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St. John's Rod & Gun Club Trap 2015: (28 Photos)
28. If we thought 2014 was busy at the SJRGC, 2015 shaped up to be even crazier! At our annual general meeting in February I was voted in as Club President for my 2nd term. Plans at the club this year will see the replacement of our diesel generators, the start of a new Archery Group complete with a new archery 3D range, all in addition to the regular events we already operate.
27. Heavy snowfall and water penetration into the trap houses are the reasons we don't shoot trap in the winter. Short days coupled with extra time to shovel firing line & trap house doors on top of fixing machinery doesn't leave much time to shoot.
26. This year the snow melted early enough for us to reinstall the trap machines on April 26th.
25. On May 2nd we had a full tractor trailer load of White Flyer clay targets arrive at the club. Our order consisted of our standard Trap Shooting Orange Domes plus a large assortment of specialty targets (different colors, different hardness, different size) for the Sporting Clays group.
24. Many hands make light work, unloading each pallet in the trailer and restacking them inside the doorway went pretty smooth with a full compliment of volunteers.
23. Literally full to the rafters!
22. Finally on May 3rd with most of the setup done for the upcoming year we loaded the trap machines and had our first Shoot for 2015.
21. Meanwhile, back at my garage work continued on a couple projects for the Trap Range at the club. First was building four new gun racks, the ones we built a couple years ago were moved to our recently expanded Sporting Clays range.
20. My second project for the year was the fabrication of 4 steel carts to store and carry all four of our automatic voice release systems from the storage garage out to the trap field. This will make setup of the field much faster and keeps the equipment secure and much more organized.
19. Regular fun shoots and ATA registered shoots continued throughout the summer and were well attended, even attracting some new first time trap shooters.
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17. Although I participated in some shoots, most of my time in June was taken up with the installation of our new 15kw Kubota Generator. We had to build the room in which to house it, install ventilation ducts & fans, fabricate an exhaust, wire in a new transfer switch, connect to existing wiring to Club House & Trap Fields, move the water pump for the well and finally commission the whole installation. The work was all completed through volunteer efforts of club members with the exception of the fuel system & tank which necessitated a licensed contractor.
16. On June 6th the SJRGC once again partnered with the Newfoundland Wildlife Division to put off a one day youth outdoor skills seminar. 46 youth aged 12-17 participated in a full day of activities including rifle, Clay target, and Archery shooting (and some 3D archery assisted by our new archery group) and a seminar on outdoor survival presented by Rovers Search & Rescue.
15. Minister Dan Cromell stopped by in the afternoon and presented the club with a plaque of appreciation for our work in hosting the event. Minister Cromell was greeted to a tour of our facility.
14. The following day we hosted out annual Newfoundland Sportsman shoot which is a combination Trap Shooting and Sporting Clays event, as sponsored by the Newfoundland Sportsman Magazine.
13. 49 Shooters participated, the day started with sunny skies but quickly deteriorated into heavy rain in the afternoon. Most people were not swayed by the weather and the event continued. (I was not one of those people. lol)
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11. The next major event on the schedule was the Newfoundland Provincial Trap Championships which was held at our club on July 11th & 12th.
10. Our annual memorial shoot was held on August 9th and brought with it beautiful weather and a great turn out of shooters. I even managed to shoot my first 50 straight in singles.
9. Labour Day weekend, September 4th - 6th eight SJRGC shooters traveled to Nova Scotia for the annual Atlantic Provinces Trap Championships which were held at the Dartmouth Clay Target Association in Cole Harbour. Our crew shot very well taking home many of the top trophies at the event. For full results and more information please visit the Atlantic Provinces Trapshooting Association webpage.
8. With the weather turning cooler as the weeks progress into fall, we held our last official shoot of the year which is our Annual Turkey Shoot held on November 1st. This event saw Trap, Sporting Clays & Archery events all running simultaneously. The event was very well attended and ran smooth thanks to a huge effort of a dedicated group of volunteers. The shooting day ended with our legendary Turkey Dinner and all the trimmings.
7. This poor pumpkin was wounded by the Archery Shooters, but it took our Shotgunners to really finish the job.
6. As snow appears on the hills, the end of the 2015 trapshooting season looms not so far away.
5. Mother nature could wait no longer and unleashed the first major snowfall of the year in early December
4. This guy^^^
3. On December 6th we had our last & shortest trap shoot of the year then set about taking out the four trap machines for winter storage.
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1. So ends another fantastic year of trapshooting at the club. 2016 will be another busy year, in addition to our regular schedule, the SJRGC will be hosting the Atlantic Provinces Trapshooting Championships.
Cheers, MIKE
Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith |
