Reload!

OCTOBER 2000 NEWSLETTER
© Bruce Buck, editor

FOREVER YOUNG AT FAIRFIELD
by Vinny La Scalza

The thick walls were made of clay with a dampness you could smell
despite the blistering hot mid day sun. In the middle of the dark
room was a small straw bed and in the bed was a mortally wounded man.
He had suffered numerous attacks at the hands of hostile Florida
Indians and was brought here to Cuba to die in June 1521. His name
was Ponce de Leon. He was 61 years old. Up and down the coast of
Florida through swamp and hurricane he searched for years for the
Fountain of Youth and ironically wasted the very thing he had sought
for so long and so hard. What makes this tragedy even more pitiful
was that he was so badly mistaken about the fountain’s location. The
headwaters of this fountain are a thousand miles north of Florida and
pass through a Connecticut town called Monroe. 138 Travelers crossed
a bridge over these waters and were temporarily transformed into
frolicking, playful youths on September 17, the day of the Small
Gauge Shoot at the Fairfield Fish & Game Club.

Others might say that the reason for all the frivolity and "lightness
of being" was because everyone was shooting small gauges. The usual
somewhat tense, competitive atmosphere at our monthly shoots seemed
replaced with a sort of tongue in cheek kind of playful folly. I
mean how could anyone with a small gauge gun hit those simultaneous
trap targets? What about those simo rabbits at 35 yards? And yet
miraculously these targets were broken. Was it because of the lack
of self-induced pressure? I heard many people praising the Fairfield
County members for skillfully setting a sporting clays course that
was perfectly attuned to small gauge guns. Perhaps all these reasons
are valid, but I am telling you right now that as far as I am
concerned, it was definitely the water.

The course itself was comprised of so many perfectly created small
gauge targets that it is hard to know where to start. If you left
the clubhouse and started down the road, you made a right on a dirt
trail and slowly began to climb the surrounding hills. Station # 4
was a pair of chandelles from left to right almost tickling your nose
as they went by. Any gauge was adequate, but that second bird found
the trees very quickly. Everything hinged on taking that first bird
a beat sooner than you liked. You can practice this by standing
inside the boxes on a skeet field (with permission of course). See
how close to the skeet house you can break a bird reliably. This is
great practice for this kind of station. Know how quick you are
before you attempt these targets.

The next station, # 5, was a simo pair consisting of a bird spinning
on its axis crossing from right to left and a standard bird also
right to left and falling. Both birds were close, so what was the
problem? Well the "flipper" had to be taken first and lots of people
missed it, and then in their hesitation, missed the second target.
It is very difficult to find the line in the sky of a flipping target
that is pulsing colors (black and orange). You must force yourself
to see the path of this distracting target and forget about the 4th
of July effect. The good shooters were not very aware of their first
shots because they seamlessly moved their full attention immediately
to the second bird after the shot. Were you one of them?

How about the skeet field stations? All the birds thrown on a skeet
field are within range of all the gauges by definition. After all,
this is where most shooters use the small gauges. But what about
that last skeet field where a double trap presentation was thrown?
Well this was a difficult pair, but did you notice where you were
standing? You were actually half way between a trap shooter’s box
and the trap house. That went a long way to helping the shooter.
Six shooters ran this station and numerous others got 4s and 5s. It
is just amazing what you can do when the pressure is off. Would you
have done much better with a 12 gauge? This is a presentation that
is very easily practiced at all trap ranges; have you ever shot it
outside a tournament?

I have shot many small gauge preliminary events and been disappointed
as many times. The courses are never 100 bird courses and the
stations that are present are usually somewhat uninteresting, almost
being created as an afterthought. This Fairfield County course is a
very rare and precious thing. It is a full 100-bird sub gauge course
that is both fair and interesting. We owe a debt of gratitude to all
the members of this club that worked so diligently and saw fit to
share it with us. This course deserves all the credit we can
attribute to it, but there is still more to be thankful about!

Did you taste the F O O D? The chicken and vegetables were better
than great! And the dessert! Ice cream, peaches and pound cake.
On a more serious note, this is when I first realized that everyone
was acting kind of strange. Travelers kept getting on the dessert
line again and again and again. In fact, I found it necessary to get
on line numerous times myself just to witness this phenomenon. Tubs
and tubs of ice cream were disappearing at an alarming rate. As I
looked over the tables and saw everyone eating ice cream, laughing,
and talking, I realized that everyone was acting like youngsters on
the best day of their lives. Jason was describing his latest crow
adventure, Danni had on a college sweatshirt, and Al was skipping
among the tables with a cigar in his hand twirling it high over his
head. It didn’t take me long to figure that it was the water.

Despite the rumble of the tires over my head, I could still hear the
laughter from the cars as each Traveler left the Fairfield clubhouse
on their way home. I would be heading home soon myself, but you see,
I had some serious business ahead of me. Loaded down with two
5-gallon cans, I was under the Fairfield Fish & Game Club’s bridge
collecting my precious discovery. How long would it take for the
water to have its full effect? How much water could I drink? These
were some of my thoughts as I drove home surrounded by two 5-gallon
cans of water, a large cup in my right hand, and a feeling of near
desperation as I looked for an exit with restroom facilities.


HOA Alex Kale 97
I-1 Bill Tennison 90*
I-2 Lavert Cypher 90
I-3 Gene Csicsak 86
II-1 Dean Anglace 91
II-2 Jim Jannuzzo 86
II-3 Bob Busha 84
III-1 Jeremy Willinger 92
III-2 Harry Eustace 87
III-3 Carl Malinosky 83
IV-1 Vic Cairo 84
IV-2 Kurt Willinger 83
IV-3 Mike Steiner 82
V-1 Frank Krol 77*
V-2 Don Hutchinson 77
V-3 Sue Foster 76
VI-1 Eleanor Levy 58
VI-2 Linda Walka 49
VI-3 Jack Buchmiller 48
Ldy-1 Ginny Tennison 82
Ldy-2 Cyndi Dalena 77
Ldy-3 Olive Lawlor 76
Vet-1 George Begbie 91
Vet-2 John Lawlor 88
Vet-3 Joe Maresca 85
Jr.-1 George Kaiser Jr. 67
Jr.-2 Eli Hariton 39
Jr.-3 Luke Sproviero 34
Guest Gary Genard 86
* ties decided by tie-breaker station

16 gauge Champ Bruce Hernsdorf
20 gauge Champ Jim Muller
28 gauge Champ George Ostrander
410 bore Champ Al Anglace

DOING IT RIGHT…

Everyone agrees that the Fairfield subgauge course was a marvel. What
everyone doesn’t know is just how hard the sporting clays committee
volunteers at Fairfield worked to make it as good as it was. For
fully a month before the shoot, hammers whapped nails, chainsaws
growled and trucks trundled back and forth to make an already good
course even better. Extra machines were found and jockeyed into
position. One was even manhandled onto the roof of a skeet high
house. Everything was tested and tested again.

It was all done by volunteers meeting at the club after a full
workday at their regular jobs. It was done just so that we would
enjoy ourselves as Fairfield’s guests. Some of the members of
Fairfield’s sporting clays committee are Travelers, but some aren’t.
It didn’t matter. This isn’t to take anything away from the
commercial clubs or private clubs with staff that we visit, but we do
want to recognize the volunteer clubs that do so much for us:
Fairfield, Mid-County, Peconic, East Mountain and Millbrook. Whenever
we shoot at one of these, you can be pretty sure that the guy
trapping birds on a given station has volunteered his Sunday so that
you can enjoy yours. That’s what this sport is all about.

So, the next time that something at a shoot doesn’t go right, perhaps
a broken trap or a shot that you don’t like, ask yourself how many
hours you volunteered to make the Travelers shoots better.

IN MEMORIAM ~ RAY FROWD

Traveler’s Life Member Ray Frowd passed away last month. Although Ray
wasn’t able to shoot with us for the past few years, he did walk to
the front of the room when he won Senior Vet in May of ’94. He was
always there to greet us when the Travelers visited Mid-County Gun
Club. He made the point to volunteer to help at the banquets so that
he could chat with his fellow Travelers.

In December of 1996, with his son and grandson present, we made Ray
our first honorary life member. We wish the membership hadn’t expired
so soon.

THE JUDGE CHARGES…

Oyez, Oyez! All rise for hizzoner Mucho Pomposo. Your court of sport
is now in session. On the docket today is the case of little guns and
big loads.

Those in the court waited for the Judge to enter. Bulldog Mason, the
bailiff, could tell that he was in ill humor. Rumor had it that the
Judge was deeply involved in political negotiations. Nothing new
about that, but the other party preferred Hung Fat’s Chinese
restaurant for those long luncheon deals. This meant that the Judge
would be offered rice wine or unpronounceable beer instead of vintage
Port. You can’t run a Bentley on low test gas. Hizzoner was in a bad
mood. This was not going to be pretty.

The State began with its accusation. "Your Honor, what we have here
is too much shot and too little gauge. Defendant is charged with
sausaging."

"I object, your Honor!" purred the defense council with the Bryl
Cremed hair. "‘Sausaging’ is a pejorative and incorrectly describes
the situation. "My client was the innocent victim of overfillment."

"Sausaging? Overfillment?" thought the Judge. It all reminded him of
that miserable Portless Chinese lunch. The overstuffed egg rolls
fried in grease and filled with shredded green stuff began to roil
about in his ample stomach. He squirmed at the discomfort and his
eyes began to tear.

"I see by your demeanor, your Honor, that you have sympathy for the
plight of my poor client. How would you feel if your mother were made
to suffer the indignities of a bulging case caused by a production
error? I request that the charges against my client be dismissed!"

A stifled giggling was heard as Raul Slithe, the defendant, put his
hand over his mouth and guffawed as he stomped his manacled feet
underneath the table.

The Judge glared out. He’d seen Slithe in his court before. Always
accused and never convicted. Everyone knew what he did. They just
couldn’t prove it. Pomade Pedro, the slick defense attorney, always
got him off.

"Let me get this right, Mr. Prosecutor. What we have here today is
the charge of using a one ounce load in a 20 gauge gun, while still
claiming the 5 bird 20 gauge handicap. Is that correct?" "Yes, your
Honor" began the State. "The law is clear that subgauge guns may
claim the famous Travelers handicap of 3 birds for a 16 gauge, 5 for
a 20, 10 for a 28 and 20 for a 410 if, and only if, they use the
standard target loads for those gauges. Those loads are one ounce for
the 16, 7/8 oz for the 20, 3/4 oz for the 28 and 1/2 oz for the 410.
Everyone knows this and honest men obey it. This law must be just as
firmly enforced as the 1-1/8 oz law for 12 gauge. Overstuffing the
subgauge guns leads to moral degradation. It can’t be permitted. If
it is, our very society is at risk." The courtroom burst into
applause as the prosecutor sat down.

"But your Honor " said Pomade Pedro for the defense, "Mr. Slithe was
not guilty of knowingly cramming more shot into that little yellow
hull than the law allows. He wasn’t seeking to have his cake and eat
it too by claiming the handicap and yet fudging with a heavy load. He
simply picked up the wrong box of bullets by mistake. It was an
innocent error. The heavy 20 gauge shells were on sale at the Mega
Mart for only $3.29 a box. You can’t pass up a bargain like that. He
was forced to buy them."

The courtroom broke into murmurs and the jury members nodded their
heads. Cheap shells were a compelling addiction to which they had all
succumbed.

"Yes, your Honor" admitted the State, "Of course he had to buy them
because of the price, but he didn’t have to USE them in a match that
limited him to 7/8 oz loads in order to earn his 5 bird handicap. He
should have used the proper load or he should have declared himself
in the 16 gauge class where one ounce is permitted and just taken the
3 bird handicap. He was cheating!"

"But he wasn’t shooting a 16. He was shooting a 20! The very fact
that you are shooting a 20 entitles you to the handicap. The amount
of shot is irrelevant!" thundered Pomade. Raul simpered some more and
squirmed around in his orange prison jump suit. He just loved this
part. Good lawyers were worth the money. Ol’ Pomade had even gotten
some guy off when the DNA had him dead to rights. The jury system was
a marvelous thing.

"Enough!" cried the Judge, no longer able to control the imminent
rebellion of the aforesaid Chinese luncheon and eager to end things.
Besides, he had his golf game coming up and didn’t want to be late.
"Council, approach the bench."

"Listen up you two," intoned His Judgeship, "we can’t drag this thing
on for ever. Pomade, do you want to plead Slithe to a lesser included
offense? State, what’ll you take?" "Your Honor, the State will accept
30 days of community service." "Pomade, you agree to that for your
guy?" "My guy’s innocent as a lamb. This isn’t fair, but we’ll buy
it." And it was done.

The Judge gave a moment’s thought about the best possible way to use
Raul’s 30 days of community service, but he was late for his golf
game. He loved playing at the municipal course. It was Paradise,
except for those darn geese. He thought for a moment…

"Pomade, your clients’ community service will consist of keeping the
geese off the municipal golf course for thirty days. He will use a
shotgun and fire it into the air to scare the geese. He will fire one
shot every ten minutes during the course of the day. That ought to
keep those airborne Nazis off my course. And, yes, he can use that
twenty gauge involved in this case. The township will supply the
shells. Bulldog," the Judge said to the Bailiff "make it so."

Shortly thereafter all interested parties showed up at the golf club.
The Judge had on his yellow golf trousers with the little whales on
them. Raul wore prison orange. Raul had brought his ultra light
little 20 gauge with him. "This is going to be a piece of cake," he
thought. "I get to shoot my gun up in the air to frighten the geese.
How hard can that be? Justice is marvelous."

"Oh, Raul" said the Judge "here are the shells you are to use.
Remember, one shot every ten minutes for the next eight hours and the
next thirty days. Bulldog will stay with you to make sure you do as
you are told." "No problem, your Honor" smirked Raul.

It was only then that Raul noticed the twenty gauge shells were three
inch one and one quarter ounce master blasters. The recoil from those
heavy shells in that very light gun was the equivalent to firing an
elephant gun. The first shot perceptibly drove him into the ground.
The second, ten minutes later, pounded him in even further. By the
third hour Raul’s bloodshot eyes were level with the turf and Bulldog
had gone to get a shovel.

"Ah, let the punishment fit the crime," chortled the Judge as he
selected his wedgie niblick for a particularly challenging approach
shot.


USELES FILLER STUFF…

Your pattern changes about 10% for every five yards distance, more or
less, sort of.

Example: A modified choke that throws 60% at 40 yards will throw 70%
at 35 yards or 50% at 45 yards. Looked at another way, the difference
between an IC and a Mod choke is only 5 yards.





*** 2000 CONNECTICUT TRAVELERS SHOOT SCHEDULE ***

OCT 6-8 FALL TRIP TO CANADA
OCT 15 MILLBROOK R&G-OKTOBERSCHUTZENFEST
NOV * CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
NOV 26 EAST MOUNTAIN- KOEHLER SOCIETY FUND-RAISER
DEC 17 MID-COUNTY- CHRISTMAS PARTY
* Date pending

NOTE: We are rescheduling our November shoot so as not to conflict
with Peconic’s November 10-12 "Shoot for a Cure for Breast Cancer".
The Travelers support this shoot and urge you to attend. Do the right
thing. Help fight a disease that takes our mothers, wives, sisters
and daughters.


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

OCT 1 PECONIC, NY (631-727-5248) 100 REGISTERED SPORTING
OCT 1 WALLKILL, NY (914-564-0185) 150 TARGET FUN SHOT, $65
OCT 8-9 FRIAR TUCK, NY (800-832-7600) COLUMBUS DAY 200
NOV 10-12 PECONIC, NY (631-727-5248) SHOOT TO CURE BREAST CANCER
NOV 12-13 PEACE DALE, RI (401-789-3730) FALL FITASC CH
NOV 19 PEACE DALE, RI (401-789-3730) FALL SC OPEN

We are happy to post other "outside" shoots just as long as they
don’t conflict with our dates. If you know of an interesting one that
you feel your fellow members would enjoy, please email Bruce Buck at
<bbuck@juno.com> or telephone him at 203-454-1080.



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: Contact Cyndi Dalena
at 860-584-1083, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Leave message. Or Email
shotguncyndi@prodigy.net

Reload! To place an ad or post a shoot date, contact Bruce Buck at
203-454-1080 (worst way) or <bbuck@juno.com> (best way). The current
and previous issues of Reload! are posted on the internet at
<www.shotgunreport.com>.


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

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2000
OKTOBERSCHUTZENFEST
MILLBROOK ROD AND GUN CLUB
MILLBROOK, NY


This year’s Connecticut Travelers’ Oktoberschutzenfest is going to
have even more Gemütlichkeit than ever. We’ll have barrels of fun.
While our Münchenbewohner German cousins enjoy their barrels of foamy
fun, we will derive equal pleasure from barrels of a different sort.

It’s all the usual drill. Show up at 9:00 AM and check your name off
on the big score sheet. Enjoy some high test kaffe und strudel while
you cinch up your lederhausen and get your bockdoppelflinte ready to
shoot. The tab for the day is US$55 and your paid reservations must
be in our hands no later than Thursday, October 12 or you will be
kaput. Sub-gauge guns get the usual handicaps. Drillings get an
extra handicap if you use the rifle barrel.

Millbrook has a great course, somewhat in the style of Fairfield. A
"woodsy" course is absolutely appropriate for fall with its helles
Oktoberlaub (bright October foliage). Gäste sind willkommen. (Guests
are welcome.)

Directions to Millbrook Rod and Gun Club, Millbrook, NY: From Taconic
parkway, take the NY Rte 44 (Millbrook) exit. Take Rte 44 heading
East for about 1.6 miles to Rte 44-A. Bear Left onto Rte 44-A. Go 2.1
miles (you will pass Sandanona’s driveway) to Stamford Road on the
left immediately after the bridge. Turn Left on Stamford Road and go
1.5 miles to Woodstock Road. Turn Left on Woodstock Road and go .8
miles to Millbrook R&G Club sign on right.

If lost, strayed or stolen, the Millbrook R&G Club telephone number
is 914-677-0029.

REMEMBER, EYE PROTECTION IS MANDATORY AT ALL TRAVELERS SHOOTS.

INTERNET READERS: The Connecticut Travelers are a private
corporation. Their shoots are limited to their members and guests of
the members. People interested in membership should contact
<CTSCA@email.com>. There is currently a waiting list for membership.