 1/9/2011. Hey Lou and Lew……….
The Blurb Is Back 1/6/2011
Hello everybody remember me? I got to check the last time I posted one of my “blurbs” and it has been about 7 months. I know that some of you folks got a kick out of reading my ramblings and I guess I missed it to a certain extent. I am looking to the future and I really feel like I can post something of interest at least once a week unless there is some breaking news.
Back when I was shooting all the time and traveling I had a bunch to write about. Then I cut back quite a bit and also spend a lot of Saturday’s scoring at the Rockingham Gun Club for their monthly shoots. The biggest thing that happened is that I have struggled the last two years shooting decent scores. When you go from AA25 A to C20B it sort of takes the wind out of your sails. But that in itself is no excuse to give up or quit trying or break out the crying towel.
Before I get to yakkin about a lot of stuff here are a few things I did to get my shooting turned around a little bit. One thing I did was visit the eye doctor and got my 1st prescription for distance at the ripe age of 55. I should have had my eyes checked two years ago. I also got to looking at some factors that might have got my shooting off track. I determined that about the time I added extended posts to my comb my troubles began. I decided to take those out prior to my trip to the Indian shoot in July and my my it made quite a difference. Now, am I back on track who knows but one thing I do know is that I am looking forward to shooting this year and that is a good feeling.
Enough about me but I just wanted you to get a feel of what has been going on with me. Now, onto other matters at hand and some not so pleasant. I know that we all were saddened by the loss of Pat Ireland and none more than me. Pat was one of the few folks that shot at and loved the Pinehurst GC. I would imagine that a white balloon will be released in his honor at the 2011 NC State Trapshoot.
JC Nunn is alive and well and will turn 88 this July. He is still working 2 days a week at the auto auction and we try to call him every day to see how he is doing. We are planning to travel to the Grand this August Lord willing and his health is good. J. D. Holland isn’t doing too well the last time we heard and lost his wife last year. His vision is poor and he has sold all of his shells and components. We are going to try to call him to see how he is doing and might try to get him out to the club so he can get out of the house. Cliff Dowdy is back to shooting some and is still buying high dollar trap guns just like always.
We talked to Dave Daily and is busy and living in Myrtle Beach. He confirmed that the Myrtle Grove Gun Club is holding monthly shoots and the dates are available on their website. He will be celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary and will be traveling to the Dominican Republic for his vacation. Normally he goes to Cancun but is a little wary of all the drug cartel junk going on in and around Mexico.
As many of you know Dan Johnson is back in North Carolina and will be working in the Sanford area. He is working on figuring out where he wants to live before he brings the family down from Pennsylvania. We are going to try to get him a gun to shoot so that he can keep Jimmy busy and help Jimmy hone his shooting skills. Dan did appear and scored at the January 2nd shoot at Buckhorn.
Hunter Galloway is now the official ATA Secretary and will be serving in that capacity for however long his term is. That is quite an honor and I know he will serve the ATA and all trapshooters well. Now we have Terry Roush and Hunter serving the ATA and both from the Tar Heel state. Jeff is still in school studying gunsmithing and living on the family farm in Caswell County. He is also working part time at the airfield in Chapel Hill. Jeff has already been practicing for the Dixie Grand and shot 3 afternoons this week at the Rock.
Trapshooting dates for 2011 have been posted with a few clubs still to report. It doesn’t look like there are any less trapshoots in NC with the exception of the Ft. Bragg club. I know they will be hosting a reduced schedule and we hope to get down there to shoot this year. Rockingham will be hosting a 500 bird singles marathon in early April so please mark your calendars.
Has anybody heard anything out of “Sweet” Lou down in Florida? Maybe I will drop him an email or give him a call to see how he has been doing. Dan moved back and you never know maybe Lou will come see us maybe for the NC State Shoot. Speaking of another Lew and we are speaking of Lewis Wyatt. Last year Lewis planned to attend the Grand with his son and he never made it. He was wrecked by a lady that sideswiped his motor home on his way to pick up his son. Lewis was ok and his motor home was totaled and he has purchased another similar vehicle. I had the pleasure of watching Lewis assist his grandson shoot a BB gun at stationary targets at the Rockingham Gun Club. The entire scene was heartwarming and I have pictures to prove it.
I had the pleasure of talking to Jim Daughtridge the other day. He is doing well and has been playing a lot of golf and has shot very little. We encouraged him to come on back out and shoot with us in 2011 and he stated that he might get back in the shooting scene as soon as it warms up.
Pete McCall is shooting again according to info on trapshooters.com. It looks like he is shooting with one eye and evidently broke a 50 straight in an event. He has had some vision issues for quite some time and it has really curtailed his shooting. We wish him the best and we hope he will head to NC in 2011.
That is about it for my return back to the blurb. My hope is to post a blurb every Sunday night for your reading pleasure on Monday morning. Some may be lengthy and some might be short you will just never know. With gas predicted to go as high as 5 bucks a gallon it remains to be seen just how much shooting folks will continue to do. For those of you that don’t shoot as much we will try to keep you up to date on what is happening in North Carolina.
Since I posted on Thursday night I ought to have enough juicy info to post by Sunday night. According to Jimmy Wilson the Nuti’s are going to drop by the club for a visit and Dan will be there also.
Have a great Friday and weekend and we hope it doesn’t snow 6 inches Tuesday…..