5 minute read
MAKAYLA SCOTT’S FIELD OF DREAMS
Makayla Scott of southeastern West Virginia got into the shotgun sports through a 4-H shooting program, “and has never looked back,” writes author Larry Case.
A veritable force to be reckoned with on the competitive shotgun trail, young West Virginia native helps build local clay target range, form scholastic shooting club.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY LARRY CASE
The indomitable force of nature known as Makayla Scott continues to sweep across the country, plowing all obstacles out of the way.
Now a 19-year-old shotgun-shooting piece of machinery from Alvon, West Virginia (near White Sulphur Springs in Greenbrier County), Makayla had a less than advantageous start in life. She was being bumped around the foster care system when she was found by Telford Scott and adopted into the Scott family.
Makayla may have had a rough start in life, but some years ago – through the love and encouragement of her new family, and the 4-H shooting program – she picked up a shotgun, started shooting competitively and has never looked back.
BEING SERIOUS ABOUT competing in the shotgun world meant a lot of hard work and sacrifices for Makayla and her family. Lots of travel to shooting events in other states means long road trips, motels and bad diner food. Once at the event, to effectively compete, the shooter must shrug all this off and make it count when standing up there burning powder. This means when the shotgun goes bang, targets have to break. Makayla did it, her family did it, and the list of accomplishments is impressive.
In 2018, Makayla won the Perazzi Grand Prix bronze medal in Junior Class. The following year, she shot on the fourth-place team in the 4-H Nationals in Grand Island, Nebraska. Also in 2019, she won fourth place in Sporting Clays at the SCTP (Scholastic Clay Target Program) Nationals, and she was the Doubles Skeet Champion at that same event. Other 2019 honors include making the North Carolina All-State team and qualifying for the United States Junior Olympic Trap Team, becoming the first lady shooter from West Virginia to earn that position, ever.
Recently, Makayla shot at the Palmyra Spring Spectacular/ Pennsylvania Junior Olympic qualifier. In the Spring Spectacular 200 event, she earned Ladies Gold and Junior Champion. She also earned a bronze medal in the JO qualifier, and won the Pennsylvania State Championship for the Junior Women’s Open Division.
Another achievement of note, in October 2019, Makayla earned a spot to shoot on the team of Dave Miller of CZ-USA, where she was one of four young shooters that helped him set a Guinness World Record for the most number of clays broken by a five-person team in 12 hours! Five shooters shot almost continuously for 12 hours, breaking 14,167 targets; I do not expect that number to be topped any time soon.
MAKAYLA SCOTT HAS
established herself as a force to be reckoned with on the competitive shotgun trail, but that was not enough – she had another idea brewing in that brain of hers. What if there was a local shotgun range where young people could try the shotgun sports of trap, skeet, and maybe 5-stand? What if this range was right there in her backyard?
Makayla’s dad Telford Scott and brother Jesse Scott during construction of her “Field of Dreams” clay target facility.
Scott is a Guinness World Record holder as one of five shotgun shooters who together broke 14,167 clay targets in just 12 hours, a feat featured in the December 2019 issue of this magazine.
She had the room, so all she had to do was put together a few little details like some bulldozer work, pouring concrete and building trap houses for the skeet range, laying out and putting in the various shooting stations, and acquiring the target throwers needed – little things like that.
Makayla wasted no time in reaching out to some of her sponsors, like firearms company CZ-USA, wellknown clay target thrower makers MEC Outdoors, and SSP Eyewear, who all joined in to make this happen. Makayla also reached out to some local businesses and got help from Lynch Construction, Green Acres Excavating and SJ Neathawk Lumber. Local shotgun coaches Joe Hayes, Curtis Kincaid, Joe Windon and Makayla’s dad Telford all put in long hours, helping to make this shooting range a reality.
With all that she has been through
Scott and fellow members of the Scholastic Clay Target Program team she formed, the Mountaineer Clay Crushers, at the Field of Dreams with the author (fourth from left).
“An incredible force of nature that seems to achieve things with a shotgun through sheer will. A bright ray of sunshine and optimism with a smile as big as the Appalachian Mountains. That is Makayla Scott,” writes Case. personally and what this shooting range could mean to new shooters being exposed to the shotgun sports, Makayla knew she could only give the site one name: Field of Dreams.
NOW THAT THE physical site was becoming a reality, Makayla put phase two of her dream for this place into action. Makayla had competed with the North Carolina SCTP team last year and done well. Even though she was proud of this accomplishment, she knew she had to find a way to take a team from her home state to the SCTP Nationals. So the first chapter of the Scholastic Clay Target Program in West Virginia was born, the Mountaineer Clay Crushers!
Currently the Mountaineer Clay Crushers have about 25 members. If you are a young person who would like to try shotgun shooting, you can reach Makayla through the team’s social media page, facebook.com/ mountaineerclaycrushers.
You go, girl. Makayla knew that if she built it, they would come. Pull! Editor’s note: Larry Case has been a devoted outdoorsman since he was a child. He will admit to an addiction to turkey hunting (spring and fall), but refuses any treatment. He enjoys the company of gobblers and cur dogs that are loud and people who speak the truth softly. Case served 36 years as a game warden in West Virginia and retired with the rank of district captain. You can check out his podcast and other stories at gunsandcornbred.com.
