2020 August Markham Newsletter

Markham Skeet, Trap, and Sporting Clays

Markham Park Gun Club Open for Practice Trap, Skeet, 5-Stand and Sporting Clays Registered Shooting And Youth Program Still on Hold South Florida Shooting Club ATA Trap Saturday August 8th NSSA Skeet Saturday August 22nd NSCA Sporting Clays August 1

Club News - Magazine Review

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PRO SPORTING GOODS

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Club Calender

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Palm Beach Trap/Skeet Pro Shop—Sporting Calender

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Sporting Clays Program and Re- 24-25 sults Skeet Program and Results

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FSA Skeet Calender

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Contact info:

Trap Program

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Markham Skeet, Trap, and Sporting Clays

Trap Results

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Youth Program

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11873 NW 30th Street Coral Springs, FL 33065 954-857-5278 · ·

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Next General Meeting Thursday September 3rd Starting at 7:00 PM

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Club News

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Magazine Review Shotgun Sports – August 2020 Michael J. Keyes, M.D. did research on the visual game this month. He should have read Joan Vickers’ book and he would have given some more insightful advice. In Ms. Vickers’ research she found that following a target with your eyes is less efficient than moving your head with the target while keeping your eyes locked on it. Michael missed that little piece.

Yes, you can have visual dissonance when you move your head if you don’t keep your eyes level. Everything has an exception. With trained athletes who are accustomed to following a moving target dissonance is minimized (email communication from Joan Vickers).

Michael redeems himself by suggesting setting a look point where your clearly see the target.

This minimizes the risk of having a speeding target crossing your stationary eyes, then trying to follow it by moving your eyes and head at different speeds. Michael also suggests picking lenses for your glasses that allow for the best contrast between the target and its background. Two eyes open also allows an earlier visual connection with the target. Finally, practice mounting into a moving target. Practice creates a smooth mount, causing the least dissonance between your eyes, the movement of your head, and the movement of the gun into your visual field. Practicing your mount to a moving target also eliminates the dissonance caused by the moving barrels entering your field of vision. A trained athlete’s eyes are not drawn to the fastest moving object in his field of vision, just as the normal response time for a trained athlete is much faster than an untrained one.

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Magazine Review Shotgun Sports – August 2020 Cont’d

Part II of Dean Townsend’s article on coaching trap doubles comes to us this month. Dean continues by talking about foot position and its importance on each Post. I won’t go into specifics other than to say you need to shift your feet to allow for shooting the second target. Obviously we don’t want to strain when we swing to this bird. This is a comfort issue besides being about the ability to swing smoothly to the second target. Next Dean espouses the “Secret” to shooting Doubles. According to Dean the secret is shifting your eyes to the second target right after you’ve fired at the first target. Shift your eyes not the gun.

Dean is talking about the transition from the first target to the second. This isn’t a secret. It is a fundamental of shotgunning. I have my students shoot pieces in the manner of wobble trap before I teach them Doubles shooting. I learned how to transition from one target to another by hunting doves and ducks. I later learned to shoot pieces of targets after my dad bought a wobble trap for our club. Learning to stay in the gun and look for visible pieces after a target break makes learning the transition to Double targets in trap and skeet simple. He is correct, transitioning your eyes from one target to another is a key shotgunning concept, but it isn’t the secret to Doubles shooting.

The “Secret” to both Trap and Skeet Doubles shooting is setting up the second target. More simply, the first shot sets up the second. Where you break the first target determines how and where you will move to the second target. Some Posts and Stations allow you to break the first target quickly, but that might not be the best strategy. In Skeet it can leave you with a dead gun, waiting for the second target to come to your barrels. Breaking the first target later al-

lows the second bird to appear in your peripheral vision as you transition from the first to second target. A similar problem exists in Trap Doubles. Break the first bird too quickly and your move to the second target is too vertical. It is not only more difficult to visually transition your eyes, but your barrel movement is also less than optimal. Break it a little further out and your eyes move horizontally to the target as well as your barrels. It works in reverse also. Break the first target too late and you are behind the second target in Skeet or are shooting a falling target in Trap. The first target sets up the second.

Reviewing the skills you need for successful Doubles shooting, make a plan for the first target and the second. Break the first target with as little gun movement as possible but move to the first target is another one of my rules. Dean does not agree, he wants his students to have the target come to them and use little or no gun movement. Slight disagreement there. I will admit I look under my barrels for the target, but I still move to it to break it. Set your feet correctly to move to the second target. A little more weight on the balls of the front foot helps. Finally, eyes first to the second target as you transition to it, then the barrels.

One thing he doesn’t emphasize enough is getting visual lock on the second target. This means there should be a palpable pause between shots. Your shots shouldn’t sound like bang, bang. It should sound like bang…bang. This means you actively shot the second target as an individual shot. I always believed the Golden Rule of Doubles trap should be “As long as you are under the second target, you have a chance of breaking it.” Too many second targets are missed by shooting over them. Finally, Doubles are shot in a rhythm not a timing.

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Magazine Review TRAP & FIELD – July 2020

Recoil reduction is a personal issue, intrinsic to each individual, but the basic ideas are universal for any shotgunner. Ian Darroch lays out his ideas this month on how to reduce it. Three factors affect the physics of recoil, the amount of shot sent downfield, the charge behind that shot, and the weight of your shotgun. You could also add the fit of your shotgun to this equation. A well-fitted gun should on average produce less felt recoil than one that doesn’t fit your shooting style. We’ll address that later. For now, let’s concentrate on adding weight to the gun.

The easiest way to do this is by adding weight to the interior of your buttstock. On the downside, this may change the balance of your gun. Adding lead tape or a counterbalance to the barrel can correct this. I have mercury reducers in most of my stocks.

Depending on the bore size of the hole, I put 6 or 8 ounce reducers inside each of my stocks. Paring down a wine cork to seat the reducer securely works great and gives you an excuse to imbibe, as if you really need one! Concern about mercury escaping from the reducer and the health issues it may create

are unfounded. This is metallic mercury. In theory it could make you as mad as a hatter if you understand the reference and history of hatmaking.

As a biochemist I can assure you the likelihood of getting poisoned is slim. These things are well built and I don’t worry about it.

Reducing the shot load to one ounce shouldn’t cause any problems for 16 yd targets in trap. Most sporting clays shooters shoot one ounce loads at 1250 or higher fps. I’ve shot many of these one ounce loads and they’re softer than most 1 1/8 ounce loads even the ones at 1150 fps. If you are going to shoot 1 1/8 ounce then 1150 fps is the best load for minimizing recoil. These are much lighter shooting shells than ones 1200 fps or higher. If you reload, Green Dot powder burns slower and prolongs the recoil versus Red Dot which burns faster. Green Dot should produce less felt recoil.

Recoil reduction stocks are another alternative. I don’t like ones where the comb moves. These become problematic for doubles shooting. Try them before you spend the money. Finally, good gun fit can virtually eliminate your recoil problems. If the butt pad doesn’t make full contact with your shoulder and you have a normal mount, you have an issue with your stock’s pitch.

Get gunfitting advice from an experienced stock person.

See Pedro Bernal is all I can say.

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Everyone has mental baggage rattling around the baggage turnstile in their heads. Bob Palmer suggests doing spring cleaning and dropping it so you can move on. Leave all the anger over mistakes and shell throwing behind. Move on. Add a set amount of time for mental preparation before taking the line is more good advice. Give yourself 20-30 minutes of alone time before an event. Don’t stand behind the line chatting it up.

Get your head in the game and take time to prepare mentally for what you’re about to do.

dark underside reduces glare and keeps your eyes dilated.

Don’t look at the lights seems an obvious suggestion. Keep your glasses as light as possible.

Go with clear or yellow lenses. Holding lower on the house can help prevent the short shooting problem shooters often have. Get a good look at the target and be more patient at night. Slow down and get a good read on the target before you move.

Doing Lanny Bassham type mental choreography is also another good insight from Bob. Stand up straight and at least look like you know what you’re doing.

Fake it till you make it! Relax and drop the negative talk or the negative talk of others. A positive attitude and positive physical posture can mean the difference between an enjoyable day or just another catastrophe. Finally, look the part. Get a new vest, shell bag, or shooting shirt and think successful shoots from your past.

Leave the excess baggage behind and start with a fresh, positive attitude, and positive look.

———————————————— Night shooting isn’t something you can take for granted if you’ve never done it.

Dad and I would always shoot night targets every year in the weeks before the Grand to prepare for shoot-offs under the lights. Phil Kiner interviewed several top shooters this month and got their opinions on handling night targets. Practice night targets is the first and best advice. People short-shoot night targets because they see them more quickly at night. Your usual move to the target can be confounded by the easier visual lock on the target. Blinders are recommended for trap targets. Movement to the sides is more distracting at night and blinders block this out. A hat with a bill having a

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Magazine Review TrapShootingUSA – July/August 2020 Lots of good stuff in this month’s issue.

The Southern Grand is the only shoot reviewed, so I guess we can officially call this the Florida Issue. Actually you could call this the Ladies Issue. There’s a nice interview with Nora Ross. I met Nora when she was just getting started in the late 70’s. I shot the Kentucky State Shoot about every other year back then. Her improvement was rapid and she was quickly dominating the Ladies ranks and went on to teach the men a lesson or two. There is also a nice article in the HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES article about Florida’s own Jennifer Rutger.

Again, I’ve had the honor and pleasure of knowing Jennifer, Ron, and Jeanine for what seems all my life. The family is Florida trapshooting royalty as far as I’m concerned. A well-deserved honor for Jen! Jacque Snellenberger, more trapshooting royalty, has written a fine article “GROWING UP IN A MALE DOMINATED SPORT”. Jacque writes excellent articles and this one is no exception. Way to go Ladies!

Harlan Campbell, Jr. gives us an outstanding article this month on gunfitting. I cannot begin to review this article completely without effectively presenting the article in its original form. That being said, I will give you the highlights. I highly recommend you read this article as it is very well-written and remarkably comprehensive as to why you want a well-fitted gun.

The gun must fit. This has to do with the

mount and your ability to replicate it flawlessly every time. A well-fitted gun falls into place every time you mount it. Practice mounting your gun until you have a flawless mount. As to feel, if you fidget with the gun to get it in place you need better gun fit. The wrong feel could mean the gun isn’t balanced, forcing your posture out of position, ultimately affecting mount reproducibility. Finally, function, does the gun shoot where you’re looking. Go to the patterning board and find out. Adjust the gun until you get the pattern you are looking for. Once you have the gun adjusted, shoot some targets. Are you getting the breaks you expect? Fit, feel, and function all play into your ability to reproduce the results you want.

Karla Harrison wrote an interesting article on Trapshooting in Australia in this issue. Leo Harrison III and Mike Fisher were both from Missouri and were close friends. Mike is being inducted into the ATA HALL OF FAME this year and at one time was transferred to Australia to work. Leo and I shot the 1980 Australian National Championships. I won the Doubles title and Leo won both of their HOA championships that year, becoming two of only three American shooters to ever win titles as non-residents. Elgin Gates is the third. Mike Fisher won three New Zealand National titles.

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Magazine Review

CLAY TARGET NATION – July 2020 In true English, gunfitting parlance, Don Currie explains the “FEEL” of a shotgun. Don believes there are three elements to the “pointability” of a shotgun: overall weight, balance point, the moment of inertial (MOI). Weight is easy as is balance point. The ideal weight for any shooter is a combination of the balance and the MOI. I like heavier guns, eight or more pounds. Even my hunting guns have been heavier. I grew up carrying a Winchester Model 12 through the fields and swamps of Illinois as a youth. The idea of carrying a 5 or 6 lbs. sporting gun would have been foreign to me. I shoot a Beretta 390 now, which is much lighter than the Model 12, but it fits and feels good. I guess we all evolve.

Balance point is where the gun is equally balanced like on a level seesaw. Most O/U’s balance near their

hinge point. If the balance point is nearer the stock than the barrels, then you have a butt heavy gun, too far forward from the hinge point, towards the barrels and you have a barrel heavy one.

Butt heavy guns may feel “whippy” and swing too fast while barrel heavy guns may feel sluggish on the swing. You can alter the balance point by adding weight to the barrels or under the forearm of a butt heavy gun or you can take weight out of the stock to achieve the balance you want. Barrel heavy guns are adjusted by adding weight to the inside of the stock either in the pistol grip or through the drill hole in the back. This of course adds weight. Everything is a tradeoff.

MOI is the real concept here. Don uses a good example for MOI. Imagine a 4’ weight bar that weighs 2 lb. with a 3 lb. weight on each end then swinging it like you would a shotgun. It wouldn’t feel comfortable. Forget being smooth, try to stop! Now try to swing a 4’ weight bar that weights 8 lb. It’s the same weight as the one with the 3 lb. weights on each end, but it would be much easier to swing smoothly and to stop. The 8 lb. weight bar’s weight is distributed evenly over the length of the bar. This is what you are looking for with your gun. An even distribution of weight throughout the shotgun. Barrel heavy guns would be like the 2 lb. weight bar with the 3 lb. weights on the ends. A butt heavy gun would feel like a 2 lb. weight bar with 6 lb. of weights on the butt end.

The feel of a gun is intrinsic to each shooter.

Some like more barrel weight and some like less.

It’s the balance you feel as you pick up a gun and swing it that matters. Don gives some great suggestions in this article. If you are questioning your gunfit, I suggest reading this article in combination with Harlan’s article in TrapShootingUSA. Combined these make for an excellent primer on gunfit and feel for a shotgun. Gunfit, feel, stance, and mount are intimately intertwined. Reading both articles may make some lights go on in your mind.

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Magazine Review CLAY TARGET NATION – July 2020 Cont’d

There’s almost no sports activity where you don’t follow-through after either striking a ball or releasing one. Baseball, tennis, bowling, darts, you name the sport and you will see follow-through in one form or another. Paul Giambrone III gives good advice this month on the followthrough in shotgunning. The follow-through should look no different than the swing to get to the target. No sudden “swoosh” at the end to push the barrels through, just one smooth swing.

Paul reminds us to keep the same cheek pressure on the gun and to watch the pieces after taking the shot.

I caution my students against coming out of the gun immediately after the shot. Paul does the same thing. Start coming out of the gun too early and eventually you’re lifting your head before taking the shot.

Come out of the gun after a first shot in doubles and you can kiss the second target good-bye.

Paul does a “house to house” skeet drill where you keep following-through until you see the other house. Sounds like a good drill. Combine it with Shima’s incomer drill and you have a good combination of technical drills. __________________________________ Gil and Vicki Ash remind us again “all leads look the same when the lead is not your primary concern”.

Their only constructive advice is to practice until your shot is automatic and the lead just happens without conscious input. Looking for the lead means your conscious is actively involved in the shooting process. Never a good idea. Watch the target break.

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Losing track of what’s important happens to all of us. Todd Bender reflects on his return to the competitive ranks of skeet shooting during his continued recovery from the car accident he was in three years ago. In his quest to return to the top ranks of skeet he lost sight of what’s important. Shooting for score isn’t the goal and that’s what he found himself doing. Shooting for an outcome won’t get you what you want.

The best batters in baseball don’t try to hit the ball, they try to place the ball. They see a gap in the infielders or outfielders and they try to place the ball where it’s out of play. They don’t think about raising their batting average. Tennis players don’t try to return a ball over the net. They’re trying to place the ball where their opponent will be most out of position to return it. Basketball players don’t think about their stats or the score if they want to sink a jump shot or layup. If they

do, they’re like Todd, losing sight of the game and concentrating on the score.

Todd reminds us to focus on the execution of the shooting process and stop over-trying. Trust your shooting process: pre-shot routine, visual setup, visual lock on the target, and shot execution. If you don’t trust your shooting process, evaluate why you don’t and fix the holes in the process. Get help if you need it. Only by continuing to learn about your game and practicing what you’ve learned will you get to the top ranks.

Watch the target break as Todd’s partner John Shima would say. _____________________________________ “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” Fear and worry comes from the unknown and unpredictable. I guess you could say in shooting worry comes from a fear of poor results and how your image will be affected. Drifting into the mindset of worry and fear ruins a good day and any hope of a good score. When you commit more grey matter to the outcome than to the process you cut your legs out from under you. Process, process, process.

As Vince Lombardi once said, “hope is not a strategy.” Gil and Vicki Ash also recite this a mantra in their writing. They tell us training and focus on the process defeats the jitters in their missive this month. Practice single targets at different break points to build confidence on the first target. Shoot each practice target as you would in a competition. Go through your preshot routine and your post-shot correction routine. This is practice, you’re allowed to miss and you’re allowed to reflect on it. Don’t forget the visualization process. Practicing your pre-shot routine and shooting process eases your mind when you go into a competition. Your mind likes the familiar and steps into panic mode when it’s out of its comfort zone. The pre-shot process keeps it in the familiar and allows the shooting process to occur naturally.

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Magazine Review CLAY TARGET NATION – July 2020 Cont’d Mark Chesnut gets some advice from Brian Hughes of Quail Ridge Sporting Clays in McCloud, Oklahoma about slumps and their causes. Brian lays out several reasons for slumps: not ever actually learning what it is you do when you shoot, lack of confidence, and unrealistic expectations. These are reasons beginning or intermediate shooters go into slumps. These shooters see the meteoric rise in their abilities and scores just from shooting more targets. Their scores plateau and they may even see them fall off once they’ve reached the limit of their natural talent. When this happens, confidence erodes and with it the few simple tools their natural ability brought to the game.

The fix is learning the essential basics of shotgunning like keeping your eye on the target and moving as an athlete in a game that’s not perceived as being athletic. I’ve come across any number of beginner to intermediate shooters who have no idea whether they’re a swing-through or maintained-lead shooter. I’ve even seen skeet shooters who use nothing but the intercept method on every target. Doesn’t matter what you use as your “go-to” method, you do need to know that’s what you do! Many targets are lost for the beginner to intermediate shooter because they never learned what they do best. Speed of the target can confuse these shooters and their minds seem to blank as they make wild stabs at the target. If they knew what they did on slower targets they could learn and use

those techniques on the more difficult targets. Now they’re learning and growing.

That doesn’t mean this is limited to just new shooters. Even experienced shooters forget their roots.

Mark recommends getting help from a coach and shooting the Whitetail Course at South Florida Shooting Club or the Red Course targets at Quail Creek.

Pounding powder puff targets builds confidence and strengthens core skills. While doing it, pay a little attention to how you’re doing it. The dividends you reap later will be worth it.

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There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

Ernest Hemingway

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10704 Wiles Road, Coral Springs, FL 33076 954-846-2336

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” —Pablo Picasso

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Calender of events: Gun Shows:

Miramar National Guard Armory September 19-20th

Skeet this month: Markham So. Florida

September 5th August 22nd

Port Malabar

August 28-29th

Trap this month: South Florida August 8th Markham

August 23rd

Sporting This month: Quail Creek

September 5th

Markham South Florida

September 12th August 15th

OK Corral Vero Beach

August 16th August 22nd

“You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential.�

Steve Garvey 19

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3 Youth Night

4 Skeet Night

5 Trap Night

6 7 Sporting Clays

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10 Youth Night

11 Skeet Night

12 Trap Night

13 14 Sporting Clays

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17 Youth Night

18 Skeet Night

19 Trap Night

20 21 Sporting Clays

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23 24 Trap Youth Tourney Night

25 Skeet Night

26 Trap Night

27 28 Sporting Clays

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Youth Night 20

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Skeet Tourney

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7 Labor Day

8 Skeet Night

9 Trap Night

10 11 Sporting Clays

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14 Youth Night

15 Skeet Night

16 Trap Night

17 18 Sporting Clays

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21 Youth Night

22 Skeet Night

23 Trap Night

24 25 Sporting Clays

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28 Trap Youth Tourney Night

29 Skeet Night

30 Trap Night

31 Sporting Clays

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Sporting Tourney

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PALM BEACH TRAP/SKEET PRO SHOP FIREARMS ALL NEW FIREARMS WHOLESALE PLUS 10% TRADES INS ACCEPTED

AMMUNITION AMMUNITION WHOLESALE COST PLUS $2.00 PER CASE WITH 10 CASE ORDER $4.00 LESS THAN 10 DELIVERIES TO Ft Lauderdale/Miami CONFIRMED WITH ORDERS

CALL FOR CURRENT PRICES ON FIREARMS/AMMUNITION

561-793-8787 THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR BUSINESS JOE FORDHAM 22

2020 Schedule of NSCA Sporting Clay Tournaments

Saturday - Jan 18

Snow Bird Open

Sunday - Feb 2

Honest Abe's Birthday Bash

Sunday - Mar 15

St. Patrick's Day Open

Saturday - Apr 25

CANCELLED

Sunday - May 17

Memorial Day Open

Saturday - Jun 20

20th Annual Sunshine State Classic

Saturday - Jul 11

Super Sizzle Open

Saturday - Aug 8

Summers End Open

Saturday - Sept. 12 Markham Fall Fest Shoot Sunday—Oct. 11

Pumpkin Blast

Sunday - Nov. 1

Richard Merritt Memorial

Saturday—Dec. 26 Bud Wolfe Classic 23

SPORTING CLAYS PROGRAM

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Lunch will not be served.

COURSE RULES: All shooters and spectators are required to wear ear and eye protection on the course.

MAXIMUM LOADS PERMITTED: 12GA, 3 DR EQ, 1 1/8 oz. Shot 7 1/2.

For additional information contact: Greg Ritch (561) 271-5319 email: gregsritch@gmail.com

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SPORTING CLAYS RESULTS

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MONTHLY SKEET PROGRAM Price per 50 targets includes $5/100 NSSA/FSA Fee

.410 gauge 28 gauge 20 gauge 12 gauge Doubles

50 Targets 50 Targets 50 Targets 50 Targets 50 Targets

$20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00

Shoots usually held the first Saturday of every month.

Gauges may be shot out of sequence with the permission of management. More than one 50 target program may be shot in the same gauge as a preliminary event.

AWARDS Break a 50, 75, or 100 Straight and get one of these guaranteed awards!

50 Straight Kennedy Half Dollar 75 Straight Eisenhower Dollar 100 Straight Morgan Silver Dollar 50 Straight Doubles Liberty Silver Half 26

Skeet Results

August Shoot Cancelled

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Trap Program: SPECIAL NOTICE

Trap Tournaments are usually the fourth Sunday of the month.

100 target 16 Yd, Hdcp and Doubles events.

First 100 targets. $40.00 (Includes ATA and FTA daily fees)

ATA SHOOT SCHEDULE 2019-2020

Additional 100 target events.

October 27th

$32.00

November 24th December 22rd January 12th February 23rd

See Joe Loitz for details: 954-857-5278

March 29th April 26th May 24th June 28th July 26th

August 23rd

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WEDNESDAY NIGHT SHOOTING IS STILL POPULAR WITH THE SHOOTERS. SIGN UP WITH STEVE NORRIS AND THE REST OF THE REGULARS AND TRY YOUR SKILL AND LUCK AT ALL THE GAMES.

Come out and join the fun!

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TRAP RESULTS

16 Yards

Trapshooting Tournaments are suspended until further notice.

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Handicap

Doubles

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Youth Program

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SPONSORS Professional and Industry Vendors

We are going to update this section of the newsletter on a continuing basis as requests come in.

If you would like to sponsor our newsletter: contact me at: jloit@bellsouth.net Joe Loitz at 954-857-5278

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