Shooting Sports Continue To Gain Popularity
Spencer Little aims and fires at a clay target during Saturday’s competition. Spencer competed in the JV division and got 3rd place.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – It’s one of the fastest growing sports in the Oskaloosa area, and in many other locations around Iowa. Shooting sports have become a popular way for the youth to compete with one another. Archery programs have become wildly popular in North Mahaska and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Schools.
Just outside of Oskaloosa, at the Izaak Walton League, you could hear the action taking place at the State Sporting Clays. It’s a big event that several different ranges bid on to hold.
This year, the Oskaloosa Izaak Walton League won the privilege of hosting the event. An army of volunteers worked in the hot summer sun to make it a special day for the nearly 130 competitors from around Iowa, representing 12 different teams.
Oskaloosa Shooting Team Head Coach Larry Gay said that nearly 40 of those participating in the day’s event are from the Oskaloosa program. Oskaloosa is the proud owner of several sporting clay state championships.
Each participant worked their way through 15 shooting stations, where they would be presented with 10 clay pigeons, or birds, for a total of 150 shots at targets during the day for the varsity participants. Intermediate and rookie participants each would shoot 100 birds. Some stations were tougher than others for participants, with the backgrounds and the terrain that the targets were presented. For those doing the math in their head, it’s around 15,000 clay targets for the day.
Coach Gay said a semi delivered the load of clay birds for the event.
Gay said that the Izaak Walton League of Mahaska County has one of the best facilities in the state for such a meet, saying the club has invested heavily into providing the facility. Gay also praised the efforts of the many volunteers who took time out of their day to help. Parents of participants also helped during the day-long event, some of whom ran stations and didn’t get to watch their own son or daughter participate. “They are working, scoring and doing their job,” said Gay.
Rachel Ladd, who works with shooting sports and hunter education for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, was one of the many volunteers on hand Saturday.
Ladd explained that the Iowa DNR observed that there are some “really great grassroots programs going on”.
“Anyway we can get students out using firearms safely is a great outreach for us,” explained Ladd.
It’s reported that 90% of the shooting sports participants eventually end up being hunters.
The Scholastic Clay Target Program is a team-based clay target shooting program and was the day’s sponsoring program.
