Clay Target Nation

The official magazine of the National Skeet Shooting Association and the National Sporting Clays Association

Photo Gallery: Fujairah Mountain Shooting Championship

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Several of the NSCA’s top shooters recently traveled to Dubai, UAE, for the Fujairah Mountain Shooting Championship (FMSC), organized by Fujairah Shooting Club under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Sharqi, Crown Prince of Fujairah. This new sporting clay shooting championship was set in the countryside of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, among Fujairah’s mountains area, offering many unique backdrops for targets.

The USA had two out of the top three shooters on the podium. Anthony Matarese Jr. finished in second, while Junior Joseph Fanizzi was third in the Open and also took Junior Champion. European shooter Matthieu Delmas won the event. USA shooters Madison Sharpe and Karen Miles were Lady Champion and Lady runner-up, respectively.

These photos of the Fujairah Mountain Shooting Championship were taken by Don Brunt. Click on a photo to enlarge.

 

Alabama State Sporting Clays Championship

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Edward Guice, C Class Champion

The fall colors and cool, comfortable weather rolled in perfectly to support the 2022 Alabama State Championship at Bright Star Sporting Clays, October 6-9. Bright Star Sporting Clays is a family-owned operation that started as a few practice machines for owner Jason Jackson and his son. It has grown from its humble beginnings to a full course that throws more registered sporting birds than any other range in Alabama.

Jason brought in Corey Howell, of Howell Traps, and Dean Blanchard to set the courses and provide additional machines for the Sub-Gauge, AFS, FITASC, True Pair and Super Sporting courses. Shooters from Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida and one from Ohio attended to test their skills and enjoy the welcoming atmosphere.

The Prelim and Main Event were set in the wooded area of the property, while all other events were set on the rolling pasture land of the property. Jason wanted courses where everyone would have fun and still be challenged.

Corey and Dean delivered perfectly with courses that tested all but allowed everyone to break their fair share. The shadows and filtered sunlight on the leaves of the Prelim and Main courses presented added challenges of their own, beyond the wide variety of birds set.

The Friday Prelim finished up with a four-way tie at a score of 98. The shoot-off for all the ties were conducted on the Super Sporting course, but with 20 to 30 yards added to the shooting distance and throwing true pairs. It was  literally like a true pair long-bird competition and a lot of fun. The Prelim was won by Jeff Cramblit, with Brad Collins taking runner-up and Chuck Cranford winning the 12-gauge event.

The Saturday Main Event course ended with several Masters in the mid- to high-90s, but the leaders were Alex Ryan Clark of Georgia and two-time Alabama State Champion Chuck Cranford tied at 98. Chuck was having a tremendous weekend competing in 9 of the 10 events offered at the tournament. He ended up with four HOAs, one runner-up and a Master first.

For most, Sunday’s Main course proved more challenging, but not for Junior shooter Hunter Stover of Mobile, Alabama. Hunter succeeded in shooting an amazing score of 99, a full three birds ahead of the nearest competitor and enough to win him his first Alabama State High Overall title. Chuck Cranford’s scores were good enough to hold on to the runner-up position, and Alex Ryan Clark was third, also taking the Non-Resident High Overall.

Alabama shooters didn’t win everything; one of Mississippi’s top shooters, Steven Tzotzolas, stepped in and won the True Pair event. High Lady was won by Alabama Junior shooter and match photographer, Katie Skinner. For full results, visit ScoreChaser.com.

The Alabama State was very much a family-oriented tournament with many father/son, husband/wife pairs shooting together. For Hunter Stover and his father Benny Stover, it was a very rewarding crown to years of competition.

For Bruce Park, it was his first major tournament and also the first he had shot with his son Sumter, who won D class in both the Main Event and Super Sporting, while dad earned punches in a tie for C1 in Super Sporting.

All three of the Alabama NSCA delegates were in attendance, and all three took home awards. Rocky McCluskey was runner-up in AFS, Perry Johnson took A1 honors in both AFS and FITASC, and Steve Dickinson was M3 in the Prelim event.

It seemed as though everyone won something. Reviewing the payouts on ScoreChaser, over 80 of the shooters won a part of the very generous $18,000+ payout. The tournament sponsors were Albertville PowerQuip Kubota, Atlas Traps, Howell Traps, Comp-N-Choke, Sand Mountain Toyota, White Flyer, and Lake Guntersville Tourism Board.

Everyone seemed very happy with the tournament, thought it ran smoothly and was having a good time. The Saturday evening dinner was catered by the local SCTP group and was delicious. Thanks to all the SCTP shooters and family who took on the duties as trappers for the event.

Bright Star and the Jacksons wanted to put on a match where everyone had fun, promoted fellowship and camaraderie, and felt like they were a part of something, and it seemed the crowd agreed they succeeded. Many were already looking forward to and planning for next year’s event.

– Contributed by Jeff Cramblit

Photos by Katie Skinner

2022 National Championship Photo Gallery

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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

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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

David Abel
Ellen Deleganes
Jerry Martin

Ohio Cup at Mad River Sportsman’s Club

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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

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