American Heritage Youth Side by Side Championship - Updated!
 

Many of you saw the announcement in the Parker Pages about the upcoming Youth Shoot the PGCA is sponsoring at the 2018 Southern Side X Side. In case you didn’t see it or you are a Forum Associate I wanted to post some of the details here. At this years Board of Directors meeting, held at the Southern, the idea for the shoot was brought up by Gary Carmichael. He stated he would donate a 16 gauge Parker Trojan to be given away at the event. After much deliberation and discussion a proposal was put together and presented to Bill Kempffer, Founder and President, of Deep Rivers Sporting Clays and Shooting School. His team reviewed the proposal and wholeheartedly got on board. In addition, Morris Baker, RST Shells, agreed to provide the ammo Brad Bachelder agreed to donate his time and talent to restore the gun.

The mission of this program is to attract young shooters to our double gun world. It is not a recruiting tool for any particular organization or a vehicle to demonstrate that one make of side by side is superior to another. It is open to any and all youth shooters 10 - 17 years of age. They may shoot ANY side by side. It is our hope that our fellow double gunners from LC Smith, Fox, Lefever, German Gun Collectors and any other groups or individuals shooting Side by side doubles will attend and participate.

The following are some of the particulars regarding date, time and rules. As everyone knows, when putting together an event such as this some things may change from what is originally published. If that happens notifications will be published on our forum. Please feel free to share this information with anyone interested in passing on our sporting heritage to future generations.

Date: April 28, 2018

Time: 1:30 pm

Venue: Five Stand

Shooting Participants: The event will be open to any shooter age 10 – 17 years.

Proposed Rules:
1) Shooters may use any Side by Side shotgun.
2) Shooters must use RST shot shells for the qualifying event.
3) The event will be shot at the 5 stand venue.
4) Shooters will be grouped according to age: 10 – 11, 12 – 13, 14 – 15, 16 – 17
5) Shooters will shoot 6 targets at each stand for a total of 30 shots.
6) Top gun in each group will be awarded a trophy
7) In case of a tie, scorecards will be compared and the first missed target will eliminate that shooter. If still tied, a shoot off will take place. A coin will be tossed and the winner will determine who will shoot first. The loser will choose which station will be shot.
8) Every shooter will have their name entered in a drawing, for the Parker Trojan, to be held at the conclusion of the event.
9) Age groups 10 – 11 and 12 -13 must have an adult gun bearer standing directly behind them to act as a safety monitor.
10) All shooters must sign waivers and Hold Harmless agreements.
11) Eye and ear protection required of all participants.
12) All Deep River rules are to be observed at all times.

The future of the shooting sports lies with the youth of today.

Super Idea & event.

My hat's off to all of those involved!!!!!!! Thank You:bowdown::bowdown:

I fully understand the logic behind the requirement to use an American made sxs but I would think it might eliminate some individuals from participating. Why do we care what gun he/she is using as long as it is a sxs.

I am sure if a young shooter did not have an American sxs, one could be provided, matter of fact I'll loan a Parker DH 12 to any young shooter that wants to shoot. Eric

That’s a good point Gary. I’ll run it by the board. Shouldn’t be an issue.

The gun rule has been amended to allow any side by side.

My offer still stands if we have a shooter without a gun.

I have a young man who shoots in the Junior U.S. Open at Backwoods every year who if he is able to attend will be using one of my three Parkers.

I think if we talk this up and you guys that have contacts with the other groups will let them know about it we can have a really good turnout. Maybe we can come up with a flyer that’s downloadable so we can post the info at our local clubs and shooting venues. I keep imagining the look on the kids face that wins the drawing for the Parker.

I think a flyer type advertisement would be a splendid idea.
Something that could be posted in a lodge or clubhouse.

My thanks to Dean who today went out of his way to help get info in front of the sponsors and coaches of a youth sporting clays group.

They are out there, we just have to get the word out.

Anyone have a good contact with the NRA, maybe they could run an article on it in their magazine.

Charlie Herzog might. He got them to loan him the first 410 so it could be displayed at the HOF banquet a couple years ago.

One other thought:
Might it be worthwhile to ask Deep River to add this NEW event to the 2018 Southern SxS home page?

That way ALL who might attend would know of it, and possibly bring youngsters for the fun.

https://www.southernsidebyside.com/the-spring-classic

That’s a great idea John! I’ll give them a call a request it.

Mike I will run a couple adds in the local paper here in Floyd County, they have some good young shooters as this is hunting country, heck they even close school on opening day of deer season, how good is that! to bad I did not live here when I was young, Gary

That sounds like a good idea Gary. If you lived there as a youngster the deer herd probably wouldn’t be the size it is today.

Also, I spoke to the people at Deep River and they are going to add the Youth Shoot to the website.

Both Daniel Cote of Double Gun Journal and Ralph Stuart of Shooting Sportsman will be publishing a press release on this event in their issues prior to the Spring Southern.
This should get a lot of attention!

Thank You gentlemen!





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Are there any TV sports shows that would put an event like this on their programming? I remember watching shooting events on TV years ago but I haven't watched much in years. It would be great to get as much exposure on this and get the ball really rolling.

There is a short but nice piece on the shoot in the current issue of Shooting Sportsman.

Just a suggestion: It might prove worthwhile for PGCA and Deep River to contact the Raleigh-Durham TV affiliates well ahead of time. This event might prove worthwhile for their news or sports segments...

Indeed, the entire Southern SxS might be worth their while to "investigate" as local news with a national/international twist...

I talked to a board member of the South Carolina Youth Shooting Foundation, Mr. Don Roth. I passed on the information for the youth shoot at the Spring Southern. He told me that he has a number of young shooters that shoot sxs in their competitions. He is going to set up a link on his website and hopefully we will have a great turnout.
Tom

The more, the merrier!





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You can copy and share the link to this thread to anyone involved in youth shooting activities.

LC Smith is giving us some press in their journal. Everyone reading this should spread the word far and wide

BREAKING NEWS:
The PGCA Board of Directors has unanimously approved a recommendation to comp the $15.00 entry fee for the event. However, any practice rounds will still be charged for by Deep River. So, our young shooters get a free registration AND free shells from RST.
SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS

Thanks for the announcement Mike!





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Craig Larter has posted the info on the Fox forum. Thank you Craig and good luck to the Fox shooters.

Thanks Craig!





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I talked to Bob Decker, President of the LeFever Gun Collectors, about the Youth Shoot and their organization is very excited about the event. He and the LeFever Board of Directors are donating a $100 Cabela’s gift card to be given away during the gun raffle. He also said they will have a loaner gun on hand should a shooter need one. Also, he is including information about the event in the LeFever newsletter which goes out in a few days. Bob stated several times he would be willing to help out any way he could. So, thank you to Bob, the LeFever BOD and the membership for getting on board.

That's great news Mike!

Thanks Bob!





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Here are 3 pics of the 16 gauge Trojan donated by Gary Carmichael to be given away to some lucky youth shooter. This gun also carries the distinction of being one of the last guns Brad Bachelder ever worked on. Sadly, Brad will not be able to present this stunning example of his work but, his memory will live on through this gun and the many others he touched. Please share this thread anywhere double guns are revered and people have a strong belief in the young shooters that will keep our heritage alive.

Talked to Parker at Bachelders, he has shot the gun and repairs made should be on the way back to me via 2nd should have it Tuesday I will be leaving for Sanford Thursday Morning he is shipping in wooden crate that I made to send the gun to him in, so hope everything will be OK, Do we have any idea how many young shooters might show? Gary

It should draw a good number of youth shooters - I put the press release in Shooting Sportsman, Double Gun Journal, and Parker Pages of course.






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I put up a blurb on a few hunting and gun Facebook pages I am a member of and encouraged a few friends to come. Even if we have a huge turnout, the odds of winning the gun raffle are about the best the lucky shooters will ever have

I also ran 1/2 page ad in local paper for two weeks, Gary

So, how did the kids shoot go? How many entrants, scores, pictures, etc.?

We had six young people shooting, One young lady and five young men, they shot well I thought. top gun 21, I believe, A lot of photos were taken, I am sure you will see some on here shortlyThe winner of the Trojan was from Waynesville N.C. he and his dad left at 5:00 in the morning to get there. I Talked to a gentlemen in charge of the youth shooting team in the area and assured us many more for next year! Mike Franzen and I are excited and look forward to next year, this has been a long time coming. I think it was a great success and enjoyed by all. Time to start planning for next year, Gary

Here are 2 pictures of the 6 youths that shot for the Trojan. The big fella won his age group and the Trojan. The other youth with the trophy is John Davis's cousin. They all shot well, the race was close.

My cousin, Sawyer Banks, broke 22 targets and was high gun shooting a Parker Trojan. I taught him every thing he knows about shooting and despite that he still won. Some folks can overcome anything.

I have submitted a write up to Parker Pages with plenty of pics. I think we got off to a good start it will be up to the Deep River staff as to whether or not we do it again next year. I feel confident they will want to. Maybe you have a young shooter you could invite.