Clay Target Legends & the Mayor of Red Bud | Trap Talk Ep. 148

Summary

Trap Talk From The Back Fence — Episode 148

Clay Target Legends & the Mayor of Red Bud | (October 31, 2025)

Episode Overview

In this special two-segment episode, hosts Zach Nannini and Richard "Ricky" Marshall Jr. bring listeners an engaging deep dive into the traditions and future of clay target sports. The first half centers on preserving the history of trap, skeet, and sporting clays, featuring guests from the "Clay Target Legends" project. The second half shifts focus to the community impact of the Grand American, with Red Bud, Illinois mayor Susan Harbaugh sharing how the event shapes local life.

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Part 1: Preserving Clay Target History with Clay Target Legends

(00:51-39:43)

Main Theme

Highlighting the Clay Target Legends project—a grassroots initiative dedicated to documenting and celebrating the history, legendary figures, and community of clay target sports.

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Key Discussion Points

Introduction to the Clay Target Legends Project

• What It Is & Why It Began:
  Steve Ellinger and Phil Murray explain their passion for history and the lack of comprehensive record-keeping around clay target sports’ greats (01:46-02:37).

  • “Nobody is actually out there promoting the history of this sport.” – Steve Ellinger (01:54)

• Team:

  • Two of the three founders were present (Phil Murray, Steve Ellinger), while Matt Smith handles broadcast production (03:03).

• Scope:

  • The project covers all clay target disciplines: trap, skeet, sporting clays, and international/Olympic events.
    • “We're trying to get the association, the different organizations to work together. Yes, we're all shotgun shooters.” – Phil Murray (07:00)
  • Working with ATA and NSCA museums to update and create engaging, modern exhibitions.

Why History Matters in Shooting Sports

• Many younger shooters don’t know about legendary figures (e.g., Leo Harrison, Alex Kerr, John Kruger), and there’s a generational gap in passing down stories and knowledge (09:59-10:20).

• Cool Artifacts and Contributors:

  • Phil Murray’s legendary collection of trophies and memorabilia.
  • Notable guns: e.g., Annie Oakley’s personal shotgun, George Bush’s shotgun, and others featured in museums (16:09).

• Role of Family and Youth:

  • Encouraging young shooters to understand and value the history, so they're prepared to “carry the banner after we're gone.” – Phil Murray (09:57)

Content and Platform

• Where to Watch:

  • “It’s a YouTube program... just put in ‘Clay Target Legends’. Every episode we have done thus far will come up.” – Steve Ellinger (08:21)
  • 22 episodes recorded at the Grand American 2025, releasing about one per week; episodes last 5–15 minutes (08:47).

• Who They Interview:

  • Not just Hall of Famers—also rising youth, Olympians, and international shooters (09:17-09:57).

• Motivation and Impact:

  • Legendary shooters expressed surprise and gratitude at being remembered.
    • “I thought you forgot about me as a Hall of Fame guy.” – Reaction from Kenny Barnes, first to shoot 400/400 in skeet (06:21).
  • Documenting the stories brings recognition and encourages younger shooters to get involved.

Interdisciplinary Respect & Skills

• Breaking down cliques between trap, skeet, and sporting shooters, emphasizing cross-training benefits and shared techniques (07:31-08:21).
• “I learned, the best lesson of my life, shooting wise, was shooting with those sporting guys and skeet guys and actually learning the techniques that they were using and then bringing that and building it into my game...” – Zach Nannini (07:31)

The Power of New Media & Storytelling

• The future of promoting the sport lies in podcasts, YouTube, and social media, not in print ads (14:45–15:20).
  • “It’s podcasts, it’s YouTube, social media. That’s where you’re going to get the people...” – Steve Ellinger

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The older I get, the better I used to be.” – Steve Ellinger joking about aging in the sport (27:04)
• “You gotta learn how to miss before you can win.” – Phil Murray (24:05)
• “Trap shooting is such a great activity for families.” – Steve Ellinger (06:29)
• Humorous asides about trophies, donating (or hiding) keepsakes from spouses, and Phil’s legendary attendance at 60 consecutive world skeet shoots (03:55).

Challenges & Aspirations

• Difficulty promoting and marketing the sport to gun owners who never compete (13:50).
• Need for associations and the industry to better coordinate, educate, and market clay target shooting outside its traditional base.

Artifacts and Museums

• Fresh efforts to update and expand museum exhibits, bring in new artifacts, and encourage donations/loans from shooters and their families (38:23).
• “If you have a gun you want to give us or something... Don't just put it, it's on loan to the museum. When you want it back, you get it.” – Phil Murray (38:53)

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Part 2: Community Impact – Mayor Susan Harbaugh of Red Bud

(39:58–70:28)

Main Theme

An inside look at how the Grand American event transforms the Red Bud–Sparta region and the spirit of local hospitality that underpins its success.

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Key Discussion Points

Economic and Social Impact of the Grand American

• Economic Boost:

  • “The financial impact...was $25 to $30 million for Southern Illinois, which is a huge economic impact.” – Mayor Susan Harbaugh (47:39)
  • Local businesses ramp up, hotels fill, and the event draws a cosmopolitan crowd (42:03).

• Welcoming Culture:

  • Community pride in hosting; restaurants, pools, parks, and businesses tailor offerings for shooters and their families (42:16–46:23).
  • “We are a very welcoming community here in southern Illinois. We have a lot to offer for our visitors and this is a beautiful facility.” - Mayor Harbaugh (55:13)

• Local Life Lessons:

  • “If everybody would just do one thing, one small thing...be kind to your neighbor.” – Susan Harbaugh (64:29)
  • The value of volunteerism, community clubs, and stepping up for local needs (66:11).

Red Bud’s Uniqueness & Evolving with Trapshooting

• Historical Ties:

  • Many locals, including youth, have been drawn into shooting due to the facility’s presence (59:38).

• Restaurants & Attractions:

  • Mi Casa sandwich shop, Burnt End, 1860, Cafe Tiffs, Butcher's Block, and more—Red Bud offers quality eats for visitors (43:23; 56:11).
  • Local parks, golf courses, car clubs, manufacturing plants, and community pools create a vibrant small-town atmosphere (57:03–68:48).

Anticipating Growth & Challenges

• Discussed the constraints of building more infrastructure (like hotels) for a just-few-weeks-a-year spike in visitors (52:57).
• Efforts to attract year-round businesses, especially in shooting sports, by developing new industrial lots (68:48).

Safety, Gun Laws, and First Impressions

• Differentiating southern Illinois’ gun-friendly, welcoming culture from the state’s more restrictive reputation (53:42).
• “The way that they treat us down here is very fair, very friendly.” – Zach Nannini (53:56)

Youth & Sport Expansion

• Growing youth involvement; some local schools have club shooting teams, more are popping up (58:48).
• Encouragement to young people to take leadership roles in clubs and community activities (66:08).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is like Disney World for trap shooters.” – Zach Nannini on the Sparta, IL facility (55:32)
• “If you beat a great person, that's gonna be in their memory forever.” —Zach Nannini (27:43)
• “Once you know what bank they're on, watch the numbers—it's easy to find somebody, easy to watch. We bring lawn chairs and we've made a spectator sport out of it.” – Susan Harbaugh on coming out to the Grand (57:36)
• “How did you get people to volunteer? I said, we asked. People just step up. If we need help, they'll step up.” – Susan Harbaugh (61:11)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Clay Target Legends Origin & Importance: 01:46–03:55
• Interdisciplinary Growth & Technique Sharing: 07:31–08:21
• Promotion Through Modern Media: 14:45–15:20
• Museum Updates & Artifact Donations: 15:44–16:09; 38:23–39:03
• Mentorship, Learning & Humility Lessons: 24:05–25:47
• Economic Impact of Grand American: 47:39
• Local Hospitality and Recommendations: 42:16–43:23; 56:11
• Community Volunteerism: 61:11; 64:29

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Conclusion & Takeaways

• Sports: The preservation of clay target sports history is critical—both for honoring the legends and inspiring new shooters. The Clay Target Legends project is leading this cultural documentation, using new media to reach fresh audiences.
• Community: The Grand American is a linchpin for southern Illinois’ economy and culture. Red Bud, Sparta, and other towns roll out the red carpet for shooters, and the deep sense of community is rooted in collaborative spirit and a pride in hosting this storied event.
• Personal Growth: Shooters and citizens alike are encouraged to learn from the past, support each other, embrace opportunities across disciplines, and contribute—no matter how small—to the health and vitality of the sport and their towns.

Where to Learn More:

• Find all episodes of Clay Target Legends on YouTube by searching “Clay Target Legends”
• Plan your next visit to Red Bud using their new visitor guide
• For young and experienced shooters: Keep learning, keep volunteering, and always take pride in your community and your sport

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Quotes, segments, and highlights are provided in the original voices and tones of hosts and guests for an authentic recap.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, Trap Talk Nation, Zack Nagy here. Thanks again for tuning in this fabulous Friday. We've got something special lined up for you today. First of all, we're kicking it off with Phil Murray and Steve Ellinger from Clay Target Legends. These guys are capturing stories from our past and doing it across all shotgun sports, not just trap shooting. So this would be a special episode alone, but we're going to give you a double barrel or a twofer as I like to call it. Got to love a twofer. So after you're done, stick around. And we're going to sit down with the mayor of Red Bud, Illinois, Susan Harbaugh. She was a wonderful lady. We had a lot of fun and she took time out of her busy schedule to talk with us about just how important the Grand America is to Red Bud, Sparta and all the surrounding communities. So you guys let us know what you think, likes, comments, shares. We appreciate your support, Trap Talk, and we'll see you next Friday. Welcome to season three of Trap Talk.

[B]

Brought to you by Craig off the Choice of Champions.

[A]

Welcome back to another episode of Trap Talk. I'm your host, Zach Nannini. We are live at the Building 106 at the 2025 Grand American. And it is wrapping up. We just got done with the preliminary handicap, the doubles championship. And I'm here with co host Richard Marshall Jr. What's up, Ricky?

[B]

How's it going?

[A]

How you feeling?

[B]

Good. I mean, good day today. Had 99 the doubles, 98 the handicap missed late, but there's a couple hundreds in right now, so scores are big. Great weather. So I think there's 1600s in the doubles, so I think it'll be a good shoot off night.

[A]

Yeah, we got some shoot off dates, so we're watching shoot offs, but in between, why not do some podcasts?

[B]

That's right.

[A]

So would you mind introducing our friends?

[B]

So we have the Clay Target Legends. Two of the three.

[C]

Two of the three.

[B]

Two of the three. So we have Steve Ellinger and we have Phil Murray. Now, I've known Phil for a long time because Phil was the national sales manager for White Flyer back in the day. So it's great to have you guys on. We're going to talk a little bit about what the Clay Target Legends are.

[A]

Okay. I guess the best and first question is, what is Clay Target Legends and why did you guys get it started?

[C]

Well, let me jump in there first. Yeah. I've always been a bit of a history buff and I've been a sporting clay shooter for going on 40 something years now. And it just dawned on me one day that nobody is actually out there promoting the history of this sport. And so Phil and I decided we're going to start the Clay Target Legends program. Phil, like you said, had been retired. And so I called him one day and said, no, you're not.

[D]

Not anymore.

[C]

I've got you busy again. And so we have started working with the museum here, with the ATA and the NSCA Museum in San Antonio to update it and to bring it up to speed and make it progressive and really make the history of this sport active.

[A]

Yeah, perfect.

[B]

Which is what you want to do. You. You want the history. Because I'm a history guy myself. I own a lot of photos of an old programs, and you can ask my wife. I have every program from every shoot I've attended since 1988 and trapping fields and, you know, the traps, USA magazines and such. But it is so cool that there is people out there that don't know who some of our legends are.

[C]

Yeah. And what we bring to this, and we mentioned our third two of the three. Our third is a gentleman named Matt Smith that has a broadcast background.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

And then I have this historical knowledge that's pretty complete. And of course, Phil, as you just mentioned, goes way back. There's not anybody in this sport that doesn't know Phil. And that's been a real advantage.

[D]

Yeah, that's when we shoot. Used to shoot bow and arrows at them.

[B]

Slingshot. No, but you know, black powder.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, it is because, you know, I shoot all the disciplines and, and it is interesting that when I'm shooting, you know, years ago, I went to the first world Skeet shirt I ever attended. It was my first one. It was Phil's 51st World skeet shoot. And I was like, damn, he's been shooting a long time.

[D]

So I ended up going to 60 consecutive. 60, 60 consecutive. I've got. I've got. That's the only record I've got.

[B]

Phil has broken a lot of good score. Don't let him, don't let him talk that.

[C]

And let me tell you something, he has so many trophies and momentos and artifacts that his wife threatens him. Don't bring anything else home.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So he puts it at my house.

[A]

Just donate, donate to.

[B]

Donate to somebody else. So.

[A]

So I want to be very clear. Do you guys just cover sporting clays, ski trap? Like, what's the, what's the focal point?

[D]

Everything. It would.

[A]

I was asking, you know, I wanted to get the guest to answer the.

[D]

Question, you know, with the Particularly skeet, trap and sport in all three disciplines. And even Internet, the international, the Olympic Games, we're trying to bring that into the. Kim Rody and Vince Hancock into the. The San Antonio thing. Matt Drake, we hope to do that. This year we couldn't do it, but next year we're probably going to put him in the hall of Fame. And then I was talking with the. The trustees on the ATA about going back to, like, Carlisle Haldeman and some of the other ones that won trap medals. They should be represented in the. The ATA museum also.

[B]

Yeah. Because I know they put Tom Gergis in a few years ago, which he was actually one of my coaches when I shot at the train center in the 80s, the late 80s and early 90s.

[D]

Great job.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah. He actually had the. And I, I told. I don't know if I told that story on the podcast. I have the. At the end of the. One of the camps, we went to it because Randy Moeller was in charge of those back in the day, and they put a deal like, oh, you know, you did good. Or. And my deal from Tom Carriers was he might be an okay shot. And that's what it's written there. And I still have that. And I look, and it's funny, I told his wife that when she came to the hall of Fame, and she's like, you're in the hall of Fame. I said, well, I guess I'm on okay shot, you know, but it was funny. And that was. That's the cool thing, because there is. There is no deal for the International.

[C]

Right.

[B]

You know, what really got it all.

[D]

Started was that in the skeet and the sporting Clays over in San Antonio, they'd kind of let it drag for a lot of years, and there wasn't a lot of updating and things like that and, you know, loving history and all that. And I, I grew up amongst all these guys, and there was a lot of them were my mentors and stuff like that. So it was a great opportunity to be able to, you know, get back in touch with a lot of these people, too. And. And, you know, of course, what we found out was we'd ask, you know, call a guy like Kenny Barnes, the guy who broke the first 400 out of 400 and skeet.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And all that. Kenny's response was, I thought you forgot about me as a Hall of Fame guy. And that's what we found.

[C]

We have had so many of the legendary shooters, whether it's traps, you know, skeeter, whatever. Come to us and say, we didn't think anybody was even interested in this until you guys called and said, hey, we've got people that want to know. But the other. But the other thing is, is that we want to promote, like, trap shooting. Yeah, okay. Trap shooting is such a great activity for families. We've seen a lot of kids here, and the ATA is the best organization, bar none, to help do that. So we want to help promote ata, and that's why we're here.

[D]

And what we're trying to do, too, is we're trying to get the association, the different organizations to work together. Yes, we're all shotgun shooters. We're target shooters. And what we were, we've been able to accomplish. We have a NSSA and NSCA exhibit in a museum over here, and down in San Antonio, we have an ATA museum.

[A]

And that's fantastic, because I really think that, you know, and I've heard this because I've talked to skeet shooters, sporting clay shooters, trap shooters, and it's just like, especially when I was in college at lennonwood, it'd be like, oh, those are the sporting guys.

[C]

They're.

[A]

No, you know, these are the skeet guys, those are the trap guys. And everybody's in their own little clicks, and everybody thinks that they're the best shotgun pointers of all time. And they're little. And they're little hodgepodge. And the sporting guys say the trap guys can't shoot. The trap guys say you can't shoot. I mean, it's just everyone's a good shot. Everyone has their own abilities. And what I learned, the best lesson of my life, shooting wise, was shooting with those sporting guys and skeet guys and actually learning the techniques that they were using and then bringing that and building it into my game and just being like, okay, now I can be a little bit more, well, diverse, like Ricky. I mean, most people in the world can't shoot a shotgun at everything the way he can shoot. And that's not natural. You have to learn how to. Okay, this is a technique for skeet. This is a technique for sporting. But for you guys, is it video? Is it audio? How do you present the information once you gather it? And where can people watch it?

[C]

So what we're doing, it's a YouTube program. If you just go to YouTube channel and put in Clay Target Legends, every episode that we have done thus far will come up now. We've done 22 episodes since we've been here this week. Wow, that will.

[A]

That's a lot.

[C]

You know, A lot edited and put together over the next nine months or whatever. So we've got a lot of it coming out there.

[A]

How, how soon do you release them? Once a week, once a month? I mean, is there a job once or how do you.

[C]

Right now we're averaging about one a week.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And they average anywhere from five to 15 minutes. It just depends on what we're talking about.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

And it's, it's everything from, like I said, the shooters to the guns to the artifacts to the targets. Anything about this sport, any clay target sport we're featuring, if it's historical or.

[A]

Legendary, that makes sense. So. So are you primarily focusing on people that have already pretty much been in the hall of Fame and more, or do you have, are you interviewing any up and coming shooters or things like that? Like what's the focal point?

[C]

Well, we've, we've interviewed a few younger shooters that maybe are not in the hall of Fame, but certainly headed that direction.

[D]

A lot of the potential, the young kids out there, the AIM or the SCTP and things like that, there's a lot of great kids out there, as you all know. And the thing is that we're trying to get more and more of them to talk to them and when we get them is to try to get them to begin to appreciate about the sport that all of us in our podcasts and things like that, we're not always going to be here and it's going to be their ball game somewhere down the line. So if they love the sport, this will give them an opportunity to participate and get involved and they can care. Carry the banner after we're gone.

[B]

Yeah. And that's what we want.

[C]

But you know what kind of bothers me is that if you ask a lot of the shooters here, the younger shooters, who Leo Harrison is, they may not know. Or if you go to San Antonio, who was Alex Kerr they may not know. Or who was John Krueger in Sporting Clays. And by the way, he's been here.

[B]

John has been here. I haven't, didn't get a chance to go see him and I don't know if he left. Did he leave?

[C]

But these folks need to know that. They need to know where there's these clay target sports have come from and where it is now.

[B]

Yeah, because most of those got like le. I mean, Leo was our greatest trap shooter of all time, in my, my opinion. I mean, he won the most rings out of anybody so far. But he could also shoot the other games.

[D]

Right. He was a great Skeet shooter.

[B]

Absolutely. I think he broke a hundred in every gauge but the 410. I don't know if he did in the 410.

[A]

All right, trap dock listeners, we got to take a real quick break, and I've got something that I'm so excited to announce. Trap Shooting USA has now become the official magazine of the Trap talk podcast.

[B]

No, it's not only Trap Shooting usa, now it's Wing and Clay Life, Lady Outdoor Lifestyles and Clay Shooting usa.

[A]

I'm just really excited because they make such a high quality magazine. I mean, if you guys haven't had these magazines and you actually get to touch them in your hands, they've got really thick paper, they're really glossy, and they keep it really cool. I mean, I just love it.

[B]

The traveling gunsmith. And then in this newest episode, we have. Oh, man, look at. Look at those.

[A]

Look at those handsome guys.

[C]

I love this.

[A]

I love it. I love it.

[D]

Yeah, that was. That was my story that the first time I met him was out of Tucson at the. The Old Pueblo.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And he was out there. He broke 394 out of 401 high over. I said, this guy can shoot trap and he can shoot ski.

[A]

He could shoot a shotgun. It didn't matter if it was a daisy bird or whatever.

[D]

He could shoot.

[B]

Absolutely.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

And we have his DT11 or DT10. DT10 over there in the. In the museum right now that we had out yesterday.

[B]

Yeah, it's. You know, you talk like Wayne Mace. You know, I'd met Wayne years ago and he had actually broke 100 from the 27. Yeah. In track, I think it was.

[C]

Do you remember what the nickname for his shotgun was? Blondie. Do you remember that?

[B]

I. I do remember.

[D]

1400.

[C]

Yeah. Shot a Winchester 14 and still probably the best skeet shooter in history.

[A]

He shot.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

The heck out of that.

[B]

Yeah. Because I know Bender very well. Because being. I could tell you some stories about Bender and that'll be.

[C]

Well, this is a family program.

[B]

That's what that's been.

[D]

One of the great things of this is, fortunately, with the success that I had in shooting, I got to know all these guys.

[B]

Absolutely.

[D]

Like the Benders, the Maze, the on the sporting Clays guys, the Krugers, the Pals, and stuff like that. So we understand one another. We talk. And I can go to them and say, hey, guys, you know, I need you to say some things about, you know, about good. About the sport. They'll come and do it. And when, you know, like, Bender went To Bender. Hey, we need your help for the hall of Fame museum. We need stuff. He went out and got stuff. We got Wayne stuff. Wayne Maze's stuff. Yeah. And now we're on doing a sporting clay stuff in San Antonio.

[A]

What I think is really cool, and this is my belief and this is my bet on the direction of where the sports going. There's so many people now that are doing things like you guys are doing. We've got this podcast you guys are documenting. There's some other people doing many videos now and kind of getting more involved in promoting. And what I'm seeing is people are getting excited and they're coming. And, you know, right now we're not seeing like a huge surge yet, but I think we're priming the pan for getting people excited to come back out to shoot and to get more people involved. And what I think is a total miss because I haven't seen a lot of marketing done as far as in this sport to be able to promote it and say, hey, we're going to grow it. How many people shoot shotguns for hunting or for recreational and have never shot Trapper, have never heard of the ata And. And there's not anything that I'm aware of that's out there that's physically being marketed or pushed.

[D]

Never. Never has been, unfortunately. But look at all the hunting licenses.

[B]

Exactly. That's your prime in Illinois, Missouri, where I'm from, Nebraska. And you know, the U shooting is the future. They do come in, they do go away. Excuse me, college. Such. But they come back. And the one thing with what you guys are doing, you know, with the artifacts and all that and trying so people see who the legends were. You know, there's people that you can look through the. The program and see people like Joe Heiston. That. That one. I don't know how many grand American championships, you know, and people like. Who's that? Same thing. Like you mentioned Leo. You know, we got 27 on the. On the wall. You know, I knew him, but there's people that are like, who you talking? You know, And I'll make a comment about Big L. They're like, who's Big L?

[D]

That's right.

[B]

Yeah, that's what I called him. I'm like. Because he's a big guy and his name was Leo. So Big L. But I think we've.

[C]

Got to get the message out there to more people. Just coincidentally, we had dinner last night with Brian Skus.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

You know, who used to own White Flyer. And we were talking about this very topic. And we talked about magazine ads and newspapers and radio, said that's not where it is anymore. It's podcasts, it's YouTube, social media. That's where you're going to get the people that are going to bring up after our year.

[A]

Yeah, they want to digest it and they're on the phone. They want to be able to just hit it really quick, watch it in between, digest it. I mean, they're not waiting on a month for the magazine to show up that they can't. You know, it's just. It's too far out. They want to be able to get it now, digest it, move on.

[C]

That's right.

[D]

And instant gratification is the big thing in that, you know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No, you. That's exactly right. Now, have you been to the hall of Fame in San Antonio? I have.

[A]

I've been.

[B]

I've been in that. Because being a college coach and going to. I think I've been to 12 National Sporting Clays Championships. 12 in a row. It was. And then with those, I'd go in every year and it would be the same old stuff.

[C]

We're fixing that.

[B]

Yeah. And I was like. Someone even said, well, God, I was in here last year. They didn't change anything.

[C]

Well, I believe this will be my 25th year to go to the nationals. And you're right. Until last year where we brought in George Bush's shotgun and that sort of thing, it's been the same thing. And so we're fixing that. We're adding new displays, we're adding new exhibits. This year we're pleased to announce that we're going to be have Annie Oakley's personal shotgun on exhibits.

[A]

That's awesome.

[C]

Which will be really cool.

[B]

Yeah, that'll be at Sporting Clays Nationals.

[C]

And the World's King.

[A]

Yeah, that's fantastic. I just think, like you said, there's such a lack of documentation of the greats, and then there's no education on teaching who they were. And not that, you know, the new up and coming shooters aren't the new hottest thing ever. And I'm so happy that they're doing what they're doing. But I think there has to be some nostalgia for the people that laid the foundation, the groundwork, that said, hey, this is what we were doing. And then when people talk about, well, you know, okay, you know, example and trapped. One of the biggest things I could think biggest accomplishments is a 400 out of 400 in the all around. Ricky's got it, Dagan's got It. But then if you look back, Phil Kanner's got it. If you look back, Dan Ulrich, he did it in the 60s.

[B]

I mean, he did 1969.

[A]

1969. And so you look at that and you're like, how much better was this guy to do it in 1969? On hand pools, handsets with older shelves. The technology wasn't there, the fitting wasn't there.

[C]

That.

[A]

I mean, all the things that we have now.

[B]

And he plays for the Green Bay packers, right?

[D]

That's right.

[A]

You know, but nobody's even ever heard of him. They don't know anything about them.

[B]

And when we talk about the four by four, because it gets brought up here occasionally, you know, it'll be, you know, Dan did it in 69, and then Phil Kiner did it twice in the 96. No, 94 and 2003, or 93 and 2004. Then I did it in 13, and then Dagan did it at the COVID grand in Missouri. 2020.

[C]

But let's go way back. Even the very first gold medal won by the US in the Olympics was in 1912 by a gentleman named J.R. graham. And he went all the way to Stockholm, Sweden, on a steamer, a train and all that, and won the thing with 96 out of a hundred. Now, that tells you how times have changed. But we have his gun. We have the actual gun over there that you can look at and say, now his gold medal was actually taken to school by his daughter for show and tell and got lost. Believe it or not, but we have the gun. True story, but we have the gun.

[A]

Them gold medals always get lost around. I don't know where it's at. Now it's going, I've lost all mine.

[D]

And that's the thing that's so amazing is while we're trying to get the Kim Rhodeys and the rest of them involved, because the young kids, they know about the Olympics and absolutely see it on tv. And you know what, you know, what the Olympic shooters have done for the clay target sports is incredible. We could never pay for that advertising and stuff on there. And that's why, you know, we really need to continue. And it's good to see that a lot of them are shooting international, but they. But they got their start Ski Trapper, sporting clays.

[A]

Now, another question for you all. Do you have any sponsors that are helping you in your journey, and would you like to recognize them today or what's the situation there?

[D]

Well, we have a lot of people that have helped us along the way, but it's not been anything where there's. We've done this on our. Basically on our own. Okay. We felt that. That it was needed and that we'd see how it goes. And then if, you know, down the line we have a list, we put a list of people. But these are all people that have helped us in one way or the other in our careers or whatever.

[B]

Yeah, they.

[D]

They need to be thanked.

[A]

All right, trap talk listeners, we got to take a quick break and we got to welcome a new sponsor to the show. RGS bore stripper. It's a great product. Ricky, tell them how they can find it.

[B]

Go to their website, rgsguncleaner.com you can get the 18 ounce bottle, free shipping. 28 ounce bottle. And you get the 2 ounce travel bottle and it's free shipping also. Or just get the little two ounce bottle for travel.

[A]

Yeah, they sent me some of this product and I used it on my krakoff choke tubes the other day. And it got the plastic out like in a minute. And it was super cool and super good. So if you like cleaning your gun, you, like eliminating plastic and you like shiny bores, give them a try for sure. Thank you so much for supporting the show.

[B]

Yeah, we'd really like to thank John weber, the owner, for the support. He's doing an awesome job.

[A]

Yeah, we really want to thank john. We appreciate the support of the show. Anybody that supports trap talk, you guys need to support them and get this stuff because it's awesome.

[B]

And with that, let's get back to the show.

[A]

Hey, trap talk listeners, we got to take a real quick break and we got to thank Ron prescott from mid state precious metals for everything they do for the trap shooting community coast to coast for all your gold and silver buying needs. And on top of that new announcement, they're a sponsor of the 126 grand American.

[B]

Finally, you said it right, folks. Grand american. Yeah. Ron is a great guy. He's a sponsor of the back fence shootout at Nevada state shoot and ohio state shoot. And also we got our gold for our trap talk event at nevada state shoot and the 77th annual Nevada State shoot. They bought all theirs from it. 680 ounces of silver to be exact. Folks, you're missing out. If you're not there.

[A]

That's a lot of silver. And honestly, if you're not buying from ron, you're probably overpaying. So whether you're buying it for your gun clubs or your shoots or for your personal use, you got to give them a try. Because they're big supporters of the trap shooting nation, so it's awesome. With that being said, let's get back to the show. Very similar to us. I mean, you kind of bootstrap figured it out and started doing it just as we're just going to do this and then. And then go from there. I mean, and that's the cool thing is you got to start and then you got to make good content and then people have to actually watch it and listen to it, and then from there you can, you can go. But I, I've seen a few of the videos that you guys have put out, and they're. They're very well done. So, I mean, I will say that you guys are doing a good job.

[B]

And you had Scotty Robertson on. On the one. I didn't really want to watch that one. I know Scotty, Long, long time.

[C]

But let me tell you, Scott is doing a great job with Murray. Straight Murray.

[B]

Murray State. Yep.

[C]

And just he's. He's probably one of the best coaches there is right now. He's doing a great job.

[D]

But now we're gonna have to put him back on with the world Box bird, so.

[B]

Yeah, we heard about that.

[D]

You'll hear about it.

[A]

Hear about everything. Yeah, exactly. That's. That's okay. I mean, it's, it's, it's. It's good to learn about other things because for me, I am a novice when it comes to learning about the skeet shooters. I mean, I know about some of the greats, obviously, you know, who, who hasn't heard of Wayne Mace? But, but there's a lot of others that I haven't heard about. And I don't know about that. I'm like, oh, I like learning that information. And it's entertaining for me, for sure.

[C]

Well, one of it we mentioned while ago was Ken Barnes. And he was considered the father of the four before.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

Because he shot the very first 400 straight with a 4, 410 pump, which is amazing to me. But Ken is 80 something years.

[D]

83 years.

[C]

83 years old. And he calls me routinely now just to touch base, just to see how things are going with this program.

[B]

Seeing that. And that's cool. And you go back, who was your first? Was it 650? That was Buddy Boss.

[D]

Buddy Boss. Then I was the second one.

[B]

Yeah. Because I know Buddy because Buddy's a trap shooter now. Oh, yeah, yeah. He's here at the Grand.

[D]

I wish I could see him because I'd like to talk to him.

[B]

Yeah, Buddy's here and he's with one of my students and good friends, Bruce Burt. Yeah, so they run around together and stuff. And I saw Bruce. I didn't see Buddy. I saw Bruce last night. But yeah, I actually sat down and talked to Buddy one day and he took a class for me and then his son, which they call him Bud Light. Yeah. But it was funny. Is, you know, we got to talk a little bit about skeet. And he's like, you shoot ski? And I go, actually, and I don't shoot a lot of trap practice now. I shoot a lot of sporting clothes and I'll go shoot skeet with my buddy, Rob Predmore. Or years ago, I used to shoot with Billy Butenbaugh, and Billy won the world 410 one year. So Billy was the top skeet shooter in. In the state of Nebraska at the time, and I was one of the top trap shooters. And his dad, my dad worked together at Goodyear Tyon rubber factory. So it was always fun to go watch Billy shoot. And just the practice, you know.

[D]

And what we've tried to do too, is, is when we interview people, a lot of the great shooters and things like that, and even the up and coming ones, we make a point. It, you know, how can we help? What tips can they put out there to help some of the people? And, you know, how did they start? You know, so. And how do, you know, do you get nervous? You know, when you missed, you get mad, you know. And one of them, I told one of them, I said, you got to learn how to learn how to miss before you can win.

[B]

That is true.

[D]

And when he said, yeah, he says it, you know, that's hard to do. But I said, that's how you become a champion. You got better learn how to miss.

[B]

Absolutely. And you've been doing this longer than I think all of us put together.

[A]

I'm just kidding, Phil.

[D]

But.

[B]

But seriously, you understand? And I used to say, Leo and Frank used to always tell me, you're not good enough to be mad. I was like, what was that about? And that's 100. And they would say, listen, you're not until you can average a hundred, I'll let you be mad. Well, no one's ever averaged 100. Now in skeet, there has been a few. I think at the 12 gauge averaged.

[A]

100 for the year.

[B]

But that's on what, thousand targets?

[D]

1500.

[B]

Yeah. Where trap. We're shooting five, six. Some kids are shooting 10,000. You know, that'd be hard, I mean, to do that.

[A]

But I would say if there is young people listening to the show, and I'm just gonna speak in the trap world, I think the biggest opportunity for some of the young great shots is I've seen them get so angry when they shoot a 95 and 96 and 97 in the handicap. And they're like, well, I could have had a 98. I could add a 99. I could have had 100.

[B]

And.

[A]

Yeah, you could. But the reality is, you know, you're up and coming, you're learning, you're figuring it out, right? And you have to be able to have some. Some poise and some pride and some humbleness because you haven't put the time in yet. You know, yes, you can shoot, yes, you can win, yes, you can do all these things, but you also have to say, okay, I got what I got today. It is what it is, and move forward and then get better and try to push to the next score and next time, shoot the 97. Every score I've ever shot, I mean, good or bad, I'm like, you know what? That's my score.

[C]

Yeah, you can't do.

[A]

That's my score. That's what it is. You can't be mad about it.

[C]

And if you notice, though, the younger the shooter, the bigger the miss, the harder they throw the shell down, get out of the gun.

[A]

I see the chips in the concrete sometimes.

[B]

Actually, you see that a lot in the. In the international stuff. I see because they're used to slapping.

[A]

The shells and stuff.

[B]

Then I. Because I was a college coach for 10 years, and I had a few bunker shooters that shot for me, and every once in a while, they. And I'm like. And in the sporting, you see it a lot.

[C]

You see it a lot.

[B]

And I'm like. And trust me, I've done my fair share of it, you know, But I always say, listen, when you do that, it causes this to think about stuff you don't need to think about.

[D]

Well, it only does that, but it also, you know, fortunately, now, in the. In the shooting sports the way they are, it wasn't this way. Always is. A lot of the industry, companies are supporting the shooters.

[C]

Absolutely.

[D]

Through teams and all that. Well, you're a role model out there.

[B]

Absolutely.

[D]

You know, if you throw a temper tantrum, you're not helping Winchester or Fiocchi or anything.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

And if I'm in charge of the budget, you're gone.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Thank goodness I was on White Flyer when Phil was there, and I didn't do that.

[D]

That's what I told Josh all the time.

[B]

Josh Taylor, you're gone.

[A]

Dave Kelly did say that you had the first forward ejecting Craig off, but.

[B]

That'S because I went to catch the shell and it hit my hand and it went forward and he goes. I said, you want to see it forward? I'll wait till you shoot next to the top. It'll forward on your head now.

[C]

By the way, the thing that Phil and I have found, though, we don't always shoot as good as we used to.

[B]

Oh, absolutely.

[C]

In fact, my saying is, the older I get, the better I used to be. Okay. And there's a lot of truth to that. In fact, nowadays you've got to be really good like we are to still get as close as we do and still not hit it. You know, that takes skill that we have perfected over the years. Right?

[A]

Dusting them and not breaking them consistently.

[D]

That was the best call I got. About three weeks ago, a kid about 13 years old came up to me and said, Mr. Murray, how are you? I said, fine. Who are you? And he said his name. He says, my dad shot against you and he whipped your ass in a shoot off.

[B]

That's good.

[A]

You know what, you're gonna, you're gonna get some licks every once in a while. And it's.

[C]

It's all in fun, guys.

[A]

It is. And I think it also shows to how good you are when people can say, wow, I actually beat that person. Because, I mean, if you beat a great person, that's gonna be in their memory forever. Well, the other side of it is. I mean, I don't think. I mean, you probably don't remember every person that's ever beat.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I. I know a lot of them and they'll come up and say, hey, you know, you might have got me today, but back at blah, blah, blah, And I'm like, absolutely. I don't. That's part of the game.

[A]

It's just the game. It's just part of it. And.

[B]

And because trust me, I was that kid shooting against Leo or Frank Hoppy or, you know, Brit Robinson, and able to be on the squad and behind the squad and the shoulders get a little wider and the head gets a little bigger because you're like, wow, I'm shooting these legends. And I just was high on the squad. That's why we always had a saying. And you know this, when we're all shooting together, if you're usually high on the squad, you probably won the event.

[A]

Well, yeah, we. And and this with the quality shooters that we're shooting with nowadays, that's.

[B]

But we're all doing it. We're enjoying it, but we want to win. And if I don't win, I want him to enter my squad.

[D]

You know, the way it is. My mentor, D. LeBron. When I first started the great trap and skeet shooter, D. LeBron from Remington, you know, the first time I made all American in skeet in 67 and all that, I was excited, and I went to him and all that, and he put his arm around me and he always say, son, he says, that's great. I'm proud of you and all that, but now take that down to McDonald's and see how much your hamburger's gonna.

[A]

Be the same thing that 50 cents can't get you a cup of coffee.

[C]

But D. Lee is in the skeet and the trapshoot in hall of fame, so he was a legend, by all means.

[A]

Yeah. There's not a lot of people that have made multiple all American teams. And, like, that's very rare to have somebody say, okay, I'm gonna make the trap All American team. I'm make the skeet all American team. I'm making sporting clays all American team. And that's. That's something. You know, I bet you'd be one to try that one day, maybe.

[D]

Go.

[B]

All right, folks, we need to take a quick second and get to a new show sponsor, Big Red Motorsports. Big Red, they're personal friends of mine, Jason and George Lee, and they're also a personal sponsor of mine.

[A]

Now, I'll say this, Ricky looked great driving around in that side by side. I got some free rides down at Tucson, the Autumn Grand. I think it's awesome that they deliver all across the country. And obviously, they love trap shooters. They love trap shooting, and they're doing a great job.

[B]

Listen, they got can Am, Kawasaki CFMoto, Triton trailers. Hit him up. We'll take care of you guys. With that being said, let's get to the show. Well, actually, when I was shooting a little bit of skeet, I did break a hundred in the world. Twenty gauge. Back in sixteen or something.

[C]

A little more.

[B]

Yeah. And then, you know, I got the shoot off, and I was actually Kevin Monoleon, Dr. Kevin was following me, and he's like. Like, you're doing good, you know, and he kind of helped me something out there. Like. And then when I. So that year was the first time I'd ever shot a 410 at a clay target. I had 100 with a 410. But I'm like. And I shot with Hampton and me and Devin Harris and then a friend, Hampton Senior. Hampton Senior.

[C]

Got it.

[B]

Yeah. Not Junior. Junior don't shoot much. He just runs this up. But.

[C]

And a fine job he does.

[B]

But I remember talking to one of the top skeeters. I can't remember who it was. And they were like, you never shot it. And he goes. Goes the center of your pattern. Still the center of your pattern, Rick. Just like a 12 gauge. I said, oh, okay. Walked right out and 25. And I was like, oh, this ain't hard. 23. I was like, okay, well, maybe come back to reality.

[A]

Give it a little bit of work, take some time off of this. And then no skeet talk.

[B]

You heard it here, Zach. Just trying to get rid of me in the travel. But seriously, it is. It is kind of a fun deal to. To look at. Like, hey, could you make this? But I did win a couple Nebraska state skeet titles, and I have not master class, but I did win two double A Class 5 stand national championships back when I. My first two, I guess it was nationals I showed up for. I hadn't made master, but I came in and I'd already had the class declared. And everybody's like, well, you got to shoot master. I said, okay, well, put me in. Well, no, you have to earn it. So I shot there that year, and I won that. Won a couple of things. Well, then I didn't fire at a registered sporting Glaze target till nationals the next year. Came back and Hampton Jr says, you know, you only need one punch till you're in master. And I go, guess I'll be getting it today. And he said, what are you talking about? I said, why shoot the five stand today? And I promptly walked out. Broke like 95 or 96 of the five stand. He's like, what? I was like, I just love to shoot.

[A]

He's oblivious. You know, I don't.

[B]

I don't. I want to shoot targets. That's why I hope more people. People listen to this, go out and shoot the other discipline. Well, even though maybe you don't like this year, I don't want to go register. Well, go try it.

[C]

Because I was talking to a trap shooter last night that said, hey, we drove the cart around the sporting places here in Illinois. And it said my finger was just twitching to get out on that sporting place.

[A]

Oh.

[C]

I said, go shoot.

[A]

I love that.

[D]

And that's an amazing fact. In all the. In all the top sporting clays, guys, we've interviewed and all that. One of the questions was what's been the biggest factor that helped you learn how to break squid and you of the angles and was they started at skeet?

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

That's an incredible.

[B]

Oh, absolutely. You know, I used to go before I'd go shoot other shoots, I'd go out on the ski field and shoot skeet doubles and try to break each target before they got to the set to the trap house. And people were like, Billy B. Ball one time said, what are you doing? I said, I'm just working on some stuff, training. And that's. Yeah. And that's back when I was shooting fixed choke trap doubles gun that was like 25 and 35. And he's like, that's a little too tight. And then you know, you'd break a couple pairs and it was just one little black dot and one little black dot.

[D]

How many, how many courses do we go to that shoot sporting clays where we get straightaway or angle targets like a trap.

[B]

Trap target also.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[D]

You know, you got three disciplines to really work at to make you a better shooter.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

An overall better shotgun pointer. At the end of the day, that's what we're all looking to do. And if you get better at any one of the games, it's going to make you better at all the Games.

[C]

That's, that's, you know, I go back and look at some of the legendary shooters and skeet and trap in the museum here in Illinois or in San Antonio. Some of the five man squads and teams and things like this. And I thought, you know, those guys were really, really good at what they did. I would love to see them on a sporting clays course today. And you know what? I bet the better ones could still go out there and clean everybody else's clothes.

[B]

Oh, it's amazing. I mean. And you talk because you guys in skeet. Well, I said Phil, you and skeet, you know, you have the five man suffer, the two man races and all that, which is a. Is a cool deal. Trap. The only time we have anything like that is here at the Grand. We do the national team race which they take a hundred of the. I think it's. Was it Fridays? I think it's Friday. Singles handicap and doubles. And then they do the state team race where it's just the clay target championship. And so actually Nebraska, for the third year in a row we've won the national team race. The sub juniors won the national team race and our juniors from brass won it. Well then now fast Forward. They had the clay target yesterday. Our delegate picks. Every delegate picks five people and that's who the team is.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Well, I was the only one that missed. We had 999. Oh, wow.

[A]

That's pretty good.

[B]

I was like, well, you're pretty salty. I said. I told the. Our delegate, John Marsh. I said, you could have picked Barrett Debris. He broke his first 200. Then you guys were. They would add a thousand. I picked Barrett. He wouldn't have.

[A]

For sure.

[B]

I would have picked you, Barrett, man.

[A]

Congratulations.

[B]

First 200. And won the sub junior clay target championship.

[A]

On top of that, his brother wyatt broke the 200 in the clay target. That was his first one. And they both won their category championship. So both brothers. One won the junior and one won the.

[B]

Wyatt did not win the Junior. I think.

[A]

I thought so.

[B]

You need a fact check. I'll hold on. Wyatt Debris, did you win the juniors?

[A]

Oh, hey, you know, the runner up, folks.

[B]

See, Zach is finally wrong.

[A]

I was wrong. And you, I'll give it to you. I just believed in him. He hit him so hard. I'm like, it's gotta be the.

[B]

There was a lot. And Wyatt shot. So everybody out there, you know, there's two five by fives broke this week, and it's by the same squad. Zach, Herbie Lewis, Rich Bullard, Joey Charnigo, and Wyatt Debris. And that's the first time that I know of that it's happened the same squad twice. At the Grand America.

[D]

Bullard still shoot.

[B]

Oh, yeah. See where he said he seen you out there with a walker.

[A]

He's getting punches thrown from other divisions of sports now. Ski shooters are coming on.

[B]

This is incredible.

[D]

And he deserves it.

[C]

Look at the good news. If we're alive long enough, someday we'll be doing articles and videos on those guys because they're legends.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So we just have to.

[A]

Well, we really appreciate you coming in and sharing your story today. Is there anything else that you want to leave and party before we get out of here?

[C]

The only thing I want to say is we've been here at the. At the Grand American all week or 13 days, whatever it's been. And I will tell you that I think Lynn Gibson and the ATA does an amazing job putting on these events. And if people don't think that takes a lot of work, let them step in their shoes sometime and try it.

[A]

Yeah, it is a lot of work to put this shoot on, I'm sure. And I mean, you see that, the volume of it, the amount of targets that they throw. I mean, it's, it's not a simple task. Sure. And I think always looking to improve and be better is a constant goal for everyone, you know, but. Yeah, but it's, it's definitely, it's definitely a lot that's going on out there and it's. It's a big deal. I mean, there's nothing bigger than this.

[B]

No. I mean, this is the largest shoot over the. What are we shooting? 11 days?

[D]

11, 12 days.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that with the aim in there, I mean, the amount of targets are thrown, this is by far the largest shoot out of any shoot.

[A]

Shout out to White Flyer.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Well, I'm excited about the future. I think that things are really looking good and you know, with efforts on you guys part and what we're doing and some of the other ones you're doing, I think it's. I think it's important and I think we're on the right track and we just continue to go ahead. Nothing. You know, this has been outstanding here for people to walk up to me and say, hey, we really enjoy what your, your podcast and yeah, we enjoy listening to you and, you know, keep it up.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I will say this, Phil, if anybody's interested in going to look at the episodes, just get onto YouTube and do a search for clay target Legends and they'll all pop it on there.

[A]

I'll go. I've seen a few clips. I. I don't know if I've watched a full episode yet, but I've definitely seen the clips that you guys are sharing. I really like them. They're done well, so. Well, definitely check that out and see what they got because.

[B]

Yeah, and one of the other things is for everybody out there, if you have any trap shooting, skeet shooting, sporting clays, artifacts or family members or whatever, that it's a cool trophy, you think, or something or don't maybe know the history of it. You know, contact them.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Get with them.

[C]

And we're about to embark on a major Sporting Clays history expansion on the museum to bring that in. And to me, that was 40 something years ago, but it seems like yesterday. Not history, but anybody else, that's history.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

And we've got to start getting that history now so that we have it.

[B]

Well, that's why I say they can, you know, donate it or loan it to you guys, however you want to do it, you know, Know, because I know there's some back in the day, some of the cool belt buckles, you know, they're valuable. So they might say, well, yeah, I love to show off my grandpa's stuff.

[D]

You know, that's the important thing is that, you know, if you have a gun you want to give us or something like that, you don't necessarily have to give us. Don't just put it. It's on loan to the museum. When you want it back, you get it.

[B]

Get it back.

[A]

That's. That's awesome. I love that. And I think you guys have a great mission. You're doing a great job. We fully support it and appreciate you putting your time and effort in because we know how hard it is to go and take the time to do all this and document it and then put it out there for free. So. But at the end of the day, it's good work. It's honest work and it's. It's helpful to everyone.

[C]

And a labor of love.

[A]

It's a labor of love.

[B]

We do. We do all the talking. And our producer, John Slinker from work.

[A]

We'Re gonna give him a raise though. Double or triple what we did last year.

[C]

I think our producer needs a raise.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, Steve, it's been a pleasure.

[C]

Thank you very much, guys.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

Thank you so much.

[D]

Thank you.

[A]

Thanks for everyone for tuning in this Friday. Share, subscribe. Don't forget to send us your questions. Wear your merchandise. Be proud. Come by the store at the grand next year. We'd love to see you. And thank you all for all the support.

[B]

Good luck, everyone.

[A]

All right, trap talk nation. Now let's shift gears from legends of the sport to the story about the place that hosts one of the biggest events in the country. It's my pleasure to introduce mayor Susan Harbo of Red Bud, Illinois. She graciously gave us her time so that she could dig into how important the grand American is not just to red budget, but to Sparta and the surrounding communities. Without further ado, here's the conversation with mayor Harbaugh. Thanks for tuning in. Welcome back, trap talk listeners. I'm your host, Zach Nagnini and I'm here with my co host, Richard Marshall Jr. We just got done with the clay target championship. It's a little bit warm out there.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And we're getting ready to go watch the clay target shoot offs. But we have a guest from. From in town.

[C]

Just right out of town.

[A]

Right out of town.

[B]

Redbud, which is about 20 minutes away. So we have mayor Susan Harbaugh. So she's gracious enough to come and talk to us about the community and what the grand American means to the community. Now, how Long have you been mayor?

[E]

About four years.

[B]

Okay. Now, you're from the area.

[E]

Yes. Grew up on a farm just outside of Redbud. Moved into town and have. My zip code has always been 62278.

[A]

Well, there you go. We were introduced to Susan through our good friend Keith Ditto, who's been on the show many times. And I guess Keith has figured how to manage to be a house guest with you. All right.

[E]

Yes, yes. A very. A very well pampered and cared for house guest.

[D]

I've heard that.

[A]

Because he. He says the meals are home cooked and it's all nice and his bed's all done. He's like.

[B]

I'm like, no wonder he's shooting good here.

[A]

You take such good care of him. He comes out and he shoots great every day. We gotta back that off a little bit. He's too good. But we appreciate you coming and spending some time with us. You know, we wanted to ask you some questions because obviously this has been here since 2006. You've lived here your whole life. What has the grand done for the community of Red Bud and other surrounding areas, in your opinion?

[E]

I think little by little we've embraced the grand, but quite frankly, could embrace it even further. But it is so fun to drive through downtown Redbud at the Square, as we call it, which is simply where the three highways come together.

[B]

Yep.

[E]

And see the multitude of license plates downtown. I know there's guests in town, they're visiting, they're eating, they're going to our iga, they're stopping at the gas station. I mean, they're. They're putting some dollars in our town. So that's what the grand means to us.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, I. I do go to Red Bud quite a bit. My favorite thing in Red Bud is the, the Mi Casa sandwich. So, like, I can't. We literally went and had one today. I had that roasted back for us. Didn't bring any back for Rick. He couldn't afford it. But. But me and my squad mate, Rich Bullard, we try to get up there and get those sandwiches. And they used to have one in Sparta, but a long time ago.

[E]

Yes. And I think they had three in, you know, three different locations and actually ended up consolidating and only have the one in Redmond now. So there, there was a. An idea of how well placed we are when she. When Nina had to make a decision, she decided Redbud was going to be her sole operating location.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

When we come through every time, I always leave because I'm in St. Louis. It takes about an hour and a half to get there. So I know they open at 11, so I never leave before 10. That way, when I'm coming in, I got that 11 o' clock open with that fresh, warm bread. And then on the way, Zach's always thinking, to get food, you gotta eat. I mean, yeah. So everybody listens to our shows, comes here to shoot, and they don't know about the area. They don't know what's available to them. So in your words as a local, what are the places that people should be eating around here? Whether it's Redbud or not? Redbud. I mean, what are the. What are the hot spots in your mind?

[E]

Well, I'll start in town. Starting Redbud, Burnt End and 1860 are staples in our community. And we have two other restaurants that are in process right now. So we will have lots more options in 2026.

[B]

Okay.

[E]

Spreading out from that. I know Sparta has a number of good restaurants and people just fan out every which direction because this is, this is a town of what, 10,000 people when it's maxed out here.

[B]

Yeah.

[E]

And I realize there's, there's food in those campers, but people still need to eat or want an option.

[B]

Well, they wanted, you know, the convenience sometimes. Sometimes, yeah. We cook out a lot here at the building. We'll cook out of the campers, but it is. Sometimes you're just hot. Let's go grab something to eat.

[A]

Yeah, it's, it's, it's. It just depends what's going on. You know, you do get tired of cooking every night, right. At some point in time, and then you want to go see something new. And if the cuisine's good. I like. I'm not red Bud, but there's the Cafe Tiffs over here in Marissa. That's pretty good for breakfast time. But you said that barbecue place, what was the name of it again? Yeah, so we went down there a couple days.

[B]

They have a very good bourbon selection too, folks.

[A]

They had great food and really good bourbon, and they were just so friendly to us. And what I love about everyone in this area is everyone is so welcome, Welcoming and friendly to all the people that are coming from out of town because there's people from all over the world that come into this.

[E]

But I think that goes both ways. This is such a welcoming community to start with. These shooters are just phenomenal folks. And I think there might be some ideas of the large campers that roll through in that. But they are just Joe Schmo, like you and I, down to earth people. And we all get along very well.

[A]

Yeah, we like that.

[B]

Yeah. Well, it is because I come right through Red Bud, Waterloo, Red Bud into here because I live in Lincoln, Nebraska. So pulling the fifth wheel through. And it is when you're pulling through, sometimes there'll be people standing like just watching, like, what is this big RV coming through? You know, and then the buses coming through that are even bigger than, you know, my 45 foot RV. But it is like going back to burn it. We try to go there at least once a year. And I know the lady that owns it, Donna. Donna. Yeah. So last year we were there, Dave Mansell and we tried, I think four or five of the different Pappy she had and some other stuff, the high end bourbon and. And I said, do you really get a good selection? Oh, yeah, I try to keep a good selection, especially for the, for the Grand American.

[A]

So.

[B]

And that was a nice thing is to go to a place, you're in a small town, you don't expect that in a little just, you know, corner restaurant, you say. But then right across the street is 1860 and that that's also good too.

[A]

And I've noticed, like some of the places actually tool up for this. Like, they actually seem like they have more staff or more help or they're opening their hours a little bit just to accommodate. Because I mean, like you said, with 10,000 people, it's probably not always smoked and packed in there every night. And then when all these people influx at once, then all of a sudden it's busy. As a local person, do you guys pretty much that live in town, stay away from the restaurants during the Grand. Is it one of those things where like everybody's coming in and, you know.

[E]

Or I think people have some realization it's going on, but there's just the usual that I'm still going to go out to eat. Now, our Chamber of Commerce has been much more active in promoting this. There's a Friday email goes out and for weeks and months we have heard, you know, the AIM is coming, grant is coming. So priming businesses at this peak time.

[B]

Yeah, well, and that is a good thing because I mean, the grand is, I know, you know, back before 2006, it used to be in Vandalia, Ohio. And I know talking with some of their, you know, chamber of Commerce people or even I think back then it was the governor of Ohio that even said, you know, it brought in millions of dollars into that area, which I'm sure it does the same thing, but it's more widespread here because there is only a few hotels locally and otherwise a lot of people are staying up, you know, o' Fallon area.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. A little bit of a drive.

[C]

O'.

[A]

Fallon. All the local hotels book up and then here on the campers. And I think that's one thing that keeps them here is they've got all this camping area that they can. Yeah, definitely put their stuff in.

[B]

I know Walmart. You know, they stock up on everything. It seems like they're overstocked here.

[A]

Well, they keep getting cases of water because, you know, they aimed. I mean, they just went through pallets and pallets of water. I mean, it's as hot as it is out here and we're out in the sun all day long. We just can't get enough of it, really. Gatorade and water.

[E]

Yeah. The financial impact, the last I had read that was in some recent publications, was 25 to $30 million for Southern Illinois, which is a huge economic impact. And those tentacles reach out to, you know, every small town, every large town. It doesn't matter size or location.

[A]

So with that being said, you as the mayor, do you guys look at this and say, okay, are there new things that we could be putting in or building or doing to accommodate some of that money that's coming in? Or is it. Is it too small to say we're gonna, you know, we're gonna put this here because it's only 10, 15.

[E]

Yeah. So temper. I think it's more gearing up the businesses. We have to be prepared for this potential onslaught of folks coming in.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, because it would. I mean, it is only, you know, the two big events they have here, or three, I should say. You have the aim, then you have the Grand American. But prior to that, we have the US Open and it's, you know, so if you really look at it, it. It just take 30 days out of a year.

[A]

Yeah, it's hard. I mean, I think. I think what would be nice and this is speaking to IDNR that now and then the grand, like you have the. The cowboy action, you have the sporting clays course, you have the skeet fields, you have the great trap line. If they could throw more regional events here for the other things like right now. I know San Antonio has held a lot of the big tournaments down there, but I mean, who knows how long that'll even be around. Around with the land encroachment. I mean, at some point in time, the value of that Land is gonna. Is gonna push at some point in time. But, like, there's these other humongous tournaments that if they plan it right, they could just do them here. And if they did them here and you had, you know, one big tournament a month, then I think you could justify. Okay, we need another hotel or we need a couple more restaurants, or we need. All right, Trap Talk listeners, let's take a couple seconds and thank a couple more sponsors. First of all, Remington's been with us since day one. I've been shooting these shells since 2007. I shoot the Nitro 27 from 27 yard line, ounce and eight, seven and a half and STS, ounce and eighth eights for singles and doubles. They've worked great for me as they do a lot of top shooters all around the country. Give them a try. Don't forget the gun club line when you're practicing and you're wanting to save a little bit of money.

[B]

We'd also like to thank another sponsor, Outlaw engineering. Randy Freston, R2. I've known Randy since 1988. They do engineering, survey and drafting, GIS, civil structural land development, wetland permitting. They do.

[A]

And they're friends of trap shooters. I mean, they're trap shooting family. They've been in the ATA forever. His dad's been involved. They're involved. They're beautiful family. They're great people. And we just love that they listen to the show and we love that they support Trap talk.

[B]

Yeah. His dad was past president 1989. So I really want to thank those guys for the support. It. Really appreciate it here at trap.

[A]

With that being said, let's get back to the show. Hey, Trap Talk listeners, let's take a quick second to thank a couple more amazing sponsors. Sos, Clay's shoot management. They're doing a fantastic job. I love the app. I love being able to see everything on my phone instantaneously. It's freaking awesome. Rick, what do you think?

[B]

Yeah, Greg Pink and his group over there. I mean, they've got majority of the satellite grants, majority of the state shoots. I think it's 40 plus state shoots they're doing. But the app, honestly, we were doing a little beta testing with that at the spring Grand. It's awesome. You could see your squad if they paid. You know, you can see your options, your payouts, the whole works at your fingertips.

[C]

Great deal.

[B]

They're just.

[A]

Ricky, how much money he made before he even got off the line, he was like, hey, I'm buying lunch. I'm like, yeah, good job. We're good to go. We also got gun and trophy insurance. I mean, they're the best, best in the business. I know they're, they're great price. Ricky, you're familiar with them, right? Yeah.

[B]

Cole and Larry Cushman, been long time supporters of myself and, and I've been a supporter of them and you know, especially with my college team, you know, we require insurance. It's so fast and easy to sign up and get your insurance. In literally 10 minutes you can have your guns insured. And they're just great. They're great to deal with. Like I said, you can do your trophies also, you know, your, your wildlife animals and that such and your guns.

[A]

It's just a great, it's always good when you're traveling around to have that peace of mind and know that you don't have to worry about losing your stuff forever. And these are expensive things, especially when you got those Craig offs. You got to keep them insured, so.

[C]

Oh.

[B]

With that being said, let's get back to the show.

[A]

All right, folks, we got to take a real quick break and acknowledge the official target of the ata White Flyer. They've been sponsoring us since the beginning and they make a great target. What do you think, Rick?

[B]

It's the best target in the ata. Shout out to everybod, everybody there, all the reps, you know, Bill Daniels, Josh Taylor, Nick Arnold, Robert Crow, everything they do for the sport and all the shoots. Really appreciate it.

[A]

They're always there, they're always trying to make a better target and they're always supporting the game that we love so much. With that being said, let's get back to the show.

[B]

If you don't remember, Jack back in 05 or 04 actually, when they talked about moving the grand and, and then 05 was okay. I was going to Illinois. So a good friend of mine who's passed away now, Steve Brink. Steve used to own Game Master Sporting Goods and he owned Holiday Inns. So he actually had property right across the road that he had got and was going to put a Holiday Inn there.

[E]

I remember some of that.

[B]

And then when he looked at the numbers, he said, I can't justify spending 7/2 million dollars to build a Holiday Inn for 30 days out of the year. And then some of the local business, I remember Carmichaels that used to be here, they were told all these some outlandish numbers because someone said, oh, there's 5,000 people used to shoot in Vandalia. And well, they thought it was 5,000. You know, it's 5,000 a day. But they thought, oh, there's just those people. And then new 5,000 people. No, it's the same.

[E]

Duplicated.

[B]

Yeah. So, you know, someone was pushing the.

[A]

Yeah. And we did. And we did lose people because there were some diehard people that went to the Old grand in Ohio and. And they'd been doing it for so many years that they got used to it and they just, oh, it's changing. I'm not going anymore.

[B]

And so some people don't like change. We needed it, you know, and there's people that, well, you know, with Illinois can be, you know, the, the gun laws and all that stuff. But. And I always said southern Illinois way different than northern Illinois.

[A]

Correct. And. And what I will say is, even though the laws are the same in the state, the way that they treat us down here is very fair, very friendly. I mean.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And then we've never had any issues with anything gun related. Never had an issue getting. Never had any. And that's just wonderful because I know the first year, you know, it looked like, you know, Homeland Security kind of parked out there. The first in 2006, it was like, wow, this is like there was over overkill.

[B]

So many state police, so many dnr.

[A]

Local police, but they just didn't know what it was going to be.

[E]

Fear of the unknown.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

They didn't know what it was going to be, and they prepared for it. And then once they seen that we're all just, you know, normal people, then it's like the next year there was like three guys in one trailer.

[B]

Well, there's a few more that, but yeah, and we need them, especially during the AIM stuff with all the kids. You never know how.

[A]

Yeah. The biggest issue that you're going to have around here, in my opinion, is just roughing around on golf carts. Like, that's like the one thing that you see every year where, you know, they get in a little bit of trouble is they're just driving them recklessly or there's too many kids hanging off.

[B]

Well, they don't realize that it's a state facility. Well, lot of them, they think it's a gun club.

[E]

True.

[B]

So. And then, you know, that, oh, what's these ID and R guys here for? You know, and that. And that's one of the things.

[D]

So.

[B]

So what.

[A]

What else do you think is important to share with our listeners today, Susan?

[D]

I mean, what.

[A]

What are the things that you want to make sure that we get across to the trap shooting community?

[E]

That we are a very welcoming community here? In southern Illinois. We have a lot to offer for our visitors and this is a beautiful facility. We were fortunate enough to go out to Lynn Creek Creek in May and when you, when you see another facility and then see this, it's like, yes, come shoot here. This is beautiful. This is a great setup.

[A]

It really is. And a lot of people that live locally don't even know how great this is comparatively to what's in the United States. I mean, this is. This is like Disney World for trap shooters. The way it is, the way that it's built, everything around here and I mean, that Missouri facility is basically one of my home clubs where I shoot a lot and that's a good facility. But just it's older, right? It's not, it's not brand new and it's been around a long time. This was built for this and it can take that capacity. And you know, I love supporting the local businesses. Another one that's local, the butcher's block, they always, you know, feed us really, really well. The whole family. They've got the trailers and everything set up and you know, take care of everyone here and the food's always good.

[B]

And it's, it is a great community. I mean, a good friend of mine, he went to school in Carbondale at Southern Illinois University. So I mean, he was familiar with the area. And when we came to the very first US Open and you didn't come to the Open in 06, did you? I don't remember. I.

[A]

Probably not because we came just to.

[B]

See, okay, what's this about? And we were like, okay, this is going to be pretty nice, you know, deal. And then the grand. And it seems like every year we're learning more stuff. I know the, you know, outreach of the. Some of the. Even further. Our communities like water. There's some restaurants there and such people even drive over there and there is a lot of stuff to do for. It's not just shooting, you know, so some people like, I'm not gonna bring my family because there's not a lot of stuff to do. But is there family related stuff in the local area that people can bring kids that don't shoot or.

[E]

Sure, sure. Sparta has a community pool. Redbud has a community pool. We just put a splash pad in Red Bud. So yes, there in parks in Red Bud. There are things, things to do for children. Most definitely.

[B]

I know there's a couple golf courses there too.

[E]

Yes, we have, we have a nine hole.

[A]

He plays a lot of golf. I don't. Because I'm Horrible.

[B]

But, but I try to play. We go, we'll get groups, kids, whatever and go out and play. You know, when you're done shooting, if you don't make the shoot, us might go do something else.

[E]

Think back to your initial point too. Some of us are still learning about trap. Like when I was in high school, you know, it was basketball, it was baseball, things like that. Trap didn't exist.

[B]

Yeah.

[E]

And now as that gets introduced as a club sport, I think you'll see some of that change over time. But I think a lot of the locals are still coming for curiosity or. I know we didn't come out for years and years. I just heard there was 10,000 people out here. I just imagine gridlock. And then once we started hosting it was like, well, I guess I'll go check out what these guys are doing. And I got out here, I'm like, oh, this is easy to get around, you know. And once you know what bank they're on, you just watch, follow the numbers down. It's easy to find somebody, easy to watch. We bring lawn chairs and we've made a spectator sport out of it. So.

[A]

And, and I love that, you know, like you said, you're not even really a shooter per se. I mean you like guns but. But other than that, you're able to come watch and enjoy yourself.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think more people should come check it out. I've invited a bunch of people from St. Louis to try to just come and walk the vendors row and see.

[B]

People shooting and yeah, the vendor row, you know, here when we have the tent vendors down on the east side. And that is something that people can just come and check it out, you know, all the locals, if there's something there shooting related, doesn't even have to be trap shooting, even hunting stuff. There's vendors here that cater to that, you know, so it is the nice thing. And, and I know does any local schools do you know, do they have any shooting teams in the area?

[E]

Yeah, I think they're more of club based rather than school supported because of the situation with the guns and different things and you can or can't have them on school grounds and that's. Yes, more, more of those are popping up.

[B]

Okay. Because I was a college coach for 10 years but I grew up shooting for in high school back in 80s and well I guess would be 88 to 92 junior high and high school in Nebraska we had the longest running youth shooting program. So this year was our 54th annual state high school shoot. So for 54 years they've been doing it. And we actually have one school just outside of Lincoln, Norris High School. They actually have three trap fields on their school property.

[E]

Oh, wow. You are a little ahead of us.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, they had one, and it was crazy. People are like. They really. I said, yep. But now the guns can only be there. They can't go on any other part of the school property. But it's also out in the country, so, you know.

[A]

Yeah. And I think I can personally attest to the fact that there's a lot of shooters coming from this area now, because this is here. One of my. My friends from school, I went to Lindenwood with Drew Figue. He's from here. And he only started shooting trap because this was put in. So he went to Lindenwood in 2010 and shot on a scholarship with me on the team and did four years together. And a good, good friend of mine, but they put this in 2006. From 2006 to 2010, he had never shot a clay target before, and then was coming out here and training and practicing. And then he went basically to be on one of the greatest shotgun teams in the collegiate history. Won all these national championships. And it was really cool because he said, yeah, a lot of my people in this community, they weren't gonna do this, but then this is here. And now it's just a thing to come check out and do, which I. I think that's cool.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[E]

And it is a community. At more meetings and things that I go, if I drop the word trap, I find somebody who's affiliated or whose son comes out here and shoots a name, or it just. The tentacles reach out fairly far.

[B]

Well, look at, you know, one of our people, Anna Rao.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

She lives in Festus, and this is where she practices. So she drives an hour from Festive, and she always says, well, why not come train here? This is where the world championships are comfortable.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And that. That is. It's. It's just kind of like old home.

[A]

That's it. It's important to be familiar with this and get. Get in a position where you're confident. I guess, for people that are considering living around this area.

[D]

Let's.

[A]

Let's see. Talk about Red Bud and why Red Bud. So great.

[E]

It's the people. It is nothing but the people. It is just a warm, welcoming community. I know right now we're working on the America250 project for next year. For the 250th anniversary of the United States. We pulled a group of, like, close to 15 people together for a meeting and divided into committees. And I was at another meeting mentioning we had done this and that previous. Mayor said, well, how did you get people to volunteer? I said, we asked people just step up. If we need help, they'll step up. Or if your neighbor needs help.

[A]

Yeah, that's, that's a great lesson. You know, talking about asking for help and people stepping up because I think there's so many good people in this community, in your community, in our sport, and, and people are afraid to ask. I mean, gun clubs are afraid to ask for help. And if you just ask, a lot of good people show up and they start pulling the weight and doing their part. I mean, I know, you know, we asked our producer, John Slinker, to help us, and he's basically doing everything for free. So, you know, we appreciate you, John. Shout out to Shotco.

[B]

You know, they're great.

[A]

They take care of us. And, and we're thinking about paying him double next year. Greatest thing of his life.

[B]

That's right. We did good. No, but. And, and that's one of the things. So with Red Bud is there. You said there's some. Just new. Couple new restaurants coming in.

[E]

There should be two. Yeah. One's coming in the next few weeks and then one is being renovated and probably within the next year we'll be opening.

[A]

Can you say what kind of food it is or is it top secret?

[E]

One is, I would say upscale bar food is the newest one coming in. It's a restaurant in Smith and that's expanding down to. Into our town.

[B]

Okay.

[E]

And the other one's a strictly ground up. She's starting over and bringing in some new ideas actually from the west coast. So we'll see how that rolls.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

We used to be from San Jose, California, but then I, I got to the Midwest and I fell in love with it and I said, I'm just gonna live out here now. It's one wonderful. It's, it's. It's definitely a good time. Other than how hot it gets some days, I mean.

[B]

Yeah, but we've been fortunate. You know, during the aim, it was hot. And then the first day of the grand prelims, it was hot. And then Thursday, till yesterday, it really hasn't been too bad. Even today wasn't bad. We had a nice south wind. Not. I didn't think it was hot, but I know you were out there sweating. Zach is Italian, so he sweats a lot.

[A]

I get hot.

[B]

It happens.

[A]

But you know what?

[B]

That's.

[A]

It's Not a problem.

[B]

It worked.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, they did break another 500 by 500 a day, folks. So I'm not sure. I don't think that's ever been done during the Grand American. Twice.

[A]

Yeah, I don't know. I'd have to look at it.

[B]

But that was.

[A]

That was really cool today. I mean, not to go off track of talking with the mayor, but I mean, no, that's.

[E]

That's fantastic.

[B]

Yeah, it is. It's not. I've been on one 500 by 500 squad. I think Zach's missed on a couple four 99s I've been on.

[A]

Yeah, I did. I did before. I think. I know I did one. It was in Hartland Grand.

[B]

It is a big feat to break.

[A]

A five by five, but if I get the chance and we're just doing again, I might dump one again. So I can keep two and you can have one, you know, it's okay.

[B]

But then you'd have three. I know you can't. And he is my financial advisor. I'm still rethinking this.

[A]

I'm just throwing jokes and sometimes they don't always hit, but. So I think as a leader in the community, there's got to be a lot of other information and knowledge you can give to our listeners today. Is there some good life lessons or things that you've kind of learned being a community leader that you would like to share with the folks today?

[E]

Probably just to step up when helps need it and volunteer. That's you really need to help. I mean, all this stuff doesn't get done on its own. And I know everybody's busy and Everybody's running in 16 different directions, but if everybody would just do one. One thing, one small thing. Thing, even if it's so small, is pick up a piece of trash when you walk by it. Pick up a stick when you're at the park.

[B]

You know, you say that and it's funny. I see that in especially here, because the ID and our guys are going around, you know, the tongs picking up stuff. And I'm like. And you see the box down the road. I stopped yesterday and a box was laying on the road. And the guy's like, what are you doing? I said, well, someone you know, it's an empty box, pick it up.

[E]

I'm like, be kind to your neighbor.

[B]

Exactly. I'm like, you know, it is one of those things. Now. Now, is that what kind of inspired you to be mayor or what did inspire you to be mayor of Red Bull?

[E]

I had served as an alderman, older person. And when the position became available, I thought, yeah, that's something I can do. And we. There was some projects that needed to be addressed. And then when the term ended, I needed to run for mayor. It was like, yeah, I'm starting to. Starting to see some momentum here, starting to see some things in place. So let's. Let's see this through for another four years.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. Because when you got to run for it and get voted in, that means the community standing behind you, so. Which is a good thing, you know.

[A]

While you're doing your job, obviously they're gonna revote you in, I mean, because I'm sure people don't do the job, and then, boom, they're gone. And so here you are continuing. And like I said, Keith only says great things, so. Yeah, and. And we appreciate you sharing the information, especially because we have a lot of younger listeners, and, you know, they're trying to figure out, you know, what's a good life lesson, what's a good helpful direction. I think even that. Just pulling your weight a little bit. That goes. That goes.

[B]

Being nice to others.

[A]

Yeah, it's harder for us.

[B]

And even.

[E]

Even younger listeners if there's a club at school that maybe you're. Maybe you're in ffa. Well, how about being an officer in ffa? Because somebody needs to lead that group or in the shooting club, somebody needs to be the president or the historian.

[B]

Or treasurer, all that stuff. And that's one thing. People are scared to kind of go outside the box. You know, they want their comfort zone. You know, Zach and I really aren't that way. We kind of, you know, people need something. Fine. You know, we'll help out. It's because that's what it's about.

[A]

So I see you brought these magazines. Is there anything, like, special you want to share that's in there today?

[E]

Just other than. These are our visitor guides that we designed, the chamber actually designed last year and just chocked full of everything fun and wonderful about Redbud. So I will leave one of these with each one of you this evening.

[A]

So we'll keep one here in the Trop Dock building if anybody ever wants to stop by and see what's in red bud. We've got the visitor center stuff. Oh, you got a little Dalmatian in there. This is kind of cool.

[E]

Well, for instance, like volunteerism, the fire department is featured in this. And one of the early pages.

[A]

There it is.

[E]

All of our fire department is entirely volunteer.

[B]

Oh, is it?

[E]

Okay, so, like I said, that's how we roll in town. We help each other.

[B]

That. That is a nice thing. That's. Yeah. You don't see that very often. Yeah.

[A]

You got all the restaurants right here. This is.

[B]

I know there's. So speaking of revit I drive through. There's a car dealership there that has classic cars in it every once in the. In the showroom. It's on the be on the west side.

[E]

On the west side with the classic cars. Is it right off of downtown.

[B]

Yeah. So as you're driving through Comet, you know like I'd be coming from St. Louis. From St. Louis down three.

[E]

Yeah. On the left hand side.

[B]

It's on the right hand side with the class.

[E]

Oh there's a few there at.

[B]

So it used to be the Ford dealership I think.

[E]

Yes. That's an individual who owns that and just occasionally has some cars. We have a few car places in town. That's why I had to. I had to think a second because as you get closer to the square then Ralph Daney has a spot on the left hand side that he has a small garage and just classic things.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

And then if you take Route 3 south we have V8 speed and restro in town which does some phenomenal.

[B]

That's a place we saw last year I think when we were driving around with Mansell trying to find.

[E]

They literally do worldwide.

[B]

Oh really?

[E]

Yeah. I mean cars can ship in from overseas. They completely rebuild them, fix them up and send them. It is amazing what that shop does in our little town.

[A]

So when I'm going to get my sandwiches I see in this Redbud Industries what do they do? Is that a big manufacturing plant or.

[E]

Yeah, that was one of our original manufacturing facilities in Redbud. Coil processing lines at the. They produce.

[A]

Okay.

[E]

That spun off into another sister company that actually does a steel slitting and processes things down close to the river. Redbud has a lot of industry in town. We have three different industrial parks. This business park that we're working on now on the east side of town. We will have lots available. We are hoping to attract businesses to town. I'd love to see the business that's related to shooting or trap shooting something you know related to here year.

[A]

I think it's a great idea and I'm sure. I'm sure somebody's going to jump on at some point.

[E]

We will have shovel ready lots probably in a few. Few weeks here. Not too far off. I'm already hoping for that ribbon cutting shortly to stand on those brand new streets.

[B]

Nice hey, do you see the. The treasure? Yeah. Brad. Brad Mayberry.

[E]

Yes. Brad is a friend.

[B]

Brad. Brad has been on the show because since Brad runs the facility here and talked, you know, just a little bit about the facility, too, because there's a lot of people that. That maybe come to the grand, but they don't know a lot about the facility, too. So that was a good episode with Brad.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, it's like you said it best. The community really supports this. They're really friendly. They're really nice. Anybody that hasn't been to the grand, come on out, check out the local communities, check out the restaurants. You know, be friendly so we can keep the reputation going in the right direction. And yeah, I mean, I really appreciate you coming out today. I really appreciate you sharing your story with us as there. Is there anything else that you want to cover before we close up?

[E]

No, other than just come visit Redbud sometime. And Southern Illinois, there is so much beauty in this state, and especially when you get what I like to call deep Southern illinois down the 2457 split down there. Oh, my God. It's just the. The state parks and the beauty here is just unmatched.

[B]

Nice. Wow.

[A]

Well, Susan, thank you so much for being on the show.

[E]

Yes.

[A]

We'll see you very soon.

[B]

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

[A]

Say hi to Keith for us. I know we can't keep. Keep you too late because of the dinner plan.

[B]

Yeah, we're cooking dinner.

[A]

Happy Friday. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you soon.

[B]

Good luck, everyone.

[A]

All right, folks, we got to take a quick second and give a huge shout out to our title sponsor, Craig Off. Me and Ricky. Bullshit. And we both love them.

[B]

Yep. Best gun in the industry. I shoot them, I sell them. Nothing better, folks. Get yourself a Craig Off. Your scores will increase.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, Ricky's got hundreds and hundreds of hundreds with his. I mean, I've got a few hundred, but. But I'm always working to get a little bit better, and they definitely help me, that's for sure. So on top of that, we also got to thank Winig. I'm wearing the shirt today. Love this shirt. If you're down at the grand, pick one up.

[B]

Yeah, winning. Like I said, Zach, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of my winning stock. You know, get a hold of Bobby, Luke, Bill, get an appointment set up. They will make you a better shooter with that winning stock.

[E]

Of course.

[A]

Yeah. The Grand's the great place to do it. Give them a call. Get on their boat, Buck.

[C]

It's worth your time.

[B]

Just remember, winners shoot winnings.

[A]

With that being said, let's get back to the show and the Trap Talk podcast is brought to you in part by RM Shooting Clinics. Have Ricky take your game to the next level. If you want to shoot hundreds of hundreds of hundreds, give Ricky a call today. Zach Nini Financial we believe in putting people first.

[D]

By.