RELOAD!

APRIL 2004 NEWSLETTER
© Bruce Buck, editor



MARCH MADNESS
Mid-Hudson Shooting Grounds
March 21, 2004
By Lans Christensen

Unofficially this is the first “official” shoot of the year, and is eagerly
anticipated by winter-weary travelers. Of course it is still March, and demands
that one prepare for any possible permutation of hydrogen, oxygen, gravitation,
and frustration. The early morning drive took us from cheery sunshine to black
spitting clouds, and then a flurry or two of snow just to keep us guessing. 135
guns showed up, proving once again that the travelers will turn out in numbers
and pay the premium rate to shoot Mid-Hudson’s very excellent targets.

With the two trap, automatic, pull-your-own course in place, Mike has
established Mid-Hudson as THE place to go when you really want to woodshed
(practice). There are always familiar faces there, and one can work on any
variety of target until you’ve got it, or you’ve run out of quarters.

For March Madness, the presentations were new, and challenging. The clockwise
course started with fast crossers, but with just enough speed differential to
produce a miss if one didn’t stay in control and read each bird separately. By
the time we reached station #4, the “breeze” was picking up, and the two
quartering incomers were dancing about a bit. This was an omen of things to
come.

#6 is always one of the tougher stations no matter what they throw and I think
it is because the stand itself is below the grade where the targets land. One
feels almost at eye level with the field in front and this takes away some of
the perspective you need to read the targets. The first was a quartering incomer
that died at 30 yards, and was followed by a slicing, and edgy, going away
bird. Not much gun movement in either shot but very precise gun placement in
both.

Did we mention the “breeze”? Well, from #11 through #15 it was
.....justplainsilly. Too bad, as it really would have been fun to shoot the
targets that the course designer set and not the often unhittable whims
subjected to 40 mph gusts. But that’s early March. Next time we’ll put Al in
charge of the weather.

There was a classic teal at #11, which could be chanced on the way up, but
taking it on the way down was a total lottery as it often blew 30 yards behind
the stand.

Station #15, unfortunately, was plagued by a variety of problems causing some
severe back-ups. A very nasty long battue which the wind kept on edge, followed
by a tower thrown bird going away. A twenty minute wait, standing in a gale
force wind does a lot to take the edge off….but at least one can watch everyone
else miss their share too.

Not only had the wind blown our targets all to hell, it did an equal number on
the tent. The hardy caterers stuck it out and produced some fine corned beef and
cabbage, and the unflappable travelers made some hasty adjustments and enjoyed
the lunch in the warmth of the clubhouse.

At the awards presentations, a very ardent appeal was made to support the
up-coming (May 23) Shoot For A Cure, to be held at Mid-Hudson. Traveler Ira
Conklin and his wife have been a driving force in putting this most worthy
effort forth. The proceeds will go to The American Cancer Society, and will be
supplemented by the sale of raffle tickets for an Orange County Chopper. This is
a one-off; custom Harley, produced by one of the top shops, and will be a highly
valued prize.

Congratulations to all Travelers. We kept our sense of humor in these trying
spring conditions and made it a great day.

HOA Jean Du Lau 88
I-1 Lavert Cypher 80
I-2 Paul Fostini 75*
I-3 Paul Elia 75
II-1 Mike Canale 78
II-2 Dean Anglace 77
II-3 Preston Moore 73
III-1 Matt Canale 73*
III-2 Mike Boffalo 73
III-3 Ralph Lowery 68
IV-1 Kevin Kruleski 69
IV-2 Ira Conklin 67*
IV-3 Howard Weiss 67
V-1 Gary Fox 57
V-2 Lou Dehler 54
V-3 Trevor Moehrke 53
VI-1 Donna Galotto 52
VI-2 John Welch 46
VI-3 Bill Hawley 37
Ldy-1 Anna Marie Collins 66
Ldy-2 Kristin Canale 60
Ldy-3 Lori Love 58
Msdm Carol Roesslein 45
Vet-1 George Ostrander 76
Vet-2 Doug Moore 73*
Vet-3 John Hyrncewich 73
SrVet George Begbie 73
Jr-1 George Kaiser 63
Jr-2 Mike Fabano 62
Jr-3 Luke Sproviero 57
Jr-4 Jason Lenhart 52
Jr-5 Kendall Coon 36
* ties decided by tie-breaker stations

RELOAD! TEN YEARS AGO TODAY…

One of the advantages of having stuck around too long is that you can plagiarize
yourself and get away with it. Having edited Reload! for what seems like
forever, I thought it might be fun to see what the Travelers were doing in April
ten years ago. Phil Steinkraus reported on our 1994 March shoot at
Mid-County. It was won by Andy Duffy with an 87, trailed by Bill Losty, Ben
Baldridge, Charlie Conger, Chuck Payne and Steve Andiorio.

The irrepressible and irresponsible Technoid urged us all to start reloading to
save money. Factory shells in 1994 were averaging $5/box, while you could easily
reload for $2.50. The cost of everything normally doubles every ten years (look
at the value of your house), but ammo certainly hasn’t. Today you can buy new
ammo for less than you could ten years ago. Ain’t capitalism wunnerful. The
Travelers have also done an excellent job of containing shooting costs.
Membership in the Travelers was $50 individual and $65 family in 1994. Ten years
later it is only $60 individual and $70 family. Can’t hate ‘em for that.

Our Saturday sporting clays league at Wooster Mountain was winding up. The
Travelers’ subgauge classification system became official. “At the moment the
handicap is: 16 Ga=3, 20 Ga=5, 28 Ga=7, 410 Ga=15, SxS=3 addt'l; pump=5 addt'l,
i.e. a 410 pump would get 20 birds. As we gain more experience, these handicaps
may change to keep things fair. We will tell you ahead of time.”

And change we did. Over the years, as our database increased and we did gain
more experience, we altered the subgauge handicaps to their present 16 ga=3, 20
ga=5, 28 ga=10, 410 bore=20, pump or SxS adds 5. These numbers have proven
remarkably valid over a wide variety of courses. Of course, nothing will help a
subgauge gun in the kind of wind we had at the March shoot, but everyone
understands that. Don’t they?

Miss Manners was in fine fettle and gave us a little reminder on saying “thank
you” after a shoot. “Miss Manners, our doyenne of decorum, has a bit of that
flinty New England practicality about her. She knows that being invited
somewhere is nice, but being invited back is even nicer (hospital and dental
visits excepted). The Travelers organization was initially formed to get us
invited to places to shoot as we had no range of our own. By putting together a
group, we were able to approach club owners with sensible economic proposals.
They invited us to shoot and then continued to invite us back after we showed
that we were good guests.

“We all know that being invited to shoot at another course is a privilege. The
Travelers quite properly always give a group "thank you" and round of applause
to the owner or manager. It might also be a nice touch next time, if you have a
moment before you leave, to take a second to express your personal gratitude for
the shoot directly to the person in charge. Many of you do so already. It is a
little gesture and does not take very much time or effort. Miss Manners would
approve of this little extra act of politesse. Especially since she knows that
if we can get invited back we will know the course a bit better and our scores
might go up. Now that is flinty Yankee practicality!”


“I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.”
-Marshall McLuhan, cultural historian and communications theorist (1911-1980)



MISS MANNERS AND THE CHIPS...

[This parable is included in RELOAD! even though its subject has not been a
problem at Travelers' shoots. However, the situation does arise elsewhere upon
occasion and our members should recognize it for what it is.]

It was recess and Miss Manners' eagle eye swept over her little flock of future
world citizens at play. Even at the age of eight their personalities were
clearly surfacing. Future Tarzans mixed with rudimental Nietzches. Little
Marie Antoinettes played with budding Betty Friedans. Embryonic sustained lead
shooters chased after elementary little swing through advocates.

Over past the sandbox, three children who lacked the benefit of Miss Manners
tutelage were playing marbles as a fourth child watched in tears. Miss Manners
went over and questioned them. It turned out that the gang of three had decided
to change the rules half way through the game and thus captured all of the
fourth marble player's migs and steelies.

The petit school marm squinted through her glasses, adjusted her starched lace
collar, and asked if she could play. She produced an intricately embroidered
marble bag containing wondrous agates and the finest taw catseye shooter they
had ever seen. She crouched into position with surprising agility. The
playground fell silent. The only sound was the flick of manicured thumbnail
against forefinger, followed by the solid 'thwack' of a bully's miggle sent
hurtling from the ring. The virtuoso performance continued non-stop until all
were out. The result was never in doubt. Miss Manners gathered up all the
marbles and handed them to the fourth child. She turned to the three bullies
and gravely pronounced "Sic semper tyrannis." Unfortunately, Latin class did
not start until sixth grade, so it was lost on them.

Even rotten kids are permitted to grow up. Thirty years later those same three
prepubescent delinquents had developed into a semblance of sporting clays
shooters. Unfortunately, their morals had not kept pace with their physical
development. They always shot together because they found that as a pack they
could intimidate the occasional referee who did not see things quite their way.
Every shooter is entitled to speak up if he thinks he saw a piece which the
referee missed, but these guys took it one step further and made a point of
'seeing' pieces where there weren't any. They were known as the CHIPS- 'you see
a chip for me, I'll see a chip for you'. They knew that they could each get a
couple of extra birds that way and no referee had the nerve to deny them.

They were approaching the last stand at the big State Shoot. Two of the CHIPS
were well up in the standings. They needed an extra bird or two to ensure some
trophies. The referee had his back turned, but he was small and the three felt
that he could be made to see things their way with a little of the usual
browbeating.

The first bully dutched his opening pair. "Hey ref," said one of the others
"that pair came out early. He gets to shoot them again." "The pair was fair.
Lost the pair." said the ref without turning. "Waddaya mean 'lost'. That was a
no pair!" said the third CHIP. The referee held firm. "Lost the pair."

On the second pair the shooter hit the first and missed the second. "Dead and
lost" called the referee in an even, measured tone. "You must be blind ref. I
saw a chip off of that second one." bawled one of the three. "Me too" cried
another, endorsing the fiction of his confederate. "Dead and lost" quoth the
referee evermore.

And so it went. Each call by the referee was absolutely fair, but stern and
unyielding. The CHIPS were beside themselves. Their ploy had always worked
before. Confidence slipped as they missed even more birds and could not buy
them back. They swore to the ref that they saw pieces. Finally, they just
swore. The small referee with the dark glasses, pulled down cap and upturned
collar resisted their every dishonest imprecation and threat. They had never
before met a referee they could not intimidate.

They walked away from the station grumbling as they looked at their scores inked
on the cards. There was something familiar about that handwriting. It reminded
them of their grade school report cards. Then they noticed that starched lace
collar peeking out from the referee's coat.


“Each man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when
he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well -- he
has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson,
writer and philosopher (1803-1882)



*** 2004 CTSCA SHOOTING CALENDAR ***

APR 2~4 NORTH SOUTH SKIRMISH-SPRING TRIP TO MARYLAND
APR 18 TAX TIME REVOLT- OLD NEWGATE COON CLUB, CT
MAY 2 COURTING CLAYS- EAST MOUNTAIN PRESERVE, NY
MAY 16 MAY MINUET- TAMARACK PRESERVE, NY
JUN 13 NAT’L. WILD TURKEY FED. SHOOT- TAMARACK PRESERVE, NY
JUL 18 SUMMERTIME, SUMMERTIME- ORVIS/SANDANONA, NY
AUG 13~15 GREAT EASTERN LOBSTER CLASSIC- ADDIEVILLE EAST FARM, RI
SEP 19 SMALL GAUGE CTSCA CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS-FAIRFIELD CTY. F&G, CT
OCT 8~10 ANNUAL FALL TRIP- PA & NY WEEKEND TOUR
OCT 17 OCTOBERSHUTZENFEST- MILLBROOK ROD & GUN CLUB, NY
NOV 14 DR. RUDY PASSERO MEMORIAL CTSCA CLUB CH.- EAST MTN, NY
NOV 28 KOEHLER SOCIETY FUNDRAISER-EAST MOUNTAIN PRESERVE, NY
DEC 19 DICK LOSEE MEMORIAL SHOOT /CHRISTMAS PARTY- MID COUNTY, NY
* Shoot schedules are subject to last minute change. Always consult the current edition of “Reload!” Therein lies the truth. At least our version of it at this particular time…

*** OTHER 2004 SHOOTS OF INTEREST ***
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, CALL AHEAD TO CONFIRM

APR 9 NEWGATE COON CLUB, CT (860-738-3619) GOOD FRIDAY BLAST
APR 25 FAIRFIELD COUNTY F&G, CT (203-426-8508) GATOR IV SHOOT
APR 25 MID-COUNTY, CT (845-677-57360) SPRING SHOOT-OUT
APR 25 WALLINGFORD R&G, CT (203-265-1012) 50 BIRD FUN SHOOT
MAY 23 MID-HUDSON, NY (845-497-5008/845-255-7460) SHOOT FOR A CURE
Please support this shoot in our fight against cancer. Do the right thing.
MAY 23 WALLINGFORD R&G, CT (203-265-1012) 50 BIRD FUN SHOOT
MAY 29 FAIRFIELD COUNTY F&G, CT (203-426-8508) FAIRFIELD COUNTY OPEN
JUN 27 WALLINGFORD R&G, CT (203-265-1012) 50 BIRD FUN SHOOT
JUL 25 WALLINGFORD R&G, CT (203-265-1012) 50 BIRD FUN SHOOT
JUL 25 FAIRFIELD COUNTY F&G, CT (203-426-8508) FIVE STAND OPEN
JUL 31 FAIRFIELD COUNTY F&G, CT (203-426-8508) BBQ SHOOT


CONTACTING THE TRAVELERS...

CTSCA Home Office: Email <ctsca @email.com> (by far the best way) or telephone
860-354-9351 if you absolutely must.

Membership, Address Changes and Shooting Class status: Contact Cyndi Dalena at
860-582-3142 between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Or Email <shotguncyndi@prodigy.net>.

Guide Book questions, contact Dick Orenstein <oren@umich.edu> or call
203-226-5251.

To place an ad, post a shoot date in Reload! or simply heap abuse on the editor,
contact Bruce Buck at tel: 203-454-1080, fax: 707-215-0668 or email:
<bcb23@columbia.edu>.




**** THE UPCOMING TRAVELERS MONTHLY SHOOT ****

SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 2004
TAX TIME REVOLT
YE OLDE NEWGATE COON CLUB
NORFOLK, CT

We all know that your 1040 was just your opening offer, but at least you can now
have some fun until the Feds break down your door to get whatever is left. It is
time to relax and squander the meager pittance that our noble Congress permits
us to keep. Besides, what better way to irritate the politically correct than to
spend your refund on shooting? After the shoot, go have a few glasses of port at
your cigar club. That’ll incense every single person at BATF. No point in
playing favorites.

Transfer your assets to Ye Olde Newgate Coon Club in Norfolk, CT. There is no
sign-in. Just show up (we suggest by 9:00 AM), note your squad and starting
station (squad # equals starting station #) on the posted squad sheets, and be
ready to go out with everyone else after the 9:30 call-to-arms. In the meantime,
you can add to your bottom line by deducting a few donuts by Dunkin. If you
arrive late, you know the new drill. Catch up to your squad and enjoy the rest
of the birds. You may not make up for missed stations. You are shooting just for
fun. Moral: don’t send your taxes in late and don’t show up for shoots late. We
will have you presquadded because you will have preregistered by Wednesday,
April 14 under pain of audit. If you can’t get your entry fee in on time, please
come to the next shoot in May. No-show entry fees are donated to our charity at
the end of the year. Luncheon at the club’s most excellent restaurant is
included in the shoot fee, perhaps something with pork in it to honor the
government. For all of this, you will only have to write off a gross expenditure
of $55. GUESTS ARE WELCOME AT THIS SHOOT.

For those who want to try sub-gauges in the Connecticut woods, you shouldn’t
find our usual handicap too taxing: 16 ga = +3, 20 ga =+5, 28 ga = +10, 410 bore
= +20, pumps and SxS get another +5. Saner people will use 12 gauge and the
heaviest #7_s they can get their hands on. Firepower counts with the gummint.
Remember Waco.

Directions to Ye Olde Newgate Coon Club, Norfolk, CT: From the junction of Rte
84 and Rte 8 in Waterbury, CT take Rte 8 North approximately 28 miles to Rte 44
near Winstead, CT. Turn Right onto Rte 44 West. Go 8.4 miles on Rte 44 West. At
the Texaco station turn hard Right onto Rte 182. Go .6 miles on Rte 182 to Club
House on Left. If lost call the Olde Newgate Coon Club at 860-738-3619.

NOTE: EYE AND EAR PROTECTION IS MANDATORY AT ALL TRAVELERS’ SHOOTS!