A grunt. A gunshot. Another clay bird evaporates into dust. Up and down the line at the Iowa Trapshooting Association championships this month, the scene was repeated tens of thousands of times.
Each summer, the weeklong state shoot attracts participants from across the country and beyond. “They come from all over Iowa and the upper Midwest, from Oregon, New York; all over the U.S. as well as Canada and Australia; about 1,300 shooters this year,” tallied ITA coordinator Phil Thyer. “This Iowa shoot has been going on for 129 years. It’s normally the third or fourth largest in the country.” Half the 400 trophies go to out of state competitors. Many shooters are on a circuit, travelling by recreational vehicle from shoot to shoot; culminating in the mid-August national championships in Vandalia, Ohio. Those RVs crowded the camping area, behind the mile-long trap range, near Janesville. With vendors hawking everything from several thousand dollar trap guns to T-shirts, ice cream bars and women’s jewelry, the whole area takes on a county fair atmosphere. This isn’t a week of rest and relaxation, though. The shooters here get serious, when they step up to the line.
“On the singles we shot this morning, we had class AAA, AA, A, B, C and D. Every competition was won with 100 straight except for the D Class,” said Thyer. “We had phenomenal scores. When I figured out the results, about 45 percent of the shooters today broke 98, 99 or 100…with 11 percent breaking all 100.” Categories also include juniors, sub-juniors, ladies, veterans and senior veterans.
Partial credit for the bird-busting accuracy goes to a $260,000 investment by the ITA, installing ‘patrap’ automatic target throwers. “They allow us to set a really consistent target. Everybody has the same look. The targets will be the same height all the way across,” explained Thyer. “With the old hand sets, some might have come out a little higher or lower; the wind could have affected them a little. It allows everybody the chance to break a good score.”
But most of the credit goes to the shooters stretched out across the 34 trap fields, each field with five concrete strip stations. Shooters compete from 16 to 27 yards out. It is ‘practice make perfect’ times 1,300, as they raise custom built guns to shoulders. “The more proficient shooter will shoot immediately,” said Thyer. “Most try to look out in infinity. That’s because your eye comes back to your gun more quickly. The sooner the eye sees the target, the sooner they move back to the gun. Some people just shoot quicker than others.” Top Guns here, in flighted competitions similar to golf tournaments, can take home up to $5,000. And the firepower here helps hunting and wildlife programs, even though no one strays from the clay-strewn fields during the week while shooting. The shells that they buy carry the same federal excise tax as shells purchased by hunters ahead of opening day. That, and other related purchases chips in $50,000 or so to the Pittman-Robertson trust fund, which is apportioned back to the states.
But the real dollar signs are in the local economy, which feeds, lodges and provides other services to these specialized tourists. “Normally, we figure the economic rollover is $2 million. This year, though, with extra shooters, we figure it will be as high as $3 million,” estimates Thyer. “It’s like a small town here; campers for a full mile with other camping spots filled in the area. Hotels are full. It’s quite a boom for the community.” That’s a boom that sticks around, too, long after the shooting range is silent again.