Havre Trap Club sees success at state competition

After wrapping up their spring league, seven Havre Trap Club members found success at the state trap competition in Ulm before the club's fall league and annual fall activities start up again.

The 127th Montana State Trap Shoot was held at the Great Falls Trap and Skeet Club facility in Ulm July 7-11. Great Falls Club Secretary Jim Burman said the trap clubs in Great Falls, Missoula, Helena and Billings alternate hosting the state meet annually.

"(The state shoot) keeps circulating back around through those four cities," Burman said. "These are the four clubs in the state that have enough capacity to do it. To make so it doesn't take all day long you have to have a minimum of 12 traps that they can compete on and we have 14 traps here."

Missoula was supposed to host this year, he said, but their facility is being worked on, so the Great Falls club stepped up and they'll be hosting again in 2022.

Mary Jacobson, a Great Falls board member who helped organize the state event, said that the Havre shooters had a great showing overall, but Emi Smith "was the big winner. She had an awesome weekend, and it just couldn't happen to a nicer person, so good for her."

Smith was one of 15 shooters in the Ladies I division, and her list of accomplishments at the state event were: Open Ladies I Handicap Champion, Ladies I Doubles Champion, Ladies I State Doubles Champion, Handicap Champion, Ladies I State Singles Champion, Ladies I State Handicap Champion, High Overall Ladies I State Champion and High All-Around Ladies I State Champion.

"She shot amazing this weekend," Smith's brother and fellow Havre Trap Club member Matt Sasaki said.

Smith also competed at the Butte Trap Club's 2021 Western Zone trap shoot July 16-18 and came home with wins in Long Yardage Handicap, Ladies I Singles and Class C Doubles.

The other Havre competitors who took home prizes from the state shoot in Ulm are Jim Bachini, winning Doubles D Class Champion and Doubles D Class State Champion; Matt Fochs, winning Class B State Singles Champion; Don Gibson, who earned High Overall All Class C State Champion; Zach Bachini, winning, Class D Singles Champion Runner Up and High Overall Class D State Champion; Keith Overly, with High Overall Class D State Champion Runner Up; and Brett Preeshl, bringing home In State Singles Champion, Class A State Doubles Champion, Class A Singles Champion and High All-Around State Champion Runner Up.

The state shoot had about 275 shooters, including 62 from out of state. Of the total number of shooters 73 were junior competitors, 31 women and 75 veterans.

The junior competitors, Burman said, are part of the Amateur Trapshooting Associations youth program AIM - Academics, Integrity, Marksmanship - which is broken into four age groups up to 22 years old.

The ATA doesn't set an age at which youth can start shooting trap because, for safety reasons, each child is assessed for their readiness to shoot a shotgun, Burman said. The decision is based primarily on the youth's size and maturity.

The upper AIM age-limit being set at 22 years allows its members to compete on college teams where that's available. The ATA also says on its http://www.aim4ata.com website that scholarships are available for members.

Havre Trap Club's fall league begins Wednesday, Aug. 18, and new shooters are welcome. The league lasts seven weeks and the five-member teams need to shoot all 10 handicap rounds by Oct. 3, at the twice-weekly shoots, Wednesdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m.

The trap club is located east off the end of Fifth Avenue, on the road past the softball complex. And members can help new shooters finding a team to join if needed.

Along with the league competition, the Havre Club will hold some fun shoots, including two Moonlight Shoots Aug. 21 and Sept. 18 starting at 8 p.m. both nights, and an Iron Man Shoot Oct. 2.

Sasaki said the Iron Man will require competitors to shoot at five trap stations in a row, each with a different distance or challenge - 16 yards, 23 yards, 25 yards, 27 yards and 27 yards doubles. The last station will have two clay pigeons thrown instead of just one.

For more information about Havre Trap Club, its league and any of the fun shoots, people can call Jim Bachini at 406-265-2485 or 406-262-3739, or Matt Sasaki at 406-945-5982 - or they can go to the club's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/havretrapclub .