HARTFORD — You could hear it over and over last weekend at the Hartford Conservation & Gun Club, literally thousands of times: Pull BAM, Pull BAM, Pull BAM, as more than 430 youth athletes participated in the Hartford Invitational SCTP Invitational Shoot.
Eighteen trapshooting teams from southeast Wisconsin – from as far north as Berlin and as far south as Wilmot – participated, according to Gary DeSmidt of West Bend, one of the event’s organizers.
The Hartford Conservation & Gun Club Youth Shooting team took home first place in three divisions, along with second place finishes in both varsity and junior varsity competitions, during the event.
DeSmidt said that each of the shooters was scored by the number of orange clay targets they hit. Each shooter had 100 shots.
Scores were compiled for each team of five, for the best of 500 shots. Individual scores were kept, too, based on the best of 100 shots.
DeSmidt was one of the founders of Hartford’s team, and now he is an assistant coach.
He said the participants are called athletes because trapshooting is an Olympic sport.
Some of the teams are sponsored by high schools, and the students can earn varsity letters in the sport. Other teams are club sponsored. DeSmidt said the Hartford team has 138 members. He said Wilmot has 73 athletes.
“It’s a lifelong sport,” DeSmidt said. “It teaches camaraderie, and a bunch of life lessons put into a lot of small things.”
The most vital thing, he added, is safety. “It’s one of the safest sports we have,” he said. “There’s never been a fatality among youth trapshooters that I’m aware of.”
He said the sport is not necessarily exorbitant. Teams and clubs hold fundraisers to aid.
DeSmidt said that each participant in last weekend’s meet paid a $37 entry fee and anywhere from $28 to $35 for the shot shells. Some of the youth buy their own guns and some are provided by their teams.
The youth trapshooting season runs from February to July.
Winning teams and athletes progress from Saturday’s shoot to regional and national competitions, DeSmidt said.
