Maine State Sporting Clays Championship

The Maine State Sporting Clays Championship was held June 27th thru 29th for the second consecutive year at Silverton Sporting Ranch in Canaan, Maine.

Ninety (90) shooters registered representing seven States: Maine, New York, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Canada was also represented. I personally did not complete the shoot. I attended the Main Event but due to unforeseen circumstances did not fully participate.

There was a storm delay at the beginning of the day because of thunder, lightening, and sheets of rain. Participants had to seek shelter indoors for about an hour and ended up eating lunch way before time. Good thing Denise Murchison's Lodge has plenty of room.

In addition to the Main Event, there were two 100 Target Prelims, a 50 Target Sub-Gauge, Five Stand, and FITASC. Results of the Shoot can be found here:
http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/shoot%20results.htm
In speaking with some participants they commented that the target presentations were challenging. Master Class shooter Mark Brannon told me the targets were tournament quality with a mixture of speed and angles. Targets were set by Silverton's "JD" and his crew. They skillfully created challenging presentations for all levels of shooting ability.

What was different at this Shoot was participation of Youth Shooters during the Main Event. Dan Worcester transported a group of children (6) from the Salem area of Maine. It was the first time any of these children shot Sporting Clays and was a great opportunity for them. Dan heads and introduces young people to Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays at the Salem Rod & Gun Club. When he contacted Denise and told her of his plans to bring the kids for their first Shoot, Denise, realizing the importance of exposing young Shooters to our sport offered a 25% discount to each child. She also made arrangements for each child to receive a Browning Gun Case (donated by the "Kids & Clays" Program) a hat, a Shooting Towel, lunch, and if each child brought a box of shells, she would provide the rest!

The kids had a great time! There was a raffle held at the Shoot and with the monies raised, Ms Murchison plans to hold another Shoot in the near future for an even larger group of children at the Ranch. In addition to Dan Worcester's children, Denise hopes to have 8 youths from the Maine Youth Fish and Game Association and another group from the Boy Scout Venturers for approximately a total of 20. They will be classified under the Youth Hunter Class in the Sporting Clays division. Denise says the only thing they will have to bring is 2 boxes of shells. She will provide one box and everything else including lunch. She plans to provide them with a round of Five-Stand and 50 Sporting targets.
Dan plans to take his youths to the Maine Trapshooting Tournament in Scarborough, Maine July 13th.

Perhaps there is something you can do for the children in your area. Dan would like to thank his chaperones for the Shoot: Alan Wyman, Steven Boyd, Charlie Tappan, and Jack Davis.

More information about Silverton can be found at the following links:
Main Website Portal: http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/
and http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/shooting%20sports.htm

Here is a link to the Kids And Clays website. It is associated with the Ronald McDonald House and their spokesperson is Olympic Gold Medalists, Kim Rhode
http://www.kidsandclays.com/

Here is a slideshow.