Alphecca

"Blue Hairs" Enjoy Trap Shooting

It's not just for kids anymore... From the Wausau Daily Herald:

If you had looked down the barrel of a shotgun Wednesday at the Wausau Skeet & Trap Club you might have been surprised who was squinting back. Not a man filled with testosterone, but a gum chewin', gun totin', red hat wearin' lady. That's right, a lady. In a red hat.

Who said getting older has to be boring?

Six members of the Silver Foxes Red Hat Society - all over 60 years old - decided to take up arms Wednesday just for fun. The trap club's typical weekday shoots ended in August, so the Silver Foxes had the trap shooting range all to themselves.

"My son said I'd fall on my butt," said Joyce Matakovich of Wausau. "I'm just used to BB guns - shooting squirrels out of my feeders."
Matakovich and her friend Phyllis Lehmann, also of Wausau, hit their stationary targets with their first shot.

And neither of them got knocked on their butts by the kickback delivered by the 12-gauge shotgun.

Hitting the moving clay pigeons proved to be more of a challenge. Each missed on their first handful of attempts.

That's when Trap Director Jim Sonnentag of Brokaw stepped in. Count to three, ladies, as the clay pigeon flies through the air and squeeze the trigger on three, he said. It's all about the timing.

"It's like dancing, 1-2-3, 1-2-3," Lehmann said as she bounced a few steps.