Frye shoot shows success
<p>Cookie Kunzer prepares to fire a round off during the annual Amateur Trapshooting Association event.</p>
PLAINS – Bright orange clay pigeons soared across the sky and were met by thunderous volleys of shotgun fire over the weekend at the Plains Trap Club.
Skilled trap shooters from across Montana and all over the Pacific Northwest made their way to Plains for two days of competitive shooting.
The competition began on Saturday, August 2 and concluded with the final rounds of shooting occurring on Sunday, August 3.
The annual Bruce Frye Memorial Shoot is one of two Amateur Trapshooting Association events hosted by the Plains Trap Club over the course of the year.
This year marked the ninth year of the competition, which started in 2005, in honor of Frye.
According to Cookie Kunzer of the Plains Trap Club, Frye was instrumental in founding the club.
In total, 63 different shooters made the journey to Plains to compete in the late summer event, a number which is larger than last year’s shoot.
“The shoot is going very well. The number of shooters are up from last year,” Kunzer said.
Joining the field of competition over the weekend was a number of local shooters, many of whom practice their sport at the club in Plains.
Kunzer noted the warm temperatures, which neared 90 degrees during the afternoon hours added a different element to the trap shooting competition.
“The heat doesn’t affect the flight of the birds but stamina of the shooters is definitely affected,” Kunzer said.
On day one of the shoot Aaron Brown took first place in the Class AA division of the singles 16-yard event with an event score of 100. Dick Goodson placed first shooting from 27 yards in the second shoot of the day. The doubles Class AA competition on day one went to Grant Williams, who scored a 96.
The second day of competition saw George Miletich Jr. take home first in the doubles shoot with an event score of 98.
In the second shoot Lawrence Ziegler was the overall champion with an event score of 97 from a yardage of 27.
The final shoot of the competition went to Barry Gilpin who socred a 98 from 26.5 yards. The high overall champion went to Dick Goodson with 600 total targets.
The ATA shoot also offered a chance for local shooters who took part in the Montana State Trap Shoot in Great Falls to come together and celebrate their success at the previous tournament held earlier in July.
In total, members of the Plains Trap Club brought home 22 trophies from the annual state competition.
On top of this total, Barry Gilpin of the local club took first at the state competition in Great Falls.
Joining Gilpin at the state meet were Howdy Vasser, Jackie Garrigus, Marvin Rehbein, Aaron Brown and Lyle Neiss.
All these shooters walked away from the state tournament with trophies of his or her own.
In addition to the Bruce Frye Memorial Shoot the trap club also hosted the Tom Kunzer Memorial Shoot earlier in June.
Last weekend’s shoot marks the final event of the year at the Plains Trap Club with competitive and fun shooting events starting up again in early 2015.