Generations Skeet Club in beautiful central Pennsylvania hosted its 9th annual Couples Skeet Shoot on September 3. Over the years, 14 to 38 couples have participated in this shoot; 19 couples participated this year. The weather was sunny and warm, just a lovely late-summer day for skeet shooting, if you could ignore the wind. Yes, it was windy, but it was an “equal opportunity” wind.
A number of the shooters had never fired a shotgun before. Shooters’ ages ranged from 10 to 83. Shotguns, shells, ear plugs, etc. were provided as needed. All four of the skeet fields were used. Squads of four or six shooters were formed, and each couple shot 50 birds, shoulder-to-shoulder. The atmosphere was informal, but safety was stressed. Pulling and scoring was handled by experienced referees, and qualified coaches were present to help as needed.
After the 50 birds were shot at, a top-secret, but rather liberal, handicapping system was applied which resulted in all 19 teams (four or five teams per skeet field) participating in a 3-4-5 doubles shoot-off. The eight winners (two from each field) then shot off again to decide the shoot winners. Plenty of encouragement was provided by the onlookers. And the winners were: Renee and Tom Hillard, champs; Paige McMullen and Joe Vescovi, runners-up; and Makaela and Bryon Stanek, third.
After the shooting was finished, all retired to the Youth Center (one of the nicest barns you will ever see) onsite for a yummy picnic dinner. Many shooters brought covered dishes and/or desserts, and the main entrée, a special-recipe grilled chicken, was provided by Ryan Holtz. The dinner this year was even more exceptional than usual, with a wide variety of delicious items. One of the desserts was a large cake commemorating Roy and Lynn Holtz’s 45th wedding anniversary. And speaking of Lynn, she wasn’t planning on shooting this year until her 10-year-old grandson, Camden Simanski, asked if she would shoot with him, so she readily agreed. He shot a 21 x 50 for his first time at shooting 50 targets, and he was thrilled to make it to the championship shoot-off!
All in all, it was a great event, and most of the participants said they would be back when Roy asked for a vote on whether Labor Day weekend would be appropriate for this shoot next year. Kudos to Ryan, Michael and Roy for organizing this shoot and to all of the Generations folks who helped make it the rousing success that it was!
– Contributed by George Gleich
