Kunzer Memorial ATA Shoot a success for local Trap Club
Gary Meuekel of Lolo was working his way through the stations on Trap 2 during the Saturday’s singles competition during the Kunzer Memorial Firecracker (Erin Jusseaume/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
Shooters took advantage of the shot gun bar to park their bags while waiting to take to the traps (Erin Jusseaume/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
Fifteen squads registered for the recent Tom Kunzer Memorial Firecracker at the Plains Trap Club grounds over the weekend.
There were also plenty of campers, with shooters coming into the county from Washington, Idaho and around Montana.
The yearly memorial shoot is said to be a favorite amongst shooters as they remember a friend and fellow shooter, the late Tom Kunzer.
The official name of the annual shoot was changed from just the Firecracker, to The Tom Kunzer Memorial Firecracker in 2009. Being that this was his favorite shoot, the Plains Trap Club had decided to honor his memory by incorporating his namesake to it.
Even with large out of state numbers converging to the small club grounds over the weekend, there was also plenty of local shooters that took advantage of the Amateur Trap Associations sanctioned shoot so close to home.
Club secretary Cookie Kunzer said that the weekends’ annual event was always a fun catch up for shooters as the memorial brings back a lot of the same crowd.
“Tom’s brother Bob comes back over for the shoot from Washington, and a lot of his friends come as well,” said Kunzer.
The trap shooting community, though large in numbers, also boasts that family styled atmosphere to where each big event seems to bring the ‘family reunion’ feel to it.
Saturday’s events saw shooters take aim toward each of the trap houses in the singles, doubles and handicap events.
Shooters from classes AA, A, B, C all took advantage of making the most out of the events on the Saturday. Some even opting to buy into the specialty events such as the 50 pots, four corners purse, Joe Petroni and Clawson 100.
A great warm up on the traps before the days completion wrapped up and the annual Calcutta before a big BBQ styled dinner.
With the weather still looming that drizzle that was seen during Saturday, shooters along with friends and family all piled into the club house as local shooter and one of the events organizers James Jermyn took to some fun auctioneering as he sold shooters off to some hopeful winners. The pot for the Calcutta brought in close to $4,000.
Sunday saw similar events and numbers for shooters were once again strong. The weather proved to be a little more favorable during the mornings events with the sun out shining before the wind kicked up a little in the afternoon.
Winners of all events during the memorial shoot were presented with buckles for their efforts on the trap.
There were also a couple of shoot off’s from both Saturday and Sunday events with top scoring shooters having to battle it out for the overall win.
Overall winners from the Tom Kunzer Memorial firecracker are:
50 Pair Doubles (Sunday)
Class AA winner was Michael Zaragoza of Montana with a score of 96
Class A winner was Jeffery Thomas of Washington with a score of 92
Class B winner was Lyle Neiss of Montana with a score of 93
Class C winner was Allen Richardson of Montana with a score of 91
Jeffery Thomas also won the HOA-600 Targets with 565x600 score.
100 Handicap Targets including short, mid and long yardages (Sunday)
Champion with a 20.5 yardage and score of 95 was Harry Greene of Montana; Alfred Jermyn of Montana took the short yardage with a score of 90. While Jeffery Thomas of Washington took the mid yardage with a score of 94 and Rod Hickle of Montana took the long yardage with a score of 92.
16-Yard (Sunday)
Class AA winner was Jeffery Thomas of Washington with a score of 98
Class A winner was Lester Camp II of Washington with a score of 99
Class B winner was Mitch Steinberg of Montana with a score of 99
Class C winner was David Paske of Montana with a score of 98
Lady class winner was Krys George of Idaho with a score of 98
Vet class winner was Barry Gilpin with a score of 97
New Shooter winner was Jeramy Allison of Idaho with a score of 81
Junior Shooter winner was Alfred Jermyn of Montana with a score of 91
Doubles (Saturday)
Class AA winner was Grant Williams of Idaho with a score of 97
Class A winner was Jason Lee of Montana with a score of 93
Class B winner was Stan Stanhope of Montana with a score of 91
Class C winner was Harry Greene of Montana with a score of 90
100 Handicap Targets including short, mid and long yardages(Saturday)
Champion wth a 23 and score of 96 was Jeffery Thomas of Washington; Harry Greene of Montana took the short yardage with a score of 93. While Samuel Brown of Idaho took the mid yardage with a score of 96 and Grant Williams of Idaho took the long yardage with a score of 91.
16-Yard (Saturday)
Class AA winner was Jeffery Thomas of Washington with a score of 99
Class A winner was Krys George of Idaho with a score of 100
Class B winner was Michael Cirian of Montana with a score of 100
Class C winner was Charles Wilson of Idaho with a score of 97
Lady class winner was Jackie Garrigus of Montana with a score of 98
Vet class winner was Barry Gilpin with a score of 99
New Shooter winner was Tyler Talbert of Montana with a score of 98
Junior Shooter winner was AJ Jermyn of Montana with a score of 94
“This is great to have had fifteen squads turn out for the weekends event,” said club representative James Jermyn.
‘It’s been a great weekend,” echoed Kunzer.
Though there is a lot that goes into the event, club members banned together to ensure that all competitions and spectators were enjoying the Tom Kunzer Memorial Firecracker for another year.
“There’s a lot that goes into putting on this event and we have a great team of people that we now work as a well oiled machine,” said Kunzer.
Not only were there plenty of club members that jumped in to help in a range of different areas, some regular attendees also came back to help out in many other areas as well.
From the office, to the trap and keeping everyone fed and watered, a team of around fifteen people made sure the weather was the only dampening and not the spirit of the weekends annual shooting event at the Plains Trap Club.