Zwolle 2022

Report from the oldest, most unique, and maybe the most fun match in the country!

The third weekend in October is one of the best weekends of the year on the silhouette calendar - Zwolle weekend! The Louisiana Highpower Silhouette State Championship is truly a match unlike any other. This year was the 47th annual match and the range is basically unchanged from that first match 47 years ago. Zwolle is the Fenway Park of silhouette ranges - old, antiquated, and outdated but legendary, historical, and beautiful. Just as serious baseball fans need to make the trip to Boston to see a game at Fenway at least once, serious silhouette shooters need to shoot at least one match at Zwolle in October. The weather is usually wonderful; the atmosphere is laid back and friendly; and the competition is fierce. This year was no exception.

Zwolle is not the place to go if you’re looking to shoot a great score. This range is DIFFICULT. There are no berms; if you miss, your spotter has about a 5% chance of giving you accurate feedback on where your bullet went. The angle of the sun in October makes it difficult to tell where bullets hit on the black targets. The firing line is not covered; there is sunlight in your eyes and glare in your scope. The rails and most of the targets are 50 years old. Some of the rams are so bowed that it’s impossible for them to fall backward, so they rock and fall forward when they’re hit - or they stand there and look at you. There are trees on one side of the range and flat pasture on the other. There are hills and valleys in front, behind and to the side of the targets, making the wind do crazy things. It’s not unusual at all for a wind flag at the chicken line to completely lie to you about how the wind will affect a bullet heading to the turkeys. Speaking of the turkeys… the turkeys are nearly impossible; don’t ask me why. I’ve been shooting in Zwolle for 10 years and I still can’t tell you what is going on with those turkeys. I don’t think I’ve ever hit a 10-in-a-row on turkeys there. You’re shooting uphill at the rams and some are higher than others; four of the pigs are almost impossible to see in the morning; some of the chickens are misshapen and others look like they’re starving to death. There are heavy targets, light targets, small targets, smaller targets, old targets, older targets, mysteries, folklore, great shooters from time gone by and more stories than you can imagine. It is an absolutely glorious monument to OLD SCHOOL silhouette!

This weekend an old school battle broke out between three old school silhouette shooters for the honor of having their name forever inscribed on the Lloyd A. “Bucky” Murdock Trophy for the Louisiana “Top Gun” highpower silhouette champion. And I got to be part of it!

Friday was warmup day. I started the day with a 30-mile bike ride and a workout. Jerry arrived at my house around 11:30 AM and we hit the road heading to Zwolle around noon. Zwolle is about a 3.5-hour drive from my house. I live in Baton Rouge, which is in south Louisiana. Zwolle is in northwest Louisiana close to Toledo Bend, a huge lake that borders Louisiana and Texas. South Louisiana is what most people think of when they picture Louisiana. South Louisiana is where the swamps and Cajuns and great food are. North Louisiana is rural hilly piney woods. It’s a beautiful part of the country but way different than South Louisiana. Zwolle does have famous tamales so the food is not all bad up there…

By 4:00 we were on the range getting the rifles sighted in. By 6:30 we were eating supper at El Patio Mexican Restaurant (highly recommended). By 9:00 we were at the fishing lodge that we call home on Toledo Bend catching up and listening to Jerry tell hunting stories. (Did you all know that every animal that Jerry Tureau has ever shot with a rifle has been running at a full sprint and he has NEVER missed!) After a comfy night’s sleep we were ready to roll on Saturday morning.

The Louisiana Highpower Silhouette State Championship is 120 shots consisting of two 40-shot matches on Saturday and one on Sunday. There is no Hunter Rifle; Standard Rifle rules apply for the whole weekend. I shot my 6.5x47L standard rifle. Saturday morning’s match kicked off about 9:30. As I mentioned above, this match would come down to three shooters: Mark Pharr, Bill Motl and me.

Mark Started Saturday morning on turkeys; Bill started on chickens, I started on rams. I hit my first ram high in the back and made a good center shot on the second one. I missed the third and fourth ones high over the back. I made a half-MOA adjustment down and hit the fifth ram in the center. That adjustment was key. On the second bank I hit the first two dead center; the third was a high hit and the fourth was center. I hit the last target low in the belly on the rump side and rang it with a 156-grain Berger EOL bullet (This has been the most reliable ram bullet I’ve ever shot in any caliber - I HIGHLY recommend this bullet for rams.) So I hit 8 rams but got 7. Mark only hit 5 of those impossible turkeys and Bill started off with 8 chickens.

As we moved to the second target, the wind started picking up. It wasn’t terrible; it would get worse. I was shooting chickens so the wind wasn’t much of factor since it wasn’t gusting and pushing me around. I made three very good center shots and center-punched the first three chickens, then came chicken number four…

On the fourth chicken, Jerry’s call was slightly on the tail side (right side) of center. A center shot was also fine. I loaded my rifle and went through my normal shot process. As I settled into the target, trying to get my reticle dot to the center, the dot hovered around the top edge of the back. Then, over the course of a very short period of time, less than two seconds, this happened: Two figures, both about 4 inches in height, appeared on each of my shoulders. The figure standing on my right shoulder was wearing a snow-white silhouette vest, perfectly clean without even the hint of a stain or imperfection. He was dazzling, full of a heavenly glow and sporting a beautiful golden halo.

The figure on my left shoulder wore a red and black silhouette vest that was so filthy it looked like it had been in Jerry’s truck for five years. This little dude stunk terribly and seemed to be stumbling drunk. He had horns growing out of his head surrounded by matted greasy hair; and he had a pointed tail. I have no idea what these guys’ names were but for now we will call the guy on my right shoulder “Angel” and the guy on my left shoulder “Demon.” As my reticle dot hovered near the top edge of the fourth chicken’s back, this was said by Angel and Demon:

ANGEL: You know not to take that shot, wait for the better shot in the middle.

DEMON: Wait? Why wait? That’s a GREAT shot. Take it!

ANGEL: Remember all your training. You know that’s not the shot you want.

DEMON: That shot will flip that chicken right off the rail. It’s a no-brainer, guaranteed to hit shot. TAKE THE SHOT! (he actually yelled that - his breath was awful!)

ANGEL: A very good center shot is coming. You don’t need this marginal shot.

DEMON: You take this shot, you’re going to get a 10-in-a-row. Your kids are going to think you are a hero. You’ll probably never miss another chicken again!

ANGEL: You are much better than this. You hit chickens in the center all the time. You can do it. Wait for the better shot and take the high percentage chance.

DEMON: If you take this shot I will give you a three-pound bag of Haribo Goldenbears gummy bears!!!

—BOOM— I took the shot. The devil knows what he’s doing and he knows just how to tempt us. His little minions know what they’re doing too. The bullet went right over the back. I got no chicken and I got no delicious gummy bears.

I took a deep breath, reloaded, and hit the fifth chicken in the center.

I took what felt like five good shots on the next five chickens. The first two hit in the center but numbers three and four both inexplicably missed. Jerry and I tried to figure it out but it was hard to him to be sure where the misses were. I took another good shot on number five and hit it in the center. We assumed that the misses were just me but made a note to carefully check that sight setting during the lunch break.

So I ended up with 8 chickens. Bill struggled with only 5 pigs and Mark got 6 rams. That would be the end of Bill’s struggling with pigs for the entire weekend and the last target that Mark would miss in the morning match.

I moved to pigs and the wind picked up a bit more and upped the challenge. I center-punched all 10 pigs; Mark drilled all 10 of his chickens; and Bill rolled out a very impressive 8 turkeys in the wind.

Moving to the last target of the morning, I had the pleasure of shooting the turkeys in the trickiest wind of the weekend. The wind was blowing breast to tail (left to right) and Jerry told me to break the first shot just inside the edge of the breast. I broke it perfect and hit the first turkey in the tail. The second shot broke high in the breast and blew right over the tail for a miss. The third target was a good shot right on the call for a center hit. Things got rough after that. Number four was just like number two, too high in the breast and missed over the tail. Jerry told me to keep the shot on the low edge of the breast but I wasn’t close enough to the edge on number five and the bullet blew off the tip of the tail.

The second bank of turkeys was more of the same. Number one was not close enough to the edge and blew off the tail. I yanked number two and missed off the breast. I managed to hit number three but missed number four again off the tail. I got a hit on number five to finish with 4 turkeys and a pitiful 28/40 in the first match. Bill only got 4 rams and shot 25/40. Mark hit all 10 of his pigs and won the match with a 31/40.

The scores from all the other competitors were equally bad and only Mark was able to get into the thirties on the first match - he would stay in the thirties all weekend. This was the first highpower match Bill had shot in two years and he now had the bad match out of his system. His struggles were over. The question was whether I was going to rebound and keep up with these guys.

During lunch, Jerry and I carefully checked the sight setting on the chickens and found that those two unexplained misses were indeed my fault. We found that my settings were a little to the right across the board which may explain some of the turkey misses. We made an adjustment and went into match number 2.

We started match number 2 on turkeys and again I could not seem to keep the shots low enough in the body. I broke almost every shot high in the body where there is much less room for error. Those shots fall when it’s dead calm but when there is a bit of wind they are usually near misses. I struggled through ten poorly placed shots and only ended up with 5 hits. Mark kept rolling with 10 pigs and Bill hit 7 rams.

Next up for me was the rams. Jerry’s instruction was to break the first shot on the shoulder and that’s what I did for a center hit. The second ram was missed with a bad shot. I didn’t break the trigger cleanly and pulled the shot over the back. After that shot, I had only hit 6 of my last 12 shots. That is not acceptable. I took a brief second to clear my head and get back to laser focus on my shot process. It’s very important to learn to control your mind and be able to bring yourself back to disciplined shooting during the middle of a match. It takes an intricate knowledge of yourself and your process; and it takes a LOT of practice. The next 28 shots were all nearly perfect, and they were all hits. I didn’t miss another shot all day.

Jerry continued to instruct me to shoot for the shoulder on the next eight rams. I broke the shot on the call eight times all all eight went down. 9 rams. Mark hit 7 turkeys and Bill hit 7 chickens.

I did my best shooting of the weekend on the next chickens. Ten perfect shots that all hit in the center. The shooting rhythm and cadence were good and we were rolling! Mark knocked down 5 rams and Bill cleaned his pigs.

I kept shooting well on the pigs with ten good shots that all hit. Mark finished with 9 chickens and Bill shot great on turkeys, hitting 8. I won match #2 with a 34, Bill shot 32 and Mark shot 31. After the first day, Mark and I were tied at 62/80 and Bill was four shots back in third at 57/80.

On Saturday evening the match provided a great barbecue dinner at the camp “up on the hill.” As we ate, the Louisiana folks cheered Tennessee on to a last-second win over Alabama with a clutch field goal. After supper, we made our way back to the fishing lodge to watch LSU throw the ball all over the yard, beating Florida in The Swamp. I love the fall!

The championship came down to the final match on Sunday morning. While we had bluebird sunny skies all day on Saturday, Sunday was overcast and dead still. The conditions were no excuse. The shooter that shot the best was going to win this match.

After warmups the match got rolling right at 9:00. We started on pigs and I took ten good-enough shots to get all 10. Mark hit 9 chickens and Bill continued his excellent turkey shooting, hitting 9.

Moving to turkeys, the call was dead center on most and on the breast (left) side of center for the others. I drilled the first two dead center then missed the next two over the back. I finished the first bank with a good shot on number five. On the second bank, I made a good shot and hit it in the center. On number two, I made what I thought was an excellent shot, but it missed. Without berms, Jerry couldn’t tell where it missed so we were both confused. Jerry kept reinforcing to me to keep the shots DOWN and I hit number three in the center. I missed number four - you guessed it - HIGH and then made an absolutely perfect shot to center punch the last turkey. 6 turkeys in all and I knew I better win this match outright to keep from a shootoff because turkeys were not my target this weekend! Mark hit 9 pigs and Bill knocked down 6 rams.

Going into the rams the wind was completely dead. I hit the first ram but Jerry couldn’t tell where. I nearly missed the second ram high but I hit it high on the shoulder. It didn’t matter because it didn’t fall! My second ringer of the weekend. I missed the third one high as well but I got the last two with a rump hit and a center hit. On the second bank I missed the first target between the legs. I drilled the next three dead center and I came to the same ram that I rang with a low hit the day before. I made a decent shot and hit it low again - same shot, same outcome - it hit low belly and didn’t move. Another ringer! I hit 8 rams but only got 6. Mark hit 7 turkeys and Bill hit 9 chickens.

My final target was chickens. I took good center shots on the first five and got all of them. More center shots on the first three of the second bank; then I had a bad touch-off on number four and missed it. I was sure that miss would come back to haunt me. I made a good shot on the final target and ended with 9 chickens. Mark finished with 5 rams and Bill cleaned all 10 of his pigs. Bill won the final match with a 34/40. I squeaked by Mark with a 31 to his 30 and won the state championship by one shot.

The final tally was me with 93/120, Mark with 92/120 and Bill with 91/120. What a close, fun match against some great silhouette shooters!

There was more going on than just the top three shooters. The best thing I saw all weekend was 12 year-old Emma Houston shooting her first ever highpower silhouette match. Emma’s parents brought her out to the range just to watch since they had never seen a highpower match. Dennis Barber offered to let Emma shoot a few shots with his rifle during warmup. Emma enjoyed it so much and shot so well that Dennis gave up his spot in the match and gave up his rifle and ammo so that Emma could shoot her first highpower match. Emma had a great time and shot very well, classifying in A class and finishing third in A class! I am very excited to have a new young highpower shooter and my heart swells with admiration and pride at Dennis’s selfless willingness to give up his whole weekend to allow Emma to shoot. I tip my hat to Dennis and I suggest that we all buy that man a beer next time we see him. What a great ambassador for our sport!

Jerry shot well this weekend, finishing in a tie for fourth overall. My good buddy and teammate, Bruce “Sandbag” Finley dominated the AAA class. Great shooting guys!

The match wrapped up with awards and we all hit the road shortly after noon. Jerry and I drove back home where we planned all the work that my beautiful wife wants done to our house. I don’t know how to do ANYTHING on a house but thankfully Jerry is an expert and we need to get to work before I get in trouble for shooting every weekend instead of taking care of business!

ELSEWHERE IN THE SILHOUETTE WORLD

Zwolle wasn’t the only championship match going on this weekend. The Southwest Regional Lever Action Championship took place at Ben Avery in Phoenix, Arizona. John Mullins continued his complete dominance of lever action silhouette, winning the championship with a 144/160.

Jim Luke won the big bore match with a 37/40 with John second at 35/40. Tony Lopez beat Dan Cates in a shootoff for third at 32/40.

John won the pistol cartridge match in a thunderstorm with a 56/60 (AND he rang two rams!) Tony took second with a 48/60 and Eric Sundstrom was third with a 46/60.

The smallbore match finished in a three-way tie between John, Jim and Chip Mate, all at 53/60. John won a long shootoff to take the win.

Congrats to all the winners and especially to John for his aggregate championship.

The Tennessee Lever Action Regional Championship went down this weekend as well with Matt Judd dominating the action there. Matt won the Smallbore Lever Action championship with a 69/80 ahead of Jerry Stringham (64/80) and Dennis Sanderson (58/80).

Matt won Pistol Cartridge as well with a score of 70/80. Lara Hahn and Josh Warman tied at 54/60 with Josh winning the shootoff to take the second spot.

This got longer than I originally planned so if you made it this far, thanks for reading. Please email me questions and ideas for things to talk about. If you‘ve sent me something and haven’t seen a response here, don’t worry!! I promise I will get to it!

Until next time, keep shooting!