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Thank you everybody for attending, participating, and donating to a very successful event to raise money for Christmas for Skagit Valley Families. A final tally of the amount raised will be posted soon on this page.
 Pig Shoot Winners Greg Markel & Jack Kennedy After a practicing at Old Skagit for the month of October, FFA District 1 held its annual regional competition. The following report was submitted by Heather Jackson, MOSGC Secretary: The weather was not ideal Tuesday night for the FFA District 1 Shoot; however the youth shooters braved the wet and cold with excitement and determination. The pride in FFA, sportsmanship and camaraderie was evident throughout the night. Burlington - Edison was once again the top team with a high score of 184 & also had the top shooter, Evan Sitton, with a 49. Congratulations! We all look forward to the fall when the FFA returns for practice, competitions, and especially the District Shoot! To this years seniors, we wish you continued success in your future education/career endeavors and hope to see you back at OSGC soon. Every year the targets for the District Shoot are provided by OSGC; this year Edison Sportsman’s Club stepped in & provided all the ammunition! Thank you Edison Sportsman’s Club!! All of the FFA shoots this year ran like a well oiled machine due to our tireless volunteers, THANK YOU!
As Heather mentions--none of this could take place without the support of Old Skagit Gun Club and Edison Sportsman's Club as well as the volunteers--many of which are pictured below:  Standing--Eric Thompson, Mike King, Heather Jackson, Larry Stewart, Steve Jungquist Debbie Kelley. Seated--Gary Moody & Kerry Dodson Renee Corcoran, Nutrition Program Coordinator for Skagit County Meals on Wheels, is presented 2023 fundraiser check by Chuck Manning, MOSGC President.  A THANK YOU to everybody from MOSGC President Chuck Manning-- (and pictures are posted on the "Turkey Shoot" webpage)  Throughout the year Old Skagit supports youth shooters by subsidizing their shooting expense through reduced trap fees. And in October and November trapshooting teams from FFA District 1 meet at the club to practice their skills, readying themselves for the Region 1 Trapshooting Competiton held in November. A message from Moose Old Skagit Gun Club President: As you gaze around our world today, it’s difficult to find a lot of things that make you smile; however, our club on a fall Tuesday afternoon can cure that. Our new expanded parking lot has been overflowing with the cars of family members cheering for their children’s shooting participation. For well over 20 years, we’ve subsidized the expense of shooting for those 18 years old & younger & wow is all I can say. Do you know that not one young person has suffered from a concussion or sprung wrist while competing at our club unlike local football programs? Look at the south wall of our warehouse which displays the signage of local companies supporting young people. You can say that a few people do all the work, not at our place with over a dozen adults (pictured below) volunteering to score & coordinate activities on brisk fall evenings. Every year we have to raise $5000.00 to provide half price targets for young shooters & like everything else that number increases with higher target cost & the greater number of kids participating. There is no place where young people can compete with adults on a level playing field like trap shooting. This results in a great & rare opportunity to mentor these young adults. Us with grey hair complain about the youth of our day but here’s a chance to pass on the values & wisdom of our years. I’ve never run into one of these high schoolers that didn’t like to shoot & become more proficient, here’s where we can be the old dog showing a pup how it’s done. I have to afford some caution as it’s a little humbling when the student whips the coach but I’ve seen nothing bolster confidence & self-esteem like this. We take no tax payer dollars for our programs; it’s all private donations or from the profits derived from our operation. With a dozen public & private schools now competing for top honors in our region, it’s heartwarming to see the success & growth resulting from our club efforts & those that believe in what we do. I value our relationship. Sincerely, Chuck Volunteers for FFA Shooting and Competition  l to r: Don Kesselring, Criege Scribner, Ron Martin, Don Alvis, Gary Mood, Heather Jackson, Eric Thompson, Debbie Kelley, Kerry Dodson, Caron Grasso, Steve Jungquist (not pictured--Bill Harmon & Don McMoran) Lots of activities happening this fall at the club--
Last evening Jack Kennedy, Treasurer for the Gun Club, was pleased to present the check for $7000 raised during last month's turkey shoot to "Meals on Wheels".  The "Meals on Wheels" Turkey Shoot Fundraiser was once again a success due to all of you who participated in shooting and to those of you who helped out. A preliminary total of approximately $7000 was raised in support of this community organization. Also, congratulations to Don Reimers and Chuck Manning for winning the "Pig Shoot". (No pigs but many clay targets were shot to determine the winners.) Enjoy the good eating from your meat prize-package gentlemen!  Last Saturday was the final Winter Handicap Series Shoot for the 2021-2022 season. Thank you to everybody that participated and helped to make it a success. Throughout the series, which ran from October through March, there were a total of 38 different shooters--with five different winners for each month's HOA honors. The Thompson Family had a strong showing with Eric, Colton, and Roland all winning at least one HOA. Al Burgy and Heather Jackson also were HOA winners during the series. At the series conclusion on Saturday, when all of the scores were computed for a shooters' high five, Kerry Dodson was the HOA winner for the series with 435/500. And during the "Champion of Champions" shoot off between the top scoring shooters, Kerry and Bob Mock battled each other through two extra rounds to get a winner with Bob taking the championship. Congratulations to all of the series winners and monthly winners! (For a full list of shooters and scores see the "Winter Handicap Series" webpage.)
Several shooters from Old Skagit recently competed in the Amateur Trap Shooting Association Spring Grand held at Tucson Gun Club in Arizona. Among them were Mike King, Debbie Kelley, Dustin Rindal, and The Family Thompson. Colton Thompson, one of our youth shooters, had a very successful trip (shooting his Kolar) and winning Junior in the Singles Championship. Colton shot a 198/200 and won in a shoot off with 99/100 to take the ATA Spring Grand Singles Champion. Quite an achievement!  Colton is congratulated by a proud father.  Colton with Jeff Maitland, owner of Kolar Guns.
As some of you may know, the Farm and Family Missions Church has been meeting at the club during the week. In return they have been helping out around the club and have been providing score keepers at our PITA shoots. They surprised us the other day with an early Christmas present of a new smart television. It has been mounted on the wall and many have been enjoying the programing that is now available to us. Thank you to their members for all of their help and generosity!
Toys and money raised at our Turkey Shoot were presented this evening. The toys will be taken to the Skagit Valley Herald and distributed by them to the appropriate families. The check for $8350 went to the local Marine Corp. League who will distribute the funds to local organizations with needy families. (Due to COVID "Toys for Tots" was not officially operational again this year.)
What a wet few weeks we have had. Hope that everybody is safe and all of your homes are without damage. After the time we have all had with the upheaval to our lives by COVID and now many of us find ourselves dealing with the after effects of this heavy weather. Enough! Many events have transpired at the Gun Club since my last post and I apologize for not keeping the "News" up to date. What follows is just a short synopsis of the last few months:
I know that many other things have been happening and if I have missed anything that should be highlighted please contact me by email at oldskagit@yahoo.com. Sherry Several of our Old Skagit shooters (and club shareholders) attended the Grand Pacific. All reported having a fun time and a few came home with trophies. For those of you who aren't familiar with this event it is held annually (except for COVID in 2020) and draws PITA shooters from all across the western states and Canada. Two of our juniors competed and brought home trophies and scholarship money from the PITA YES program. Roland Thompson took the sub-junior class in the doubles championship and Colton Thompson won his shoot-off to take B class runner-up in the singles championship. Chuck Manning and Wayne Ottem also won in the doubles championship with Chuck taking veteran and Wayne B class. David Lang won B class in the Northwest Shot singles and also took elder in the Stanfill Homes handicap. (David is a shareholder in MOSGC and used to shoot more often at the gun club prior to his move to the east side of the state.) In addition, Old Skagit Lady shooter Debbie Kelly also made the PITA All-Star Team. (See our "PITA Events Results" webpage for scores and more pictures.) Congratulations to all the winners and participants.  All-Star Team Old Skagit shooters also did very well over all in the 2020 PITA shooting year. (Even with the craziness of the COVID epidemic.) Debbie Kelly earned her way onto the All Star Ladies Team for PITA* while shooting the most targets of any lady from the State of Washington. Shooters who earned the Washington State PITA High Average Teams* were Debbie Kelly in Ladies Team Singles, Handicap, and Doubles, and Barbara Carlson Ladies Team Handicap; and Michael King for Veterans Team Singles and Charles Manning for Veterans Team Doubles. *PITA All Star Team members are selected from all PITA members based on a set criteria which include an individual's scores shot at various PITA shoots throughout the target year. State High Average Teams are selected from PITA members registered in that state.  Ladies High Average Team--Jennifer Klingele, Debbie Kelly & Barbara Carlson Old Skagit Gun Club was well represented in Olympia at Evergreen Sportsman's Club for the State Shoot on July 7 through 11. Several of our shooters did very well and brought home lots of trophies to show for their efforts. All events (except for one doubles event) had in excess of 100 shooters participating!  High Over All Winners (L to R)--Dustin Rindal D Class, Eric Thompson C Class, Debbie Kelly Lady, Jack Kennedy B Class, Roland Thompson Sub Junior. Dustin Rindal and Eric Thompson were also High All Around in their respective classes. And Jack Kennedy shot 100 straight for a perfect score in one of the singles events. See the "PITA Events--PITA Shoot Results" webpage for additional pictures and the event-by-event scores for Old Skagit shooters. Pictures and information courtesy of Debbie Kelly.
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