TSCA “Winter Series” Report: MontlakeBill McGuire wins HOA with Mike Redmond in hot pursuit!February 5th was a spectacular day for round-three of the Tennessee Sporting Clays Association’s “Winter Series” with pleasant sunshine prevailing in stark contrast to the cold, wet weather of the previous shoot in Nashville. Montlake Classic Clays, near Soddy Daisy and just north of Chattanooga, was the venue. Never been to Montlake Classic Clays? Then you are in for a real treat. Hall-of-fame competitor, Carl Poston, originally founded the club as Montlake Shooting Center. Carl selected a spectacular location for the club, which he operated for many years and ultimately sold to the husband and wife team of Craig and Dawn Sheaffer. After renaming the club, the Sheaffers have added many improvements, including the addition of a wonderful, automated sporting clays course and five-stand. Montlake sits atop Mowbray Mountain with a fantastic background for its skeet, trap, wobble trap and five-stand fields. The club also includes a well equipped pro-shop and clubhouse with dining tables to accommodate a platoon of hungry shooters. Adjacent to the parking lot and clubhouse is a 12-station sporting clays course. Montlake uses Laporte electric traps with an occasional manual trap and all 12 stations are equipped with a Claymate target counter system. The terrain of the sporting clays course is blessed with a mix of woods, fields, hillsides and slopes, which comprise a trap setter’s dream. The cart trail has no steep grades and is easily transverse by foot-bound shooters with hardly a huff. Targets included standard, midi, mini and battue. But for the uninitiated, perhaps no station was as baffleling as the “gravity” rabbit. Consisting of an elevated wooden trough that is manually fed a pair of standard rabbits. Powered only by gravity, the rabbits wobbled along only a few feet from the shooters. What seems to be a simple shot, often resulted in wrecked scores. “I dropped three targets at the gravity rabbit station,” said an exasperated junior shooter, Greg Jackson. “It seemed so easy, but I have never shot a rabbit target so close and moving so slowly before. It blew my mind!” World-renowned competitor, Bill McGuire, who earned a perfect score at the gravity rabbit station, later shared some good advice. “It can be very deceiving. Shoot the back edge of the gravity rabbit,” said Bill McGuire. “If you aim at the front edge, you will be in front of the gravity rabbit most every time!” Another dreaded shot, which consistently lowered scores, was found at station 3. Two, extremely fast 40 yard crossers, screamed across a clearing from right to left. A narrow window required very quick swings of the gun and dropping target lines resulted in shots going high. If anyone ran this station, they certainly deserve a trophy! When the day concluded, several excellent scores were posted. The event winner came as little surprise. 2004 State Champion, Bill McGuire, wielded his Krieghoff K-80 and topped the field of 73 shooters with a most impressive score of 95. Master 1st honors went to another well-known competitor and frequent winner, Mike Redmond, with a super score of 92. After many years as a successful tournament skeet shooter, Mike discovered sporting clays, gave up skeet and never looked back! To add spice to the shoot, Montlake also hosted a “long-bird” competition that consisted of 10 shots at a fast 50-yard target launched from the high house of a skeet field. The winner of the long-bird event was Greg Jackson. The day was most enjoyable. Montlake’s grounds and facilities are impressive. The staff is courteous and professional. The food was the best thus far! Our sincere thanks extend to Craig and Dawn Sheaffer for hosting this event. The fourth leg of the Winter Series competition will take place on February 19 at yet another great venue, Trip Wheeler’s “Three Bandits” Club in Lewisburg, Tennessee. Trip has developed a “five-star” gun club with great amenities and no one works harder to please the shooters. So make your plans to attend and join the fun! |
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