INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Guns, sporting clays and BBQ highlighted a day of outdoor fun at Indian River Trap and Skeet to benefit the Education Foundation of Indian River County.
Twelve- and 20-gauge shotguns blasted shells at elusive bright orange sporting clays flying through the air during a friendly competition hosted by Windsor Gun Club at the 14th annual Charity Shoot to Target Education event last Saturday. Eight teams consisting of three people of all skill levels engaged in two hours of targeting fast-moving clays.
The shoot involved breaking clays in two disciplines – Driven Game Simulation and Quadruple Three-Stand. Both scores were added to come up with first, second and third place prize winners.
“It’s the adrenaline rush that’s so great,” DeDe Snowden said after a round of shooting. “It’s fast and fun.”
Bird hunters including former Ducks Unlimited President Hazard Campbell and event sponsor Bill Hudson, and others who love to be outdoors, tested their marksmanship during the event that raised $20,000 for Education Foundation programs.
Nicky Szapary, director of Windsor Gun Club, oversaw the event. He said the team feature of the event added a dimension of strategy to the game, and made communication essential. Usually the activity is done on an individual basis. He said the sport is growing and as opposed to trap and skeet shooting in which the layout is standardized all around the world, sporting clays has a varied aspect to it.
“It’s more exciting this way,” he said.
Szapary, who competed in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics in mixed skeet shooting, has been teaching it since 1991, and at Windsor since 1995.
In the early 1900s a number of British shooting schools adopted the use of clay targets to practice for driven-game shoots. Sporting clays was first used in an American competition in 1980 in Connecticut.
Winners were announced during a BBQ lunch eaten at picnic tables adorned with vases of tulips and blue and white check tablecloths.
First place went to Mack Singleton, Jay Kirby and Tim Mullan; 2nd Place went to Tim Mullan, Steve McGillicuddy and Lee Etheredge; and 3rd Place went to Dede Snowden, Tony Woodruff and Todd Marchant.
Shooting shotguns is a very simple technical sport, Szapary said, and the sport has grown considerably.
“There are a few moving parts. You can learn in 5 to 10 sessions and have fun. Unlike with golf, you never have a happy time in your life once you learn!” he joked.
Sporting clays is often described as “golf with a shotgun” because a typical course includes from 10 to 15 different shooting stations laid out in natural terrain. Sporting clays simulates the unpredictability of live quarry shooting, offering a variety of trajectories, angles, speeds, elevations, distances and target sizes.
The Windsor Gun Club facility includes a competition size trap and skeet field, a 7-yard, 25-yard and 50-yard pistol range, a 100-yard rifle range as well as club house facility.
Education Foundation Executive Director Cynthia Falardeau said the money raised from the annual event goes toward programs that ensure educational opportunities for every Pre-K through 12th grade student. During the 2012-2013 school year the foundation infused over $350,000 in program services and awarded over $875,000 in college scholarships and academic awards at the Indian River Regional Science & Engineering Fair.
