Pheasants Forever Continues Youth Shooting Sports Tradition
Story by Brad Trumbo, published in The Waitsburg Times, June 6th, 2024
A beautiful early summer morning greeted nearly a dozen youth interested in the outdoors and shooting sports as they arrived at the Walla Walla Gun Club (Gun Club). The day’s event, sponsored by Blue Mountain Pheasants Forever (BMPF) in partnership with the Gun Club, was the opening act for a summer’s worth of shotgun skills events for youth age 18 and under.
The BMPF youth “summer series” celebrates the challenge and excitement of target shooting and builds the muscle memory necessary to connect with flying targets. While wingshooting may seem relatively modern, the sport was born far before the evolution of 20th-century firearms technology.
The roots of shotgun sports trace back to England, where Henry VIII was involved in developing a gun capable of firing multiple projectiles in the early 1500s. The art of shooting flying game caught fire in the 1600s with stalked or “walked-up” birds, taken once flushed, wrote Mark Murray in The Field Magazine. Murray further explained that wingshooting for practice likely didn’t occur before 1600 because the weapons did not support that type of shooting. The flintlock ignition system was a breakthrough for wingshooting, improving the “trigger-to-bang” timing sufficient for flying targets.
From the mid-1600s to the 1800s, both firearms and wingshooting underwent significant transformations. As Murray noted, the birth of the modern shotgun and shooting sports coincided with the introduction of a fully functional hinged breech, a feature common on single-shot and side-by-side or over/under, two-barrel guns, and the development of cartridges containing primer, propellant, projectile, and reliable firing pins. This technological advancement revolutionized the sport.
Live pigeons were used as targets in the early days of shotgun sport, but by 1900, live birds were being replaced with clay discs, which are still referred to as “clay pigeons.” Shotgun technology continues to evolve, but the “vintage” models made from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s are coveted by many. Names like L.C. Smith, A.H. Fox, Lefever, Ithaca, Merkel, Winchester, Westley Richards, and Parker continue to draw attention.
The BMPF youth summer series continues the clay pigeon shooting tradition, and the occasional vintage shotgun appears among the participants. The modern semi-auto loading gun is better suited for children learning to shoot because the reloading action reduces recoil and modern materials like synthetic stocks are lighter weight.
The BMPF youth shoots off the game “Five Stand” which involves five shooting locations with clays thrown from various places flying high, low, on the ground, straight away, incoming, and sometimes coming in pairs. These shoots are exciting and challenge the shooter to hone their technique and timing to connect with the clays.
The May event was unique because youth were taught safe shotgun handling and basic wingshooting techniques prior to the shoot. As always, one-on-one coaching was provided to anyone in need.
Wingshooting may seem as simple as pulling up the gun, covering the target, and firing, but many nuances of proper form and shotgun handling are easy to overlook and significantly influence the shot. For example, the basics of proper form include having the gun butt appropriately placed on the shoulder and the shooter’s cheek firmly on the “comb” (the top of the stock) to allow for sighting straight down the barrel. An improper gun mount is sure to result in a miss.
The BMPF youth shoots nearly always draw a diverse crowd of skilled and first-timers, and one young participant was happy to try his hand with some careful instruction. This young man was taught proper technique by one of the best shotgunners at the Gun Club, Ron Fastrup. You should have seen his smile when he smashed his first clay, a ground runner, one of the hardest to hit.
Ensuring children have a positive experience, particularly the first-timers, is essential to the BMPF mission. Conservation is the cornerstone of the organization, and getting children excited about the outdoors and shooting sports helps them find value in natural public resources and builds advocacy for the future of conservation. Thanks to the careful instruction offered by Fastrup, Dean Wass, and Larry Brown, the year’s first event was a great success.
The BMPF Youth Committee Chair, George Endicott, organizes the youth summer series events. The next events are scheduled for June 18th, July 13th, and August 17th, with family participation in the August event. BMPF pays Pheasants Forever membership dues for all youth participants, so current membership is not required for participation. For more information and to join in the fun, visit the BMPF website at https:\\bmpf258.org or email the Chapter at bmpf@bmpf258.org.
