TGC Newsletters
To keep up to date on the latest news of the club, check out our monthly newsletter. Included here are the latest editions (6 months) of the TGC newsletter.
Our monthly newsletter is sent via your current email address. If you have not recieved your newsletter please contact Rich Pounds at the clubhouse or Kevin Borutski @ 698-2180 for update and check of your current email address.
November 2009 Newsletter – Joel Blankenship , President, Tulsa Gun Club.
I used to be an avid reader of Sports Afield magazine when I was younger and particularly enjoyed articles written by an old professor and avid quail hunter, Havilah Babcock. I have just recently re-read some books that were purchased for me by my mother-in-law after Mr. Babcock’s death.
One of my favorite stories Mr. Babcock wrote was “I Don’t Want to Shoot an Elephant”. The story was about the fact that he enjoyed bird hunting about as much as anything he could do. For those of you that are not native “Okies” when we talk about bird hunting, we are talking about hunting quail.
Several members and I were having a weekend BS session at the club a few weeks ago and I have come to realize that Mr. Babcock and I have a lot in common.
I spent a lot of time in the past years hunting just about everything that can be hunted in North America. Several years ago, it was no big deal to wake up at 3:30 in the morning, eat a quick breakfast with a gallon of coffee, and head off to the deer woods, spend the morning half frozen, sitting motionless for a few hours, and then shooting a deer and dragging it a half mile to the truck. There is nothing quite like watching the sun come up and hearing the Blue jays and Crows wake up the day. Even though I have nearly frozen to death on numerous occasions, I still enjoy all kinds of hunting. Now, however, I am more likely to wake up about a half hour before sunrise, drag a lawn chair into the woods and sit in the spot that is sheltered from the wind and cold. I shoot just as many deer and have several trophies and I cannot tell the difference between the deer I worked a month to find and those that just sauntered by where I was sitting drinking coffee in the woods.
The thing is, I don’t want to shoot an elephant either. Since I resumed shooting skeet six or seven years ago I have discovered that I can arrive any time of the day that is convenient, shoot at as many targets as I like, and shoot at them in weather that is most to my liking. I enjoy the camaraderie and fellowship with shooters at the club and have met numerous good friends over the past several years and have really enjoyed helping young shooters learn the sport. Like me, when a new or young shooter sees his first target “ink ball”, their face just lights up and you know they too are hooked.
Call it experience if you like, but as I have aged I find that what I most like to shoot is a little clay bird with an orange top. It’s not quite the thrill of shooting quail, but it is more consistent. Unlike hunting, I get the knowledge beforehand where the birds are coming from, where I will be standing, and heck, I even get to mount my gun before the release on my command. I still can’t figure out how I can miss so many with those odds in my favor.
If you have never tried Skeet or Trap shooting, I would invite you to stop by the club and try your hand at it. If you are a non-member, just talk to Rich and he can get you set up to shoot in just a short while. You can bet that there will be other shooters on the field that will welcome a guest and will even show you the tips and tricks of playing the game. There are shooters of all skill levels that shoot at the club every day and once you try it, you may decide that heading out on a brisk fall day to shoot a couple of rounds of skeet with friends is not a bad outing. I hope to see you there soon.
Shoot well,
Joel Blankenship
President
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