Sporting Clays

2022 National Championship Photo Gallery

November 4, 2022 By Cara Woodard

The NSSA-NSCA’s official photographer, Lefty Ray Chapa, was on hand at the 2022 National Sporting Clays Championship to capture all the action. Enjoy this selection of photos, and feel free to send us your own photos at CTN@nssa-nsca.com.

Click on an image to enlarge photo.

Member Grant Bergmann has also shared his photos from the 2022 National Sporting Clays Championship. Our thanks to Grant for these great photos!

Oregon Celebrates 30th Championship and Hall of Fame Inductees

August 8, 2022 By Cara Woodard

Oregon celebrated its 30th anniversary State NSCA Sporting Clays Championship on June 23-26. Host club Mid Valley Clays and owners Dave and Vandy Fiedler put on a great event enjoyed by 193 competitors from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, Hawaii, Montana, Arizona, Nevada and Texas. At the traditional Saturday night awards banquet, the Sustain Oregon NSCA Fund raffled 40 boxes of shotgun shells as a large group of enthusiastic shooters and guests enjoyed a great BBQ dinner.

Dave Abel, Ellen Deleganes, Jerry Martin

A highlight of the annual awards banquet is the Hall of Fame (HOF) induction ceremony. A Nomination/Selection Committee looks back over the years and identifies those individuals who have achieved significant shooting accomplishments and/or made significant contributions in advancing the development and success of our sport. Congratulations to the following Oregon NSCA HOF inductees for 2022:

Shooting Achievement Award: Jerry Martin, Sr.

Service Award: David Abel and Ellen Deleganes

Each recipient received a crystal award, had their names added to the Oregon Hall of Fame Perpetual Plaque and their photo and career highlights displayed on the state association’s website, which you can see at www.ornsca.org/hof.html.

– Contributed by Tom Jones

Ohio Cup at Mad River Sportsman’s Club

August 8, 2022 By Cara Woodard

The 2022 Ohio Cup was held in its usual place, Mad River Sportsman’s Club, outside of Bellefontaine, Ohio, and on its usual date, Father’s Day, but that’s where the similarities end. This tournament has always been challenging. The terrain is incredible. The rolling hills and the deceptive backgrounds have historically produced lower scores. It can be very tricky to read the targets correctly.

But participation has fallen off over the years, and this year’s tournament sadly only had 82 shooters present. There was a time when this was arguably one of the premier events in Ohio; if you weren’t signed up for it by the end of February, you weren’t getting in.

A number of dynamics go into the making of a successful club – great targets, price, aesthetics, customer service, housekeeping and more. Neglecting any one of these things can be the death knell for a club. But maybe, while you are boycotting a place, it is actually growing and learning from its mistakes. That seems to be the case for club manager Tony Stratton. When we talked about this year’s tournament, I told him I thought these were the best targets he’s ever thrown. It was crazy hard, but every bird was hittable and fair. You just had to have a solid plan and execute it with precision.

Arthur Ansley won this one with a 90. That was a phenomenal score for this course. There were only two other shooters in the 80’s, yet no one complained about the targets. Tony said if he had thrown this kind of targets a few years back, everyone would have grumbled. But he’s seen how the game has changed and decided to step up and compete with the other top clubs in Ohio. He added a 50-bird AFS game this year as well. It, too, was well thought out and provided another opportunity for shooters to challenge themselves.

If you haven’t shot the Ohio Cup for a while, maybe consider trying it again next year. You might just be surprised to find there are a few more target presentations you can still learn from.

– Contributed by Sandy Welti

Digital Extra: World FITASC Photo Gallery

August 28, 2019 By

The USA Sporting Clays Team traveled to E.J. Churchill Shooting Grounds in England in July to represent NSCA and the USA in the World FITASC Sporting Championship. They were joined there by many more NSCA members, as well as competitors from around the world. You can read about the event in the September issue of Clay Target Nation magazine. Enjoy this “digital extra” photo gallery of some of the sights at the 2019 World FITASC. Click on any photo to enlarge it, and use the arrows to scroll through the enlarged photos.

Photos by Thaddius Bedford/Liquid Image

Nebraska State Sporting Clays Shoot

December 26, 2018 By Sherry Kerr

Pheasant Bonanza Hunt Club & Kennel hosted the2018 Nebraska NSCA State Shoot on August 2-5. The four-day event had overall pleasant weather, and the rolling Loess Hills landscape at Pheasant Bonanza was stunning, as usual.

A total of 168 shooters competed in the tournament throughout the four days. The main event, which had 113 competitors shooting, was held on-site in a new location with rolling hills. The preliminary and small-bore events were held on Pheasant Bonanza’s east and west main sporting clays courses. All of the weekend’s meals were served in Nebraska’s only Orvis- endorsed wingshooting lodge.

A warm and sunny Thursday morning kicked off the state shoot with the two-day Lincoln Traps Special preliminary event. Pat Williams (M) took home the HOA title, knocking out 97/100 targets. Class winners included Craig Manson (AA) with a score of 92; Cole Collier (A), also scoring a 92; Josiah Martin (B), scoring 88; Terry Kriz (C) with an 89; and Samuel Philson (D) with a score of 88.

Saturday morning brought a hint of undesired rain for a few short hours, while shooters competed in the two-day Pheasant Bonanza Cup preliminary event. The HOA Champion was Austin Svoboda (M), crushing 97/100 targets. Class winners included Brian Loofe (AA), shooting an 86; John McFarling (A), scoring an 82; Tim O’Connor (B) with an 84; Michael Stutzman (C), shooting 85 targets; Michael Svoboda (D), shooting 76; and Kyle Redinbaugh winning the E class gold with a score of 75.

The small-bore events could be scored any of the four days during the competition. In the .410 bore event, the HOA championship went to Steve Shepherd (M), hitting a near-perfect score of 49/50. Tanner Hackel (M) won the HOA 28 gauge, shooting a 48/50, and Steve Shepherd (M) took home the HOA gold in the 20 gauge, also shooting a 48.

The 5-Stand HOA Champion was Cody Escritt (M), shooting a 48/50. The True Pair HOA Champion was Steve Walters (M), scoring a 46/50. Also scoring a 46 was Terry Kriz (C), winning HOA in the Pump Gun event, and he also took home the Side-by-Side HOA with a 47. The Super Sporting HOA went to Austin Svoboda, shooting an impressive perfect score of 50/50.

As with the small bore, shooters had the option of shooting the main event any of the four days of the competition, which made this year unique.

Sharpshooter Robin Irvine took home the HOA in the main event with a score of 142/150. Class winners were Bred Brodersen (AA), scoring 131; Billy Miller (A), scoring 135; Jacob Carpenter (B), scoring 131; Jake Whipple (C), scoring 134; Hank McVeigh (D,) scoring 124; and Augustus Gomez (E), with a score of 112.

Connealy Insurance and Farms donated two guns to the winners of the Sub-Junior and Junior categories in the main event. Dalton Dearmont scored a 118 to win the Sub-Junior gold and has to make room in his gun safe for a new gun. Riley Ross shot an impressive 140 to win the Junior gold and a new gun as well.

Saturday night was an entertaining evening spent at Roosters restaurant in the Pheasant Bonanza lodge. A delectable dinner was served by Chef Joey. Following the dinner, the shooters and event staff enjoyed live entertainment while they socialized around the fire pit under the beautiful, starry sky. The combination of Saturday evening’s ambiance and the successful days of shooting made the State Shoot one for the record books.

– Contributed by Audra Leichleiter

Click on any photo to enlarge it.