The Rise of the Children
The 2023 Silhouette Season So Far
“The competition’s getting younger…” - Garth Brooks
Well, it’s been a while! Let me start this note with a sincere apology to my readers for the huge gap in time since my last post. I’ve heard a good bit of good-natured grumbling at the matches about this delay and I appreciate that you all actually want to read some of what I have to write.
I don’t have much of an excuse for this hiatus but I assure you all that it was not due to laziness - I’ve rarely been busier than I have the last few months and most of it has been because of my pesky career. (Note: I’m looking for a way to make a living shooting rifles so if anyone has any ideas how to do that, please let me know!) For those of you that don’t already know, when I’m not shooting, training for shooting, talking or writing about shooting, coaching shooting, or running shooting matches, I spend my time being a lawyer. In early March I realized that I had two big jury trials set for this year. The first was set for June 26-30 and the second was set for July 24-28. Those weeks just happened to be the week of the first Monarch Cup match in Canada (Canadian National Championships) and the week after the second Monarch Cup match in Raton, New Mexico (United States National Championships). For perspective, these jury trials don’t come along very often for me - my last one was in October of 2020. In my practice, if I’m trying a lot of cases I’m usually not making money. My job is to make the best deal possible for my clients and putting their fate in the hands of twelve people that may or may not understand the case is not usually the best deal. The VAST majority of my cases settle before we go to court. Another thing to understand about why this schedule was a major problem for me is the time commitment to prepare for one of these trials. Generally for a jury trial, I’m basically doing nothing but preparing for trial for the entire month before trial. It’s all-consuming 80-hour workweeks that my practice is really not designed around and it is NOT conducive to being prepared to shoot against the best shooters in the world. Finally, simply rescheduling was not an option. Court time for week-long jury trials is VERY hard to come by and these trials were scheduled well before either of the matches were set. Moving either of these trials would delay the cases by a year or more. Rescheduling was not an option.
So the challenge was set, get these cases settled before June (and make enough money on my other cases to be able to afford to go to the matches) or I was going to be spending my Monarch Cup and national championships in a courtroom. To make a long and very busy (and somewhat stressful) story short, I put my head down and got to work and by the skin of my teeth got both cases settled in time to make it to British Colombia and New Mexico. I had just enough time to spend with my family and shoot a few championship matches but not enough time to create quality content for this newsletter. But that craziness is behind me, as are the Canadian and United States national championships, so now is the time to get back on track and get this report up to date!
2023 Silhouette Shooting Season Update: The Rise Of The Children
Many of you will remember my last post way back in March entitled Coop Shoot Recap wherein I told the story about 15 year-old shooting phenom Micah Waguespack’s introduction to the silhouette world as a star. Micah stood toe to toe with me, shooting national-record scores all day on Saturday before I was able to pull away from him on Sunday to win the championship. That performance was the first of what has been a phenomenal and unprecedented run of excellent shooting by several young shooters in the biggest championship matches of 2023.
Shamrock Silhouette Shootout - Baton Rouge, Louisiana - March 18-19, 2023
Let me go ahead and clear the air right now, and maybe cause a little controversy: Louisiana is the most difficult state in the United States to win a silhouette club match! Period (or exclamation point).It’s gotten a bit ridiculous in south Louisiana; the average winning score at smallbore or air rifle silhouette club matches in south Louisiana in 2023 is 38.2/40! That’s an average over seven months and LOTS of matches. To win a club match down here, you need to shoot a 39 or 40. Admittedly, most of those scores are my scores, but not all of them; and I don’t win the matches by much. More interestingly, my main competition is from teenagers! Louisiana currently has THREE teenagers who legitimately have the skill to win a smallbore silhouette national championship; and there are probably two more that could get to that skill level with some hard work.
It didn’t take the kids down here long to make their presence felt in a championship match after the Coop Shoot. Just a few short weeks later, in mid-March, we hosted the Shamrock Silhouette Shootout air rifle championship on St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Micah again shot record-level scores in Open Air Rifle (55/60, 55/60, 55/60 = 165/180) but I was able to beat him by shooting two new national records, including the first 60/60 in a scoped silhouette match in history and the new 120-shot Open Air Rifle national record of 118/120!
Another Louisiana superstar teenager, 16 year-old KG Bourgoyne, won the Target Air Rifle championship with excellent Target Air Rifle scores of 50/60, 45/60, 50/60 = 145/180. Joe DuBoulay took the Sporter Air Rifle championship with 47/60, 47/60, 40/60 = 134/180. Unfortunately for Joe, he’s not a teenager.
Spindletop Regional - Beaumont, Texas - April 1 - 2, 2023
The next championship match on the calendar was the Spindletop Regional in Texas. This match is tough and draws solid competition. Erich Mietenkorte traveled down for the match for the second year in a row, which added an A+ level competitor into the mix.
We shot Standard Rifle on Saturday and, as expected, Erich and I were at the top of the scoreboard tied at 69/80. Erich won the shootoff to win Standard rifle. What was a bit of a surprise was the shooter in third place, just one shot back at 68/80 - another Louisiana teenager who would, like Micah had done in February, announce his ascension to the highest levels of the sport - 17 year-old Aidan Cole.
It’s amazing how easy it can be to make stupid mistakes in this sport; and I started the Hunter Rifle matches off with a stupid mistake on Sunday. Starting on rams in the morning, I missed five of my first seven targets - definitely not a good start! I then struggled terribly with a shaky hold on chickens. After finishing the chickens and wondering what in the world was wrong with me, I realized that I had completely forgotten to eat anything for breakfast! What tha???? How does that happen? I’m supposed to be good at this game! I ate some food and after missing five of those first seven targets I only missed five of the next 73. That’s better! Pro tip: pack some food, and your brain, to bring to the range, and use both!
Aidan never slowed his excellent shooting and shot even better on Sunday than on Saturday. KG shot equally good scores as well. When the dust cleared I won the Hunter Rifle championship by just one target over Aidan and by just two over KG. I shot 70/80, Aidan shot 69/80 and KG shot 68/80. I won the Grand Aggregate championship with a score of 139/160 over Aidan (137/160) and Erich finished third at 134/180.
Conard Barnhardt Cup - PeEll, Washington - April 29-30, 2023
While I was busy at the office trying to settle cases so I could go to nationals, KG and Aidan traveled up to Washington state to shoot the Conard Barnhardt Cup. The CBC is the biggest smallbore silhouette regional championship in the United States with top-notch competition. This match added an additional superstar teenager to the mix. Jake Stine needs no introduction to the silhouette community; Jake finished third in the Monarch Cup last year and is one of the best silhouette shooters in the world, and he’s only 19 years old!
Jake and Aidan teamed up to shoot great scores during the CBC weekend. Aidan had issues with his rifle and borrowed Jake’s to shoot a 38/40, which tied for the highest score of the weekend. Not to be outdone with his own rifle, Jake also shot a 38/40 in one of the matches and used that great score to propel him to the Hunter Rifle title, winning it with scores of 38/40 & 37/40 = 75/80. Of course, the top shooters aren’t going to let the kids win everything; John Mullins won the Standard Rifle Championship with scores of 38/40 & 37/40 = 75/80.
Another top shooter in the world that needs no introduction, Kalvin Marsh, won the Grand Aggregate CBC Championship with scores of 35/40, 37/40, 37/40, 37/40 = 146/160. Kalvin is not a teenager, but he’s not far from it at 25 years old. Kalvin won the championship in a shootoff over John, who shot 38/40, 34/40, 37/40, 37/40 = 146/160. 19 year-old Jake finished third overall, shooting 36/40, 38/40, 33/40, 37/40 = 144/160. 16 year-old KG finished fourth overall, shooting 35/40, 35/40, 34/40, 35/40 = 139/160.
The Louisiana Silhouette Championship - Gonzales, Louisiana - May 6-7, 2023
The weekend after the CBC, we were back in Louisiana for the smallbore and air rifle silhouette state championships. This match features 60-shot smallbore Standard and Hunter Rifle matches on Saturday and an 80-shot air rifle match on Sunday. The best aggregate score takes the overall state championship. This championship is usually a war between Elisabeth Steiger and me. Elisabeth has been one of the best shooters in the world for over a decade. I had won four straight Louisiana Silhouette Championships coming into this year but Micah Waguespack had no intention of me winning a fifth.
Micah started things off strong Saturday morning, winning the Smallbore Standard Rifle state championship with a score of 56/60. Aidan finished second, just one shot back at 55/60. I was third with a 54/60 and Elisabeth was one shot behind me in fourth at 53/60. So, the kids were dominating the match, but kids are kids and kids make bad decisions; and Aidan made a bad decision. Aidan decided to leave the match to go to a party. Sigh…
So, with Aidan out of the way for the Hunter Rifle match in the afternoon, Micah and I tied for the lead at 55/60 with Elisabeth and KG two shots back at 53/60. Micah beat me in the shootoff to add the Hunter Rifle State Championship to his Standard Rifle Championship.
Going into air rifle on Sunday, Micah was ahead of me by two shots with two 40-shot matches left to go. I needed to make up some ground, and with very windy conditions I thought that might be possible. It didn’t happen in the first match, though. Micah shot 38/40 and beat my 37/40 by one shot. Micah now had a three shot lead with only 40 shots left to go.
The wind picked up and things got more difficult. I shot 35/40 in the final match and Micah shot 32/40. That gave me the Open Air Rifle state championship and, more importantly, it tied up the grand aggregate and sent us to a shootoff for the overall State Championship.
The shootoff took 10 shots and, for the first time in my shooting career, shooting at home, not a single person was pulling for me - even I wasn’t pulling for me! I won the shootoff to win the closest overall State Championship I can remember. It’s disappointing for Micah to have it won and not win, but that’s the way it goes in this sport and it’s happened to all of us. He’s 15, He’ll have plenty more opportunities.
Lapua Super Shoot - Ridgway, Pennsylvania - May 27-28, 2023
I was not in Ridgway for the Lapua Super Shoot, but Kaleb Santiso was. Kaleb is 18 years old and a product of the silhouette culture that runs in the blood of shooters in northwestern Pennsylvania. The Lapua Super Shoot is a grind of a match composed of 200 shots for score in Smallbore Standard Rifle and another 200 shots for Smallbore Hunter Rifle. It draws lots of good competition to what I believe is the best silhouette club in the United States. Kaleb entered the Standard Rifle championship and decided to sit out the Hunter Rifle this year. All he did was shoot 36/40, 36/40, 37/40, 37/40, 36/40 = 182/200 to win the championship by FIFTEEN shots over his closest competitor! That closest competitor is no slouch, either; it was Kenny Haupricht, Jr., one of the top shooters in Pennsylvania and one of the top shooters in the country. Kenny shot 37/40, 33/40, 36/40, 33/40, 34/40 = 173/200 to win the Hunter Rifle Championship.
Kaleb’s scores were phenomenal and typical of what he shoots in club matches. He certainly has what it takes to win any match in the world and is another teenager that we can expect to be at the top of the sport for years to come. His little brother Hunter is outstanding, too and there are several other very talented up-and-coming young shooters in that part of the country. (Keep an eye out for Blake and Beau Meixel.)
Missouri Highpower Silhouette Regional - Wright City, Missouri - June 10-11, 2023
We didn’t have to worry about a junior shooter dominating the Missouri Highpower Regional because there wasn’t a single junior shooter in attendance. That’s a big problem if you ask me; I suppose we can talk about ways to solve that problem at another time.
The Benchrest Rifle Club of St. Louis is an INCREDIBLE facility and, with 240 shots for score over two days, the amount of highpower shooting “bang for the buck” is impossible to beat at this match. Of course, Missouri is famous for having the hardest rams to knock over IN THE WORLD! But despite that, it’s still a great match.
On Saturday, I shot 35/40 & 34/40 with the Standard Rifle and 34/40 & 30/40 with the Hunter Rifle to take healthy leads in both matches. We had rain early Sunday morning that brought in some nasty wind so the scores on Sunday were down. I shot 30/40 in Standard Rifle and 26/40 in Hunter Rifle on Sunday to hang on to win both championships with a 99/120 in Standard Rifle and 90/120 in Hunter Rifle. I rang 3 rams with the Standard Rifle and 6 with the Hunter Rifle, which means I hit 101/120 targets with the Standard Rifle and 96/120 with the Hunter Rifle - not bad scores considering the conditions on Sunday. I won the Standard Rifle championship by 24 shots and the Hunter Rifle championship by 7 shots, so it was a pretty good weekend for me.
Canadian National Championships - Cranbrook, British Colombia - June 25-July 1, 2023
Long story short, I ended up satisfactorily solving my work issues to allow me to attend the Canadian and United States National Championships. Before we left for Canada, I was the guest on a NASSA Live event that you can watch here if you are so inclined. For the Canadian nationals, Jerry and I flew to Spokane, Washington and rented a car for the drive up to Cranbrook. The drive was beautiful and the town is really nice. Bull River Shooters’ Association is awesome and the match was as efficient and well-run as any match I’ve ever shot. Jordan Marsh and his crew did a wonderful job putting on a top-notch championship.
This was the first match of the 2023 LAPUA Monarch Cup, so the shooting roster was completely stacked with most all of the top shooters in the world in attendance. The Monarch Cup includes only the Standard Rifle this year, which is annoying. I managed to shoot about as bad as I could in the Standard Rifle matches, so I found myself in a huge hole in the Monarch Cup standings after this first round. Here’s how it happened:
In Standard Rifle/Monarch Cup Match #1, Gabriel Villarreal and Cathy Winstead-Severin tied for the top score at 37/40. Cathy won the shootoff to take the win. Justin Marsh, Kalvin Marsh, John Mullins and Jake Stine were all close behind at 36/40.
In Hunter Rifle Match #1, Justin Marsh and I tied for the top score at 38/40. Justin won the shotoff and won the Match. Eric Boos, Erich Mietenkorte, Kalvin Marsh, John Mullins, and Jake Stine all tied behind us at 35/40.
On day two, in Standard Rifle/Monarch Cup Match #2, John Mullins and Edgar Rueda tied for the top score of 37/40. John won the shootoff to take the win. Gabriel Villarreal and I tied for third at 36/40. I won the shootoff for third.
Jake Stine won Hunter Rifle Match #2 with a 37/40 with John Mullins and me right behind him tied at 36/40.
After two days, John Mullins and Gabriel Villarreal were leading the Standard Rifle championship at 73/80. Justin Marsh, Kalvin Marsh, and Jake Stine were tied for third at 71/80. I had the solo lead in the Hunter Rifle championship at 74/80. Jake Stine and Justin Marsh were tied for second at 72/80.
The morning Standard Rifle/Monarch Cup Match #3 on day three belonged to 23 year-old Justin Marsh and 19 year-old Jake Stine. Both of those guys shot excellent 39/40 to take the Monarch Cup lead of 110/120 and tie for the Standard Rifle National Championship. Justin and Jake were as close as possible, shooting the exact same score in each of the Standard Rifle matches. John Mullins shot 36/40 to finish just one shot back of Justin and Jake at 109/120.
The conditions got quite challenging for parts of Hunter Rifle Match #3. John Mullins won the match with a 35/40. I shot a very pedestrian 32/40 to hang on to the lead and win the Hunter Rifle National Championship with a championship score of 106/120. John Mullins and Jake Stine tied for second at 104/120.
John and Jake settled their tie for second in the Hunter Rifle match with a shootoff. Jake was on fire shooting turkeys and won the shootoff for second place.
All that was left was to decide the Standard Rifle national championship. The shootoff took ten shots and both shooters shot great but Jake was just unstoppable and edged it out over Justin.
I wish I had been able to stay for the Canadian Highpower National Championships, but there was no extra time in the schedule. The highpower championships came down to a big battle between Erich Mietenkorte, Jordan Marsh, and Justin Marsh. Erich shot 33/40, 34/40, 32/40 = 99/120 to win the Standard Rifle National Championship. Justin finished second (27/40, 32/40, 35/40 = 94/120) and Jordan finished third (32/40, 33/40, 27/40 = 92/120).
In Hunter Rifle, Jordan shot 33/40, 27/40, 31/40 = 91/120 to win the national championship. Erich finished second (29/40, 31/40, 30/40 = 90/120) and Justin finished third (25/40, 33/40, 24/40 = 82/120).
United States National Championships - Raton, New Mexico - July 17-23, 2023
The U.S. Nationals were back in Raton this year for the first time since 2018. The Whittington Center is an incredible facility and a great place to visit. The only problem for me is that I have NEVER shot a single good score in a match in Raton. I won a national championship there in 2016, but not shooting good scores. This did not bode well for me needing to make a big move in the Monarch Cup standings and shooting against a Monarch Cup/national championship crowd.
Before I go into the details of the match, it needs to be noted that it is a BIG DEAL to put on a Monarch Cup match. These are major championships with the strongest fields in history. Every shot matters so issues have to be handled correctly. There are lots of shootoffs and lots of prizes to give away and other things that challenge the schedule. It’s a very difficult logistical puzzle for a club to handle. The problem with the Whittington Center is there is no club to run anything. Everything has to be run by a volunteer match staff without the benefit of an experienced shooting club with members to pick up the slack. This is a near impossible challenge, but Jim Luke took the reins this year and he and his staff knocked it out of the park! This was the best national championship I’ve ever attended in Raton. The matches were extremely efficient and the results were tabulated quickly and accurately. I’d like to personally thank Jim and his crew right here in this newsletter for putting in so much time and energy to provide us with an exceptional championship. Thank you Jim!
Jordan Marsh won Smallbore Standard Rifle Match #1/Monarch Cup Match #4 with a score of 36/40. Alec Rodriguez was second with a 35/40 and Enrique Kuess, Scott Larson, Kalvin Marsh, Erich Mietenkorte, and John Mullins all tied for third at 34/40.
I won Hunter Rifle Match #1 in a three-way shootoff against Jordan and Kalvin Marsh with a score of 36/40. Kalvin ended up second and Jordan third.
Kalvin Marsh won Standard Rifle Match #2/Monarch Cup Match #5 with a 36/40. Jimena Davila, Justin Marsh, John Mullins, and Jake Stine tied for second at 35/40.
The famous Raton afternoon conditions pushed the scores down for Hunter Rifle Match #2. Gabriel Villarreal won the match with a score of 34/40. Kalvin Marsh was second at 33/40. Cathy Winstead-Severin and Justin Marsh tied for third at 32/40.
After two days, Kalvin Marsh was leading the Standard Rifle championship at 70/80. John Mullins was second at 69/80 and Jake Stine was third at 68/80. Kalvin Marsh and Gabriel Villarreal were tied for the lead in the Hunter Rifle championship at 69/80. Jordan Marsh, John Mullins and I were tied for third at 66/80.
The standings for the top three in the Standard Rifle championship did not change on day #3. Gabriel Villarreal won Standard Rifle Match #3/Monarch Cup Match #6 with a really nice 39/40, missing just one pig. Jordan Marsh was second with a 37/40. Kalvin Marsh, Erich Mietenkorte, John Mullins and Jake Stine all tied for third at 36/40.
Kalvin Marsh won the Smallbore Standard Rifle national Championship with a score of 106/120. John Mullins was second, just one shot back at 105/120. Jake Stine won a shootoff against Gabriel Villarreal to step onto the podium in third place at 104/120.
John Mullins won Hunter Rifle Match #3 with a strong 37/40. Alec Rodriguez and Carlos Salazar tied for second at 35/40. John’s 37/40 lifted him into a tie for the Hunter Rifle lead with Kalvin Marsh at 103/120. John won a 5-shot shootoff over Kalvin to win the Hunter Rifle national championship. Gabriel Villarreal finished third at 102/120.
25 year-old Kalvin Marsh became the first Canadian to win a United States silhouette national championship by winning not only the Standard Rifle championship, but also the Smallbore Silhouette Grand Aggregate National Championship with a score of 209/240. John Mullins was second, one shot back, at 208/240. Gabriel Villarreal was third at 206/240. I finished a disappointing fifth at 198/240.
HIGHPOWER
The best weather I’ve ever seen in Raton continued from the smallbore matches into highpower, but regardless, my streak of no good scores at the Whittington Center continued into highpower as well. But, the scores were decent and on day #1 John Mullins and I tied for the lead in Standard Rifle Match #1 at 33/40. John won the shootoff. Erich Mietenkorte was third at 32/40.
The same three shooters were on the podium for Hunter Rifle Match #1 with Erich taking the win at 34/40, John second at 33/40, and me beating Jason Stine in a shootoff for third at 31/40.
On day #2, Gabriel Villarreal repeated his smallbore feat of shooting the highest score in the tournament as he won Standard Rifle Match #2 with a nice 37/40. Erich was second at 34/40 and Chris Cawthorne and I tied for third with a 32/40.
I won Hunter Rifle Match #2 with a score of 35/40. John and Erich once again made up the rest of the podium as they tied for second at 32/40.
After day #2, Gabriel Villarreal led the Standard Rifle championship at 68/80. Erich Mietenkorte was second at 66/80 and I was third at 65/80. In the Hunter Rifle championship, Erich and I were tied for the lead at 66/80 with John Mullins just one shot back at 65/80. In the Grand Aggregate, Erich led at 132/160; I was one shot back at 131/160 and John was third at 126/160.
Erich, John and I had registered as a team before the championship began. We were attempting to defend our Team National Championship from last year. The team scores are only counted on the first two days of competition. Our team won both the Standard Rifle and the Hunter Rifle Team National Championships; and our Hunter Rifle score of 197/240 is the new national record!
Day #3 was a day of mistakes for most of the top shooters. Gabriel Villarreal made no mistakes as he shot 33/40 in Standard Rifle Match #3 to finish third in the match and bring home the Standard Rifle National Championship with a score of 101/120. Cathy Winstead-Severin and Enrique Kuess tied for the top score of 34/40. Enrique won the shootoff to win the match and finished third overall at 92/120.
I shot a 31/40 to finish second overall at 96/120. Mexico had a good showing in the Standard Rifle championship with a national championship and two podium spots. Gabriel and Enrique are a couple of the best shooters in the world and they are comfortable shooting Standard Rifles because Mexico shoots rifles very similar to our Standard Rifle. Great job gentlemen!
I and most of the top contenders finished the Standard Rifle match on pigs. When I finished shooting pigs, Erich almost immediately walked up to me and I could tell something was wrong. He had reported to the line on relay 2 and shot his pigs, hitting 8 of 10. The problem was that he was not supposed to shoot until relay 3; he had shot on the wrong relay. Of course, the penalty for shooting the wrong relay is that the shooter must count all of the shots as misses. Being the gentleman that he is, and silhouette being the sport of honor that it is, Erich immediately went to the stat office and told them of his mistake and instructed the staff to give him a zero on pigs. That zero took him out of contention for the Standard Rifle championship and, presumably, for the Grand Aggregate championship as well, which he was leading at the beginning of the day.
I felt horrible for Erich. This mistake brought back memories of 2019 when I had the lead in the Highpower Grand Aggregate and Hunter Rifle championships with 10 shots to go, but I fell asleep and slept through my relay, costing me both championships. That is a funny story now but at the time it was a complete gut punch. We all give lots of time and effort in training to put ourselves in position to win these championships and to lose on a mistake is very difficult.
We all gave Erich pats on the back and encouraged him to keep focused on the Hunter Rifle championship, and he did just that. In fact, everything worked out in the end because I was about to make my mistake of the day — shooting my worst match in YEARS, which I did in Hunter Rifle Match #3.
I started on pigs and center-punched the first nine, but then missed number ten. Hitting that shot would have won the Grand Aggregate National Championship. We moved to turkeys and I hit two out of the first five then two out of the second five for an absurd 4 of 10. Hitting any one of those shots would have won the Grand Aggregate National Championship.
On the first ram, I broke a PERFECT shot, exactly on the spot that Jerry gave me; but the shot inexplicably sailed high. I couldn’t believe it! I looked at my scope and realized that I had dialed in the ram sight setting for my STANDARD rifle, which is two MOA higher than my Hunter Rifle ram setting. I mixed up the sight settings! How does that happen? Not making that mistake would have won the Grand Aggregate National Championship. I hit seven of the next nine rams to finish with seven rams.
I moved to chickens ready to hit all ten and finish this thing off. However, that didn’t happen. I missed the first shot. Then I missed the second shot. The third shot was not a good shot and I hit the target on the tip of the tail, it spun all the way around but didn’t fall off the pad. It was BARELY on the corner of the pad; another millimeter and it would have fallen! I then missed the fourth shot AND the fifth shot. Hitting any of those misses would have won the Grand Aggregate National Championship. The chicken that I hit falling off the pad would have won the Grand Aggregate National Championship. I don’t remember ever missing five straight chickens, even in highpower.
I cleaned the next five chickens but the damage was done. I shot an abysmal 25/40, knocking me down to third overall in the Hunter Rifle championship. Erich shot a 32/40 to win Hunter Rifle Match #3 and the Hunter RIfle National Championship. His good shooting combined with my terrible shooting put us in a tie for the Grand Aggregate championship.
The Hunter Rifle National Championship finished with Erich as the National Champion at 98/120, John Mullins second at 94/120 and me third at 91/120.
Erich and I shot off for the Grand Aggregate National Championship and by that time he was shooting good and I wasn’t, so it was no surprise when he won the shootoff and the National Championship.
Erich won his third straight Highpower Grand Aggregate National Championship with a score of 187/240. I was second, also at 187/240. John Mullins was third at 183/240.
It was frustrating shooting so poorly in that last match but I’m glad that the best shooter won. Erich is the best highpower silhouette shooter in the world right now and he shot the best and deserved the championship. The one good thing about losing is that it teaches us much more than winning does. I always say that we win or we learn. As usual, Jerry and I analyzed the performances for both smallbore and highpower and identified weaknesses and some mistakes in preparation that we have corrected so that debacles like this don’t happen again.
WRAPPING UP
So that’s the shooting season up until now. Of course, lots of other matches have gone down that I wasn’t able to attend. The lever action silhouette national championships were in Ridgway in June and there were silhouette matches talking place at the Whittington Center for basically the entire month of July. The Ironman in Montana was reportedly great this year as usual, with Erich taking that championship. Mexico is full of championship matches. I wish I could report on all of these great matches but I can only be in one place at a time and until one of you tells me how to make a living shooting (seriously, give me ideas!), most of my time has to be here in Baton Rouge.
As you can tell, one of the themes of the season so far in my mind has been the performances of so many great young shooters. I intend no disrespect to these shooters by calling them children, it just made the title of this note sound better. These young ladies and gentlemen are supremely talented, mature athletes that are among the best in the world at the most difficult shooting discipline in the world. We need to attract more young shooters and I’ll close this note with the one key that we in Louisiana have found to get these guys and girls out to the range. Hopefully clubs around the continent can take this tip and use it to significantly lower the average age of your matches.
You ready? This is the key: The most important thing that draws young shooters to the range is getting their FRIENDS to the range. No matter why those friends are there, no matter if the friends are shooting or not, no matter if the young shooters are beginner shooters or great shooters; kids will go where their friends are. So we need to ask ourselves, what are we doing to make the shooting range the place that kids want to hang out? That’s a question to explore in a later post and I want to hear YOUR ideas on that question and any others that you might have.
We have lots to cover in the following weeks. I received a great question this week that flows perfectly into Part 2 of my training series, so that will probably be next. I have a couple of exciting product reviews to write up for you and lots of questions that still need answering. I still need more questions and ideas for topics, so keep sending them in! Until next time, keep shooting!