Trap shooters gobble up a fun day at Annual Turkey Shoot
Plains shooter Tony Colombo is not worried about the snow as he takes aim in the first round of the Annie Oakley at the Plains Trap Club on Saturday. (Erin Jusseaume photos/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
The youngest shooter at the Spring Turkey Shoot, Tyler Lyscio waits for his name to be called for the Annie Oakley.
Allen Richards, left, shoots off for fourth place against James Jermyn in the Annie Oakley.
Henry Miller of Hamilton, center, takes aim in the buddy shoot.
Helen Durgin holds steady while a cold rain falls around her.
Lexi takes a break from mingling with the shooters.
Junior shooter AJ Jermyn keeps his eye on the orange bird in the buddy event.
Cody Hansen, 15, Austin Hansen, 13, and Cade Stinnett, 15, realize they outshot the line-up to take the top three positions of the Annie Oakley.
Shooters are ready for the Annie Oakley as they listen to the rules and get set to take their positions.
The Plains Trap Club held their annual Spring Turkey Shoot at the club grounds Saturday.
Shooters saw an abundance of weather as they shot in the sunshine, rain and even snow. It may not have been ideal weather for the shooters, but the fun vibe the club is known for held up in both the clubhouse and on the trap houses during the event.
“It’s a fun shoot to be part of,” said Adam Lilja, who was in charge of handing out the prizes for winners during the event.
Lilja also provided the day’s honorary mascot Lexie, his German shepherd who was a crowd-pleaser with all the shooters young and old as they waited for their squad calls.
The event proved to be a successful kick-off to the trap shooting season as there were a total of 46 squads on the day competing for either a ham, two chickens or two bacon prizes.
“It was a great day out at the club, the weather was not what we’re used to as we normally have a lot of sunshine; but everyone seemed to have really enjoyed the day overall,” said Cookie Kunzer.
Numbers for the event were a little down overall in comparison to previous years, however the junior competitors along with the ladies event shooter numbers were the highest they have ever been.
“Mike Brenson and his wife have helped foster our young shooters through 4-H and they inspired a lot of the Thompson Falls and Plains junior shooters to come down and join in on the fun of the competition,” said Kunzer.
The youngest shooter of the day, Tyler Lyscio, had one great day of shooting. He won the No. 7 junior squad shoot, to which he was able to take the sheet home to show his mom.
The young shooter also took part in one of the Annie Oakley’s against open competitors on the day as well, not fairing overly well, but he did hold on for a few rounds as they progressed toward a winner.
Overall numbers for the day broke down to two ladies shoot squads, eight junior shoot squads plus one hard luck squad.
“We had three junior shooters who shot well all day, but didn’t end up winning a squad shoot. So we put the hard luck shoot up for the kids, and they all were able to walk away from the day with a prize well earned,” said Kunzer.
The doubles shoot was one of the novelty events for competitors to jump in on and had three squads in total.
The buddy and circle shoots also had more than one squad on the day as every wanted to continue the fun of a relaxed competition setting.
The Annie Oakley ended up with filling two rounds, and also included a junior round for the kids if they didn’t feel confident enough to shoot with the open competitors.
The first round saw three juniors take the top spots while two of the open competitors had to battle it out for fourth place.
“Our club is all about building the confidence in each of our shooters. This includes everyone from new shooters to our junior shooters, it’s all about the fun on days like today,” said Kunzer.
Along with aiming to allow everyone a good go in the Annie Oakley shoots, Kunzel said that those who had never shot the feature styled event, where given a second go-around if they missed hitting the target. This was seen as a handicap of sorts to ensure that the fun could last a little longer for newer shooters on the day.
Some of the more experienced shooters fell in the first round, but stood by the rest of the line cheering and encouraging everyone until the last bird was shot.
After a day of easing into the competition season, the Trap Club hosted the five by forty fun feature to wrap up the day.
The five by forty is an all in style feature event that a competitor buys in their position for $5 that gives them five shots to hit the target at 40 yards.
The kicker to the event is, when a there is a tie, shooters can opt to buy back in for another chance at winning the pot.
The overall winner of the day was Hamilton shooter Henry Miller who was said to be really happy as he headed home with a bit of prize money.
With the 2018 Spring Turkey Shoot all wrapped up for another year, the club will begin preparing for their ATA Shoots and Memorial Shoots this coming summer season.