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MAY 2003 NEWSLETTER
© Bruce Buck, editor

“Tax Time Revolt”
Old Newgate Coon Club, Norfolk, CT
March 16, 2003

There is a new premier course in Travelers Turf. Now in it’s fourth
year, the Newgate Coon Club has emerged from a hand-hacked deep woods
labor of love to a serious, no holds barred sporting course with shots
designed by a man with real talent. The course is set on rigorous
heavily wooded terrain with lowlands, steep cliffs, hillside swales
and ponds. There is everything you could want in geography plus lots
and lots of land in this rural northwest corner of Connecticut. This
year loggers were called in to thin trees in some areas, open others
and leave yet other parts alone. It was all done with an eye to
improve the course, not just to log and sell timber.

All courses have a personality. Some emphasize transitional targets,
some quartering, some something else. The Newgate Coon Club emphasized
the art of the impossible. It was the flight of the Big Bird. The 83
Travelers attending the shoot saw fourteen stations. Several of them
were presentations in excess of 40 yards where there was noticeable
delay between the sound of the gun going off and the bird breaking.
Some of these shots looked impossible at first glance, but course
designer Bob Busha was clever. The loooong shots all showed a good bit
of belly or were fully open if a battue. When a target is turned open,
it’s possible to break it convincingly even at extreme distance. These
were the kind of shots that left you feeling good about yourself.
“Wow! That sucker was in the next county and I smacked it!” All too
often we get shots that seem easy and aren’t. It’s nice to
occasionally get the reverse.

Some of these brutes were thrown off a cliff, dropping like bricks.
Others were huge looping battues arcing up into the sky and then
plopping into an opening in the trees. One was thrown quartering in
from a tower on the other side of a swale that must have been in
another area code.

Busha was also adept at “twisted trap” settings where the one of the
trap legs is raised to very slightly hook the target in or out. This
was often paired with a straight target of similar trajectory. It was
interesting to compare the quality of the Newgate Coon Club’s
presentations to the less imaginative efforts we saw on the Spring
Trip. It’s not a question of hitting more or less targets. It’s all
about having fun. Clever target settings are just plain more
entertaining. They show more respect for the shooter’s intelligence
too.

As is usual with our shoots, there were no 90s, though many swore that
they could do that if they just had one more chance. Well, they do.
The Old Newgate Coon Club course is open to the public Wednesday
evenings after 4:30 and Sundays at 9:00. You must make reservations by
calling 860-542-5028. The cost is a very reasonable $30/100.

Luncheon was spectacular. The club is actually a very nice public
restaurant. The shoot luncheon buffet had five main courses ranging
from seafood Newburg to prime roast beef plus three deserts.
Naturally, most Travelers tried everything. If you come up on a
Sunday, you definitely want to stay for luncheon.

Maybe it was the spring day. Perhaps it was the beautiful drive up
along the Naugatuck River on the way to the shoot. It was definitely
something to do with the course. But in all, this was one of the
nicest Travelers shoots in memory.

HOA VIN LASCALZA 89
I-1 Paul Fostini 87
I-2 Lavert Cypher 81
I-3 Paul Elia 75
II-1 Phil Steinkraus 87 (410!)
II-2 Bill Bretschager 84*
II-3 Ted Fedun 84
III-1 Martin Schroeder 85
III-2 George Parsons 77
III-3 Peter McCree 76
IV-1 Kip Allardt 77
IV-2 Cyndi Dalena 70 (28 ga)
IV-3 Jim Henion 69
V-1 Walt Fell 67
V-2 Emile Dorizzi 62
V-3 Andy McEvoy 61
VI-1 Bob Schrager 56
VI-2 Gwyn Grant 39
VI-3 Bill Hawley 37
Ldy-1 Stephanie Stauffer 79
Ldy-2 Ginny Tennison 75
Ldy-3 Lori Love 64
Msdm Edie Ellis 63
Vet-1 Bill Tennison 86
Vet-2 Al Anglace 83
Vet-3 Zaid Siddig 81
SrVet Bob Barlow 86 (SxS)
Jr-1 Mike Fabano 60
Jr-2 Trevor Moehrke 59
Jr-3 Kendall Coon 41
Guest Mark Marache 80
* ties decided by tie-breaker stations

MISS MANNERS DEFINES GRAVITY…

Chumley Boffin was almost an average seven year old. It wasn’t that he
was actually messier than other children. His room really was neat
for a few moments right after his mother put it in order.
Unfortunately, organizational degradation set in shortly thereafter.
You see, Chumley discovered at an early age that he was subject to
gravity. He didn’t exactly know what gravity was, but he knew that he
was held in its sway. That’s why he let things lay where they fell and
never picked anything up. If gravity put something somewhere, then
there it was meant to stay as far as he was concerned. Gravity was
serious business and he didn’t want to mess with it. When he prepared
for bed, his jeans, T-shirt and sneakers were piled on the floor as
though he had simply melted out of them. It was the same in the
morning when he shed his footie pajamas. They lay like a chalk mark
outline after a Chicago homicide.

School was a little better. On the playing fields of St. Grottlesex,
Chumley had mixed luck. He was a wretched baseball player. He
couldn’t bring himself to pick up a ground ball. The very word
“grounder” had a bad ring to it. It sounded like something that
gravity had already claimed and no man should put asunder.

Soccer was different. Chumley was Pelé incarnate. Soccer involved no
picking up of any kind. Touching the ball with ones hands was
strictly verboten, which was just fine with him. The ball more or
less stayed on the ground where he could happily kick it about. He
felt that the game cooperated with the immutable force and he excelled
at it, as he would at shooting when he became a man.

For Chumley did survive into manhood and became a fine example of his
gender. In spite of his aversion to defying gravity by picking things
up, he was a good provider and a kindly soul. He managed to wed a
woman who was not averse to cleaning up after him and raised an entire
brood of children, all of whom were built close to the ground and
easily trained to neaten up after their father. The house dog was
always a retriever.

Success in the corporate world led to promotion and invitations to
shoot sporting clays with the boss. Chumley took to shooting the way
he had taken to soccer. Sporting clays met all his criteria as a
“gravity friendly” sport. He put a shell into the gun and the gun
later disposed of shell case and shotload strictly according to
gravity. A machine pitched the target into the air and, yet again,
gravity won out when it fell to earth in one piece or many, as the
shooting fates decreed.

All went well until The Big Sporting Clays Shoot. Chumley had never
seen so many shooters in one place. Things were proceeding apace
until a trap at one station broke and there was a delay. Shooters
began to back up. As each shooter arrived and saw the crowd, he set
his gear down where he stood. When Chumley arrived the ground of the
waiting area was strewn with shoot bags and cased guns. It wasn’t
just strewn, it was stacked with them. There were so many guns lying
around that it looked as though a woodpile had fallen over. Moving
about was like wading through a beaver pond full of sunken trees or
stepping through the roped together tires of a football agility
course. Shoot bags covered all the benches so there was no place to
sit. People stood and fidgeted.

The gun rack, of course, was unused. People wanted to keep their guns
and bags together so guns usually lay next to where ever the bag had
been dropped. As the crowd built up and the litter grew deeper, it
was impossible to get to the gun rack anyway. More people crowded in
as the trappers worked frantically to repair the machine. Things
became first congested, then overcrowded and finally, seriously
packed.

One thing that you had to say for Chumley Boffin was that he was a man
of action. He could see that the gear littering the ground was the
problem. Indeed, several of the less secure competitors were feeling
trapped and looked around in wild-eyed fear as a wall of equipment
built up and cut off all escape.

Chumley realized that all those bags and guns were simply obeying the
law of gravity. They lay there just like his pajamas and baseball.
Something had to be done, but that? After all these years, could
Chumley countermand the law of gravity by actually picking something
up? It would be an unnatural act. But he must! The survival of
mankind (or at least the local shooting portion thereof) depended on
it.

Pushing himself to the front of the crowd, he climbed atop the pile of
guns and shouted, “Pick up your gear!” All eyes in the crowd turned
to him. People were stunned that these anti-gravitational words could
come from Chumley Boffin. “I say, pick up your gear and we can be
saved!” cried Chumley again. Like passengers on a stricken ship
harkening to the instructions of the captain, shooters began to
collect their bags and guns. “Now put your guns in the racks and place
your bags at the edge of the shooting area where they won’t get in the
way.” Slowly at first, but soon with alacrity, the crowd began to do
as they were bid. The piles of gear began to melt. Open patches of
green earth appeared amid the equipment. There was room to breathe!
They were saved!

After the shoot, Chumley assessed the events of the day. Yes, he had
opposed gravity by urging everyone to pick up their gear and store it
properly. When the shooters had thoughtlessly flopped their equipment
right down in the middle of things, they were just doing what Chumley
had been doing for years. Chumley had never realized what a problem
leaving everything to gravity could cause. Could it be that his
pro-gravitational stance had been wrong all along? Should people
actually pick things up instead of leaving them strewn about?

It finally dawned on him. Guns should be in racks, or if the racks
are full, then safely set well to the side. Shoot bags belong out of
the way, not underfoot or on the bench. Benches are for shooter
bottoms, not bag bottoms. How could he have been so wrong all these
years? Gravity may be inevitable, but it wasn’t always right or
polite. There really was a better way. Starting right now he would
reform. Chumley Boffin would start to defy gravity! Yes, right now, he
thought, as he stooped to pick up a discarded hull.



GREAT NUMBERS…

Ever think that you are the only one on your block who enjoys
shooting? Well, think again. The National Sporting Goods Association,
representing the manufacturers of sporting equipment, has posted a
very useful list at http://www.nsga.org/. Lean back, pour out a little
bit of the 1961 Chateau Petrus you reserve for special occasions and
enjoy this:

In 2002 there were 19.5 million people who participated in “Hunting
with Firearms”, 18.9 million “Target Shooting” and 3.6 million
“Muzzleloading”. That’s 42 million people who enjoyed sport shooting
with some sort of firearm in 2002. Well, ok. Maybe there is some
crossover where people both hunted and shot targets, but you get the
idea. Basketball had only 28.9 million, golf had 28.3, baseball 15.6,
skiing and snowboarding 15.2 and tennis 11.0. The only sports to have
more participants than shooting were Exercise Walking with 82.2
million, Camping 55.4, Swimming 54.7, Exercising with Equipment 50.2,
Fishing 44.2 and Bowling 43.9.So how’s about them apples! We shooters
are a far larger group than many would have you believe.

SPRING TRIP THAWS TRAVELERS …

And what is so rare as a day in June? Well, how about a spring trip
that gets us the heck out of frozen New England? Any trip. Anywhere
out of glacial Travelers turf. What a winter we had!

In the same way that one ever so gradually raises the body temperature
of a hypothermic victim, Mother N eased the Travelers group into
spring on that trip. Friday afternoon, April 11th, was cold with a raw
piercing rain when we shot the Orvis endorsed Pintail Point in
Queenstown, MD. The locals bundled up, but we thought it was as warm
as Dante’s Seventh Ring. Nice course and a classy club.

That night over fifty Travelers met up with Bert Schmitz and a dozen
Georgia Social Shooting Club members for dinner at the Harris Crab
house at the base of the Kent Narrows bridge. Bert heads up the SSC
with the same intelligent guidance that our own Jefe Presidente
Supremo uses to keep the CTSCA on an even keel. Monarchies are by far
the best form of government when the right guy is in charge.

Saturday morning found us at Owen’s Station, Greenwood, DE, a nice
clays course that was new to us. It was quite cool and overcast, but
that all cleared up as we made the trip to Chesapeake Clays in
Bridgetown, MD. In the afternoon it was gorgeous, spring-like,
heavenly, warm, sunny… all the adjectives we thought we’d never use
again. Chesapeake has a new owner and considerable capital
improvements. When their organizational skills, currently on par with
those of the Iraqi Army, catch up to their capital plant, they’ll be
ready for prime time. This time our 60-plus shooters just overwhelmed
them.

Saturday night dinner at a local fish house had a cocktail hour of
epic length, but we were all in an epic mood- especially when the
evening ended with a Travelers lucky raffle for tens of thousands of
dollars worth of prizes. Sunday we ended up at the always reliable J&P
Hunting Lodge in Suddlersville, MD before the trip home. J&P is run
right.

Generally the targets we saw on our four course trip were friendlier
than the usual Travelers Tough stuff we see at home. None of the
courses had mastered the art of the tipped machine throwing a hooking
target. Everything was foursquare and straight forward. No battues. No
chandelles. You were seldom visually tricked. That didn’t mean we
could hit them all, but there were some good scores. Pintail Point and
Chesapeake had some great towers, but for some reason our shooting
rounds didn’t include using them. Next time for sure.

Group Leader Danni Jesudowich did a marvelous job. Organizing a
successful trip like this long distance from her Cape Cod home took a
great deal of time and effort. It’s volunteers like Danni that make
the Travelers so successful.

DUE TO A COMPUTER GLITCH, we have been tardy in answering emails sent
to the official Connecticut Travelers address CTSCA@email.com That’s
all been fixed now, so we are up and running. Email away!


KOEHLER SOCIETY SCHOLARSHIPS…

Annually scholarships are awarded by the Society to honor the memory
of Harold F. Koehler, a popular businessman, accomplished wildfowl
wood carver and sportsman. He lived in New Milford, CT and devoted his
life to community service. The Society is made up of Harold’s many
local friends and fellow sportsmen like yourself who want to promote
his ideals for the betterment of young people continuing their
education beyond high school. Last year the Society awarded $1000 cash
scholarships to five high school graduates who will continue their
education in the fields of ecology, forestry or in the trades.

As of this time, the Society selection committee is soliciting
recommendations for candidates for this year. If you know of a young
man or woman who might be a worthy candidate, please contact Al
Anglace, 91 Park Lane Drive, New Milford, CT 06776, tel: 860-354-9351,
email: ctsca@email.com. Applications close June 21, 2003.

WEB PHOTOS…

Can anyone out there help us get on a website where we can display
Travelers photos to share among each other? Something like Ofoto.com
might be an idea. We probably don’t need our own Travelers site right
now, but somewhere where we can share photos would be nice. Contact Al
Anglace at CTSCA@email.com or Bruce Buck at bcb23@columbia.edu if you
have some ideas and think you can make it work.

ONE OF OUR OWN…

Traveler’s Scoremeister and 2002 Sporting Sportsman of the Year Cyndi
Dalena is movin’ on up. She has left the world of banking to accept a
position with the National Shooting Sports Foundation as the National
Program Coordinator for the “Step Outside” program. You go girl! Well
done.



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

2003 SHOOTING CALENDAR

APR 11~13 SPRING TRIP TO MARYLAND, MD-NORTH SOUTH SKIRMISH
APR 27 OLD NEWGATE COON CLUB, CT-TAX TIME REVOLT
MAY 4 EAST MOUNTAIN, NY-COURTING CLAYS
MAY 18 TAMARACK PRESERVE, NY-MAY MINUET
JUN 22 TAMARACK, NY-NAT’L WILD TURKEY FED CONCURRENT SHOOT
JUL * MID HUDSON, NY-CTSCA FITASC CHAMPIONSHIP
JUL 20 SANDANONA/ORVIS, NY-SUMMERTIME, SUMMERTIME
AUG 8~10 ADDIEVILLE EAST, RI-GREAT EASTERN LOBSTER CLASSIC
SEP 14 FAIRFIELD COUNTY F&G, CT-SMALL GAUGE CHAMPIONSHIPS
OCT 3~5 PENNSYLVANIA -FALL TRIP
OCT 19 MILLBROOK ROD & GUN, NY- OKTOBERSCHUTZENFEST
NOV 16 EAST MOUNTAIN, NY-CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
NOV * EAST MOUNTAIN, NY-KOEHLER SOC. FUNDRAISER THREE SHOT
DEC 14 MID-COUNTY, NY-DICK LOSEE MEMORIAL CHRISTMAS PARTY
* An asterisk indicates an exact date still to be determined

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

APR 11~13 PEACE DALE, RI (401-789-3730) SPRING FITASC CH
APR 18 NEWGATE COON CLUB, CT (860-738-3619) GOOD FRIDAY OPEN
APR 20 PEACE DALE, RI (401-789-3730) OPEN SC CHAMPIONSHIP
MAY 3,4 ADDIEVILLE EAST, RI (401-568-3185) RUGER ALL-AROUND CH.
MAY 24 MID-HUDSON, NY (845-497-5008/845-255-7460) SHOOTING FOR A CURE
Please consider attending to help in the fight against cancer. This shoot is run and sponsored by a Traveler. The shoot is in Travelers Turf, but the benefits will be worldwide. You can print out the registration form at <www.shotgunreport.com/Updates.html> by searching down the list of articles for “Shooting for the Cure”. Do the right thing.
My/Jn 31/1 ADDIEVILLE EAST, RI (401-568-3185) NORTHEAST NAT’L FITASC
JUN 7 ADDIEVILLE EAST, RI (401-568-3185) RGS SOCIETY NAT’L CH.
JUN 16~22 HOPKINS, MD (410-348-5287) US OPEN
JUN 22 NEWGATE COON CLUB, CT (860-738-3619) THREE SHOT SHOOT OUT
JUL 9~13 CLAYTHORNE, KS (620-597-2568) FITASC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
JUL 25-27 PEACE DALE, RI (401-789-3730) NEW ENGLAND FITASC CH
AUG 3 PEACE DALE, RI (401-789-3730) OPEN SC CHAMPIONSHIP

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, MAY 18, 2003
MAY MINUET
TAMARACK PRESERVE
MILLBROOK, NY

Ta dah! We have May’d it through the winter. It is time for our
annual May Minuet. This signals the beginning of the Good Times, so
let ‘em roll. Rollez les bonnes temps to you Cajuns out there. There
is gunning along with the gavottes, grins and garlands as we turn that
May pole into a smoke pole. Sweet spring air will be redolent with the
attar of progressive burning flake powders. The happy chirps of
fledgling robins will mingle with the majestic thumps of the first
really serious clay target shooting of the year. Be there or be
square.

Down the road, on June 22 our monthly Travelers shoot is also at
Tamarack, this time honoring the National Wild Turkey Federation. In
addition to the usual awards, there will be prizes for the best
combined scores at these two Tamarack shoots. Make sure to shoot both.
May Minuet and turkey together? It's the Turkey Trot for you olde tyme
dance fans!

The cost of your dance card will be $65. This will not only include
Bob Vanacek’s fiendishly delightful targets guaranteed to get you
spinning about with or without music. It also includes the usual upper
middleclass eats that Tamarack is so justly famous for. The band
cranks up at 9:00 AM. Be on the dance floor by 9:30. GUESTS ARE
WELCOME AT THIS SHOOT.

NOTE: Tamarack requires the use of FIBER WADS on their course. Lead
shot is fine, but a fiber wad must be used. Tamarack has appropriate
shells at $7/box if you choose not to bring your own. You might also
contact Traveler Paul Elia at Viper Cartridge, tel: 201-681-3817. He
can supply Travelers members with Victory fiberwad shells at a
considerable savings. Remember, we have both the May and June shoot at
Tamarack, so you’ll need a flat of shells. Directions to Tamarack
Preserve, Millbrook, NY:

From the junction of US 84/US 684/NY 22 take NY 22 North to the
traffic light in Amenia. Go West on NY 44 for 2.9 miles to Turkey
Hollow Road on Left. Look for Tamarack sign.

From the Taconic Parkway, take the NY 44 exit. Go East on NY 44 for
1.7 miles. go Left onto NY 44-A heading East for 3.2 miles and then
back onto NY 44 East. Continue on NY 44 East for 6.7 miles to Turkey
Hollow Road on Right. Look for Tamarack sign.

If lost, strayed or stolen, the Tamarack Preserve number is
914-373-7084.

EYE AND EAR PROTECTION ARE MANDATORY AT TRAVELERS’ SHOOTS!

Internet readers: Please note that the Connecticut Travelers shoots
are for members and their guest only, unless otherwise stated. If you
wish to attend a particular shoot, please contact a member.