Photo by Daria BishopWilliston resident Burke O’Brien (front) loads his gun while his son Jay O’Brien takes aim during a competition held Sunday at the North Country Sportsman’s Club.
The signal is given: "Pull!" as a bright, yellow disk soars skyward, followed by a sharp snap. The shotgun report echoes as bits of yellow clay scatter across the field.
The sport of trap shooting was on display during a “fun shoot” held Sunday at North Country Sportsman’s Club’s 50-acre spread off Old Creamery Road in Williston.
The daylong event was intended to attract new members while giving current members a chance to compete in various matches.
"We're trying to generate more interest," said club member Doug Smith. "We just want people to know we're here."
But the "fun shoot" isn't the only recent effort club members have made to boost interest in sports like hunting and shooting. While the club welcomes experienced shooters, it has also focused on a group commonly overlooked in the brawny world of sports shooting namely, women.
Women's interest in the sport "has definitely been on the rise," said club member Sue Nadeau, who competed last weekend. "A huge chunk of folks don't get the opportunity (to shoot) because anything that has to do with shooting sports has been predominately a male activity. More women get involved when there is the opportunity to do so."
As special assistant to the commissioner of the state Fish and Wildlife Department, Nadeau coordinates a number of hunting and outdoor sports-related training sessions geared solely for women. The workshops provide women the opportunity to engage in conventionally male-oriented activities without feeling intimidated.
"It's easier (to learn) in a non-threatening environment," she said. "It's great because it gets women involved in doing recreational, outdoor activities."
A few different women-only training sessions are scheduled for the fall, including an "upland birds" class on Sept. 11 at North Country Sportsman’s Club. Participants will learn about bird habitats, gun safety and proper use of hunting gear, with half of the day dedicated to training on the firing range. On Sept. 25, Nadeau will also run a women's "hunter education class," consisting of eight teaching stations on various hunting skills.
For more information about the programs, contact the Department of Fish and Wildlife at (802) 241-3700.
Women take these classes for multiple reasons, said Nadeau. Some have a goal of becoming hunters. Others simply wanted to learn about gun safety.
"Even if they just take away from it the knowledge of how to make a firearm safe, that's important," she said.
Nadeau said the club has been quite accommodating to women and beginners who come wanting to learn more about the sport.
"Everybody here is so friendly," she said. "Any time I have a new shooter interested, they never hesitate to help out."
As a whole, club membership has increased in recent years. The current enrollment is about 15 percent higher than last year, indicating a growing interest in the activity, according to Matcovich.
"It's definitely increasing," he said. "People want to do it."
Since opening in 1962, the North Country Sportsman's Club has been a haven for trap shooters wanting to engage in a little friendly competition.
In trap shooting, participants fire shotguns at clay pigeons slung into the air from a device encased in a box known as a "trap house." The sport also allows some participants a chance to sharpen their duck-hunting skills in the off-season.
There are several types of trap shooting matches seemingly one for every kind of personality, from the competitive to the practical and everywhere in between.
In "trap doubles," for example, a shooter fires at two clay pigeons that are propelled into the air, one immediately after the other. This happens five times at each of five different "stations" that competitors rotate through along a line, left to right.
In another match, called the "slide-back" handicap, there are five shooters who line up in a row 16 yards from the "trap house." Each shooter takes a turn. Once all five competitors have shot, the process is repeated four more times. After each round, shooters must step backwards by two yards, increasing their distance from the target and the difficulty of the shot.
With the increased distances, shooters must aim the gun a bit further ahead of the pigeon's course of direction, a skill called "leading."
Leading by "just an inch or two makes a difference," Smith said.
For example, to hit a pigeon that flies in a left-to-right trajectory, a shooter must aim to the right-hand side of the target, so that the shot has already been fired by the time the pigeon sails through the gun's sight. Once the bullet has flown the 25 to 40 yards needed to reach its target, the two projectiles will run into one another if the shot's a success, and the clay disk shatters.
Club President Phil Matcovich emphasizes the importance of increasing women's involvement in trap shooting, as well as attracting younger generations to the sport. He estimated that about 10 percent of the club's 130 members are women.
"They're my market, my demographic," he said. "We've been working hard to make sure everything is here for them."
Matcovich often teams up with his wife, Lorraine, to compete at club matches.
"She shoots better than I do," he said.
North Country Sportsman’s Club is open Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. year-round. It is also open Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to dusk during daylight-saving time. The annual membership fee is $30. For more information about the club, call 878-0330 or visit www.shootncsc.com.