At the NWTF shoot this weekend, Our friend Stan Hillis won AA in the prelim, was runner up in the 20 gauge event and tied for HOA in sxs, dropping only 1 target. Way to go, Stan.

Good shooting, Stan.

Best,
Ted

Stan I feel sorry for the doves that come into range for you! Great shooting! Bobby

Thanks guys. Just got in from the long weekend. Didn't shoot the Main Event nearly as well as I should have, just had a couple bad stations on each course. First big tournament for me in nearly three years, so I'm not too upset. I shot a 49 x 50 on the 20 ga. and got beat!!! Guy from FL shot a 50.

These young guys coming into the sport are TOUGH!! Man! I was in a shoot-off yesterday afternoon for AA class in the Prelim with a young guy probably 15 yrs. old. We had tied with 89s. He shot first and broke 7 out of eight. I shot next and managed to break all 8 to win it. Then today, I had another shoot-off for HOA in the S x S with another young guy. He looked to be maybe 19 or so. We had both shot 49 x 50 on the course. He broke 5 out of 10 and I only broke 4, so he got me. I like to win, don't get me wrong, but when I lose I don't mind it nearly as bad if it is a young guy who beats me.

The temps were pretty rough. I was wearing a black "polo shirt" today and it looks like it was "tie-died" with the salt from my sweat. Fun, though. You have to enjoy competition to go through all that for three days.

Back to the farm's daily grind tomorrow morning.

SRH

Good job Stan!

Great shooting Stan, keep those youngsters on their toes!!!

Great job!

Stan, congratulations on your fine shooting.

Bobby's right. Those dove won't know what hit them, but it will be over fast. Gil

I got to wondering just how many of the registered shooters at this event were youngsters so I went to the ScoringPro.com website and counted them. If I added right, out of 225 registered shooters, 68 of them were Juniors and Sub-Juniors!!!! Is that super, or what? That's almost a third!!

There's some tough competition coming on guys, but the future of the shooting sports is bright, if the number of youngsters interested is any indication. Thank the Lord for 4H shotgun competition, the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation, and Concurrents.

SRH

Great shooting Stan

It's a double-edged sword, ain't it?

I love shooting doves near a young guy who shoots at them too far. If he and I shoot at the same dove and I kill him, I will sometimes holler to him "Your bird ..... good shot!!".

Works every time. SRH

Well done, ol' buddy.
JR

Dang, I thought that was my signature trick for keeping in the shoot...Geo

Good shootin', Stan. Glad for you.

DDA

Congratulations on your fine shooting Stan. And thanks for sharing details about the performances and numbers of young shooters getting into the shooting sports... and even using... gasp....two barreled guns... Side by sides no less!

That kind of shoots down the arguments of those who continually wring their hands and bemoan the fact that our doubles will lose value because younger shooters will never want them. And I won't even mention the silly notion put forth by anti-gunners that there are dramatically fewer gun owners and shooters than a couple decades ago... when, strangely enough, gun and ammunition manufacturers can barely keep up with demand.

OK, I mentioned it. It needs mentioning.

What guns were you using Stan?

Well done Stan!

Great shooting Stan. I agree there are a lot of good young shooters these days but suspect its always seemed that way to men our age. I guess in numbers the largest incoming group are always the young.

Years ago I use to run a Skeet shooting introduction shoot for youths 10-15 the week before Dove season. Great shoot so new kids could shoot a shotgun safely and get basic training how to shoot. From that one day we ended up with a steady influx of new shooters and their mothers and fathers for years. Then the club got concerned about liability and ended the shoot on safety grounds. That influx of new, younger shooters ended almost over night.

I've heard the Doves are so scared they are migrating away from the entire state that Stan lives in. They know if he's around they are doomed. Even with a .410 they don't stand a chance.

Good show Stan!!! Great showing, your the man!

Best,

Greg

Was using my 20 ga. 687 SPII Sporting (30") for the 20 event, the old 30" BSS in the S x S, and my 31 1/2" fixed choke Perazzi, with .020" in both barrels, in the Prelim.

SRH

Always makes me feel good when someone I know wins. Congratulations.

"I love shooting doves near a young guy who shoots at them too far. If he and I shoot at the same dove and I kill him, I will sometimes holler to him "Your bird ..... good shot!!".

Stan
When I was an 11 year old kid trying to learn dove shooting with a single shot bolt action .410 and folded my "first" dove, I ran out to retrieve my prize never realizing that the man I shared the blind with had fired at the bird simultaneously. I was so elated that I never realized till much later in the afternoon that it was this gentleman who'd most likely killed that bird. But I never forget the lesson I learned that day which was, in the opinion of this individual it was far more important that he allow a kid to believe he'd bagged that bird than it was to claim it himself. That lesson has remained with me to this day; and anytime another shooter, and especially a young shooter, believes he's bagged a dove at which we've fired at simultaneously, it's always the other guys bird. I observe this "rule" even when there's a split second difference in the sound of the shot and I know the bird actually folded when I fired. For me it's just the right thing to do; but I've also experienced the same sportsmanship from others on a fair number of occasions when a bird dropped as I fired jointly with another shooter and the other guy insisted that he'd missed; that it was I who'd made the kill.

Good shooting in the clays event; and may you enjoy another great dove season. Tom

Again, great shooting, Stan. Hope we can shoot together sometime in the future.

I WISH I HAD BEEN THERE TO LET STAN BEAT ME!

Isn't that the Beretta you took to South America?

Yes, one and the same. There is not another gun that I own, or have ever owned, that I can pick up and shoot as well as that one. It can sit idle in the case for 9 months and I can put it together and hit with it just like I did many months ago. I have to put a leather lace-on pad on it to increase the LOP to what I need, but other than that it is a stock gun.

It's been to Cordoba, Argentina twice .......... and if I go back next August as planned it will go again. I won't go if I can't take my own gun. I have been thinking seriously about buying another just like it to have an extra. It is that special to me.



SRH

That's the only way I would have beat you, you ol' deadeye.

SRH

Way to go, Stan. Always good when age and experience edges out youth, sharp eyes, and quick reflexes.

Stan, the SPII Beretta is one of the best buys in an o/u shotgun ever. I have really enjoyed my 30" 20 ga. Gallery version I bought from the Dallas Beretta Gallery back in the late 90's. The trigger is as perfect as any shotgun I own. It's a killer gun when I do my part.
JR

Close, but not quite accurate: It's "old age and treachery overcomes youth and exuberance." Gil

Good shooting, Stan!

Larry you forgot the biggest advantage young shooters have over "us" is that dad's paying for everything instead of them. It would be so much fun to shoot all you want and have some other person pay for it.

That is soooo true.


Generally I don't think about it much, as long as my Gross behavior's don't exceed my net enjoyment (apologies to the originator of that)

Yabut, there's some good to be said about a parent that's willing to ante up for a kid to go shooting. Most wouldn't.

Congrats Stan, great shooting.

The world is comprised of people of disparate means. Always has been that way.

You want to evaporate your inheritance? Put a couple kids in Junior Olympic Ski training. Or Figure skating at the elite level.

I wouldn't know about Olympic level training, but I can honestly say I've seen a bunch of inheritance money evaporated away at bars and on recreational drugs. Some of the kids of those folks had almost anything that money could buy, except parents. It's not quite the same, but we've had a bit of experience with upper level sports performance and lining up that transition to the college level. It's an absolute pain in the tail when a chunk of it falls during bird season, but oh well.

Sorry about drifting away from your scores Stan. I can remember being pretty small when my uncle yelled out nice shot. I can still see the picture in my mind that told me, no way I was way off. Kinda like figuring out there's no Santa, but Christmas is still A-Okay.

Good work Stan!