The Naperville Trapshooter The Official Newsletter of The Naperville Sportsman s Club

Transcription

1 The Naperville Trapshooter The Official Newsletter of The Naperville Sportsman s Club September 2004 Issue Trap League 2004 Fall Trap League Sign-ups are now being taken for the 2004 Fall Trap League. The league will begin on Thursday, September 30 and will be held each Thursday night thru November 11. Cost for members is $15, with all entry fees being applied to league prizes and food for league participants on the last night of shooting. You can sign-up at the Sportsman's Park clubhouse thru Sunday, September 12. The league is limited to 40 participants, so sign-up early so you don't miss your chance to participate. The league is a team format, and all shooters receive handicap birds based on their nightly score and league average, so shooters of all proficiency levels can compete equally. If you have questions, please inquire at the sign-up desk at Sportsman's Park, or you can trapleague@napervillesportsmansclub.org for more information....scott Calhoun Vice President & Webmaster What s Inside President s Message... 1 Trap League Info... 1 The Fred Section... 2 Club Info... 2 Dates to Remember... 2 Swap Meet... 3 Stuff that Matters... 3 Trap toon... 3 Hunting Iowa Pheasant... 4 Classifieds... 5 Calendar Member/Board Meeting Date: 7:30 P.M. - September 14, 2004 President s Message BMP Update We are waiting for the Illinois EPA to accept the changes to the BMP document. The changes were made and the revised BMP has been sent to the IEPA. Those shot shells not purchased from the Park District will be subject to inspection (steel only). The Naperville Park District has posted the position of Range Officer (paid employee) to supervise the Trap Shooting Program on their web site. Applications are available at the clubhouse. If you are interested please come in and pick one up. These new Park District employees will be the responsible party at the range. Open House Update Please don t forget that we need volunteers to help with the Open House that will take place on September 19, Everyone is encouraged to help in anyway you can. Please contact Jay Spitz or myself to help. I am also requesting the help of volunteers to come out for a special work day at 8:00AM Sunday, September 12 to help prepare the range for the open house. New Member & Ranger Scorer Orientation The next new member orientation will be at the club on Sunday October 17 at 10:00 AM. Please RSVP to myself at Range Scorer clinic will begin at 11:00 AM....Jim Monk President Get Ready For Hunting Season!

2 The Naperville Trapshooter 2 The Fred Section Members & Board Meeting We ll have our next members and board meetings on Tuesday, September 14th starting at 7:30 PM. (Members meeting followed by the board meeting.) All members are invited and requested to attend both meetings. Doors open at 7:00 PM. New Member Process Changes At the last two meetings there was a consensus to implement our By-Laws more fully regarding the new membership process. This involves two changes from our current procedure. One has already been implemented. New memberships are reviewed by the board. This is done prior to the board meeting (based on information provided on the application) and at the board meeting. The prospective new members are invited to participate in this process. Specifically, to plan on coming to the next two board meetings after they sign up. I say two because folks who sign up later in the cycle may be borderline time-wise for review prior to the next meeting. continued next column Club Information The Naperville Sportsman s Club P.O. Box 27, Naperville, IL Clubhouse Phone: Hours of Operation: Thursdays: 6:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M. Sundays: 12:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M. Final sign up at 4:00 P.M. Board/Member Meetings: 7:30 P.M., 2nd Tuesday of every month The Naperville Sportsman s Club Officers & Board Members President: Jim Monk Vice President: Scott Calhoun Secretary: Fred Turek Treasurer: Tom Coleman Directors: Jim Daniels Dennis Haffner Ed Heasley Art Jablonski Rosemary Jendras Aaron Harriman Park District Liaison: Brad Wilson Newsletter Editor/Publisher: Rosemary Jendras Prospective new member badges and mailings (welcome letters) are prepared prior to the board meeting and sent immediately after approval, or given to the member at that meeting if they are present. The second change is the application will change to implement the By-Law requirement for referral by an existing member. Those who don t know anyone in the club will be offered an easy process to meet with someone to fulfill this. Part Two of Safety Series Coming Next Month The goal of this series is to distill and clarify on-site safety rules to the point where every member not only follows them, but also says something when they see an issue with someone else. Part one was last month, covering the big three NRA rules on safe gun handling, including site-specific details. Big Welcome to New Members A big welcome aboard to these new members approved at the August 10th board meeting: Kevin Anker, Joe Kuhn, James Lynch, Asif Qureshi, Greg Rensink, Ted Southworth and (a big welcome back to) Michael Stanley. We ll see you folks at the meeting and on the line....fred Turek Secretary & Certified Shotgun Instructor Dates to Remember 2004 Mark your calendars with these important dates! Trap Fundamentals Class 7/25/2004 Trap Fundamentals Class 8/22/2004 DU Great Outdoors Fest 8/27/2004 DU Great Outdoors Fest(continues) 8/28/2004 DU Great Outdoors Fest(ends) 8/29/2004 Fall Trap League Signup begins 9/12/2004 NSC Open House 9/19/2004 National Hunting & Fishing Days 9/25/2004 National Hunting & Fishing Days 9/26/2004 Fall Trap League Starts 9/30/2004 Fall Trap League Ends 11/11/2004 Trap Fundamentals Class 10/24/2004 Thanksgiving Day (Club Closed) 11/25/2004 Christmas Day 12/25/2004 New Year s Day 1/1/2005

3 September 2004 Issue 3 Swap Meet Swap Buy Sell The Naperville Sportsman s Club has a long held tradition of having a Swap Meet at the Sportsman s Clubhouse each fall. (See insert in this newsletter for more details.) This event asks each member to clean out the closets, attic, garage and whathave-you and bring those sportsman s-related items to swap or sell something akin to a community garage sale. We are reserving the date of September 12, 2004, which is our regular shooting day. The swap meet will be open to the general public who will be attending that day and shooting operations will not be affected. The Swap Meet will be held inside the Clubhouse building during regular operating hours. There will be no cost to participate in this event. Park District policy prohibits the transfer of firearms on Park District property and we will enforce that policy. Come on out and get rid of your trash while hunting for new treasure....rosemary Jendras Editor Trap toon from Summer 2002 issue of Illinois Shooter Let s take a moment to remember those precious lives we lost on September 11, 2001 and honor our brave men and women serving in the military. Stuff that Matters Boyt/Bob Allen Update I put a call into our customer service rep at Boyt to check on their present situation. According to my rep, Boyt is re-building inventory and is shipping. Some seasonal items which are out-of production may continue to be out-of stock until their next production run, but in general, inventory is again plentiful. At this time, I will resume taking orders for Boyt & Bob Allen items, but prior to placing any orders, I will want to check for availability. If you re interested in a particular item or items, contact me through the Club s website, I ll check for availability and confirm pricing. NRA Membership Normally about this time, I receive my renewal request from the NRA. I cannot stress vigorously enough how important it is for each member to support this powerful organization. Now, you may not agree on every position held by the NRA, but there is no other organization which has the visibility and clout to protect our 2nd Amendment rights. You might feel nominal gun control is OK, you might feel our sporting shotguns have nothing to fear from assault weapons bans. Have you ever heard the saying If we do not hang together, we will surely hang alone? I belong to the Ducks, Turkeys and Pheasants, but it s the NRA and ISRA (our state rifle association) that are the ones on the front lines battling for continued personal firearm ownership. While having my gun rights protected is reason enough to spend $30 a year ($10 if you re watching your pennies), I give you a couple of others. $1000 in firearm insurance, plus access to much more at discounted rates. Members receive great discounts on Hertz car rentals and your choice of (4) monthly magazines. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree on specific issues with the NRA, who else covers your back when it comes down to protecting your gun rights? It s your choice, but if you own a firearm (and many own more than one), isn t it worth a couple bucks to guarantee your future ownership?.from my cold dead hands!...jay Spitz NSC Life Member

4 The Naperville Trapshooter 4 Hunting Iowa Pheasant Hunting Wild Pheasant You ve been shooting pen-raised pheasants (p-burds) over your pointer at the club for some time now and you ve gotten pretty good at it so you figure that now s the time to head west to shoot some of those wild pheasants you ve been hearing about. Here s some tips based on what I ve learned from hunting as a kid and again over the last five years. How To Drive Your Dog Crazy Except for opening week, you re not going to get a lot of easy shots. What I mean is that you re not going to get a lot of the shots that you ve become accustomed to at the club. Except for hens, which now you can t shoot, wild birds prefer to run and they ll drive you and your pointer crazy. You will soon learn that only hens will reliably hold for your dog (again, driving your dog crazy as he says I found it, and you didn t shoot it you #%*@ fool!!). You ll flush at least five hens for every rooster, maybe more. When p-burds flush (usually after you ve booted them in the butt) they typically fly straight up, going for altitude rather than distance. Wild birds will fly to the top of weed cover and then head straight away quickly accelerating to 40 mph and they ll more than likely be flushing some distance away from you. In other words you d better start practicing your trap shooting from the 27 yard line. Do your business before you take to the field, wild pheasants have an uncanny habit of flushing when your unloaded gun s leaning against a post and your fly s unzipped. Stop, look, and listen. The reason that nearby pheasant flushed while your were attending to business was because you d stopped for a moment and the nearby hidden pheasant just couldn t take the suspense. Also, while you re hunting be sure to look far down field. Often you can see active birds in the weeds and unfortunately sometimes departing the field 100 yards down range. Do try to listen while you re hunting. Be aware of sounds. I ve harvested several birds that made the mistake of cackling nearby thus giving away their position. Always be ready to take a shot. There s nothing more discouraging than seeing the one good shot opportunity you ve had all day fly off because your mind was numb from hours of fruitless walking. Try to be as quiet as possible while hunting. Yes, the birds will know that you re there, but there s no reason to further alarm them with a lot of unnecessary chatter. continued next column Exercise. It s a good idea to spend three or four evenings a week at the gym for a month or two before hunting season. An out of shape forty year old friend of mine flew up from Houston for a long weekend of hunting with me two years ago. He lasted exactly one half day in the field before he was down for the count. When he tried to get out in the field the next morning he had to go back to the car after only a half hour had gone by, he was just too tired and sore to go on. Darwin s Theory Pheasant season can be broken into three parts: Opening week, Mid season, and Late season. Opening week is very similar to hunting p-burds at the club. You have a lot of young ignorant birds that have never experienced being hunted giving you a lot of easy shots. In fact, the hunting you get during opening week is an excellent example of Darwin s theory in action. After most of the young and/or ignorant birds have been harvested then mid-season begins, the weather s still nice but the roosters are harder to find and will run more and flush farther from you. You ll find birds holding in heavy brush and swampy areas. Late season has become my favorite time, there s typically snow on the ground so you can actually track birds and their tracks tell you that at least they re in the area. You can spot the roosters tracks because he has larger feet and is typically dragging his long tail feathers. Another great thing about late season hunting is that the swampy areas where a lot of birds tend to hide are frozen and easily accessible. A down side is that you re hunting during deer season. For the sake of safety, hunter orange is a must, whether state laws require it or not. Maybe I m a masochist, but I find pheasant hunting to be great fun. What could be better than a day in the field in the fresh air with your dog and some good friends. Hell, even if you don t get any birds it s still a great day!...steve Thornhill NSC Member

5 and celebrate Naperville Sportsman s Club 67th ANNIVERSARY OPEN HOUSE September 19, :00 AM - 3:00 PM You re invited to Step Outside and experience the Olympic Sport of Trapshooting while we celebrate our 67th Anniversary. FREE shotgun mini- clinics taught by certified instructors to all visitors. NO previous shooting experience required. Refreshments will be served Sponsors include Silencio Safety Products, Allied Illinois Markswomen, Mega Sports Inc., and National Shooting Sports Foundation with support from area conservation groups and international shooting organizations. For more information, call Naperville Sportsman s Club at (630) on Sundays, 12-4PM & Thursdays, or visit our website at Established 1937

6 Naperville Sportsman s Club Outdoorsman s SWAP MEET September 12, A.M. til 4P.M. Clean out your closet! Bring your unwanted outdoor related items (guns, shooting supplies, outdoor clothing, fishing and hunting gear, etc.) to sell or trade. Catch up on the status of the club! Open to everyone except dealers and businesses. No sales or transfers of firearms on Sportsman s Park property. All items to be sold or traded must be approved at the meet. Naperville Sportsman s Club/Park is not responsible for any transactions. All deals are between private individuals, and should be treated as such. (Caveat Emptor!) BUY SELL TRADE

7 September 2004 Issue 5 Classifieds Many thanks to our contributors. Please support those who support our club Delivery 10 am - 12 am 4920 LINCOLN IN THE LISLE BOWL LISLE, ILLINOIS Complete Professional Repair Darien Automotive 2525 W. 75th Street Darien, Illinois Mechanical And Body Shop Phone: (630) Fax: (630) Mike Weresch Douglas L. Frazier attorney at law 19 South LaSalle Street Suite 802 Chicago, Illinois Civil Law International, Domestic Employment & Commercial Telephone: (312) Facsimile: (312) Jay Spitz, CLU Independent Insurance Broker Box 876 Naperville, IL (630) Insurance for Individuals & Small Businesses Life: Term, Cash Value & Annuities Disability: LTD, Keyman & Long Term Care Health: Individual, Group & Medicare Supplements Reserved For You! Place Your Ad Here! AD SPACE FOR RENT Business Card Size Rates: $10/month - $100/year

8 Naperville Sportsman s Club P.O. Box 27 Naperville, IL SEPTEMBER 2004 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY Last Last Fling Fling PM Labor Day NSC Board & Member Meeting - 7:30PM 12-6PM Members welcome Step Outside Open House 12-6PM PM *