Harold – AAFTA National Championships – October 9-11, 2015

The 2015 United States Field Target National Championship match was held in Ennice, North Carolina. The match was hosted by the Tar Heel Airgun Club. Scott Allen, Chris Berry and Will Piatt did a fantastic job setting up the courses, managing the match and seeing to the business of field target fun for all in attendance. The match was held October 9-11, 2015. The scenery could not have been more beautiful! The mountains of North Carolina were just spectacular in October with the changing of the seasons, vibrant and colorful leaves and the fantastic diversity of terrain surrounding the Tar Heel Airgun Club venue.

Friday was the typical sight in day at the National match. Most shooters started arriving early to sight in, visit and catch up on all things airgun related. I didn’t arrive until close to lunch as I had to drive over from Nashville on Friday morning due to other obligations I had on Thursday back home. I was happy to be greeted by old friends upon arrival. It is always good to see guys from California, New York, Wisconsin, Texas, among others across the USA and now even our friends from Venezuela and Puerto Rico at these matches. Field target is a sport like none other in that other competitors become like family. We see each other a few times per year, or in some cases less frequently, but always enjoy catching up on common airgun interests, developments and new gadgets.

When I arrived on Friday, I had a special project in tow for my buddy Tyler Patner. What was that special project? It was his old Steyr LG100 that I had completely refurbished , converted from a 10 meter gun to 12 fpe for the WFTF division and revamped with a cool new finish in hydrographics. Tyler had a big grin on his face when he took possession of his new toy and I think we’ll probably see some good shooting from him in the future with it.

After signing in, I finally had the opportunity to get in a bit of shooting at the sight in range. The location was beautiful with well kept fields, surrounded by mountains in the background. The THAC had a well set up sight in range with lots of targets to check equipment. They also had a nice set of tents set up to cut down on excess sun and potential rain. After a few shots, I was happy that my Steyr LG110 was shooting nicely. Everything seemed to be just as it was when I left home, so there were no worries about equipment from that point on. All I had to do was concentrate on match day and enjoy the time with my lane partners.

As the first match day approached, so did some rather nasty rainy weather. We had been tracking the weather for several days prior to the match and unfortunately, the inevitable was fast approaching on Saturday morning. On Saturday I had the pleasure of shooting with two of my good friends, Jeff Paddock and Tyler Patner. At least if the weather was going to be miserable, I figured I c o u l d a t least share the experience with two good friends! The match director decided to hold off an extra hour to wait out the weather a bit and see if conditions might improve before starting the first match. Although it was a good effort, it was of little help come match time.

We were assigned our lanes and the match got underway. Jeff, Tyler and I went to our first lane and started in relatively dry weather. However, things didn’t stay that way for very long. I missed a shot on my first lane but cleaned lane after lane afterward. That is, until the rain set in. Once it started, it was miserable. Before I decided to get my rain gear on, I was already soaked to the bone. Then the weather began to get cooler and cooler. By the time we reached our fifth lane or so, I was chilled and having a very difficult time even loading pellets. Clearly, there was no way I could hold my position steady enough to make even moderately difficult shots. Further, as the weather declined, so did the visibility. A heavy fog moved in as the weather deteriorated, which made range finding next to impossible on some lanes. Overall, I found this to be the most difficult conditions I have endured during a field target match since I started shooting the sport in 2006. A number of competitors decided they had experienced enough and withdrew for the day. Others simply sucked it up and marched on into the muddy soup.

Although I was, well… miserable most of the day on Saturday, the course was amazing. I just wish I could have shot it in decent conditions where I could have enjoyed myself a bit. Some highlights of the day included one lane that located the shooting position inside an old barn. The lane was located up on a hillside with a bit of open field nearby and targets placed in a setting among large hardwood trees. It made for some tricky wind conditions that were difficult to read since the shooter was located in a protected position. It was a highlight of the day for Jeff, Tyler and I since it was one of the few times that we were able to take cover from the pouring rain and cold wind. I also enjoyed the fact that a good number of targets were expertly set up to take advantage of the terrain. Hillsides, trees and low areas were all used to enhance the course. Overall, i thought the course was very nice, even if we were enduring conditions that were, well, less than optimal.

At the end of day one, I had shot my lowest match score in a very long time. However, Paul Plauche’ ended the day in WFTF with the high score of 47/60 and Ken Hughes was close behind with 46/60. Riz Marquiz was also tied for the top score of the day shooting PCP Division with a 47/60. Shooting WFTF Piston, Brad Troyer shot a 31 which was great under the conditions on Saturday. Ron Robinson, Bill Day and Charles Garvey all finished day one in the Hunter Division with 37/60. Considering the conditions, my hat is off to all of the top shooters on day one. It was some tough conditions and anyone keeping their concentration was well deserving of recognition for a strong performance.

Day two rolled around after we had all spent the previous night drying out shoes, shooting jackets and guns. I think the hotel administration will be wondering for a while why their light bill suddenly increased substantially after all of the hair dryers were used liberally over the evening to dry out essential field target gear… I guess you could say we had licked our wounds and I think everyone was ready for a nice dry day on Sunday.

The match director organized squadding on day two based on competitors scores from day one. I was lucky to be squadded with my buddies Greg Sauve and Brian Vandenboom. I felt pretty relaxed on day two. I didn’t really feel I had much of a chance to come back and win as I was 8 points behind the day one leader. In the game of Field Target, anything can happen on day two. However, when a good shooter has posted a great score on day one, catching up that many points is pretty optimistic and given the quality of the shooters in the lead, it would be down right silly to expect to catch them on day two. Greg, Brian and I got our lane assignments and were off to a good start. Greg was shooting well, as usual, and I was also doing pretty decent as we progressed through he course. Since there were some very difficult targets located throughout the course, especially some of the long shots, I was trying to be very careful as the wind picked up over the day.

Brian had recently purchased a new Steyr LG110 and was doing reasonably well with it. However, he had a bit of an issue that caused a shift and things went downhill for him pretty quickly. I felt his pain as I have been there and done that all too many times in the past. He handled it well though and kept on rocking along.

I dropped a shot here and there, mostly in the wind. Some of the long wind shots were very difficult as there was mirage to read, shifting winds and just down right tough targets! When it was all said and done, I finished tied with Luis Nevett with the highest score of the day of 53/60. That also tied Luis and I for 3rd in the WFTF division and put us in a shoot off. After lunch we had the shoot off at the sight in range. I went first and failed to notice a bit of wind from left to right as I took the shot. As I broke the shot the wind took my pellet to the right and it split just on the right edge. With a well placed shot, Luis won the shoot off. Congrats to Luis!

My buddy Ken Hughes did a great and consistent job not only on day one, but also on day two as he came in with a 52/60 Sunday sealing his National Championship. Might I add, Ken also posted the highest match score of 98/120 as well! What awesome shooting with a wimpy WFTF gun. Paul Plauche’ came in a close second with 49/60 on day two sealing second place in the WFTF Division. PCP Division was won my Riz Marquez with a 91/120. Hunter PCP Division was won by Ammon Piatt with 82/120. Hunter Piston was won by Gerald Long with 50/120. Finally, Brad Troyer posted a very impressive win in the WFTF Piston Division with 77/120.

Overall, the 2015 U.S. Field Target Nationals Championship match was once again a great success. Lots of great shooters attended and enjoyed a beautiful course, great fellowship and fine food. The Tar Heel Airgun Club did a fine job hosting the match and I would like to thank Scott, Chris and Will for all of their hard work in making this match happen. Without dedicated airgunners like these guys, we couldn’t enjoy great events around the country every year. As always, congratulations to all of the division winners and my hat is off to those who persevered on day one through the adverse weather and still posted top scores on a tough course. Until next year, happy shooting!