Lucas Punkari
Every Tuesday evening, weather permitting, of course, the routine is the same for the skeet shooters at the Fort Frances Sportsmen’s Club.
They make their way down to the range, located by Frog Creek, converse about how things are going, and then try to outdo one another as they fire at the flying targets.
“We’ve got our good shooters, and ones that flounder ever now and again,” smiled Rick Johnson, who has been a club member 42 years.
“We bug each other and tease one another quite a bit, but it’s all part of the game,” he added.
But Johnson remembers a time where a high number of skeet shooters would come out every week, with usually 15-20 taking part.
“Now if we have six or eight shooters come out, we consider that a good night,” Johnson said.
“I really don’t understand why we don’t have more people come out to the range because this town is a shooting town.
“But I guess that gives us more time to shoot,” he reasoned.
Having been open since 1958, and also offering pistol, rifle, and archery ranges along with a private boat launch, the local sportsmen’s club currently has 270 registered members, along with roughly 200 youngsters.
“With a single membership costing $50, and a family membership only $60, it turns out to be a really good deal for them,” said club president Brad Houghton.
“We’re starting to see a changing of the guard here,” noted club member Jeremy McGuire.
“Those members that used to come out here by themselves are now bringing their teenage kids along, and I’m starting to do that myself with my young ones by bringing them to the long gun and archery range,” he noted.
Most of the potential new members usually come out to the range on Thursday evenings, when the beginner lessons take place, where they learn the most important lesson of all: gun Safety.
“That’s the biggest thing here for us,” Houghton stressed.
“We teach the rules of how to handle a firearm and what to do with one,” he explained. “And once you learn how to handle a firearm on the range, it doesn’t matter what gun you own, you’ll be safe with it.
“The parents will bring their kids out here to learn how to use it because, realistically, there are not a whole lot of houses in this area that don’t have a gun inside,” Houghton added.
“The kids learn how to use one and handle one properly here, and that way they are not going to sneak them out of their parents’ house and do anything with them,” he reasoned.
As for the older shooters, they’re looking to get their timing down on the skeet range as they try and hit targets that are flying out of houses at 60 m.p.h.
“When you’re a hunter, you are used to aiming directly at animals,” said McGuire. “But in skeet, you have to deal with wind movement, both vertically and horizontally, along with the fact that your target is moving from you.
“I’m starting to get to a point now where if I’m consistently shooting in the 20s [out of 25], I’m happy.
“But I rarely shoot a perfect round, and I’m really saddened on the days my score is under the 20 mark,” McGuire admitted.
