Clay Target Nation Nov 2023

NOVEMBER 2023
RED: PANTONE DS 78-1 C BLUE: PANTONE DS 217-1 C GRAY: PANTONE DS 325-2 C
WORLD SHOOT COVERAGE

AN INSIDE LOOK
PLUS:
u SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL
u MINI WORLD
u JUNIOR WORLD
u NSSA HALL OF FAME
NOVEMBER 2023 CONTENTS VOLUME 8 / NUMBER 11
FEATURES
28 NSSA EVENT COVERAGE: MINI
WORLD SKEET CHAMPIONSHIPS
By Nathan Boyd
32 NSSA EVENT COVERAGE: JUNIOR

By Nathan Boyd
36 NSSA EVENT COVERAGE:

36
By Nathan Boyd
44 WORLD SHOOT PHOTO GALLERY

By Lefty Ray Chapa
48 53RD ANNUAL NSSA

HALL OF FAME BANQUET
By CTN Staff
52 NSCA EVENT COVERAGE:

SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL
By Jacob Cameron
64 70
58 COLD-WEATHER SHOOTING GEAR
By Tim Le Cras
64 THE EVOLUTION OF VISION IN

SPORTING CLAYS
By Gil, Vicki and Brian Ash
DEPARTMENTS 70 TOURNAMENT AWARENESS,

ACTION AND INTENT
8 FROM THE NSSA-NSCA 24 WHAT’S YOUR CALL? By Bill Elliott
News from the association By NSSA Rules and
Classification Committee OCTOBER 2023
14 FROM THE NSCA

News from the NSCA 25 HEY, WHAT’S THAT GUN? RED: PANTONE DS 78-1 C BLUE: PANTONE DS 217-1 C GRAY: PANTONE DS 325-2 C
16 FROM THE NSSA 26 PHOTO OF THE MONTH

CLAY TARGET NATION NOVEMBER 2023
Updates and info from the NSSA By Lefty Ray Chapa

WORLD SHOOT COVERAGE
AN INSIDE LOOK
20 TRAINING TIPS: SKEET 76 SKEET WRAP-UPS PLUS:
u SOUTH-CENTRAL REGIONAL
By John Shima Contributed by NSSA members

u MINI WORLD
u JUNIOR WORLD
u NSSA HALL OF FAME
CTN1123 Cover.indd 1 10/23/23 10:16 AM
22 TRAINING TIPS: SPORTING CLAYS 96 HOW BAD IS IT? COVER PHOTO

By Gil, Vicki and Brian Ash Brent Edwards and Melissa Barringer, World
Skeet Championships HOA and Lady HOA
Photo by Lefty Ray Chapa
2 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

EDITORIAL & CREATIVE
RED: PANTONE DS 78-1 C BLUE: PANTONE DS 217-1 C GRAY: PANTONE DS 325-2 C
PUBLISHER AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR w SHERRY G. KERR

EDITOR IN CHIEF w HILARY DYER
ART DIRECTOR wMARK KINGSBURY
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER w KRIS HAMPTON
KHAMPTON@NSSA-NSCA.COM w (210) 771-2051
COLE PUBLISHING ADMINISTRATION

PRESIDENT, COLE PUBLISHING w ROBERT KENDALL
PRESIDENT, GRAND VIEW OUTDOORS w DERRICK NAWROCKI
NSSA-NSCA ADMINISTRATION
NSSA-NSCA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR w MICHAEL HAMPTON, JR.
NSSA DIRECTOR w NATHAN BOYD
NSSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT w STEPHEN R. MALCOLM
VICE PRESIDENT w TOM PAVLACK
SECRETARY/TREASURER w CLARK HARTNESS
PAST PRESIDENT w CHRISTOPHER L. NALER
JEFF VENTRY w ALESSANDRO VITALE w AL MAGYAR
STEVE JOHNSTONE w JOSEPH SCANDARIATO
FRANK CALLAHAN w BILLY D. WILLIAMS
BRAD MCRAE w KATIE HUNT
NSCA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

CHAIR w TIMOTHY G. MILES
FIRST VICE CHAIR w MARK BALTAZAR
SECOND VICE CHAIR w JOHN CALANDRO III
SECRETARY w KEVIN SMITH
PARLIAMENTARIAN w SAMMY MCFADDIN
PAST CHAIRMAN w BRETT SEIBERT
BRAD HOPKINS w ANTHONY MATARESE JR. w MARY JO BIRKA
TERRY KRIZ w JOSEPH FASULO
DAVID KELLEY w DAN LAVERGNE w BERT STELLY
CHRIS HIGGINS
CLAY TARGET NATION (ISSN 0037-6140 Volume 8 Issue 11),

the official publication of National Skeet Shooting Association
(NSSA) and National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA), is
published monthly by the National Skeet Shooting Association,
5931 Roft Road, San Antonio, TX 78253-9261. Periodicals
Postage Paid at San Antonio, TX and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:

CLAY TARGET NATION
NATIONAL SKEET SHOOTING ASSOCIATION
5931 Roft Road, San Antonio, TX 78253-9261.
EDITORIAL: All comments, questions and submissions can

be emailed to ctn@nssa-nsca.com. No responsibility will be
assumed for unsolicited materials. Clay Target Nation is a reg-
istered trademark of NSSA-NSCA. Contents copyright ©2023
by NSSA-NSCA. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or
part is prohibited unless expressly authorized by publisher.
MEMBER/SUBSCRIBER SERVICES:
PHONE: 210-688-3371 w FAX: 210-688-3014
TOLL-FREE: 800-877-5338

NATIONAL SKEET SHOOTING ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL SPORTING CLAYS ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL SHOOTING COMPLEX
MAIN NUMBER: 210-688-3371 w 800-877-5338
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
MICHAEL HAMPTON, JR.
EXT. 299 w MHAMPTON@NSSA-NSCA.COM
NSSA-NSCA
NATHAN BOYD w NSSA DIRECTOR
EXT. 260 w NBOYD@NSSA-NSCA.COM
NICKI BOWERS w NSCA ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
EXT. 255 w NBOWERS@NSSA-NSCA.COM
AMBER SCHWARZ w NSSA-NSCA OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
EXT. 241 w ASCHWARZ@NSSA-NSCA.COM
NSSA-NSCA MEMBER AND CLUB ADMINISTRATORS

STEPHANIE HAGA
EXT. 962 w SHAGA@NSSA-NSCA.COM
KYME GRACIA
EXT. 961 w KGRACIA@NSSA-NSCA.COM
LORI BAUCHMAN
EXT. 961 w LBAUCHMAN@NSSA-NSCA.COM
AUDREY SMITH
EXT. 961 w ASMITH@NSSA-NSCA.COM
MARKETING/COMMUNICATIONS
SHERRY KERR w DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
EXT. 230 w SKERR@NSSA-NSCA.COM
CARA WOODARD w EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
CWOODARD@NSSA-NSCA.COM
KALEIGH LAWSON w SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
KLAWSON@NSSA-NSCA.COM
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
NORMA MILLER w RECEPTIONIST
EXT. 200 w NMILLER@NSSA-NSCA.COM
FINANCE/HUMAN RESOURCES
MISTY THOMASTON w FINANCE DIRECTOR w EXT. 213
MTHOMASTON@NSSA-NSCA.COM
SHERI GILES w ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST w EXT. 212
SGILES@NSSA-NSCA.COM
DANIELLE RODRIGUEZ w GENERAL ACCOUNTANT w EXT. 210
DRODRIGUEZ@NSSA-NSCA.COM
IT/NETWORK ADMINISTRATION
BRAD JONES w IT MANAGER
EXT. 220 w BJONES@NSSA-NSCA.COM
JAMES JOSEPH w PROGRAMMER
EXT. 261 w JJOSEPH@NSSA-NSCA.COM
JERRY GLASGOW w IT SPECIALIST
EXT. 221 w JGLASGOW@NSSA-NSCA.COM
NSSA-NSCA HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM

GLYNNE MOSELEY w CURATOR/USASCT MANAGER
EXT. 270 w GMOSELEY@NSSA-NSCA.COM
NATIONAL SHOOTING COMPLEX

ROYCE GRAFF w NSC DIRECTOR
EXT. 240 w RGRAFF@NSSA-NSCA.COM
PETE MASCH w NSC FACILITIES MANAGER
EXT. 243 w PMASCH@NSSA-NSCA.COM
BARNEY BROWN w NSC TRAP MECHANIC
JAY NAKAMURA w NSC TRAP MECHANIC
CAROLYN RUSSO w PRO SHOP
HALLIE CECH w PRO SHOP
MAINTENANCE
STAN MASCH w TROY SCHONHORST

FROM THE NSSA-NSCA
Officer’s Letter
G
reetings from Michigan! In previous articles, I have have hired a new Assistant Skeet Director — Jessica Wolfe.
asked you to step out and experience new venues Jessica will be officially on the job on January 1, 2024. Jes-
and new events, travel to new clubs and meet new sica is eager to begin a new chapter in her life and will be a
shooters. I mention this again because the National Shoot- great addition to our organization.
ing Complex (NSC) just hosted the 2023 World Skeet Cham- We did something different this year and hosted a Ladies
pionships, and if you were not there, you missed out on a Shooting Clinic. Hannah Goddard, JoEllen Collin, Jackie
fantastic event. The Mini World was a whisker away from Ego and Bethanne Miles, assisted by Susie Galloway, spear-
being sold out, and the World had nearly 700 shooters. headed this event. It was a total success; the clinic was at ca-
This year was especially unique from past years. For those pacity with at least 11 ladies on the waitlist. We intend to do
who did not attend, you may be wondering, “What did I this again next year and will make efforts to expand avail-
miss?” First, the complex went through phase 1 of a major ability.
grounds upgrade — and yes, there is a phase 2 in the works, I always enjoy talking to first-time shooters. I was espe-
but those details will be revealed at a later date. These im- cially pleased to see a couple of shooters with their wives
provements were teased in a previous CTN article. The from Indiana — Douglas and Robin Wolfe and Mike and
registration room had a total overhaul and looked amazing, Candi VanZile. Doug and Mike are volunteers at the St. Joe
paved roads were resurfaced and widened, all fields had new Conservation Club. They diligently volunteer to work the
gun racks, and buildings were painted and power-washed, events that help make St. Joe one of the best clubs in the
to name a few changes. Lots of physical improvements were country. It was great to see them attend a shoot as shooters,
very noticeable and directed by Michael Hampton. and the expression on their collective faces was very gratify-
Perhaps the most notable was the target quality this year. ing. They were excited to be there, and their experience on
There were very few broken targets, and target flight paths the grounds was extremely positive. Another group that was
were in line as well. As a result, proof shells handed out by stoked was introduced to me by our president, Steve Mal-
the refs was down substantially. This outcome was achieved colm. Dave, Basem, Johnny, Kristina and Zjelko were from
because of a huge effort put forward by Barney Brown and Canada, and wow, they were very animated about being
his crew with an assist from past president Don Kelly. Pete there and pledged to come back next year. Great stuff, just
Masch and his gang had the grounds looking great, and love it.
the attention to detail was outstanding. Royce Graff’s team I hope these stories inspire
was up to the task as well in the Pro Shop, ammo building YOU to engage more and at-
and beyond. Customer service by NSC staff and volunteers tend next year. Now, go out into
was stellar. It was truly a team effort this year, and everyone the world and shoot some clay
should be proud of their hard work. targets!
Shoot-offs were a little different this year. Based on the
2022 World Shoot surveys, the process was modified from — Tom Pavlack
last year. (Yes! We do pay attention to survey comments.) Vice President
Nathan Boyd and Billy Ray Suggs kept things moving along
at a nice pace. Oh, by the way, if you have not heard, we
RENEW MEMBERSHIP NOW AT CURRENT RATES

Annual members are reminded that it’s time to renew your mem- of current pricing for three years? Choose the three-year renewal
bership for 2024, and this year, there is additional incentive to option.
renew early: Membership rates will increase starting May 1, 2024, To renew, check your inbox for our renewal email, or go to
so if you’re thinking you’ll wait to renew when you start competing MyNSSA.com or MyNSCA.com; you’ll find the Join/Renew link in
next summer, that idea will cost you $10 more. the Members section.
Want to forget about renewals for a while and take advantage

Miller Trust Emphasizes:
The Time Is Now
When Californian Murphy Miller first visited a skeet field in continuing for the rest of your life and your children’s lives.”
the late 1990s as a way to keep shooting after quail season Specifically, the gift is restricted for the development of
ended, he bumped into an NSSA Level 1 Instructor and NSSA skeet membership growth, physical infrastructure de-
asked for some advice. At the time, he had no way of know- velopment of local skeet clubs, and promotion of registered
ing that he’d be taking a lesson from Todd Bender just a skeet tournaments by local clubs. To Murphy, “local clubs”
few months later and jumping in with both feet. Before he refers to small clubs anywhere. “If they’re a local club that
knew it, “the hook was set,” as Murphy puts it, and skeet throws skeet targets, anywhere, we need to support them,”
has brought him a great deal of enjoyment ever since — and he emphasized.
even some nice wins. Clubs who are interested in receiving a grant from the
These days, in his 70s, Murphy is a Director-at-Large of Miller Endowment can apply through the NSSA, support-
the NSSA and a life member. He belongs to the Texas Skeet ing their request with details on how the money would be
Shooters Association and four local clubs in southern Cali- used. The first year’s $25,000 gift has already been distribut-
fornia and New Mexico. “The reason I belong is really to ed — it was the first-ever distribution from the NSSA-NSCA
financially support local clubs,” he says. “It’s my firm belief Endowment Fund — to eight clubs that applied for grants.
that the financial support of local clubs is Each club has a different use for the mon-
the bedrock of skeet shooting. If local clubs ey, but the projects include adding lights,
go under, skeet goes under.” “Local clubs are making skeet fields handicapped-accessi-
Murphy is passionate about skeet shoot- ble, and more. These types of improve-
ing, and when he was approached by John
the bedrock of ments will allow the clubs to accommodate
Haugh to consider participating in the skeet shooting. more shooters and host more events.
NSSA-NSCA Endowment Fund, he knew As an attorney by trade and an experi-
exactly how he wanted to help: He joined
People who enced trustee of multiple trusts, Murphy
the Endowment Committee and made believe in skeet wants to remind members and potential
plans for a significant contribution to give
back to the sport that’s given him so much
need to support it if donors that donated money is responsibly
managed and distributed. “The money’s
enjoyment over the years. they can.” not going anywhere without a lot of scru-
As a co-trustee of a charitable family tiny on various levels,” he said. “Nobody’s
trust his parents had set up years before, just writing a check in response to a re-
Murphy was already familiar with endowments and chari- quest. The investment of endowed funds and the handling of
table giving. He persuaded his brother, his co-trustee, to those funds is controlled by the state law of Texas as well as
donate $100,000 to the NSSA, in the form of four separate federal tax guidelines.
$25,000 donations given over four years. “There are so many ways to give to the NSSA and receive
“I’m very familiar with the endowment concept, where tax benefits for a charitable donation [for most; confirm
the principal is preserved and only the proceeds are spent,” with your tax preparer.] Doesn’t matter whether it’s big or
Murphy said, “but I didn’t want to do that. I believe skeet small or perpetual or an endowment or a one-time gift,”
shooting is on the precipice and needs money now. Murphy said. “Gifts of any size are gladly welcomed by the
“I think there are existential challenges to the livelihood Endowment Committee. There are all kinds of ways to give.
of skeet shooting,” he continued. “It’s expensive to shoot Talk to your accountant. Figure out what works for you. If
competitive skeet. There are numerous challenges — the cost it’s a small donation, that’s great. If it’s a big donation, many
of travel, the cost of ammo, the cost of reloading supplies. thanks.
We’re at a time when people who believe in skeet shooting “Again, it’s my belief that local clubs are the bedrock of
need to support it if they can.” skeet shooting. We need to step up. People who believe in
Because Murphy is so passionate about supporting skeet skeet shooting need to support it if they can. If you’re a com-
now, his gift is set up such that the principle is to be spent petitive skeet shooter, it’s incumbent upon you to donate
rather than invested for endowment purposes. “I didn’t want according to your own financial abilities. Stand up and be
skeet shooting to decline while we were waiting on the in- counted. Stand up and support skeet shooting. The time is
come to grow from this gift,” he said. “Now is the time to now.”
step up and support skeet shooting if you have any hope of it
NOVEMBER 2023 / CLAY TARGET NATION 9

FROM THE NSSA-NSCA
Clubs: Renew
Membership and
Register Shoots
It’s time for all clubs to renew your Application and submit it to your
NSSA and/or NSCA club member- state/provincial association for ap-
ship and register your shoots for proval. The association will submit
2024. Deadlines are near for two approved shoots to NSSA or NSCA.
important opportunities that clubs To renew your membership, go to
should be mindful of: MyNSSA.com or MyNSCA.com, find
• Shoots registered by December the Clubs tab, and Sign Up/Renew
8 will be listed in the February will be in the dropdown menu. Or,
issue of Clay Target Nation. contact us for help: Stephanie Haga
• Clubs renewing by December (NSSA), shaga@nssa-nsca.com, 210-
15 will be entered into our Club 688-3371 ext. 962; or Lori Bauch-
Membership Renewal Draw- man (NSCA), lbauchman@nssa-nsca.
ing to win one of five valuable com, ext. 961.
prizes. You can also find the Registered
To have your shoots registered, you Shoot Application on the website in
must first renew your club’s member- the Clubs section. Look for the Club
ship for 2024. After renewing, clubs Forms page.
should complete a Registered Shoot
REMINDER: DECEMBER ISSUE DELAYED;

JANUARY ISSUE IS DIGITAL-ONLY
Just as we delayed this issue you’re reading by a couple of weeks in order to
accommodate coverage of the World Skeet Championships, the December is-
sue will also be delayed in order to cover sporting clays’ biggest event of the
year — the National Sporting Clays Championship. You can expect to receive
your December issue about two to three weeks later than usual, appearing in
mailboxes in the middle of the month of December rather than at the beginning
of the month.
In addition, we want to remind readers that our January issue is digital-only.
You will not receive a printed copy in the mail. But this doesn’t make it less
important than a printed issue — in fact, this is an issue you’ll want to read and
come back to throughout the year, as it’s our annual Reference Issue packed
with things you need to know. You’ll find it filled with contact information for
your elected representatives, lists of instructors by state and their contact
information, lists of the top 100 shoots for NSSA and NSCA, and more. It’s our
hope that this digital-only issue serves as an easy reference for you that you
can utilize throughout the season. Of course, we’ll also include some of your
favorite columns and departments, including “What’s Your Call” and “Training
Tips” for both skeet and sporting clays, to give you a jump on getting ready for
the upcoming shooting season.

FROM THE NSCA
World FITASC Adds New USASCT Concurrent

For the 2024 FITASC World Sporting Championship next will be an official competition team in 2024.
year, the FITASC Federation has approved the creation of The 2024 World FITASC Championship will be held
a sixth National Team — Master. The Master Team is the at Game Unlimited in Hudson, Wisconsin, on June 27-30,
same category as the NSCA Senior Super Veteran Team. 2024. Registration for the main event will be at www.fitasc.
The 2024 FITASC Master category will include shooters com, and side event registration will be at scorechaser.com. For
who have reached their 73rd birthday before January 1 of full details on registration and shooter categories, visit our
the target year. The NSCA has already been recognizing the World FITASC page at bit.ly/NSCA-World-FITASC.
Senior Super Veteran team as an honorary team; now, they
NEW NSCA LIFE MEMBERS

Nathan T. Anderson TX Bryce Bechtel OK Kaden Kennedy TX Rebecca Shukan CA
Mike Barton MS Gentry W. Graves TX Charles H. Patterson NC Katelyn N. Stevens FL
NSCA MILESTONES
Nadim Nasir Jr. TX 150,000 Steven Noonan SD 50,000 Larry Jones IL 25,000
Desirae Edmunds GA 125,000 Kyle Norman IN 50,000 Arvid Kobosky PA 25,000
Gary Gahlinger KY 125,000 James Olson WI 50,000 John Lappley WI 25,000
Matt Barnes TX 100,000 Carey Rodgers FL 50,000 Melanie McCleary MT 25,000
David DeFernelmont PA 100,000 Damon Schlosser VA 50,000 Darrell McKigney VA 25,000
Brian DeMott NC 100,000 Leonard Sisk AK 50,000 Carrie Metheny VA 25,000
Steven Miller MO 100,000 Steve Toman KS 50,000 Chad Meyer WY 25,000
Clayton Nance TX 100,000 Timothy Warren GA 50,000 Eng-
Nigel Mitchell 25,000
Ed Peacock TX 100,000 land
Hugh Zwick IL 50,000
Chad Monie NE 25,000
Ole Vandborg CA 100,000 Kason Anderson TX 25,000
Patrick O'Boyle MN 25,000
Mark Anthony Conway IA 75,000 Michael Bales KY 25,000
Stephen Otten CO 25,000
Christopher Cox DE 75,000 Connor Barker TX 25,000
Bryan Otto TX 25,000
Tom Harrison PA 75,000 Nougzar Boukiia NJ 25,000
Doug Parsons NC 25,000
Melvin Kukich PA 75,000 Lamar Brooks GA 25,000
Lane Picklo TX 25,000
Baha Nasif WI 75,000 Jared Burgett KY 25,000
Colton Saugestad MN 25,000
Dick Stewart WI 75,000 Josh Caron VT 25,000
Robert Schwartzkopf WY 25,000
John Stuertz NE 75,000 J.C. Carter NM 25,000
Robert Shaw GA 25,000
Richard Vance OH 75,000 Connor Daniel GA 25,000
Randy Shifflett IA 25,000
Bud Williams FL 75,000 Chuck Dearth WI 25,000
Stuart Smith CO 25,000
Rusty Andre LA 50,000 Ryan Easterlie IA 25,000
Tyler Smith LA 25,000
David Bernier ME 50,000 Josh Feeley VT 25,000
Lana Stefanac CA 25,000
William Elliott OH 50,000 Dawn Fields TX 25,000
David Stipp NV 25,000
Harvey Frenzel TX 50,000 Ryan Fussell TX 25,000
William Swango TX 25,000
Morgan Goette GA 50,000 Tanner Hackel NE 25,000
Kelly Wadsworth ME 25,000
Patrick Grothues TX 50,000 Buford Hall KY 25,000
Tracy Webb GA 25,000
Dudley Hall FL 50,000 David Hangard CO 25,000
Timothy Youngkin OR 25,000
Mark Hildebrand TX 50,000 Christopher Hardin NC 25,000
Daniel Lengyel TX 50,000 Jeff Harding PA 25,000
Dwayne McFarland NM 50,000 Charles Heins IA 25,000

NSCA UPCOMING MAJOR SHOOTS
NOVEMBER
November 3-4 Buckle Race Series Leg #5 Greater Houston Sports Club Houston, TX
November 9-11 Pilgrims Fun & Gun Cardinal Shooting Center Marengo, OH
November 10-12 Twilight Shoot Meadows Clay Sports Forsyth, GA
November 11-12 Thanksgiving Shootout M & M Hunting Preserve and Sporting Clays Pennsville, NJ
DECEMBER
December 1-2 Buckle Race Series Finals Greater Houston Sports Club Houston, TX
December 10 Holiday Shootout M & M Hunting Preserve and Sporting Clays Pennsville, NJ
NEW NSCA LEVEL 1 CERTIFIED INSTRUCTORS

Neil Marshall GA (818) 903-8652 David Wright SD (605) 251-0546
Richard Saba LA (985) 273-8745 Aaron W. Smith TX (972) 670-8910
Andy Marsala LA (318) 464-7711 John Lowe TX (214) 415-2074
Bryan Winterlin MN (763) 300-5071 Dawson P. Simback TX (817) 507-7336
Jason Smith SC (843) 312-3034 Jason Sampers TX (704) 400-0886
Kaitlyn F. Hughes SC (843) 323-5827 Trent Parrott TX (972) 965-0740
Jacob Byrd SC (843) 701-0456 Andrew Adermann WI (715) 497-9547
Cameron R. Jackson SC (843) 560-4146 Jennifer Maier WI (612) 209-0197
Jaylan K. Hopkins SC (843) 922-1449 Belinda Hopp WI (612) 369-5665
Madison A. Barr SC (843) 830-3662 Richard W. McNitt WI (715) 377-5947
Armond Bright SC (843) 631-0843 Gregory Leier WI (715) 441-4758

FROM THE NSSA
NSSA Acquires Valerio’s Skeet

Manager Scoring Program
NSSA is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Skeet The NSSA staff is currently working on plans to integrate
Manager scoring program developed by Mike Valerio. Start- NSSA Skeet Manager into NSSA’s operations. Mike Valerio
ing in January 2024, NSSA Skeet Manager will be made has agreed to work with NSSA through a transition period
available as a benefit for every NSSA member club with no to fast-track the staff and prepare them to handle club sup-
need to buy a license annually. port and program updates.
NSSA Skeet Manager will be a valuable member club “The acquisition of Skeet Manager will make our club
benefit for those clubs that wish to use it for NSSA shoots, managers’ lives easier and save them money,” said Michael
reducing costs to member clubs. It will not only be a great Hampton, NSSA-NSCA Executive Director. “This scoring
benefit to those clubs already hosting NSSA shoots with the program is battle-tested; many of our clubs already use it,
software, but it will also provide a no-cost option to small and it will be ready for their immediate use. For those clubs
clubs that currently file reports manually because they found that don’t report electronically, we hope having access to
it too costly to access a scoring program to manage very NSSA Skeet Manager and our staff’s support will make it
small shoots and monthly targets. Clubs already using NSSA easier to make the transition, if they wish, and that clubs not
Skeet Manager will see no reduction of features and will currently hosting registered tournaments will find it easier to
actually have increased capability with no license renewal do so in the future.”
and constant access to the latest version, as well as support NSSA member clubs should watch for updates as we make
through their membership for faster, easier electronic report- the transition to our ownership and management of NSSA
ing. Skeet Manager.
NSSA MILESTONES
Larry Blount AZ 275,000 Brian Carter TN 50,000 John Pogliano IL 25,000
Trish Magyar MI 275,000 James Carter ON 50,000 Richard Rothrock PA 25,000
John Haugh CA 200,000 Tom Davis KY 50,000 Michael Rykacze-
PA 25,000
Mike Quigley MN 200,000 Andrew Dutko MA 50,000 wski Jr.
Ben Gallup MI 175,000 Earl Oxford TX 50,000 Jim Souba NV 25,000
Reynolds McCain MS 150,000 Douglas Paddock NY 50,000 Donald Steinert PA 25,000
David McMillen IA 150,000 Jeffrey Renk WI 50,000 Pat Sullivan NE 25,000
Mark Vander- Phillip Strelau WA 50,000 Shakib Akbari CA 10,000
MN 125,000
Bloomer Marla Tupper SC 50,000 Jack Huckabee TN 10,000
Jack Bernardi NV 100,000 Andrew Winders OH 50,000 Benjamin Mitchell AL 10,000
Larry Israel KY 100,000 Guy Barr PA 25,000 Ray Purtzer TX 10,000
Daniel Pardoe MD 100,000 Atticus Clark WI 25,000 Steven Reuter PA 10,000
E. Wayne Tanner LA 100,000 Luis Crespo-Ramos PR 25,000 Jeffrey Simpson TX 10,000
Ed Bowker MI 75,000 Mark Davies Wales 25,000 Warren Tracz ON 10,000
George Guerrero OK 75,000 Jason Foshea TX 25,000 Michael Vainosky NE 10,000
Richard Trawinski MI 75,000 Scott Janowski NY 25,000 Joshua Wayne NC 10,000
Jacob Young TX 75,000 Matthew Lenehan NY 25,000 Lawrence Weaver ON 10,000
Thomas Bailey MT 50,000 Donald McPherson MO 25,000
Edward Call PA 50,000 Roger Plooster SD 25,000
NSSA UPCOMING MAJOR SHOOTS

NOVEMBER
November 4 Buckle Race Series #5 20-Gauge Greater Houston Sports Club Houston, TX
November 10-12 Best of Texas Greater Houston Sports Club Houston, TX

TRAINING TIPS / SKEET
BY JOHN SHIMA
The Watching Drills

The mental game controls the visual game. You can’t train one without the other and expect results.
Y
oung people tend to shoot ers’ visual game. In other and visual discipline. The
quickly: Their eyes see words, the mental game shooters’ goal should
movement and focus on controls the visual game. be to improve their
the target, and they fire. They I modified the basic ability to concentrate
don’t analyze their shots or rely as incomer and outgoer on utilizing a specific
much on precise lead pictures. drills to create two pre-shot routine that
As shooters get older, they tend watching drills. Since enables them to manage
to shoot more visually, so they managing the watching the manner in which
fire the gun when the lead pic- reflex involves the they use their eyes to
p John D. Shima
ture looks right. Since it requires conscious mind, they focus appropriately
more time to allow the correct are also thinking drills. on each target. This
lead picture to evolve, the eye has a tendency to focus These drills are intended means the last thought
too hard too soon, which causes a number of visu- to divert the shooter’s before calling for each
al faults. I use two watching drills to emphasize the intention away from target must be related
need to approach each station with a watching mind- trying to break targets to watching the target.
set rather than a shooting mindset. and toward paying Therefore, it is suggested
attention to just looking the shooter “keep score”
MANAGE MINDSET for each target and by counting how many
A watching mindset uses working memory to manage watching it continuously times they execute the
visual perception, which involves the transition from until it breaks. Since it is process correctly rather
expanded soft focus in the acquisition zone to hard impossible to keep the than count the number
focus in the break zone. By starting with absolute fo- muzzle out of the picture of targets broken.
cus to acquire and track the target, the transition to on the baseline, the Most subtle distrac-
blended focus occurs closer to the break zone. By de- watching drills involve tions are caused by emo-
laying blended focus until later in the shot sequence, stations 2 through 6. tional attachments to
it allows the shooters’ procedural memory to uncon- Ideally, these drills random thoughts that
sciously manage muzzle speed in response to their are most effective with creep into the shooter’s
perception of target speed. a squad of three to five conscious mind. When-
A shooting mindset uses working memory to man- shooters of relatively ever a distraction en-
age movement of the muzzle in response to the flight equal skill level. The ters the quiet mind, the
of the target. The intention to break the target causes first drill involves all shooter must stop and
blended focus to occur just beyond the eye hold, incomers: four L2, four repeat the pre-shot rou-
which causes depth of focus to shift between the tar- L3, four L4, four H4, tine. A clear mind begets
get and the end of muzzle between the acquisition four H5, and four H6. clear vision. Strengthen-
zone and the break zone. When blended focus occurs The second drill involves ing the watching reflex
closer to the acquisition zone, it causes most targets all outgoers: four H2, will enhance the shoot-
to appear faster and smaller. When blended focus is four H3, four H4, four er’s trust in his or her
introduced too early, the shooter tends to use his or L4, four L5, and four L6. shooting reflex.
her working memory to consciously move the muzzle The option is shot after
to adjust the perceived lead picture. the first missed target or
as a fifth target at station u John Shima is a five-time
WATCHING DRILLS 6. It is important to load World Skeet Champion. To
In essence, the manner in which shooters look for one shell at a time. view previous articles or order
the emerging target is governed by their ability to The purpose of the John’s books, go to www.
concentrate and focus. Concentration relates to the drills is to help shooters johnshima.com.
shooters’ mental game and focus relates to the shoot- improve their mental

TRAINING TIPS / SPORTING CLAYS
BY GIL, VICKI AND BRIAN ASH
Expectation vs. Preparation

If you think you’re going to get better without truly working for it,
you’re fooling yourself and wasting your time.
I
n the past year,
we have done
quite a few semi-
nars for the state De-
partment of Natural
Resources to help
their Hunter Educa-
tion leaders become
p Gil, Brian and Vicki Ash better coaches when
it comes to profi-
ciency in the field. In preparation, the candidates are
asked to get into our Knowledge Vault website and  LEFTY RAY CHAPA
take the Shotgun Training 101 course and do the gun

mount drills prior to our seminar. Without exception,
they all want to be better coaches, but few if any are
willing to actually practice what our online cours-
es recommend. They all want to become better at
p Shooting with a solid plan in place and a visualization of how you
coaching without becoming better shots themselves. want the shot to come together is the way to build skill.
One big thing we have been emphasizing is that
skill resides in a person’s memory, and a person can-
not visualize something they have never seen, so front of a steadily mov- It takes time and many
there is no shortcut to becoming proficient with a ing object is a new se- repetitions for the brain
shotgun — especially in hunting situations. Coupled quence in our brains, to myelinate a new skill
with our brain’s inability to do anything we want it and like everything else circuit, especially one
to do unless it first has a picture of exactly what we we do, it must be repeat- that is contrary to our
are asking it to do and in what order and where, this ed enough times so that natural instinct. The de-
keeps most shooters and coaches stuck at a level be- it happens without our sire to point at what we
low where they would like to be. If the target were having to think about it. are looking at is strong
still, anyone could become moderately proficient in Your ability to consistent- within all of us and is the
a short amount of time, because on a still target, the ly create this action is not most frequent cause for
shooter is looking down the barrel and at the tar- tied to your desire for it missing a moving target
get at the same time. This pointing sequence in your to happen; rather, it is with a shotgun, feath-
brain began when you were 6 months old as you be- tied to how many times ered or painted.
gan to look at and point at what you wanted. When you have done it, and
we ask our brains to point at what we are looking at, then how many times
it seems normal, because we have been doing that all you have done it deliber- u Gil, Brian and Vicki Ash
our lives. But when we ask our brains to look at a dis- ately, and then how many are NSCA Level III instruc-
tant object and point at another object, our pointing times you have done it tors who host shotgunning
sequence crashes. No person comes out of the womb successfully. Skill is built clinics at gun clubs around
predisposed to be able to shoot a shotgun at a mov- through repetition, but the country. They run OSP
ing target, but given the time and effort, regardless getting shooters to put Shooting School and host its
of the visual perception a person may have, the brain in the time it takes to Knowledge Vault. To learn
will sort out the confusion and make the confusion build the skill sequences more, visit them online at
go away. Be patient! in their brains is diffi- www.ospschool.com.
Being able to consistently point ahead of or in cult, if not impossible.

WHAT’S YOUR CALL?
BY NSSA RULES AND CLASSIFICATION COMMITTEE
Defective Ammunition
W
e’ve had a few questions about the rules munition based on the sole judgment of the referee.
pertaining to ammunition malfunctions, In this case, the referee decides that the shot “does
and in particular, the “odd-sounding shell” not travel the distance to the bird and does not give
interpretation. Despite efforts to make rules clear the shooter a fair opportunity to break the target.”
and easy to follow, there are often gray areas, room This is easy to determine in some cases since the shot
for interpretation and judgment on the part of the is moving so slowly that it’s visible (or it’s rolling out
referee. On the surface, the rules for Defective Am- of the barrel!), or the wad is often still in the barrel.
munition are pretty clear: In other situations, despite the shell sounding odd,
the referee can judge that “the shot does travel the
PARAPHRASING FROM SECTION B-12: distance and does provide the shooter a fair chance
“a (missed) target shall be repeated for each allow- to break the target.” In the case of a miss in this situ-
able instance of defective ammunition from the first ation, the target is lost. This is a judgment call solely
box of shells used in that round. A shooter will be on the part of the referee and probably the one part
allowed two instances of defective ammunition from of the rule that causes the most heartburn. In most
the first box of shells used in that round. After two cases, the shooter will get the benefit of the doubt.
instances of defective ammunition in a round (or But if they’ve had numerous odd-sounding shells al-
shoot-off round), a shooter may obtain a FACTORY ready that successfully hit targets, the target is more
box of ammunition and is then allowed two addition- likely to be recorded as lost. Once again, it pays to
al instances (of defective ammunition) in that round. have good reloads and a box of factory shells on
If shells are not changed in a round after two ammo hand!
malfunctions have been ruled, the third and all sub- Most of us who reload have had more than a few
sequent occurrences in that round will be (ruled as) funny-sounding shells, and hopefully when this
excessive (and lost).” happens, we take some action to correct the problem,
saving suspect shells for practice or the recycle bin. A
An exception to this rule applies to proof shells few may sneak through our quality control process,
provided by the referee (not your shooting buddy!). however, so when you’re competing, have a factory
box or two handy, just in case. If you do have instances
EXCEPTION: “If a shooter is provided a proof shell of defective ammunition, manage these situations
by the referee and defective ammunition is ruled on with the referee calmly and professionally to avoid
that proof shot, that instance will not count against affecting your game or that of your squad members.
the shooter as defective ammunition.” Showing up to a shoot in a competition with a
So, it pays to have good reloads and have a box working gun and good shells is the responsibility of
of factory shells on hand, just in case! The question each participant. The rules are in place to allow for
at hand is what defines defective ammunition? In some leeway and fairness, but ultimately, a bucket full
some cases, this is clear; for instance, in the case of of bad shells will result in lost targets and interfere
failure to fire, where a “clearly noticeable firing pin with the harmony of the squad.
indentation” is seen on a shell that doesn’t fire. We’ve
seen this on reloads and occasionally on new shells.
“Separation of the brass from the hull” would also
qualify. This is usually accompanied by a whistling
u Just remember, rules can be updated more than once a year. Go
sound, but if not, the shooter should bring it to the
attention of the referee for a ruling. online to MyNSSA.com and make sure you have the latest update.
It’s the “odd sounding shell” that requires the most If you have a rules question, a question about a call, or an inter-
scrutiny. This mostly occurs with reloaded shells, and esting situation at your shoot, you can email the Rules Commit-
often we still hit our targets. When that happens, the tee directly at NSSA-RULES@NSSA-NSCA.com. Your query might
target is ruled dead. When that same odd-sounding make the next magazine.
shell results in a miss, it can be ruled as Defective Am-

HEY, WHAT’S THAT GUN?
Michael Gallagher’s Baikals

WHAT CAN YOU TELL US
ABOUT THESE GUNS?
A well-kept secret,
in my opinion,
are the Baikal over-and-
under shotguns imported
years ago from Russia.
When I started
shooting skeet two
decades ago, my mentor
suggested I start with a
20-gauge Baikal based
on low recoil and very
affordable prices. I now
own a complete battery,
including two 12-gauges
(one set up for trap) and
one each in 20-gauge,
28-gauge, and .410 bore.
They don’t have the same
refinements in fit and
finish as the guns typically
found on skeet fields,
but in my experience,
they are rugged and
dependable.
When you can find
one, they typically sell
in the $500 to $600
price range. Remington
rebranded them and sold
them under the Spartan
name for several years.
As relations with Russia
soured, the importing of
guns and parts has long
since stopped.
These photos show my u Do you have a special piece that
Baikals, a close-up of the makes people at the club say, “Hey,

action and me at Salem what’s that gun?” We want to see it!
Oregon’s Mid-Valley Clays If your shotgun has unique engraving,
Range. unusual wood, crazy colors or a special
story, send us some details and high-
resolution photos to ctn@nssa-nsca.
com. We just might feature your gun in
an upcoming issue.

LEFTY’S PHOTO OF THE MONTH

What Is
This Wet
Stuff?
A
fter 90 weeks of drought in
San Antonio, Texas, it finally
rained. Unfortunately, it
happened during three days of the
World Skeet Championships.
— Lefty Ray Chapa

NSSA-NSCA photographer

NSSA Event Coverage:
Mini World Championships
September 29 – October 1, 2023, National Shooting Complex, San Antonio
BY NATHAN BOYD
N
SSA’s home
shooting
grounds, the
National Shooting Com-
plex, welcomed 654
competitors to the 2023
Mini World Skeet Cham-
pionships. The event was
close to capacity, due in
large part to the great
number of youth par-
ticipants in attendance
this year, and it required
the use of all skeet fields
over the weekend. This
year’s Mini World was
one of the best attended
in some time and was
an action-packed event
from start to finish. As
the name indicates, the
Mini World is a compact
version of the World
Skeet Championships, which requires long days to Lady Championship, and p HOA winners, left to right:
pull off. A huge thank-you goes out to all the staff, Alison Boyette emerged Connor Ball, runner-up; Houston
Deshotels, champion; and Dess
referees and administrators that made the shoot a as champion. Melissa
Ivanov, third.
great success. Barringer and Lindsay
The first event of the Mini World is technically the Plesko rounded out the
Referee Event, which had 20 participants this year. podium.
Congratulations to Stormy Weatherford, champion; a perfect score in the
Gerry Curley, runner-up; Kirk Barringer, third; and 12-GAUGE 12- and 20-gauges com-
all participants and winners of the Federal Referee On Saturday, the B&P pletes their first shoot-off
Event. 12-Gauge was the first box shortly after com-
event to be settled before pleting the regulation.
DOUBLES competitors moved on When shoot-offs were
With the referees ready to go, the B&P Doubles to the Briley 28-Gauge. called in the afternoon,
Championship was ready to be settled. Four per- Thirty-five shooters post- five shooters who had
fect scores were posted, but in just over half a box, ed 100 in the 12-gauge survived their first box
Houston Deshotels claimed the first championship to vie for the gun title. of 12-gauge proceeded
of the weekend. Riley Chaddock took runner-up In order to save some to the stadium field.
with Sheaffer Stanfill taking third ahead of AA win- time in the afternoon, Toward the end of the
ner Dave Scott. A shoot-off was required to settle the everyone that shoots “second” box, Sheaffer

MINI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
PLACE NAME SCORE
HOA Champion Houston Deshotels 399
HOA Runner-up Connor Ball 398
HOA Third Dessislav Ivanov 398
HOA Lady Champion Melissa Barringer 392
HOA Lady Runner-up Lauren Burge 392
HOA AAA1 Jacob Young 398
HOA AAA2 Mike Rykaczewski Jr. 397
HOA AA1 Mike Gerschick 396
HOA AA2 Wes Roddie 395
HOA A1 Robert McLain 394
HOA A2 Marshall Wilson 393
HOA B1 Dennis Michael 388
HOA B2 Francisco Montanez 386
HOA C1 Michael Morris 383
HOA C2 Bryson Bresler 379
HOA D1 Ariel Rodriguez 366
HOA D2 Donald Kelly 359
HOA E1 Owen Ballentine 351
p Lady HOA winners, left to right: Lauren Burge, runner-up; Melissa HOA E2 Marissa Sandoval 316
Barringer, champion; and Lola Fitzgerald, third. HOA Triple-Sub Champion Houston Deshotels 399
HOA Sub-Sub-Senior Champion Dessislav Ivanov 398
HOA Sub-Senior Champion Jason Ward 395
HOA Senior Champion Mike Gerschick 396
HOA Veteran Champion Billy Williams 391
HOA Senior Veteran Champion David Cudia 384
HOA Military Champion Andrew Winders 390
HOA Retired Military Champion Stuart Brown 394
HOA Military Veteran Champion Sam Armstrong 387
HOA Rookie Champion Logan Floyd 382
First Responder Champion Jim Hart 390
12-Gauge Champion Sheaffer Stanfill 100
20-Gauge Champion Mark Vaillancourt 100
28-Gauge Champion Les Lala 100
.410-Bore Champion John Barnes 100
Doubles Champion Houston Deshotels 100
HAA Houston Deshotels 499
CTN 4x50 Champion Robert Lopez 50
Referee Event Champion Stormy Weatherford 99
p Heavy rains plagued the Mini World, but competition went on in

spite of the challenges from Mother Nature.

MINI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Stanfill claimed the ti- as Les Lala earned the

tle ahead of Paul Giam- gold medal and received
brone III. Dess Ivanov a sincere applause from
also made his way onto the crowd. Kyle Shu-
the podium as the third- maker and Kevin Mon-
place finisher. Melissa teleone finished two and
Barringer was the solo three. Fitzgerald’s per-
lady with a perfect score, fect score earned Lady
earning Lady Champion. Champion outright, but
Susie Galloway and Lola Boyette had to shoot off
Fitzgerald duked it out to earn her runner-up
for runner-up and third, position ahead of Bailey
respectively. Glenewinkel.
28-GAUGE 20-GAUGE
As with most days of the Shooters were halfway
World and Mini World, to the finish line of the
spectators and partici- Mini when Saturday was
pants filled the stadium, finished, but there was
porch, and tent areas, still much work to be
socializing with friends done on Sunday. A rare
and family while enjoy- 5x100 was shot by the
ing some tasty treats. squad of Stanfill, De- Vaillancourt secured top Kaleigh Lawson was the
Later in the evening, shotels, Lala, Royston honors in front of one leading lady, joined by
the 28-gauge was final- and Burke, contributing of the hottest shooters Crystal Stoddard, run-
ized. Fifteen perfect to the total 34 perfect coming into the week- ner-up, and Melissa Bar-
scores were shot Satur- scores turned in for the end, Sheaffer Stanfill. ringer, third.
day afternoon, and all Negrini 20-Gauge Cham- Stuart Brown had the
lined up in the stadium pionship, but only two longest run of the oth- .410 BORE
field to determine a win- shooters completed the ers to claim third overall. Sunday afternoon was re-
ner. Shooting under the first preliminary shoot- There were three la- served for the little gun,
lights seems like a rarity off box. By station 5 of dies with perfect scores, which always seems to
these days, and experi- box two, 2023 NSSA Hall and when the shoot-off make or break the week-
ence may have paid off, of Fame Inductee Mark results were tabulated, end. Four competitors

were able to complete after a shoot-off of 98s.
the Decot Hy-Wyd .410 Rachel Barringer made
event unscathed, includ- her presence known by
ing a first 100 by Trevor taking Lady third.
Jackson. John Barnes
emerged as the cham- HOA AND HAA
pion after two stations. With all the events com- standing 399 to claim the Senior), Robert McLain
Jackson would take run- pleted, it was time to de- HOA Championship out- (A), Michael Dennis
ner-up over Connor Ball, termine the Blaser and right. Three 398s battled (B), Michael Morris, Jr.
third, and Jacob Young, Pacific Sporting Arms for the final two podium (C), Ariel Rodriguez
AAA1. Lauren Burge High Over All and High positions. Connor Ball, (D), Owen Ballentine
ended the Mini on a All Around Champi- last year’s World Cham- (E), Deshotels (Triple
strong note, claiming ons. Houston Deshotels pion, secured HOA Sub), Dessislav Ivanov
Lady Champion, with Ka- bested the entire Mini runner-up, while Dess (Sub-Sub Senior), Jason
leigh Lawson runner-up, World crowd with an out- Ivanov took HOA third Ward (Sub-Senior), Billy
over Jacob Young, AAA Williams (Veteran), Da-
Champion. Melissa Bar- vid Cudia (Senior Vet-
ringer was the most con- eran), Andrew Winders
sistent Lady throughout (Military), Stuart Brown
the event, earning Lady (Retired Military), Sam
HOA Champion. Lauren Armstrong (Military Vet-
Burge took Lady HOA eran), Jim Hart (First
runner-up, while Lola Responder), and Logan
Fitzgerald earned Lady Floyd (Rookie).
HOA third after a shoot- Thank you to all who
off win over Kaleigh Law- attended the 2023 Mini
son. World Championships.
The top HAA perform- It was one of the larg-
ers included Houston est attended in some
Deshotels, 499, Jacob time thanks to the many
Young and Sheaffer shooters who made the
Stanfill. Congratula- trip. As always, it was a
tions to all the overall great tune-up for the
winners, which include 2023 World Skeet Cham-
Mike Gerschick (AA and pionships.

Junior World Skeet Championships
September 29 – October 1, 2023, National Shooting Complex, San Antonio
BY NATHAN BOYD
F
or the second year
in a row, the Jun-
ior World Skeet
Championships were
held in conjunction with
the Mini World Skeet
Championships. Hosting
the Junior World in this
manner allowed the 119
Sub-Junior, Junior and
Collegiate competitors
to compete in the Mini
World as well as compete
for Junior World honors.
Before the events be-
gan, each Junior World
competitor received a
special goody bag and
had a chance to receive
a complimentary shirt,
thanks to Federal. While
there were some special
activities for the youth
competitors over the
weekend, their focus was
all on the competition.
DOUBLES pion was secured by Ali- p Collegiate HOA winners, left

In typical fashion, the Doubles event was completed son Boyette, followed by to right: Wes Roddie, runner-up;
on Friday and began the crowning of the 2023 Junior Aaliyah Thomas and Ally Sheaffer Stanfill, champion; and
World champions. Logan Floyd claimed the Sub-Jun- Robinson. A pizza party Jack Krispin, third.
ior Championship with Ethan Ballentine claiming was held for the Junior
runner-up. Aubrey Nguyen claimed the Sub-Junior World competitors and
Lady Championship and third in Sub-Junior. Con- their families to close out
nor Thigpen’s lone 99 earned him the Junior Cham- the evening. the 12-gauge Sub-Junior
pionship ahead of George Gabino and Max Versluys. title via shoot-off over
Lola Fitzgerald, Mackenzi Harmon and Savannah 12-GAUGE Myles Priestly. Emerson
Laberge finished first, second and third in Junior The main four-gun event Reed would nab the last
Lady. The veteran group of the Junior World was led began on Saturday with podium position of the
by Sheaffer Stanfill, Collegiate Champion, with a per- the 12- and 28-gaug- youngsters. Aubry once
fect 100. Jack Krispin and Carter Royston completed es being completed. again dominated the
the Collegiate podium. The Collegiate Lady Cham- Noah Ruby captured Sub-Junior Lady cat-

JUNIOR WORLD SKEET CHAMPIONSHIPS
HOA 28-GAUGE
PLACE NAME SCORE PLACE NAME SCORE
Sub-Junior Champion Noah Ruby 387 Sub-Junior Champion Logan Floyd 100
Sub-Junior Runner-up Logan Floyd 382 Sub-Junior Runner-up Noah Ruby 99
Sub-Junior Third Bryson Bresler 379 Sub-Junior Third Slayde Rokyta 96
Junior Champion Luke Priestly 393 Junior Champion Lola Fitzgerald 100
Junior Runner-up Zyler Thomas 393 Junior Runner-up Zyler Thomas 100
Junior Third Nathen Backherms 392 Junior Third Luke Priestly 99
Junior Lady Champion Lola Fitzgerald 389 Junior Lady Champion Lola Fitzgerald 100
Junior Lady Runner-up Jenna Tenore 379 Junior Lady Runner-up Savannah Laberge 98
Junior Lady Third Briley Koller 370 Junior Lady Third Ansley Johnston 94
Collegiate Champion Sheaffer Stanfill 397 Collegiate Champion Sheaffer Stanfill 99
Collegiate Runner-up Wes Roddie 395 Collegiate Runner-up Ally Robinson 99
Collegiate Third Jack Krispin 391 Collegiate Third Alison Boyette 99
Collegiate Lady Champion Ally Robinson 387 Collegiate Lady Champion Ally Robinson 99
Collegiate Lady Runner-up Alison Boyette 383 Collegiate Lady Runner-up Alison Boyette 99
Collegiate Lady Third Aaliyah Thomas 377 Collegiate Lady Third Aaliyah Thomas 97
12-GAUGE .410 BORE
PLACE NAME SCORE PLACE NAME SCORE
Sub-Junior Champion Noah Ruby 97 Sub-Junior Champion Noah Ruby 97
Sub-Junior Runner-up Myles Priestly 97 Sub-Junior Runner-up Bryson Bresler 94
Sub-Junior Third Emerson Reed 96 Sub-Junior Third Slayde Rokyta 93
Sub-Junior Lady Champion Aubrey Nguyen 94 Junior Champion Cash Hicks 99
Junior Champion Luke Priestly 100 Junior Runner-up Luke Priestly 99
Junior Runner-up Connor Thigpen 100 Junior Third Zyler Thomas 98
Junior Third Sam Davis 99 Junior Lady Champion Briley Koller 92
Junior Lady Champion Lola Fitzgerald 99 Junior Lady Runner-up Jenna Tenore 92
Junior Lady Runner-up Jenna Tenore 96 Junior Lady Third Lola Fitzgerald 91
Junior Lady Third Tinsley Rigsby 94 Collegiate Champion Wes Boddie 98
Collegiate Champion Sheaffer Stanfill 100 Collegiate Runner-up Sheaffer Stanfill 98
Collegiate Runner-up Coty James 100 Collegiate Third Matthew Anderson 97
Collegiate Third Jack Krispin 100 Collegiate Lady Champion Ally Robinson 93
Collegiate Lady Champion Ally Robinson 98 Collegiate Lady Runner-up Aaliyah Thomas 89
Collegiate Lady Runner-up Alison Boyette 98 Collegiate Lady Third Ashlyn Liner 88
Collegiate Lady Third Aaliyah Thomas 97 DOUBLES
20-GAUGE PLACE NAME SCORE
PLACE NAME SCORE Sub-Junior Champion Logan Floyd 95
Sub-Junior Champion Logan Floyd 98 Sub-Junior Runner-up Ethan Ballentine 93
Sub-Junior Runner-up Ethan Ballentine 97 Sub-Junior Third Aubrey Nguyen 93
Sub-Junior Third Bryson Bresler 96 Junior Champion Connor Thigpen 99
Junior Champion Nathen Backherms 100 Junior Runner-up George Gabino 98
Junior Runner-up Adam Glenn 99 Junior Third Max Versluys 97
Junior Third John Foster 99 Junior Lady Champion Lola Fitzgerald 91
Junior Lady Champion Lola Fitzgerald 99 Junior Lady Runner-up Makenzi Harmon 89
Junior Lady Runner-up Jenna Tenore 99 Junior Lady Third Savannah Laberge 88
Junior Lady Third Savannah Laberge 99 Collegiate Champion Sheaffer Stanfill 100
Collegiate Champion Sheaffer Stanfill 100 Collegiate Runner-up Jack Krispin 99
Collegiate Runner-up Graham Eubanks 100 Collegiate Third Carter Royston 97
Collegiate Third Carter Royston 100 Collegiate Lady Champion Alison Boyette 96
Collegiate Lady Champion Alison Boyette 99 Collegiate Lady Runner-up Aaliyah Thomas 96
Collegiate Lady Runner-up Jami Giarrizzo 97 Collegiate Lady Third Ally Robinson 92
Collegiate Lady Third Ally Robinson 97

JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
egory. Luke Priestly was time to take to the field.

able to complete the first Logan Floyd of Okla-
box of the shoot-off to homa shot his first 100
earn Junior Champion, in the 28-gauge, earning
leaving Connor Thigpen him Sub-Junior Cham-
runner-up. Multiple 99s pion and a blasted hat
shot off for third, and per skeet tradition. Noah
Sam Davis was able to Ruby and Slayde Roky-
earn the bronze medal ta joined Logan as the
in Junior. Lola repeated top Sub-Juniors. Zone
as Junior Lady Cham- 7 Juniors took the top
pion, with Jenna Tenore two podium position as
claiming runner-up and Lola Fitzgerald and Zyler
Tinsley Rigsby finishing Thomas had excellent
third. Stanfill returned performances with per-
p Collegiate Lady HOA winners, left to right: Alison Boyette, runner-
up; Ally Robinson, champion; and Aaliyah Thomas, third.
giate with Aaliyah Thom- tion. Nathen Backherms

as taking home another earned the Junior Cham-
bonze medal. pionship uncontested,
but runner-up Adam
20-GAUGE Glenn and John Fos-
With two of the three ter, third, were only one
days in the rearview mir- target behind. Fitzger-
ror, Sunday would call ald, frequently finding
for the 20, .410 and HOA fortune, finished first in
events. Logan Floyd kept Junior Lady. Tenore and
his winning ways, captur- Laberge made return
ing another gold medal trips to the awards cere-
p Junior HOA winners, left to right: Zyler Thomas, runner-up; Luke
in the 20. Ethan Ballen- mony to claim their titles.
Priestly, champion; Nathen Backherms, third. tine and Bryson Bresler Stanfill’s 100 paid off as
joined in on the celebra- he grabbed another Col-
as Collegiate Champion, fect scores. Luke Priestly

with Coty James taking won the 99 Junior shoot-
the silver medal and Jack off to claim third. Natu-
Krispin the bronze. The rally, Lola was Junior
same Collegiate ladies Lady Champion, posing
changed spots in the with Savannah Laberge
12-gauge, leaving Robin- and Ansley Johnston. A
son champion, Boyette four-way tie would have
runner-up, and Thomas to be settled before a
third. Collegiate Champion
would be crowned, and
28-GAUGE Sheaffer Stanfill contin-
Breakfast, lunch, dinner ued his dominance, with
and games were avail- Ally Robinson and Ali-
able for the Junior World son Boyette maintaining
athletes at the House on their podium presence. p Sub-Junior HOA winners, left to right: Logan Floyd, runner-up;
the Hill, but it was all Ally and Alison were one Noah Ruby, champion; and Bryson Bresler, third.
business when it came and two in Lady Colle-

 Lola Fitzgerald, HOA Junior Lady Champion
pionship ring, adding a Roddie, runner-up, and

little extra incentive to Jack Krispin, third. Ally
the competition. Noah Robinson’s steadiness
Ruby’s solid perfor- throughout led to her
mance in the .410 led to Collegiate Lady Cham-
his HOA championship pionship. Alison Boy-
and Sub-Junior World ette and Aaliyah Thomas
title. Floyd and Bresler’s completed the final po-
steady performances gar- dium of the 2023 Junior
nered them runner-up World.
and third, respectively. Congratulations to all
The top places in Junior the participants of the
came down to Zone 6 2023 Junior World and
vs. Zone 7. Luke Priest- thank you to all the par-
ly ultimately claimed ents, guests and coaches
the championship over for taking the time to
Zyler Thomas, runner- attend the event. Next
up, while Nathen Back- year, make plans to at-
herms secured third over tend the 2024 Junior
legiate championship. for Junior third. Briley Connor Thigpen. Lola World Skeet Champion-
Alison Boyette captured Koller took the Junior Fitzgerald’s consistency ships at Jacksonville Clay
another Collegiate Lady Lady Championship via allowed her to claim the Target Sports in Jack-
title. Jami Giarrizzo made shoot-off with Tenore, Junior Lady Champion- sonville, Florida, during
her first appearance on as did Junior Lady third, ship ahead of Jenna Ten- the last weekend of July.
the podium, along with Fitzgerald. Wes Roddie, ore, runner-up, and Bri- Look for more informa-
Ally Robinson. Collegiate Champion, ley Koller, third. Stanfill tion to come, and know
was able to dethrone reclaimed the top spot Jacksonville is very ex-
.410 BORE Stanfill, Collegiate run- in the Collegiate con- cited to host next year’s
With only the .410 re- ner-up, while Matt An- current, joined by Wes Junior World!
maining to be shot, derson joined the party
much was still on the as Collegiate third. Col-
line when it came to legiate Lady was clean as
the HOA race as well. Robinson, Thomas and
Noah Ruby had a strong Ashlyn Liner claimed
performance with the gold, silver and bronze.
little gun, leading to a
Sub-Junior Champion- HOA AND HAA
ship. Bryson Bresler and With the four guns com-
Slayde Rokyta claimed pleted and established,
the remaining podium the aggregate HOA was
positions. Cash Hicks all that remained to be fi-
was the top Junior after nalized. Thanks to Kolar
a shoot-off with Luke Arms, each Junior World
Priestly, runner-up. HOA Champion would
Zyler Thomas settled be eligible for a cham-
u Connor Thigpen, Junior Doubles Champion

World Skeet Championships
October 2-11, 2023, National Shooting Complex, San Antonio, Texas
BY NATHAN BOYD
J
ohn Candy’s char-
acter in “Rookie of
the Year” accurate-
ly describes the
excitement and stakes of
the World Skeet Champi-
onships: “This is for the
whole magilla, for the
whole ball of wax, for the
whole kit and kaboodle,
for the whole enchila-
da, the whole shootin’
match. THIS IS FOR
ALL THE MARBLES!”
The 2023 rendition of
the World Skeet Champi-
onships would live up to
this kind of excitement
and would deliver special
memories for so many
from start to finish.
The Main World began
in earnest on Monday
after a successful Mini World/Junior World, which third after falling out late p HOA winners, left to right:
boasted its best numbers in some time. The World in box one. Houston Deshotels, runner-up;
Brent Edwards, champion; and
also saw a little boost in total participation numbers Three ladies posted
Sheaffer Stanfill, third.
compared to last year, with 688 total competitors. 99 and shot off for Lady
Doubles Champion.
DOUBLES Meredith Tunick best-
Much of that group took to the field on Monday, ed Alison Boyette, Lady 12-Gauge Event. The re-
when the first champion of 2023 would be crowned runner-up, and Lauren mainder of the event was
in the Federal Doubles Event. A familiar name, Paul Burge, Lady third, to shot on Tuesday morn-
Giambrone III, earned this championship via a multi- claim the championship ing, and the West or sec-
box shoot-off against one of the hottest shooting par- honors and the first crys- ond 75 was completed
ticipants of 2023, Sheaffer Stanfill, to add to his list of tal bowl of the tourna- Tuesday afternoon. After
accolades. Toward the end of the third box, Sheaffer ment. the last 12-gauge shot
caught a tricky wind-blown pair that was too much was fired, the Krieghoff
to handle. Giambrone claimed the championship 12-GAUGE 12-Gauge Champion-
and add another title to his name. Sheaffer’s perfor- Monday afternoon was ship, 12-Gauge East and
mance would foreshadow what was to come, but he the start of the 12-Gauge 12-Gauge West would all
would settle for runner-up in the first event. Alessan- East, the first 75 of the have to be settled Tues-
dro Vitale, the only other perfect contender, took 150-target Krieghoff day evening.

WORLD SHOOT RESULTS
PLACE NAME SCORE
HOA Champion Brent Edwards 450
HOA Runner-up Houston Deshotels 449
HOA Third Sheaffer Stanfill 448
HOA Lady Champion Melissa Barringer 445
HOA Lady Runner-up Meredith Tunick 443
HOA AAA1 Cameron Schuster 447
HOA AAA2 Clay Baldwin 447
HOA AA1 Trip Jones 447
HOA AA2 Pieter Greyling 447
HOA A1 Zyler Thomas 443
HOA A2 Alison Boyette 442
p 12-gauge winners, including Houston Deshotels and Melissa
HOA B1 Francisco Montanez 437
Barringer, Champion and Lady Champion; Sheaffer Stanfill and
Lynn Cogdill, runner-up and Lady runner-up; and Stuart Brown and HOA B2 Kevin Jarocki 437
Meredith Tunick, third and Lady third. HOA C1 Michael Morris 427
HOA C2 Christopher Giusti 425
Twenty-eight perfect box two, Stuart Brown HOA D1 Ariel Rodriguez 432
150s were turned in, fell out to take third, HOA D2 Sarah Caldwell 425
and the first round of leaving Stanfill and his HOA E1 Owen Ballentine 396
shoot-offs was run over two-man-team partner HOA E2 John-Mark Matkin 384
two fields as the crowd and squadmate, Houston HOA Triple-Sub Champion Houston Deshotels 449
at the National Shooting Deshotels. Early in the HOA Sub-Sub-Senior Champion Brent Edwards 450
Complex watched in- third box, Houston one-
HOA Sub-Senior Champion Stuart Brown 447
tently. Only three would upped his friend to add
make their way to the another championship HOA Senior Champion Mike Wollard 444
stadium. At the end of to his resume. Sheaffer HOA Veteran Champion Doug Coulter 438
HOA Senior Veteran Champion Kenneth Keth 414
HOA Military Champion Andrew Winders 443
HOA Retired Military Champion Stuart Brown 447
HOA Military Veteran Champion Howard Chin 443
HOA Rookie Champion Charliese Erskine 419
HOA First Responder Champion Fred Tschantz 443
12-Gauge East Champion Steven Wood 100
12-Gauge West Champion Lauren Burge 75
12-Gauge Champion Houston Deshotels 150
20-Gauge Champion Connor Thigpen 100
28-Gauge Champion Lauren Burge 100
.410-Bore Champion Clay Baldwin 100
Doubles Champion Paul Giambrone III 100
Wayne Mayes Champion Sheaffer Stanfill 100
HAA Champion Sheaffer Stanfill 548
p .410 winners, including Clay Baldwin and Lindsay Plesko,

Champion and Lady Champion; Brent Edwards and Meredith Tunick,
runner-up and Lady runner-up; and Gary Antunano and Rachel
Barringer, third and Lady third.

would have to settle for

a second consecutive
runner-up.
Melissa Barringer had
a perfect score of 150
to take the Lady title
outright. Lynn Cogdill
bested Tunick for Lady
runner-up and third, re-
spectively.
Tuesday was also the
night of the World Shoot
party, offering three ca-
tering options to partici-
pants and guests. Parme-
san-crusted chicken,
Texas BBQ, and fajitas
were all available, along
with beer and wine. The Clay Baldwin and Con- p Brent Edwards shot his first-ever perfect event score to win HOA
patio and tent seating nor Thigpen would be uncontested with a 450x450.
areas were full as friends champion, runner-up
and family chatted, and third in the East,
watched the shoot-offs with Lauren Burge, be finalized for the re- onship ahead of Victoria
and enjoyed the evening. Houston Deshotels and mainder of the tourna- Stellato. After an im-
Once the overall 150 Sheaffer Stanfill claim- ment. Thirty-four 100s pressive shoot-off of 99s,
championship shooting those positions in the were shot in the Fiocchi NSSA’s newest hire, Jes-
offs were completed, West. 20-Gauge Event, includ- sica Wolfe, claimed Lady
the East and West had ing firsts by Cameron third over NSSA Hall of
to be decided. The first 20-GAUGE Boyd and Alex Catalano. Famer Lindsay Plesko. I
box of East and West Starting on Wednesday, Before the shoot-offs also must mention, my
had already been com- the shoot became slightly began, a traditional hat brother, Cameron Boyd,
pleted during the day to easier to manage for eve- shoot ceremony took was able to turn his first
help shorten the evening ryone, as only one event place in the stadium 20-gauge 100 into the B
shoot-offs. Steve Wood, per day would have to field. Surprisingly, only Class Championship. It
two shooters managed was a proud moment for
to find their way into the me to be able to award
stadium field after the him his championship
first box. Shortly into buckle and medallion
the second box, Connor during the awards cer-
Thigpen, at age 14, be- emony. For those who
came one of the young- were up for it, a little mu-
est to ever win an Open sical entertainment was
World Championship. Ja- provided to close out the
cob Young of Briley took evening.
the runner-up position. Throughout the event,
Mike Wollard was able there were opportuni-
to make it the longest of ties for competitors to
the other competitors to win prizes via the Elite
take home third. Golden Ticket program,
Alison Boyette had the MEC Golden Target
p Having won the 20-gauge, 14-year-old Connor Thigpen became best performance of the game, and random door
one of the youngest shooters on record to win an Open title. ladies and was able to prize drawings. Congrat-
secure the Lady Champi- ulations to Marissa Sand-

p Wayne Mayes Event winners, left to right: Connor Ball, runner-up;
p The 20-gauge champions and class winners Sheaffer Stanfill, champion; and Cameron Schuster, third.
oval, who won the special NSSA Hall of Fame Ban- two, Brent Edwards, the plishments and became
pouch donated by Doug quet. Twenty-five performer champion, would one of the few women
Toulouse, and to all the fect scores of 100 were settle for third, leaving shooters to win an Open
winners of these games. posted in the event, and Lauren Burge and Luis world title. For Luis, it
Special thank you to the shooters were split Lozada of Puerto Rico. was a proud moment,
those who donated prod- among two fields for Into the third box they as he was congratulated
ucts, including our local the first box. Six partici- went, and both seemed and celebrated with the
food vendors and spon- pants were able to clear to be cruising. On the many shooters attending
sors. the first box, but only last pair of the third box, from Puerto Rico. Along
one former champion Burge would become with the open title, Lau-
28-GAUGE was among them, creat- Open World Champion ren also took the Lady
Thursday was reserved ing a good opportunity over Lozada. It was a Championship. She was
for the White Flyer for a first-time World great moment, as Lau- joined by Melissa Barrin-
28-Gauge Event and the Champion. After box ren added to her accom- ger, also with a perfect
score, and Meridith Tu-
nick, who earned Lady
third via shoot-off.
Once the 28-gauge
awards were handed out,
200-plus attendees head-
ed to the Hall of Fame
Banquet to celebrate the
induction of Jim Tiner,
Ray Boller Award recipi-
ent, Mark Vaillancourt
and Marina Pakis. NS-
SA’s best clubs, associa-
tions and high average
award winners were also
recognized throughout
the evening.
p Paul Giambrone III won the doubles event. .410 BORE

Friday would be a full

day as the Remington and see how many oth- wards. Gary Antunano, p Lauren Burge won the
.410 Championship, ers would be shot, but with his first 100 in .410, 12-Gauge West and was
Kolar HOA, Winchester he was also in a good settled for third. Lindsay 28-Gauge Champion.
HAA and Wayne Mayes position with a perfect Plesko made her way to
Championship would all 450x450. In the end, the top step of the po-
have to be completed. only two other perfect dium, joined by Tunick pionship, there were
The .410 was the only scores would be shot and Rachel Barringer. multiple shooters go-
shot event of the day, with the little gun. Clay ing into the .410 per-
and the first 100 was Baldwin would claim HIGH OVER ALL fect, and at least one on
posted by Brent Edwards. the .410 championship In the race for the Kolar each rotation, it seemed.
He would have to wait in short order over Ed- High Over All Cham- This created some ex-
citement and possible
anxiety for those wait-
ing, as everyone watched
for the key scores to be
updated to see who the
HOA Champion would
be or if a shoot-off would
be required. Ultimately,
Brent Edwards would
be the only competitor
with 450, adding another
World Championship to
his accolades. Years ago,
Brent won two World
titles in one night and
had been knocking on
 Lady HOA winners, left

to right: Meredith Tunick,
runner-up; Melissa Barringer,
champion; and Lindsay Plesko,
third.

LADIES SKEET CLINIC AT WORLD SKEET CHAMPIONSHIPS
The inaugural Ladies Skeet Clinic was held on September 29 Committee, and enjoyed a fabulous lunch, compliments of NSSA.
during the Mini World, with 12 participants paired with four in- NSSA also provided Complimentary Limited Memberships for all
structors. Instructors were JoEllen Collin, Jackie Ego, Bethanne the clinic participants. Huge thanks to duPont/Krieghoff, Krieghoff,
Miles, and Hannah Goddard, with Susie Galloway assisting. The Briley, Federal and NSSA for their generous gifts, loaner guns, am-
objectives of the clinic were to provide a safe, friendly and sup- munition and the special touches that made this inaugural clinic a
portive environment for our students to learn the fundamentals success. With a full clinic and waiting list for the inaugural event,
of shotgun shooting from and with other women. we’re already planning for an expanded 2024 event.
Experience levels ranged from never having handled a gun/
shotgun before, to some beginners who had shot a little skeet, — Contributed by Hannah Goddard; Photos by Susie Galloway
sporting clays or trap. All were eager to learn about skeet
shooting. We had classroom time where we got to know each
other, gave a brief overview of clay target sports, with empha-
sis on skeet, its history, and NSSA, and conducted a thorough
safety orientation.
JoEllen Collin and Jackie Ego checked everyone for eye
dominance, and the instructors helped dial in gun fit for all the
ladies. Instructors went over proper mount and stance before
each group headed out to the four fields NSSA had ready for the
group. It wasn’t long before shots were fired and cheers went
up and down the line as some of the students broke their very
first skeet targets.
At the conclusion of shooting, the group headed to head-
quarters, met members of the NSSA staff and the Executive

the door throughout the Montanez (B), Michael

2023 event, so he was Morris, Jr. (C), Ariel
very excited to win it in Rodriguez (D), Owen
the fashion he did, with Ballentine (E), Houston
the first 450 in over 10 Deshotels (Triple-Sub),
years. HOA runner-up Brent Edwards (Sub-Sub-
and third were settled Senior), Stuart Brown
uncontested as the Mini (Sub-Senior and Retired
World Champion, Hou- Military), Mike Wollard
ston Deshotels, was one (Senior), Doug Coul-
target behind Edwards ter (Veteran), Ken Keth
with a 449. Sheaffer Stan- (Senior Veteran), An-
fill would take third with drew Winders (Military),
a solid 448. Howard Chin (Military
ner-up and third, respec- shooters got in a groove

tively. of sorts. Schuster would
The last event to be wind up third place just
settled was the Wayne over the halfway mark.
Mayes Championship, Last year’s HOA Cham-
which was composed of pion, Connor Ball, tried
the last box of each of to claim another World
the main four events. Championship, but
Twenty-three competi- Sheaffer Stanfill finally
tors finished their last finished a shoot-off as
boxes without a miss, giv- the last man standing, a
p With attendance slightly up from last year, the event was a big ing them a chance at the fitting end to the World
success and enjoyed by shooters from all over the world. last World title of 2023. Skeet Championships.
Shooters were dropping Burge, Barringer, and
like flies on the first few Plesko all found them-
As for the Lady HOA Veteran), Fred Tschantz stations, and only three selves in comfortable
Championship, Melissa (First Responder), and
Barringer was the most Charliese Erskine (Rook-
consistent performer in ie).
each of the events, which
left her Lady HOA. Tu- HAA AND WAYNE
nick and Plesko ended MAYES CHAMPIONSHIP
up tied for runner-up With the HOA com-
and third and would pleted, the Winchester
meet one more time on HAA was the next event
the shoot-off field. This to shoot off. Sheaffer
go-round, Meredith best- Stanfill’s perfect score
ed Lindsay to finalize the in the doubles paid off,
Lady HOA podium. as it helped him secure
Other notable HOA the highest HAA score of
winners included: Cam- 548 to win the champi-
eron Schuster (AAA), onship outright. Edwards p Melissa Barringer had an outstanding week, winning Lady HOA in
Trip Jones (AA), Zyler and Deshotels were tied the World Skeet Championships as well as the Mini World.
Thomas (A), Francisco with 547 and ended run-

positions on the podium,
taking the gold, silver
and bronze places in the
last event of the champi-
onship.
In what seemed like
a flash, the 2023 World
Skeet Championships
were over. Much prepara-
tion and planning went
into the 2023 Champion-
ships, so we hope every
competitor and their
guests enjoyed their
time during the event.
We hope some personal
bests were reached and
a few milestones were at-
tained, like Hal Stewart,
who shot his 175,000th who attended, thank of referees, staff and vol- and we certainly hope
target during the World. you to all our wonder- unteers who put in many you consider joining us
Much support is re- ful and generous spon- long hours to host a suc- next year at the National
quired to put on a large sors who supported the cessful shoot. Shooting Complex for
event such as the World, shoot, and thank you to Good luck on your the 2024 World Skeet
so thank you to all those our wonderful group next shooting adventure, Championships.

Seen At the World

 PHOTOS BY LEFTY RAY CHAPA
 SHAKIB AKBARI


53rd Annual NSSA Hall
of Fame Banquet
BY CTN STAFF
T
he 2023 NSSA also recognized. Riley
Hall of Fame Chaddock was again the
Banquet, held HOA, with an average of
October 5 at the Hilton .9904. Houston Deshotels
San Antonio Hill Coun- was the 12-gauge leader
try, was a time to cel- with an average of .9972.
ebrate and award clubs Paul Giambrone III
and individual shooters shot an average of .9960
for excellence and for to earn the top spot in
their contributions to 20-gauge. In addition
skeet. to his HOA title, Riley
The awards portion of Chaddock also picked
the evening began with up the 28-gauge leader
recognition of clubs. spot with an average of
Greater Houston Sports .9950. Josh Poole was the
Club was awarded NSSA/ .410 leader with a.9848
NSCA All-Around Club average, and in doubles,
of the Year (which in- Dan Jones took the top
cludes skeet as well as spot with a .9940 average.
sporting clays targets) Lindsay Plesko was the
and Club of the Year for Ladies leader with an av-
its skeet targets. Recog- erage of .9800.
nized Clubs of the Year Three names were add-
were: ed to the Referee Honor
Large (8+ fields): Car- Roll, which recognizes
dinal Shooting Center, outstanding referees who p Mark Vaillancourt, 2023 Hall of Fame inductee.
Ohio; Jacksonville Clay have dedicated many
Target Sports, Florida; hours to skeet shoots in
and Shenecoy Sports- rain or shine, heat or Award for outstanding family and work, floating
men, Pennsylvania cold, to be sure shooters service to the NSSA and between B and C classes.
Intermediate (4-7 get consistent pulls and the sport of skeet. In 1999, while partici-
fields): Imperial Polk fair rulings. This year, Mark Vaillancourt pating in a Minute Man
Gun Club, Florida; Lin- James Hughes, Buck Bu- shot his first clay tar- Sportsman’s Club winter
coln Trap & Skeet, Ne- channan and Dan Caryl get at the 20th Skeet & league, Mark met Wayne
braska; and Palatka Skeet were added to the “Wall Clays in Hookset, New Mayes, and the two in-
Club, Florida of Fame.” Hampshire at the age stantly formed a friend-
Small (1-3 fields): Cos- And then it was on to of 7. A few years later, ship. Wayne began giving
ford Shooting Ground, the highlight of the even- in 1979, he shot his first Mark lessons, and thanks
England; Associacion ing: the Hall of Fame registered skeet targets, to the instruction, Mark
Tiro Y Caza de Puerto inductions. Mark Vaillan- and the very next year, went on to win the Zone
Rico Guyama, Puerto court and Marina Pakis he was New Hampshire 1 12-gauge event the
Rico; and MARS Skeet were inducted in recog- State Junior Champion. following year. The two
Range, Alabama nition of their shooting For nearly 20 years after friends shot together for
The Jay Schatz High careers, and Jim Tiner that, Mark shot sporadi- the next 13 years in AAA
Average Leaders were received the Ray Boller cally while he juggled in all guns.

In 2003, Mark shot a Mark is grateful to
250x250 at the World his sponsors — Federal
Skeet Championships to Ammunition, Krieghoff
win the 12-gauge. The International and Bri-
following year, he shot a ley — and to his favorite
400x400 to win HOA at squadmates, including
a major event with a bro- Wayne Mayes and Linda
ken leg due to a fall on Mayes, Jeff Wright and
winter ice. Linda Wright, and Mar-
Mark has enjoyed many cel Vaillancourt. His
High Average awards favorite skeet clubs are
and major wins at big Forest City in Savannah,
events over the years, and Georgia, and Detroit
in 2019, he was recog- Gun Club in Michigan,
nized by the state of New and amusingly, he lists
Hampshire for outstand- his favorite non-regis-
ing athletic accomplish- tered event as The Toi-
ments in the shooting let Flush Invitational at
world, accompanied by Minute Man Sportsman’s
a letter from the White Club.
House signed by Presi- When asked for his ad-
dent Trump. vice to new shooters of
p Jim Tiner, recipient of the Ray Boller Award for service
any discipline, Mark gave shooting, both skeet and

a simple answer: “Get trap. Her first job was
proper training as soon as a trap girl at her fa-
as possible.” ther’s gun club, the Hot
Marina Pakis began her Springs Gun and Coun-
skeet career at 7 years try Club in Hot Springs,
old as a spectator for her Arkansas. Although Ma-
two older brothers, Steve rina once claimed the Ar-
and Mike. By age 9, she kansas State Ladies Trap
joined them on the com- Championship, skeet was
petitive skeet circuit, and always her first love and
by the time she was 12 in where she achieved her
1970, all three of them greatest success.
were named to All-Amer- Marina’s first
ican skeet teams. This 100-straight was shot at
remains one of the few the 1969 World Cham-
times that three siblings pionships in Rochester,
were named to an All- New York, when she was
American Team in the 11 years old. Her first
same year. Junior Ladies World
p Marina Pakis, 2023 Hall of Fame inductee Marina’s childhood re- Championship was in
volved around clay target 1971, and she repeated

HALL OF FAME
that feat in 1972, 1973 2023) and Armed Servic-

and 1974. At the age es Skeet Championship
of 14, she became the (2004, 2006, 2021). On
youngest shooter to win one particular occasion,
a Ladies World title by Jim worked with the Fort
winning the 1972 .410 Bragg club to step in at
event with a record-set- the last minute when
ting score of 98x100. another club could not
The Hot Springs Gun meet their Masters host-
and Country Club closed ing commitment.
in 1975, and Marina’s After struggling with
shooting tapered off decreasing Zone Shoot
through college, al- attendance and the re-
though she did win the sulting financial impacts,
ACUI Ladies Collegiate Jim was responsible for
skeet title in 1979, the the decision to move
one year she competed Zone 4 to the new iShoot
in the event. Upon her format. The result of
college graduation, Ma- that decision was dou-
rina moved to Memphis, bling the shoot attend-
Tennessee and concen- ance to more than 300
trated on her non-shoot- participants, which has
ing career. p Greater Houston Sports Club was named Club of the Year as well improved resources, al-
After a 19-year hiatus, as NSSA-NSCA All-Around Club of the Year. lowing the association
Marina returned to com- to better serve the zone
petitive shooting in late membership.
2001. Since then, she more than 232,000 reg- in the orchestration of Being committed to
has won two additional istered targets, earning the Junior World. service, Jim’s past service
Ladies World titles and awards at the state, zone Jim works tirelessly includes stints as Zone
numerous second- and and national level. for our sport and never 4 Executive Commit-
third-place finishes. Jim has been a life seeks recognition. He teeman; President, Vice
From her first to her member of the NSSA has proven to be the President and Secretary/
most recent, Marina’s since 1984, and in that backbone of the North Treasurer of the Zone 4
Ladies World titles have time, he has built a solid Carolina Skeet Associa- Skeet Association at dif-
spanned a remarkable reputation of sustained tion for 20 years since he ferent times; President of
45 years. She has been contribution to the as- began running shoots at the North Carolina Skeet
named to All-American sociation. Since 1984, Fort Bragg Clay Target Association; and a mem-
Teams in the 1970s, he has participated in Center in 2003. Always ber of the Rules Com-
2000s, 2010s and 2020s. his state, Zone 4, and focusing on what is best mittee, the World Shoot
Marina still resides in the World Skeet Cham- for our sport and the Committee and the U.S.
Memphis and is a proud pionships, and he has shooters, Jim is very well Open Committee. He
member of the Memphis been a sustaining mem- known for his staunch continues to serve as a
Sports Shooting Associa- ber of the Armed Forces support of youth shoot- member of the Hall of
tion. Skeet Association. Jim ing. Fame Committee and as
Jim Tiner, recipient of has served in a leader- The driving force be- an At-Large National Di-
the Ray Boller Award for ship role during most hind Cross Creek Skeet rector. Because Jim’s wife
extraordinary service to of those years, and he Association, Jim has Belinda Tiner has been
NSSA and skeet, shot his can normally be found hosted numerous top instrumental in many of
first registered targets in helping with registra- 100 shoots, including these areas of service for
1983 in Kaiserslautern, tion at the Masters, Zone the Masters (2007-2009), which Jim was honored,
West Germany, while 4 Championship and U.S. Open (2006), Junior she was also presented a
serving in the U.S. Army. World Shoot, as well as World (2014 and 2019), plaque in recognition of
He has since amassed being intimately involved Paratrooper Open (2003- her contributions.

NSCA Event Coverage:
South Central Regional
September 12-14, 2023, Covey Rise Lodge, Louisiana
BY JACOB CAMERON
F
or the final leg of
the 2023 Nation-
al Sporting Clays
Association Regionals
circuit, shooters from all
over the country gath-
ered to compete in a lit-
tle town called Husser,
Louisiana. Many were
surprised to find that the
club, Covey Rise Lodge,
was located nearly in the
center of the little town.
With how widespread
and beautiful the proper-
ty was, it was an excellent
place to call home for
this year’s South Central
Regional Championship.
Nearly 600 shooters were
in attendance through-
 KALEIGH LAWSON
out the week, and the
tournament offered a
plethora of targets pres-
entations, backgrounds,
vendors and amenities for all.
Each course was set far beyond the club’s main area, the shooters to dip their Over All shooter with a
where the impressive lodge/clubhouse was situated, toes in the water, so to very impressive score of
and the tall trees surrounding it all echoed the thou- speak, with the RC Car- 99x100 — and he won
sands of gunshots; the echoes rang with excitement tridges USA Preliminary Junior HOA, too. Brax-
as the shooters set out to shoot the different events. 100-bird event. Vari- ton Oliver and Brandon
Events like FITASC and Super Sporting were laid out ous targets were thrown Powell tied for HOA
with difficult and tricky target combinations, while the with deceiving speeds runner-up after shooting
Preliminary and European events were a great warm- and hard-to-read target 96x100, but after a shoot-
up to the Main Event hosted later in the week. Ameri- lines, and on top of it off between the two, it
can Field Sporting and Sub-Gauge FITASC events were all, they did this across was Oliver winning run-
also offered, with a good foundation of what the target 15 different stations. A ner-up and Powell taking
setters intended to challenge the shooters with — and total of 346 competitors home third overall.
targets most certainly did just that. shot the event through- Desirae Edmunds won
out the week, and after the Lady’s division out-
PRELIM it was all said and done, right after putting up a
The Regional offered an excellent opportunity for Todd Hitch was the High great score of 89x100 —

SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL RESULTS
PLACE NAME SCORE
HOA Todd Hitch 186
Runner-up Joseph Fanizzi 182
Third Brandon Powell 180
Lady Champion Shelby Moon 172
Lady Runner-up Karen Miles 172
M1 Zachary Kienbaum 180
M2 Bill McGuire 179
AA1 Carson Lingle 168
AA2 Bill Rawlins 157
A1 Dakota Sparks 149
A2 Bryson Elwer 146
 KALEIGH LAWSON
B1 Caden Harris 152

B2 Braxton Hill 145
C1 John Callaway 137
C2 Jake Wright 135
Grace Callahan, however, duce the competitors to D1 Terry Hilliard 122

was just one bird behind the types of targets they D2 Todd Richard 119
her at 88x100, winning could anticipate seeing E1 Robert Layton 125
Lady runner-up. Karen throughout the differ- E2 Clarissa Haltiwanger 110
Miles was just one bird ent events,and to become Sub-Junior Champion Connor Daniel 177
behind Callahan, as she equally familiar with the Sub-Junior Runner-up Carson Lingle 168
shot 87x100 to win Lady terrain of the luxurious
Junior Champion Todd Hitch 186
third. property.
Collin Lang showed Junior Runner-up Joseph Fanizzi 182
the Sub-Junior category SUPER SPORTING Veteran Champion Bill McGuire 179
how it was done after Super Sporting is always Veteran Runner-up Larry Thorne 171
shooting a total score of on par with some of Super Veteran Champion Rick Mein 167
88x100, winning Sub- the larger events at any Super Veteran Runner-up James Gilman 167
Junior Champion. Car- NSCA Regional Tourna- Senior Super Veteran Champion Dev Moring 144
son Lingle shot nearly as ment, without a doubt
Senior Super Veteran Runner-up Bill Hogg 137
well, as he completed the — at this Regional, how-
course with an 87x100 to ever, they wanted to do Legacy Champion Ruben Spell 131
win Sub-Junior runner- things a little differently. 12-Gauge 50-Bird Samuel Kenley 49
up. Griffin Howe took The Fiocchi Super Sport- 20-Gauge Alejandro Bravo 44
home Sub-Junior third ing event had European 28-Gauge Ricky Blake 46
with an 85, and not too rotations fueling it all .410 Bore Kirk Cleere 42
far from those guys were week, allowing the nearly FITASC Kevin DeMichiel 90
the Juniors, as Lane Pick- 400 competitors to shoot
FITASC Runner-up Gebben Miles 89
lo won Junior runner- all 13 stations at their
up (behind Todd) after own pace before the final 20-Gauge FITASC Ryan Holmes 44
shooting a great score of shot on the final day of 28-Gauge FITASC Jacob Cameron 45
93, and Jonathon Prince the week. Brandon Pow- 5-Stand Todd Hitch 96
finishing off strong with ell, Kevin DeMichiel and Super Sporting Brandon Powell 95
his 90 to win Junior third. Shawn Kemeter rocked Prelim Todd Hitch 99
Per usual, the Pre- through it and each shot American Field Sporting Clayton Nance 50
liminary event is always a solid score of 95x100.
Winchester Ladies Cup Karen Miles 339
a fantastic way to intro- This, of course, led to

a shoot-off between the onship, while Lane Pick-

three gentlemen, after lo finished the event off
which it was Powell win- at a solid 90. This score
ning the championship granted him the Junior
spot. Kevin DeMichi- runner-up spot, and Mat-
el was runner-up, and thew Lorio left an 88 out
Shawn Kemeter ended there to win Junior third.
up taking home M1. Though the event was
Lady Champion was hosted a little differently
awarded to Madison than normal, many were
Sharpe after she com- fond of the new change
pleted the course with of pace.Could it lead to
86x100, and Morgan a subtle, yet permanent,
Goette shot great with change for future Re-
her 85 to win Lady run- gional events?
ner-up. Amber Brown
was not far behind them, FITASC/5–STAND
as she was awarded Lady The Gamebore FITASC
third with 83x100. and Browning 5-Stand
Connor Daniel ended events were held in dif-
up winning Sub-Junior ferent parts of the prop-
Champion after finishing erty, with each of the
 JACOB CAMERON
the course at a 91x100, layouts closely packed

and Caden Carter was together for easy travers-
on his tail to win Sub- al between rounds and
Junior runner-up with an rotations. The 100-bird
89x100. Carson Lingle FITASC was almost an
shot lights-out as well and outlier, as shooters were parcours laid in a cross- Edmunds completed the
put up 86 to take home required to leave the wise fashion, so no one four layouts with a solid
Sub-Junior third. main property and trek had to travel far to the score of 86x100 — this
In the Juniors, Turner their way down a county next set of 25 targets. landed her the champi-
Parcell shot a grand score road to the other part Difficult lighting condi- on’s spot for the Ladies.
of 93 and, as a result, of the property. Once tions and target combi- Karen Miles shot well all
won the Junior Champi- there, they found all four nations meant most had around as well, hitting
to use every tool in their 81x100 targets to win
toolbox to shoot well. the Lady runner-up spot.
Nevertheless, it was Savanna Barks came in
Kevin DeMichiel who Lady third after finishing
shot lights-out across all the event off with an 80.
four layouts and ended Over in the Junior cat-
up winning the event egory, Todd Hitch was
with his 90x100. Geb- only a single target from
ben Miles and Joseph Fanizzi to win Junior run-
Fanizzi tied with scores ner-up, and Carson Lin-
of 89, and after the im- gle was similarly only a
pressive shoot-off, it was few targets behind Hitch
 KALEIGH LAWSON
Miles who came out on to win the Junior third-

top to win runner-up place medal after shoot-
and Fanizzi landing third ing a score of 86.
while also winning Junior Not only was the
p Joseph Fanizzi was HOA runner-up. Champion. FITASC event widely
The Lady’s division popular, but so was the
came to play, as Desirae Browning 5-Stand event,

 KALEIGH LAWSON
 KALEIGH LAWSON
p Karen Miles won the Winchester Ladies Cup and Lady runner-up
p Connor Daniel shot a 177 to earn the Sub-Junior Championship. in the main.
which saw familiar names while Derrick Mein won all with her 89x100 score to the near-500 competi-
and faces at the top of M1 with his 95x100. to win Lady third. tors, as it was the home
the leaderboards. Todd Grace Callahan and The Sub-Junior cate- of the Preliminary event
Hitch continued his Desirae Edmunds tied gory had Connor Daniel hosted earlier in the
consistent shooting, as for the Lady Champion win the division spot af- week. The Blue/Beretta
he was the High Over spot after shooting scores ter shooting an 89, with course, however, was not
All shooter of this event of 90x100. This led to Griffin Howe and Caden so familiar, as it was set
outright, after shooting a tie-breaker sequence, Carter tying for the next further back beyond the
a total score of 96x100 in which it was Callahan spot with 86 — Howe Red course and ran par-
(which also led him to who came out on top won the bout to take allel to it — a combina-
win Champion in the and won the Lady Cham- Sub-Junior runner-up, tion set strategically for
Junior concurrent). pion title. Edmunds was and Carter won third. the shooters to enjoy or
Brandon Powell complet- then the Lady’s runner- Joseph Fanizzi won endure, depending on
ed the event with a 95 up, while Madison Shar- runner-up in the Jun- the mindset. Both cours-
to win HOA runner-up, pe was not far behind at ior concurrent after an es were set with what
impressive showing of seemed to be a fair bal-
93x100, with David Texas ance of difficulty, speed
Ardis just two birds be- and distance of targets.
hind him to win Junior The simple terrain and
third. backgrounds made for
target pairs thrown to
MAIN be naturally deceiving
Far beyond the main and led to a struggle for
area of the property, many to keep their foot-
most events were spread ing throughout the week-
out in an open fashion end.
that naturally allowed It was not much of a
shooters to progressively challenge for others,
get closer and closer to however, as after the
the biggest event of them dust had settled, it was
 KALEIGH LAWSON
all — the Beretta and Todd Hitch who was the

Winchester Main. One High Over All Open and
course, the Red/Win- Junior Champion of the
chester, was most familiar Main event after shoot-

ing a 186x200 score. Jo- Junior Champion award

seph Fanizzi completed for the Main event as
both courses with a total well. Carson Lingle con-
score of 182x200, lead- tinued his consistency
ing him to win the HOA throughout both courses
Open and Junior runner- and shot a total score of
up titles, and Brandon 168, as did Caden Carter,
Powell finishing the week leading to a tie-breaker
strong after shooting a sequence. Lingle came
score of 180x200 to win out on top as the runner-
HOA third. up, and Carter took third
An intense shoot-off place.
between Shelby Moon It was fantastic shoot-
and Karen Miles was a ing all around by all
great showing of sports- competitors, and there
manship and talent, as was no doubt that each
both women shot scores one enjoyed themselves
of 172x200, but it was one way or another
Moon who won the Main throughout the fun week
event Lady Champion of competing and social-
title. Miles won Lady run- izing in Louisiana. Covey
ner-up and Junior third, Rise Lodge hosted an
while Savanna Barks shot amazing South Central
a 165 to win Lady third. Regional tournament,
Not too far beyond in and there will undoubt-
the Sub-Junior category, edly be more major
Connor Daniel shot a NSCA tournamentshost-
177x200 to win the Sub- ed there in the future.
 JACOB CAMERON

Cold-Weather Shooting Gear
Wearing good cold-weather gear can make the difference between an enjoyable
day shooting or a miserable one. What’s the secret?
BY TIM LE CRAS
L
ikely everyone has seen that individual (or maybe it was you) who turned
up at a winter shoot not prepared for the cold, wet or snowy conditions. In
short order, they can heard complaining that they cannot feel their hands
or feet and are having a hard time pulling the trigger, let alone focusing on the
targets. In very cold, windy, wet conditions, hypothermia can happen after only
a few minutes of exposure if you are not appropriately dressed. It is important
that you protect your body core but also your extremities, hands and feet, so they
don’t get frostbite. In addition, it is paramount to protect your head, as a tremen-
dous amount of heat can get lost by not wearing a good hat. Your gear needs to
protect you from rain and wind as well as the cold. Wind chill will make any cold
temperatures even worse, and you could get hypothermia a lot quicker if it’s blus-
tery. So, what do you need to do to prepare for cold shooting weather?
 TIM LE CRAS

COLD-WEATHER GEAR
Layer up: The first

principle of dressing for
cold conditions is to lay-
er up. This means wear-
ing multiple layers of
thinner clothing rather
than a few thick items.
The idea here is that
more air gets trapped be-
tween the layers and thus
insulates better than one
thick layer, like a super
heavy coat. However, if
your layers get wet, this
will be largely ineffective,
 JAMES CARSON
so it is vital that you wear

a good outer layer that
is waterproof, or at the
very least, highly water-
resistant. many layers are ideal? just in case. p Nighttime shoots in Alaska
The other advantage of Well, that depends on Best materials for cold- call for warm hats and insulated
wearing multiple thinner the temperature, condi- weather clothing: The boots.
layers is that it allows you tions and your metabo- type of material your
to adjust the number of lism. The best way to clothing is made of is
layers to match the con- deal with this is to have very important. Choose
ditions — if it warms up more layers you can add clothing that is 100% Blue jeans are usually
during the day, you can if needed stowed in your or a high percentage of 100% cotton and so are
shed a layer or two. How shooting bag or vehicle man-made fibers, such as not advisable in the win-
polyester or nylon. Wool ter unless you’re confi-
was traditionally used for dent that it will not rain.
cold-weather gear but is If you do wear cotton
less common these days, clothing, make sure that
as it is heavier than man- it is not your outer layer.
made fibers. A percent- Be intentional about
age of wool in the mate- looking at the prod-
rial mix is still common, uct label when you buy
especially in things like cold-weather clothing to
hiking socks. check what materials it is
Whenever possible, made of.
avoid clothes that have a For outer layers, nylon
high percentage of cot- or polyester shells with
ton, as it absorbs water a waterproof membrane
and does not dry quickly underneath are good. In-
like polyester does. Cot- sulation in jackets, vests
ton will hold water and and pants should also
increase your risk of be synthetic fibers, like
becoming hypothermic. fleece or polyester. Once
again, wet cotton insula-
tion will not insulate you
 LEFTY RAY CHAPA
 When buying gloves, thinner well, and it will be heavy.

is better so you can maintain Base layers: One of
dexterity. Fingerless gloves are the most important ways
a good option if you like them. to keep warm is to have

a good base layer made
of synthetic fibers. What COLD-WEATHER GEAR ITEMS WE LOVE
is a base layer? It is the
clothing next to your
skin, so shirt or under- 1. Wild Hare Weather Coat or
shirt, leggings, socks and Hydro-Elite Shooting Jacket.
underwear. Long-sleeved The Wild Hare Weather Coat (right,
synthetic shirts, usually green) is insulated and water-re-
made of polyester, are a sistant. The Wild Hare Hydro-Elite
good idea. Drake, North Jacket (right, blue) is waterproof
Face, and Columbia with a waterproof hood that rolls
brands offer many kinds, into the collar. The coat and jacket
and they can usually be have leather-trimmed shell pock-
found in large sporting ets and a full-length leather recoil
goods stores. Wearing pad like a vest.
polyester underwear is 2. North Face Paramount nylon
important, and this can pants or Weatherproof Vintage
also be found at sporting pants keep your legs warm. The
goods stores or online. North Face Paramount pants are a
Some people will wear polyester/elastane mix and have
“thermal underwear,” a Durable Water-Repellent (DWR)
which may include leg- finish, so they work well when
gings. This goes under they are wet. Weatherproof pants
your pants and can in- are not waterproof, but the fleece
crease your level of com- lining helps keep you warm when
fort in very cold weather it is cold.
considerably — just don’t 3. Woolrich Merino Wool hiking
buy the old-school cotton socks (bottom right) are a mix of
long johns. Cotton next wool/nylon/Lycra Spandex and
to your skin will trap any provide great comfort and insula-
moisture if you work up tion in your waterproof boots.
a sweat, and you’ll strug- 4. Carhartt Rain Defender Canvas
gle to warm up for the Earflap Cap (bottom right) is Tri-
rest of the day. cot-lined and has insulation in the
Winter shooting vests crown and earflap. Alternatively,
and jackets: How are you the Browning waxed cotton base-
supposed to incorporate ball cap (right) is water-resistant
your shooting vest into and a classic.
all of these layers? You 5. Wild Hare Competition Shoot-
could buy another, larg- ing Gloves (right) have stretch-
er, vest to fit over your able fabric, an elastic cuff and
winter jacket, but that hook-and-loop back for fit and
can be costly depend- sensitivity. While not insulated,
ing on what type of vest these gloves will keep the wind off
you use. Alternatively, your hands while you are shooting.
you could buy a vest that 6. Drake MST Breathable Quarter
is adjustable so you can Zip Hoodie. Great for layering un-
loosen it and make it fit der your winter coat or jacket, this
over a winter jacket. A ultralight hoodie by Drake (right,
third option is to switch brown) is made from four-way
to a shell pouch in the stretch polyester microfleece that
winter if that doesn’t up- is soft and comfortable.
set your process. Or, try

COLD-WEATHER GEAR
a winter shooting coat

or jacket that has shell
pockets built onto the
exterior — Wild Hare  If you plan to wear a hoodie
makes shooting coats as part of your cold-weather
and jackets for cold con- gear, practice while wearing it
ditions and wet condi- before tournament day to make
sure the extra material around
tions that have shell
your neck doesn’t affect your
pockets on both sides
form or distract you.
and a full-length leather
shoulder pad (see side-
bar for more informa-
tion).
Should you get an in-
sulated or non-insulat- CHECKLIST
 TIM LE CRAS
ed cold-weather jacket? OF ESSENTIAL

Insulated jackets offer COLD/WET
extra warmth but can be WEATHER GEAR
bulky, and if it warms up
during the day, they may a fleece pullover and a tion, such as the Wild Come to the shoot
end up being hot. An un- long-sleeved polyester Hare Hydro-Elite Jacket well-prepared with the
insulated jacket can be shirt. The key is to get a that also has a stowable following items.
a better solution if you jacket that provides good rainproof hood. 1. Waterproof hiking or
layer up underneath with wind and rain protec- Cold- and wet-weather hunting boots with
boots: Good waterproof a good insulating
boots are essential if you insole
are to be comfortable in 2. Warm hiking- or
wet and cold conditions. hunting-style wool/
Hunting-style or hiking synthetic mix socks
boots may work if you (two pairs)
already have them. But 3. Polyester underwear
if not, invest in a pair of and/or “thermal”
quality hiking-style boots underwear
that are either all leath- 4. Polyester long-
er or composite, which sleeved shirt
usually means a combi- 5. Nylon or fleece insu-
nation of suede/leather lated pants
and nylon. The key is 6. Warm hat or insu-
that these boots should lated baseball cap
be waterproof and have 7. Synthetic polyester
a waterproof mem- hoodie or fleece
brane lining the interior jacket
(GORE-TEX is probably 8. Pocket warmers (two
the most common). The sets)
soles and any stitching 9. Shooting gloves
 DANIELLE MURDOCK
that holds the sole onto 10. Waterproof winter

the upper part of the shooting jacket/coat
boot must also be sealed. with shell pockets or
Besides having water- larger shooting vest
proof boots, the insulat- (not made of cotton)
p 100% cotton jeans are not the best choice for cold and wet or
ing quality of the insole that goes over your
damp conditions. If you’re going to wear them, use a base layer. is very important. In cold winter jacket.
conditions, it is a good

idea to replace the boot’s here is that ski-style insu-
insole if it is thin or com- lated gloves are usually
pacted. An insulating in- too thick to shoot in and
sole (usually a little thick- will impede your feel for
er than most that are the trigger. Leather-type
supplied with the boots) or synthetic shooting
is vital so that you don’t gloves or golfing gloves
lose a lot of heat through may work, but keep-
the soles of your feet. ing your hands in your
However, do not choose pockets between shoot-
a new insole that makes ing is still a good idea.
your boots too tight on Bringing hand warm-
your feet, as this leaves ers that you put in your
you uncomfortable and jacket pockets is a good
cold — tight boots are solution, and buy these
colder than normal-fit- by the pack, so you have
ting boots, and a little air plenty. Stow your hand-
in the toe box will help warmers in your shooting
keep your feet warm. bag or vehicle so that you
What is really a bad idea always have them ready
 TIM TURNER
in cold and wet weather when needed. A fleece

is to wear tennis shoes, muff that straps around
they have no insulating your waist, a favorite of
ability and almost always duck hunters, can be
p When you’re seriously bundled up against the cold, your shooting
are not waterproof. very helpful for keeping
vest might not fit. Try an adjustable vest or switch to a pouch.
The importance of your hands warm when
good socks: Good syn- you’re not shooting.
thetic or wool/polyester- you normally would. Be or coat has a hood, you Insulated thermos:
blend socks can make a sure to try on boots with can pull that over your Warming up by drinking
huge difference in help- the thick socks you plan head or hat when not a hot drink in between
ing to insulate your feet to shoot in. shooting to give you stations can help, so con-
from the cold. It is also Hats, hoods and hood- protection. A polyester sider bringing a thermal
a good idea to bring a ies: Keeping your head hoodie, like the duck- flask with hot chocolate,
spare pair of socks (or warm and dry is essential hunting styles made by green tea or another
keep them in your vehi- in cold weather. There Drake, can also work hot beverage. An insu-
cle in the winter) in case are a lot of different hat well, and the hood lated flask that has an
it is very muddy, or in styles, and ones that are means that it comes up integrated cup is smart,
case rains gets into the lined by a waterproof higher on your neck as then you don’t have
top of your boots. Good membrane can be a re- even with the hood to remember to bring a
quality hiking or hunt- ally good idea. Your down. If you don’t nor- separate mug. It is prob-
ing socks usually work summer-shooting cotton mally shoot in a hoodie, ably best to avoid coffee
very well and are made baseball cap is not help- be sure to practice in and black tea due to the
of synthetic materials or ful in cold conditions, one, so the extra mate- caffeine.
a wool mix. The cushion- especially if it is raining. rial around your neck
ing nature of these socks Knit hats or hunting hats won’t faze you on tourna- u Tim Le Cras is a freelance
can also help your feet can work well. A hat with ment day. writer, outdoor photographer
not get tired if you are insulation is a good idea. Gloves and pocket and certified FITASC referee.
walking a long course or Waxed cotton baseball warmers: Cold hands Tim lives in Cincinnati, Ohio,
rough paths or terrain. caps made by manufac- can really make shoot- and can be reached at
Between thicker socks turers like Browning or ing unpleasant, so get- timdlecras@gmail.com or
and new insoles, you Orvis can work, but they ting gloves that will help online at TLC-Outdoors.com.
might need to buy boots are not insulated. keep your hands warm is
a half-size larger than If your shooting jacket essential. The problem

The Evolution of Vision
in Sporting Clays
Your brain is naturally wired to point at the thing it’s looking at, and
when you first start trying to overcome that tendency with a shotgun,
you’ll see the dreaded “double image.”

BY GIL, VICKI AND BRIAN ASH
N
obody begins wing or clay shooting without While this is confusing to almost all shooters, in
some level of visual confusion, thanks to a the beginning it seems that this phenomenon is
phenomenon called physiological diplopia, more prevalent in female shooters when compared
which simply means that when you are focused to male shooters. After years of taking tape off
on a distant object, things closer to you that you shooters’ glasses and helping shooters who have
are aware of in your periphery become a double been misdiagnosed as cross-dominant and explaining
image. The same thing occurs when you are focused what the sight picture is really supposed to look like,
on something close to you — what you perceive we think we have stumbled onto the reason more
at distance in your periphery is a double image. females are misdiagnosed as cross-dominant.
 PHOTOS BY LEFTY RAY CHAPA

EVOLUTION OF VISION
First, let’s define the

confusion and miscon-
ceptions we’ve seen in
our three and a half
decades as profession-
al coaches. As we dis-
cussed in the Training
Tips department in this
issue, since you were 6
months old, you have
been pointing at some-
thing you were looking
at. But in our game, the
gun must be pointed
ahead of the target be-
cause the target is mov-
ing. In the beginning,
almost without excep-
tion, as shooters mount
the gun, because of The situation de- ly misdiagnosed as cross- p Human instinct is to point
their well-honed point- scribed above happens dominant by well-mean- directly at something you’re
ing sequence and natu- to everyone the first time ing but uninformed focused on — you must
ral tendency to point at they try to hit a moving instructors or shooters. overcome this instinct in order
to shoot well.
what they’re looking at, target with a shotgun, There is a perception
the muzzle ends up on but when the new shootout there that if you are
the target and they are er says something about right-handed and right- and look down the barrel
confused by the double the confusing picture, eye dominant, that you and get the correct lead
image of the barrel. They they are often erroneous- can look at the target to hit a moving target
don’t know which bar- with no visual confusion
rel image to line up with —but in our experience,
the target. Even though nothing could be further
they’ve been told not to from the truth. Please re-
look at the barrel, they alize that what you “see”
do anyway in an attempt when shooting a moving
to clear up their confu- target with a shotgun is
sion, and now they see a perception because it
only one barrel but two occurs in the periphery,
targets! and what you are aware
As mentioned, this of in the periphery is as
is called physiological much as three-tenths of a
diplopia. When each second behind real time.
axis of the eyes focuses In fact, everything you
on something, the axes do with a shotgun when
come together at the shooting a moving target
same point and the brain occurs in your periphery,
sees the object in de- because your primary
tail — but while you’re
focused on the object,
anything in front of or  It is normal to see two images
behind the object will be of the barrel in your periph-
seen as a double image, ery when you’re focused on
and this can be quite the target. This does not mean
confusing. you’re cross-dominant.

 Seeing two muzzles can be
confusing, but you’ll learn the
sight picture and overcome the
confusion with practice.
shooters go through
as they gain more and
more experience in
deliberate practice and
shooting tournaments.
As mentioned, everyone
has a sequence in their
brain that has been
fired many times to
point at something they
are looking at. When
the new shooter tries
focus is on the target, brain says “send it.” Add conscious brain, which to look at the target
and because of the delay another three-tenths of is three-tenths of a sec- but point the gun in
of the peripheral data a second delay when you ond behind real time. front of the target,
stream to the brain, it is switched from your sub- This is what really hap- the normal pointing
a perception — meaning conscious brain, which pens when you get too sequence crashes. Add
it is not real (or at least lives only 5 milliseconds involved with checking in physiological diplopia,
it’s not in real-time). behind real time, to your or measuring the lead at that phenomenon of
You have experienced the end of the shot and seeing two barrels or two
this when shooting a why it will never work. targets depending on
relatively easy pair of q Your conscious brain runs There’s just too much what they’re focusing
targets like a true pair of behind real-time, which is why brain delay. on, and it’s no wonder
floating incomers and, you must learn to shoot without Let’s get back to the they get confused. This
when executing the shots thinking (subconsciously). evolution of perceptions is extra confusing if the
on the third pair, you see
that little Polaroid pic-
ture of the lead on each
target. Then on the next
pair, you put that lead
on each target and they
do not break — but the
lead was exactly like what
you just saw on the previ-
ous pair! What you per-
ceived on the previous
pair that you smashed
happened three-tenths
of a second before you
pulled the trigger, and
if that were not confus-
ing enough, add an-
other three-tenths of a
second delay in the time
it takes for the trigger
to get pulled after the

EVOLUTION OF VISION
shooter is looking down

the barrel when they
mount the gun, which
every new shooter does
because they naturally
want to aim.
This is why we intro-
duce the sight picture
concept of seeing the
target behind where
the barrel is pointed,
and as soon as the para-
digm shift occurs in the
shooter’s brain to seeing
the target behind where
the barrel is pointed, the
pictures all of a sudden
begin to make sense.
The other big thing
that evolves is how far in
front of the target the the gun is in front to the p After enough practice seeing the target behind where the barrel is
shooter perceives the left or right of the bar- pointed, your brain adjusts, and the sight pictures will make sense.
muzzle to be, and this rel, and with experience
also will evolve with ex- comes a comforting feel-
perience and practice. ing that this new picture In the beginning, easier it becomes for the
The more you shoot, is OK. Your brain even- the distance will seem brain to put the muzzle
the more you begin to tually learns that it’s OK enormous, but with time where it needs to be to
develop memory of what for the muzzle to be in and experience on the hit the target with less
it looks like to you when front of the target. practice course, you will and less conscious input
develop files in your from you.
brain’s memory, and as If you’re ever going
you become more and to get to this point,
more accustomed to you need one key
the separation between ingredient as you
the muzzle and the practice and build that
target, the smaller memory bank: a visual
the perception of the prediction of where
distance becomes. With and how you want the
this experience will come shot to come together
memories of targets and then executing that
you have hit in the past, prediction. Eventually,
and the more memory it will become the
you develop through amount of detail in your
deliberate practice, the prediction before you
close the gun and call
pull that allows for you to
shoot without thinking,
 Women are biologically
programmed to focus on
which is what we all want
objects 35 inches in front of their to do.
face. This makes the two-barrel When shooters begin
image particularly prominent for to learn to see the target
them, often leading to a cross- behind where the barrel
dominant misdiagnosis. is pointed, they stop

looking at the barrel, will make any visual away in your long-term you is really important
because they’ve accepted issues fade away. Any memory to be used when to having success in the
that the barrel has a beginner will shorten in the field or on the field or at the range.
place in the picture, the road to proficiency range. The reason females
but it is always in the by simply getting the All your skill is filed have more of a problem
periphery. We have unloaded gun out of away in your long-term with this visually than
been using a gun mount the safe and doing the memory, ready to be males is that evolutionar-
practice to show the drill to begin to show used at a moment’s ily speaking, the female
brain what it really looks your brain how you want notice — but if you brain is a nurturing
like to see the target the electromagnetic have no memory of brain that is naturally
behind where the muzzle sequences it gets from what something looks comfortable with things
is pointed. We call it the your senses to be like, the brain cannot that are 35 inches in
three bullet drill, and interpreted. interpret the retinal data front their nose (like a
child held in its mother’s
arms). Males, on the oth-
er hand, naturally have
a hunting brain and are
accustomed to looking
at things at distance and
over, under or around
something. So for men,
looking at a distant ob-
ject and aligning some-
thing with it comes more
naturally, but for women,
the instant they mount
the gun, they tend to in-
stinctively focus on the
end of the gun because
nature has programmed
them to live their lives 35
inches in front of their
nose.
After helping
thousands of women
and men to understand
p Utilizing a visual prediction of how and where you want the shot to sequences it receives the sight picture when
come together will train your brain to shoot subconsciously. when you are focused shooting moving targets
on a moving target. It with a shotgun, we have
doesn’t matter whether concluded that this
you can access it for The sooner you you are mowing your simple well-known fact in
free by doing an online eliminate any visual yard or taking your the differences in men’s
search for “NSSF videos confusion when the shotgun apart to clean and women’s brains leads
Gil Ash Three Bullet target and muzzle come it— the brain can’t do to more confusion in
Drill.” It is on our new together, the sooner anything unless it first women’s brains than in
OSP Game Changers you will increase your has a picture, which men’s brains. Of course,
website for dove hunters proficiency at the range makes it a necessity for it’s nothing that can’t be
as well as our OSP or in the field. The more you to be clear to the overcome with practice
Knowledge Vault for you practice the sight brain about what it looks and deliberate skill-
wing and clay shooters. pictures, the more the like with the target to building.
This simple gun-mount brain understands how the left or right of the
drill, if you will put in the you want them to look barrel! Knowing exactly
time and do the work, and files these images what that looks like to

Tournament Awareness,
Action and Intent
How self-aware are you as a shooter, really?
BY BILL ELLIOTT
M
aybe the tournament began,
and you started strong. Or,
maybe you’re two stations in
and down five targets already. Either
way, the question is, why?
Some of you know the situation all
too well. Weather conditions are not
in your favor. You heard the morn-
ing scores and it got in your head. You
didn’t get the warmup in when you got
to the club. Yet you pulled off a great
score anyway — but why? What makes
you strong under pressure?
 LEFTY RAY CHAPA

TOURNAMENT AWARENESS
Are we able to under-

stand where we are, both
emotionally and physical-
ly? You owe it to yourself
as a competitive shooter
to gain a stronger under-
standing of self-aware-
ness during competition
play. Let’s face it: Would
you really be competing
if you did not take the
game of sporting clays se-
riously? To compete, you
have to trust that you’ve
 LEFTY RAY CHAPA
brought the best ver-

sion of yourself that day.
There is only one thing
we can truly control on
game day: our human
skills. along the way. Shooting I remember when I was p Shooting well under pressure
I find myself continu- is no different; how- a kid pulling clays at the is excellent — but even better
ously intrigued trying to ever, many of us do not local trap club. There is knowing why you perform the
figure this out. How and have the time, money or was a fella I looked up to way you do.
why are shooters able resources to train our as a shooter. I remember
to pull this off? Think sporting clays game like looking him in the eye
about your professional we did in our careers, and asking him as an 8th nately, if you were to ask
career and the confi- on-site eight hours a day, grader, “Hey, Bill, what my wife or kids, patience
dence you have gained five days a week. In fact, will it take to be as good is not my best character
as you some day?” He trait. I had to learn to
looked over at a dump not be so tough on my-
truck in the parking lot self internally. I get it —
and said, “When you can this has been the hard-
fill the whole back of the est thing for me. Parts
dump truck with lead of my past set me up for
shot!” My eyes lit up, my competitive mindset.
thinking, “Holy cow, that I have always strived for
is a ton of shot, and it is excellence and want to
going to take a lot longer be the best in anything I
than I thought.” do, which, to an extent,
has hurt me in some cir-
TOURNAMENT DAY cumstances in life.
Externally and physically, The challenge is that
I typically feel mission- to win in sporting clays,
ready for tournaments. near-perfection and a lit-
How did I get that way? tle luck on your side is
I realize patience is key required. Winning is not
for any success; unfortu- normal, and only 1% of
the field or less is going
to win on any given day.
I finally embraced why
 BILL ELLIOTT
 There’s just no substitute for I love our game inter-

time behind the gun in practice. nally. It is not so much
This is where you build skill. the game but the ability

to strive and compete at
something at the age of  Even for the sport’s very
46. This has taken me best shooters, winning is not
years, and I still work at it “normal.” If you only shoot to
in my practice rounds. win, you’ll be disappointed most
The human skill of of the time and miss the fun.
awareness is the one
thing we can truly con- ness in practice internal-
trol on game day. I spoke ly. How do you operate?
with Bruce Shultz, NSCA Awareness creates clarity,
 LEFTY RAY CHAPA
Level 3 Instructor based and clarity creates strong

out of Ohio, who noted, choices. Choices make it
“All skills need to be possible for us to achieve
learned and practiced the results we want in
until they are developed tournaments. “What we
into a habit, so that when of strength/muscle at think along the lines of, need to understand and
needed, you do them the moment we need “Hmm, I wonder what appreciate is that it’s not
automatically without it. Sporting clays is the it would be like to use a the volume or even the
thinking or needing to same way. Mechanically, sustained/maintained breadth of our awareness
think. Thinking takes tournament day is not move on this target?” In that is important. It is
time — time that chang- the time to try something the end, the one thing the completeness and ac-
es our timing.” that is foreign to us, like we can manage on game curacy of our awareness
Think about it: If we movement through your day is our awareness. about the few things we
are feeling weak physi- core exercises. Techni- The components must have good knowl-
cally, we can’t just go cally, tournament day is that make this success- edge about to make con-
and gain five pounds not the time to work on a ful come from train- sistently good decisions
specific target technique. ing. Sporting clays is a so we can break this tar-
For example, if you are solitary game. What are get,” says Bruce Shultz.
q Tournament day is not the primarily a pull-away or the components of your
time to try something new or swing-through shooter, best play on the course? ACTION PLAN
work on a specific technique. the middle of a tourna- Are you aware of this? Keep a shooting log.
Save that for practice. ment is not the time to Heighten your aware- What does this look like?
For me, I needed to
buy a notepad that had
meaning; for others it is
just a plain spiral note-
book. I believe there
are three ways we learn:
by hearing, by seeing
and by writing. If we see
it enough and write it
enough, I believe we can
become it.
I get it — I never kept
a journal either. But I
have taken many shotgun
shooting lessons with Pat
Lieske, National Cham-
pion and the founder
 LEFTY RAY CHAPA
and president of Michi-

gan Shooting Centers.
Each time I see him, he
asks me how my journal-

TOURNAMENT AWARENESS
ing is going. In the begin- at that. 80% of your prac-

ning, it was not going at tice should be geared to-
all! Finally, I realized how ward this one item. Once
serious Pat was about this you accomplish this goal,
and that if I truly trusted go to number 2 on the
the process, I needed to list and continue. This
buy in. Pat notes, “The focused practice is the
ability to determine your only way to see continu-
strengths as well as your ous improvement in your
weaknesses is the main game.”
goal over time. After re- To this day, I am still
viewing the log monthly working to be more pro-
or more often, depend- ficient in my journaling.
ing upon your shooting I can see the value in
volume, you can easily the action. Just do it! Pat
 LEFTY RAY CHAPA
p When you truly understand yourself as a shooter, you’ll shoot

more confidently and trust your own game.
improving.” conversation a few years

Try filming yourself back with Tom Seay, I re-
shooting. There are member him telling me,
plenty of stands online “Whether you broke the
you can purchase for target or missed the tar-
 LEFTY RAY CHAPA
your phone. Take a quick get, Bill, I should not be

video of yourself. Does able to tell by your body
the video match what language.”
you expected? Do you On this road to profi-
p Can your fellow shooters tell by your reaction whether you missed
look like you thought ciency in shooting, there
or broke a target? If not, that’s a sign that you’re fully in control. you did as a shooter? We will be many variables.
can get a lot of feedback Be hungry to learn not
from this helpful activity. only from others, but
make a list of things you also added, “A second- I didn’t think I had time also from yourself. As
are doing well. It is good ary benefit is that going to fool with this, but I re- you commit more and
to list these out (posi- through the log makes alize that neutral was my more to owning your
tive feedback). Then list you visualize the differ- best state of mind on the own game, your self-
the things you need to ent presentations you course — no highs, no awareness of who you are
work on in order from have shot. Visualization lows, just present. So I try as a shooter will increase.
1-? with number 1 being is one of the strongest to notice any reaction or At some point, if we keep
the thing that if you get tools you have at your body language, positive moving down the path of
good at it and move it disposal. This additional or negative, while film- improvement, we all quit
up to the good list, it will practice visualization will ing myself in sequence, looking over our shoul-
increase your score the make it easier to visual- and I’ve learned a lot der to make sure we are
most. Once this one item ize on the course under and been able to im- doing things correctly. I
is determined, you can tournament pressure. It’s prove how I conduct my- promise the sooner you
develop a practice plan a never-ending journey self as a shooter through are aware, the quicker
focused on getting better for those dedicated to this filming exercise. In a this will come.

SKEET EVENT COVERAGE
CONTRIBUTED BY NSSA MEMBERS
9th Annual Couples Shoot at Generations

Skeet Club
Generations Skeet Club in beautiful central Pennsylvania
hosted its 9th annual Couples Skeet Shoot on September
3 with 19 couples participating. The weather was sunny
and warm, just a lovely late-summer day for skeet shoot-
ing, if you could ignore the wind. Yes, it was windy, but it
was an “equal opportunity” wind.
A number of the shooters had never fired a shotgun be-
fore. Shooters’ ages ranged from 10 to 83, including Lynn
Holtz shooting with her 10-year-old grandson, Camden
Simanski. Shotguns, shells, ear plugs, etc. were provided p Left to right: Joe Vescovi and Paige McMullen, runners-up; Renee
as needed. Squads of four or six shooters were formed, and Tom Hillard, champions; and Makaela and Bryon Stanek, third.
and each couple shot 50 birds, shoulder-to-shoulder. The
atmosphere was informal, but safety was stressed. Pull-
ing and scoring was handled by experienced referees, and After the shooting was finished, all retired to the Youth
qualified coaches were present to help as needed. Center (one of the nicest barns you will ever see) onsite for
After the 50 birds were shot at, a top-secret, but rather a yummy picnic dinner. All in all, it was a great event, and
liberal, handicapping system was applied, which resulted most of the participants said they would be back next year.
in all 19 teams participating in a 3-4-5 doubles shoot- Kudos to Ryan, Michael and Roy for organizing this
off. Eight winners then shot off again to decide the shoot shoot and to all of the Generations folks who helped make
winners. And the winners were: Renee and Tom Hillard, it the rousing success that it was!
champs; Paige McMullen and Joe Vescovi, runners-up; See additional coverage at claytargetnation.com.
and Makaela and Bryon Stanek, third. — Contributed by George Gleich
Minnesota State Skeet Championships

The 2023 Minnesota State Skeet David Baker’s 99 won the 20-gauge championship af-
Championships were held at the ter a shoot-off with Tim Olson and senior veteran Don
Minneapolis Gun Club in Prior Tesch. Tim Olson took runner-up. Bob Rick won class
Lake, Minnesota, on August 25- AA, followed by Chad Herrmann, Jared Miller, Don
27. In the doubles event, two Tesch and Roger Carlson in classes A through D.
Juniors claimed top honors. Jared Jacob Boerboon won Sunday’s 28-gauge event with
Miller won the doubles with the the only 100, his first-ever 100 in the 28-gauge. A lone 99
lone 96, and 18-year-old Junior, p Jared Miller
posted by Jared Miller earned the runner-up spot. AA-1
Gabriel Anderson, won the run- went to David Baker, and Randy Vaske, Tim Olson, Bart
ner-up title. The doubles class Ott and Mark Cameron won classes A through D.
winners were Tadd Stanton (A – another Junior), Bruce Jared Miller posted the lone 99 in the .410 to win the
Pearson (B), Jeffrey Schneider (C) and Art Peterson (D). gun championship outright. Dan Kampa posted a 96 to
MSSA President Randal Baker hosted the year-end win the runner-up spot, followed by David Baker (A), Tim
meeting, noting that 33 Minnesota shooters posted Olson (B), Erin Quaranta (C) and Jon Parranto (D). Mike
100-straight scores to date, and first-100 straights were Quigley made Minnesota state history by shooting (and
posted by Justin Staebell, Brodie Schaefer and Randy breaking) his 200,000th registered target.
Vaske. Jared Miller’s 393 won the High Over All Champi-
David Baker posted the first perfect score of the tourna- onship over runner-up David Baker, who posted a 390.
ment in Saturday’s 12-gauge event. Gabriel Anderson’s Jared Miller also won the High All Around Champion-
99 claimed his second runner-up title. Class winners were ship. HAA runner-up was Jacob Boerboon.
Matt Robinson, Jared Miller, Tim Olson, Erin Quaranta, See additional coverage at claytargetnation.com.
Emily Wraspir and Jon Parranto in classes AA through E. — Contributed by Ronald Chandler

Nebraska State Skeet Championships
The 91st annual Nebraska State Skeet Championships
were held August 18-20 at the Lincoln Trap and Skeet
Club (LT&SC) in Lincoln. The action started on Friday
with the Oak Creek Engineering Champ of Champs event,
with 25 targets in each gauge/bore, starting with the .410.
Kurt Mann bested all others with an impressive 99.
Friday afternoon brought pleasant weather — the last of
such weather for quite a while — and the Cornhusker Win-
nelson Doubles event. Squadmates Chris Lutz and Kurt
Mann shot off 97s and were champion and runner-up,
respectively. Third place went to Blaine Frizzell, one of the
notable Junior shooters from the weekend, and class win-
ners included Jacob Uphoff (A), Bill Buettgenbach (B), John
Rossi (C) and Mike Vainosky (D).
Shooters and guests were treated to pizza and appetizers
after the doubles shoot-offs. Thanks to Jerry Classen and
all who contributed.
Saturday morning brought clear skies, calm winds, p Jacob Uphoff, HOA, HAA and 28-Gauge Champion
and a preview of the impending heat for the Morton
Buildings 20-gauge event. When the smoke cleared, two
100-straights were shot, both by Junior shooters. Mason ever state title, Jacob Uphoff claiming runner-up and Kurt
Pillard outlasted Blaine Frizzell in the shoot-off to take Mann taking third place. Class winners included Derek
his first state title, along with his first 100-straight in the Pollock (AA), Rob Predmore (A), Charles Burgess (B), John
20-gauge! Third place was Kurt Mann. Class winners were Rossi (C), Rick Standley (D) and Kaela Hinze (E). The
Derek Pollock (AA), Chris Lutz (A), Don Serna (B), Mi- highly coveted Zych Drywall 5-Man Team Trophy went to
chael Day (C) and Mike Vainosky (D). Bill Buettgenbach, Jake Uphoff, John Rossi, Michael Day
Oddly enough, the Nebraska winds stayed fairly light and Mason Pillard.
for the afternoon and the Class One Machine .410 state The Kolar HOA title went to Jacob Uphoff with a very
championship event. Chris Lutz had the lone 98 to take the impressive 394. Rob Predmore (393) was runner-up, and
championship buckle. Runner-up was Derek Pollock and third place was Chris Lutz (391). Class winners were Derek
third place was Jacob Uphoff. Class winners were Tristin Pollock (AA-386), Kurt Mann (A-389), Blaine Frizzell (B-
Duff (AA), Rob Predmore (A), Tim Hartzog (B), Charles 389), Roger Plooster (C-385), Rick Standley (D-349) and
Burgess (C) and Mason Pillard (D). Kaela Hinze (E-335). Lady HOA champ was Claire Kee,
On Saturday evening, shooters and guests enjoyed a and Junior HOA champ was Jacob Uphoff. Chris Cobb
wonderful steak dinner from Del Gould Meats with sides (CO) was high gun for out-of-staters, shooting an HOA
and more desserts than you could count. Thanks to every- score of 386.
one who grilled, provided food and drinks, etc.! Highlights from the weekend included a great showing
Sunday brought a continuation of high temps and hu- from the young shooters from around the state, with Jacob
midity for the Conreco 28-gauge event. Two of Nebraska’s Uphoff taking three state titles and shooting 200-straight
great young shooters, Jacob Uphoff and Michael Day, shot on Sunday. There was a great turnout of shooters from
100-straight for champion and third place respectively, outside of Nebraska, including representation from South
with Rob Predmore taking runner-up after shooting his Dakota, Colorado, Missouri, Kansas and even New
first 100-straight in the 28-gauge at a state championship Mexico. Their presence was appreciated, and we hope the
shoot. Blaine Frizzell (AA), Chris Lutz (A), Adam Classen trend continues in the future! A big thanks goes out to the
(B), Charles Burgess (C) and Don Hansen (D) took class LT&SC staff and all the volunteers that helped keep the
honors. shoot running smoothly. The 2024 Nebraska State Cham-
Sunday afternoon brought out almost 75 shooters vying pionships will be headed west to Grand Island next year.
for the Anderson Auto Group 12-gauge title. Three per- We hope to see you there!
fect scores were posted, with Lane Sorensen taking his first — Contributed by Chris Lutz

SKEET EVENT COVERAGE
CONTRIBUTED BY NSSA MEMBERS
NEW YORK STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Competitors from five states and Canada arrived at Roch-
ester-Brooks Gun Club for the annual state/open champi-
onships the weekend of August 25-27. Half the champion-
ships were won by shooters capturing their first open state
titles, making for some exciting moments.
The weekend kicked off with the referee event, doubles
and start of the 12-gauge on Friday. Kerry Henderson de-
feated runner-up Terry Winders for the Referee Champi-
onship, leaving the crew free to push buttons for the rest of
the weekend.
In doubles, three 99s took to the shoot-off field, and Don p HOA winners, left to right: Ed Smith, runner-up; Craig Parsons,
Lewandoski defeated runner-up Bill Kalwas for his first champion; and Steve Wood, third.
New York State Open title. Dennis Lehman won third,
along with the non-resident champion medal. John Boone
took third. 98s with Ed Smith as runner-up and Zach Jacot at third.
The 12-gauge event concluded Saturday morning with Dan Morris won the non-resident champion medal.
four perfect scores, with Dave Cooley returning to the The .410 event settled High Over All, with Craig Par-
championship podium, followed by Mat Kelley and Craig sons winning the championship over Ed Smith and Steve
Parsons. Dennis Lehman also won his second non-resident Wood – all uncontested. Dan Morris won AA1 along with
champion medal. the non-resident champion prize and Sub-Senior HOA.
Saturday also saw the conclusion of the 20-gauge event, Class winners were Brian Mayeu (A), Justin Aldrich (B),
where another first-time champion, Clay Tietjen, won out Dan Ficarra (C) and Victor Stirpe (D).
over seasoned veteran Craig Parsons. In a shoot-off of 99s, Concurrent HOA winners included Sub-Junior Cham-
Steve Wood took the runner-up spot, and Dave Ballerini pion Weston Nichols; Junior Champion Cam Baker; Ed
won the non-resident champion prize. Smith, Triple-Sub; Chris Kline, Sub-Sub Senior; Parsons,
Sunday morning brought the conclusion of the 28-gauge Senior; Bob DeFrancesco, Veteran; Victoria Ferchaw,
event, with only one perfect score, and the third first-time Lady; Michael Cerce, First Responder; Jon Zywiczynski,
NY open champion was Scott Janowski. Chris Kline took Military; Jeffrey Groh, Retired Military; and John Boone,
runner-up and the non-resident champion medal, and Ed Military Veteran. The final championship of the tourna-
Smith won third. Rick Ayers was awarded the NY third ment, Champ of Champs, went to Steve Wood.
medallion. For a complete listing of winners, go to ishoots.org. See
Sunday afternoon’s .410 event resulted in only one score additional event coverage at claytargetnation.com.
of 99, posted by Craig Parsons, followed by a shoot-off of — Contributed by Andrea Graham Lehr
Michelson Youth Skeet Clinic

Saturday, September 23 was the second annual Harry Michelson Youth Clinic held at St. Joe Valley Conservation
Club, sponsored by Sandy Michelson, Harry’s daughter. Harry was a lifelong NSSA member and chief referee for
many years. After his passing, Sandy wanted to continue her father’s legacy by introducing young shooters to skeet.
The clinic was designed to provide young shooters with the opportunity to learn about the game of skeet and take
instruction on the field with certified skeet instructors. Eleven youth from around the area participated in the afternoon
session. Youth from Central Noble, Aboite Clays and St. Joe Valley Conservation Club participated in the clinic.
Mike VanZile and Bruce Christian organized and coordinated the activities. Mike Lasley, Larry Easley and Ted
Nussbaum assisted with the field instruction. Larry Easley covered gun safety and skeet etiquette in the classroom. All
the participants were given approximately two hours of field instruction covering foot posi-
tion, hold points, gun mounting and how to have fun.
At the end of the session a 25-bird tournament was held for all the participants. Grant
Reith was first, Alex Gilot was second and Joseph Fellows was third.
A big thank you to Sandy Michelson for sponsoring this event and for her commitment
to our sport and our youth. — Contributed by Ted Nussbaum

85th Virginia State Skeet Championships
The 85th Virginia State Skeet Championships were held Snyder third. Keythe Hancock was in-
at Arrowhead Gun Club in Chase City, Virginia, on Sep- ducted into the VSSA Hall of Fame by
tember 14-17. The shoot kicked off Thursday with the his friend, David Warren.
12-gauge Prelim event and the first flights of doubles. Katherine Adams took top honors in
John Snyder won a four-way shoot-off to win the Prelim. the .410 event with the only 100, fol-
Friday brought some sporty winds for the 28-gauge lowed by John Snyder, runner-up, and
event, the start of the 20-gauge, and the last doubles David Whipp III, third. Katherine
flight. Ronnie Garlic captured his first state title when he Adams won the High Over All title, with John Snyder at
won the 28-gauge outright, with John Snyder at runner- runner-up and Keythe Hancock third. Katherine was the
up and Will Whitworth, third. Garrett Jordan was the HAA champion and won the Lady HOA title. Jackson
Doubles Champion. That night, VSSA Sportsmen of the Hearn took the Sub-Junior HOA title and David Whipp
Year were honored, recognizing SCTP coaches Chris III the Junior HOA title. We had a record turnout of 28
Austin, Jacob Davis, Charles Russell, and Ray Shields. young shooters this year. Special thanks to the Mills fami-
Referee of the Year was awarded to David Whipp. ly for their generous support of the Sub-Junior and Junior
Saturday evening, Junior shooter Savannah Morrow shooters in memory of Milton and David Mills.
captured the 12-gauge championship. Katherine Adams See additional coverage at claytargetnation.com.
won the 20-gauge, with Bill Garrett runner-up and John — Contributed by Hannah Goddard
Paxton Arms Texas State Skeet Championships

The 2023 Paxton Arms Texas State Skeet lowed by the three gun shoot-offs. There
Championships were held at the Greater were 11 100-straights in the 28s, eight in
Houston Sports Club (GHSC) June 1-4. the 20s, and 18 in the 12-gauge. Congratu-
One hundred seventy-six shooters from lations to 28-Gauge Champ Chuck Rister,
three continents brought their top target- runner-up Houston Deshotels, and third-
busting talent to determine the next name place Connor Thigpen. In the 20, Sheaffer
to engrave on GHSC’s revered Todd Bend- Stanfill was champion, with Edward Smith
er champion’s monument below reigning runner-up and Carter Royston at third. In
2022 HOA Champion Rachel Barringer’s. the big-bore competition, defending HOA
Thursday, June 1, kicked off with the Champion Rachel Barringer took the
p Sheaffer Stanfill, HOA
100-target, 12-gauge Texas State Ref- champion’s spot, Les Lala was runner-up
eree Championship sponsored by Mike and Josh Poole was third. When the guns
and Sharron Schmitt, and the Doubles Championship, were cased Saturday afternoon, two shooters had man-
sponsored by the Corpus Christi Gun Club. Congratu- aged 300x300s – Kevin Monteleone and Sheaffer Stan-
lations to referee Kirk Barringer, whose 98 earned him fill.
the champion spot and commemorative Al Topham belt In the small bore on Sunday morning, George Mur-
buckle. Timothy Provorse’s 97 took the runner-up slot, ray, champion, shined with a perfect score, and Sheaffer
and Michael Dowling, with 94, nabbed third place. In the Stanfill dropped just one target for the runner-up spot.
doubles, only Edward Smith walked away from the field Ten shooters posted 98s for the third-place tie, and it was
with a 100 straight. Craig Parsons took runner-up, and Douglas Toulouse who prevailed.
Collegiate shooter Sheaffer Stanfill earned third place. With an impressive overall of 399, Sheaffer Stanfill was
The Lib Anderson 28-Gauge and start of the Cody named the 2023 Paxton Arms Texas State Skeet Cham-
Sergeant 20-Gauge competition were on Friday, with pionships HOA Champion. Kevin Monteleone took the
shoot-offs held the next day. At the Hall of Fame banquet, runner-up honors with 397. George Murray prevailed
the inductees were Tim Cudia, who was recognized for during the shoot-off over Houston Deshotels to break the
contributions to competitive Junior shooting programs, third-place tie. In the Lady’s concurrent, congratulations
and Kyle Shumaker, chosen for shooting proficiency. Re- go to Rachel Barringer, whose 395 cleanly took the Lady
cipient of the Art Sideras Rookie of the Year Award was HOA laurels. Melissa Barringer, runner-up, and Lindsay
Cash Hicks, a Junior shooter from Weatherford. Plesko, third, were her nearest competitors, each at 392.
Saturday saw the Cody Sergeant 20-Gauge finale and See additional coverage at claytargetnation.com.
Greater Houston Sports Club 12-Gauge competition, fol- — Contributed by R.K. Sawyer

SHOOTER’S GALLERY
80 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / OCTOBER 2023

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- Ranked No. 1 in the World
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- 2022 ISSF Presidents World Cup,
Silver, Men’s Trap
- 2022 World Championship,
Gold, Men’s Trap (first USA win since 1966)
- 2020 ATA Grand American,
AAA High All Around Champion
- 2020 NSCA National Champion
- 2019 ICTSF World Sporting Champion
- 2016 FITASC World Sporting Champion
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SHOOTER’S GALLERY
84 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / OCTOBER 2023

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION (required by Act of August 12, 1970: Section 3685, Title 39, United States Code). l.
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Q&A WITH THE PROS
NOT MEH... REALLY BIG NEVER

AT ALL WHATEVER DEPENDS WHOOPS! AGAIN!
How Bad Is It...

…to smoke during competition?
ANSWER: Shoot- require them to distance to be more downtime ers tend to be consid-
ers who choose themselves from second- as squads wait in groups erate enough that they
to smoke during hand smoke. Whatever for the shooters in front rarely have to be asked to
a competition are free to their reason, people who of them to finish. Skeet put their cigarette out or
do so, provided they are don’t want to be in the does not provide much smoke elsewhere.
not in an area designat- presence of smoke, by opportunity for shooters BOTTOM LINE: Even
ed as a no-smoking zone. and large, don’t want to to smoke, as it becomes where smoking is not
However, shooters do challenge anybody’s per- somewhat of a hindrance prohibited, smokers
need to be considerate sonal freedoms, but they for a shooter who is be- should exercise consid-
before they light up to do want to breathe clean tween stations or rounds. eration. They can’t allow
ensure that their smoke air when they compete. Finally, shooters need their smoke to bother
does not bother others. If shooters are going to extend their consid- their fellow shooters,
Some people can’t stand to be exposed to second- eration of non-smokers event staff or viewers in
the smell of cigar or ciga- hand smoke, it is most beyond their fellow par- the stands. Either they
rette smoke and don’t likely to be in sporting ticipants and think of must go without or wait
want it near where they clays, where the walks the event’s staff as well until they can be safely
will be shooting. Others between stations are as non-shooting guests. distanced and down-
have health issues that longer and there tends Fortunately, most shoot- wind.
…to watch the scores when you’re competing?
ANSWER: Instead start getting distracted. and shoot not to miss,” consistent and improving
of calling it a bad “You should not judge he says. “If you go and scores,” he assures. “Al-
habit when shoot- your self worth by the realize you are only two ways be defined by your
ers focus on how many score you shoot, and nei- birds behind, you will get next shot, not your last.”
targets they’ve broken ther should others,” urg- careful and shoot not to BOTTOM LINE: Focus on
during the course of a es Gil Ash, an NSCA Lev- miss. In order for you to the targets, not the score-
competition, we prefer el III instructor and OSP win, everyone else must board. If you find your-
to label it as a symptom. Shooting School owner. shoot worse than you, self counting how many
When shooters start “Going to the score- and you have no control targets you’ve broken rel-
monitoring their pro- board during an event is over how others shoot.” ative to other shooters,
gress, we can take it as a the least productive time Ash suggests viewing you are likely to develop
sign that they are apply- you could spend.” tournaments as opportu- bad habits to compensate
ing their focus where it Ash uses typical sce- nities for shooters to see for the misses, and then
is not needed instead of narios to point out how how well their practice problems compound.
putting it where it needs the scoreboards do the and preparation holds Trust your preparation
to be, which is on the shooters wrong. “If you up under competitive and keep your focus
next shot. The bad habits go and see that you are pressure. “This with the on the targets no mat-
come later, when score- ahead with one more day mantra ‘win or learn’ will ter where you are in the
board-watching shooters to go, you will get careful lead you to better, more standings.

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NOVEMBER 2023

RED: PANTONE DS 78-1 C BLUE: PANTONE DS 217-1 C GRAY: PANTONE DS 325-2 C

WORLD SHOOT COVERAGE

32 NSSA EVENT COVERAGE: JUNIOR

36 NSSA EVENT COVERAGE:

44 WORLD SHOOT PHOTO GALLERY

48 53RD ANNUAL NSSA

52 NSCA EVENT COVERAGE:

64 THE EVOLUTION OF VISION IN

DEPARTMENTS 70 TOURNAMENT AWARENESS,

14 FROM THE NSCA

16 FROM THE NSSA 26 PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Updates and info from the NSSA By Lefty Ray Chapa

By John Shima Contributed by NSSA members

CTN1123 Cover.indd 1 10/23/23 10:16 AM

22 TRAINING TIPS: SPORTING CLAYS 96 HOW BAD IS IT? COVER PHOTO

Photo by Lefty Ray Chapa

2 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

PUBLISHER AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR w SHERRY G. KERR

COLE PUBLISHING ADMINISTRATION

NSSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

NSCA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

CLAY TARGET NATION (ISSN 0037-6140 Volume 8 Issue 11),

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:

EDITORIAL: All comments, questions and submissions can

4 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

MAIN NUMBER: 210-688-3371 w 800-877-5338

NSSA-NSCA MEMBER AND CLUB ADMINISTRATORS

NSSA-NSCA HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM

NATIONAL SHOOTING COMPLEX

6 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

RENEW MEMBERSHIP NOW AT CURRENT RATES

8 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

NOVEMBER 2023 / CLAY TARGET NATION 9

REMINDER: DECEMBER ISSUE DELAYED;

10 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

World FITASC Adds New USASCT Concurrent

NEW NSCA LIFE MEMBERS

14 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

NEW NSCA LEVEL 1 CERTIFIED INSTRUCTORS

NOVEMBER 2023 / CLAY TARGET NATION 15

NSSA Acquires Valerio’s Skeet

NSSA UPCOMING MAJOR SHOOTS

16 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

The Watching Drills

20 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

Expectation vs. Preparation

take the Shotgun Training 101 course and do the gun

22 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

24 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

Michael Gallagher’s Baikals

Baikals, a close-up of the makes people at the club say, “Hey,

NOVEMBER 2023 / CLAY TARGET NATION 25

26 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

— Lefty Ray Chapa

NOVEMBER 2023 / CLAY TARGET NATION 27

28 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

p Heavy rains plagued the Mini World, but competition went on in

NOVEMBER 2023 / CLAY TARGET NATION 29

Stanfill claimed the ti- as Les Lala earned the

30 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023

NOVEMBER 2023 / CLAY TARGET NATION 31

DOUBLES pion was secured by Ali- p Collegiate HOA winners, left

32 WWW.NSSA-NSCA.ORG / NOVEMBER 2023