Texas 4-H State Championship: Shotgun Shooting Sports

Located along the edge of the beautiful Texas Hill Country, the National Shooting Complex may appear to be nothing more than 671 acres of peaceful rolling hills and picturesque countryside, but to an ever increasing number of firearms enthusiasts throughout the United States and beyond, this multi-million dollar complex has become recognized as the most complete sport shooting facility in the world, fully equipped and ready to facilitate any size event.

Each year several hundred children and young adults, with their supportive families cheering them on, gather in the dripping summer heat. Their singular goal is to compete against their peers for highest score at Skeet, Trap, Sporting Clays, International Skeet, and International Trap. The estimated headcount this year was almost 700 youth shooters, and since we handed out 500 TexasHuntFish.com shooting towels and many people stopped me asking if there were more towels, 700 sounds about right.

Discipline
As we walked, talked, photographed and videoed various competitions, I caught myself several times thinking how amazing it was to see so many kids, with so many guns, with so many bullets, and NEVER ONCE did I see a single unsafe act. These young adults are so disciplined and serious when engaged in their sport, and yet when they walk away after the competition and handoff their gun to a parent, they act just like normal kids running around, making noise and having fun.

Sportsmanship
We were also struck by their sportsman-like conduct. These kids are competing for the Texas State Championship. Shooting 95 out of 100 birds might not get the job done. When they miss a shot, you can see them wince in frustration, yet at the end of competition, most of them shake hands with a smile.

Commitment
These children, and their families, have spent a lot of time and money on quality guns and bullets to get this far. We were rather surprised that unless there was lightening in the sky, the competition continued in the heavy rain. Many of the guns have beautiful wood stocks, but very few children groaned as they stood in puddles of water to finish their round. If anything, the parents were the most disconcerted because it was hard to protect cameras and camcorders from the rain and still get a good shot. As soon as each competitor walked off the field, you could tell both parent and child were counting the minutes until they could disassemble the gun and give it a deep cleaning.

There were too many people and too many competitions for us to keep up with the names of the people in these photos. If you, or someone you know recognizes these quality young men and women, please feel free to comment with the person’s name, and if they know, which county they shoot for and maybe even which competition(s) they are shooting in.

As usual, TexasHuntFish.com felt welcomed by the National Shooting Complex staff as well as the 4H State Championship staff. Maybe next year we will have the time to cover the many other 4H Shooting Sports Events that happen that week.

Useful Links:
National Shooting Complex, San Antonio
http://www.nationalshootingcomplex.com/about.html

National Sporting Clays Association
http://www.mynsca.com/

National Skeet Shooting Association
http://www.mynssa.com/

Texas 4-H Shooting Sports
http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/ss/

As the various Trap, Skeet, Sport Clays, International Skeet and International Trap competitions came to an end for each division, the children and families quickly excused themselves to pack up their RVs and drive home. Most people were exhausted, there were a handful of winners with trophies, but I think everyone left a better shooter with more experience and in some way benefited from a very taxing week in San Antonio. About this time, my wife called me and said it was time to come to the hotel and spend time with my kids at the pool. We will post some video clips at a later date as we get them edited. Thank you to everyone who was helpful to us as we tried to not get in the way, but still take some great photos and videos of the event. Until next year.

Images and Files: View all 134 photos / videos here.