Winter 2008

St. John's Rod & Gun Club Trap 2014: (24 Photos)

24. 2014 was another very busy year at the St. John's Rod & Gun Club. At our Annual General Meeting in February I was elected President of the club as our past president stepped down after 9 incredibly busy consecutive terms. 2014 was set to be another very busy year in this office. It takes a lot of work & volunteer time to operate a club consisting of 1200 members and a 1000 acre facility shooting a wide variety of disciplines.

23. With snow on the ground and temperatures still quite cool a bunch of us headed to the club on March 22nd to scratch the itch at a Sporting Clays Shoot.

22. It was great to get out, our trap machines were still in storage so it was a great opportunity to get in some early practice. The sporting clays crew put off a great day shooting with their battery operated portable machines!

21. Work at the club began the last weekend in April when we reinstalled our four trap machines.

20. It was a full day affair, on top of the normal installation we had to prepare 2 trap houses for new Pat Trap machines.

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18. One older machine was being relocated from 'C' to 'A' with the old A machine being retired. House C was being prepared for a new Pat Trap with a Wobble option. This option allows the machine to cycle up and down in addition to the standard left and right for unique presentations at Sporting Clays shoots.

17. Mark & Matt Squires provided fantastic support to the club running back to town to pick up their portable welder and professionally modify the steel tables in both trap houses for the new machines.

16. By the end of the day we were ready for another busy Trap Shooting season.

15. In June, Bassan, Johnny, Roger and I headed to the club to prepare the roof for shingle replacement.

14. We had to strip about 12" of singles from the bottom edge, remove the old rotted lumber, and install replacement boards all along the eave. OMB & Roger Butler had the replacement boards all pre-painted and ready to go.

13. The following week the club had a contractor come in and remove three layers of old shingles, install our new shingles and truck away the garbage. It was a great job that will protect our building for another quarter century.

12. This year we had a heavy equipment company come in and extend our sporting clays trail, install a new shallow well for the clubhouse, fix drainage issues on Ranges A, B, & C, and repair the road from the highway to the ranges.

11. This year the Sporting Clays group built a new storage shed on Range E. A bunch of people volunteered throughout the process, Andrea, Roger and I put in a full days work installing the barn style roof trusses which provide a 2nd story storage loft.

10. Needless to say it was quite a busy year for the executive board and volunteers of the club!

9. Between Executive Board responsibilities and having bought a new house earlier this year, I did not get to participate in a lot of shoots like I have in previous years.

7. I managed to get away for a couple Sunday afternoon shoots, attended the Memorial Shoot, Newfoundland Sportsman Shoot, and the Hunters Challenge.

6. Our Annual Turkey shoot was held in November, it's the last official shoot for the year and consists of Trap & Sporting Clays shooting is followed by an awesome Turkey Dinner.

3. Throughout the year our Trap Shooters represented the club well at a number of ATA registered shoots including the Provincial Championships held at our club, the Atlantic's in Moncton, the Canadian's in Montreal, as well as trap shoots held in the U.S. including the Southern Grand at the Silver Dollar in Florida.

2. December arrived before we knew it and winter shortly behind. With snow in the forecast we hauled out the trap machines on the 7th of December.

1. This marked the end of trap shooting for the year, we patiently await Spring and warmer weather to start it all over again! For more information on trap shooting and other activates at the SJRGC please visit our website at St. John's Rod & Gun Club.

Cheers, MIKE