← Trap Talk From The Back Fence
Trap Talk From The Back Fence
Jason Johnson: Military Mindset, Trapshooting Comeback & Better Sleep for Better Scores | Trap Talk Ep. 177
01:15:07
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- [00:24]
A
Welcome to season four of Trap Talk
- [00:26]
B
brought to you by Craig off the choice of champions.
- [00:29]
A
All right folks, we got to talk about Johnson's furniture appliance and mattress. Jason Johnson, he's a great guy. I just seen him in the shoot off the other day. He's helping shooters out with their mattresses all across the country. Tell them about it.
- [00:40]
B
Rick Johnson's furniture appliance and mattress in Witchita Falls, Texas. They will do a white glove service on Tempur Pedic mattresses right to your door or to your gun club, it don't matter. It'll help you out.
- [00:53]
A
See, I need it cuz one of those RVs, they come with them little flimsy little mattresses. My neck'. I need something good to sleep on. We got to feel good, we got to shoot good. So give them a try folks, if you're looking for the best RV bed in the industry.
- [01:05]
B
Yep, that's right. You got to get a good mattress if you want to shoot. Well, we appreciate everything you do for us, Jason.
- [01:11]
A
Hey folks, if you're wondering where you can get your merch, head on down to shop Trap Talk podcast dot com.
- [01:16]
B
Yes folks, you can get hats, T shirts, sweatshirts. They even have a ladies tank, shooters towels. We might have some new stuff coming out for the 2026 year. Who knows?
- [01:27]
A
We got all the swag. Head on down to the website. Thank much for being Trap Talk supportive.
- [01:31]
B
Thanks everyone.
- [01:32]
A
Well Jason, welcome to the show. How's it going down there? You're, you're in Texas, right?
- [01:37]
C
Yes sir. It's, it's great day, you know, went out yesterday and banged out some practice targets in Iowa Park, Texas, our home club. And it was, it was a little windy. You know, there's only a few of us that showed up, which probably smarter than other people. But again like y' all say, you know, it's, it's an outdoor sport, you know, it, it helps to practice in that, in that windy weather, you know, it just, it is what it is.
- [02:02]
A
Absolutely. Absolutely. So are you preparing for the multi state? Is that kind of what you're training for or what's, what's, what's on your agenda coming up next?
- [02:10]
C
Yes, sir. So the, the multi state shoot we've got coming up and I'm going to Amarillo. You know, first time I shot last year, the state shoot there and you know, love the club, you know, it's a little older, you know, it's one of the clubs I grew up with, with my parents and, and then the following week We've got one of the zone shoots in Waco, you know, so I'm trying to try to hit all the zone shoots this year in Texas. Not necessarily to, to make the team, but, you know, at least get the experience and, and then kind of keep building from there.
- [02:40]
A
Well, experience is always a good thing.
- [02:42]
B
Yeah, you can, you can travel more in the state of Texas to shoots than you can all over the country at times.
- [02:49]
C
100%.
- [02:50]
A
You know, that's a, It's a big state. There's a lot of. There's a lot of miles around that state.
- [02:54]
C
There is, yes.
- [02:56]
A
Well, Ricky, for the people that might not know Jason, you know, could you give a little introduction of him and his family since you've known him a while?
- [03:03]
B
Yeah, so I've known his dad a long time, Bob Johnson, who. Bob's been a shooter since 1966, I think. Is that correct?
- [03:12]
C
Yes, sir.
- [03:13]
B
Jason, you know, and he's shot all over and, and, you know, Bob, they, they own Johnson's Furniture, Appliance and Mattress. So we'll get in and talk about that stuff, we know, with them sponsoring the show. But, you know, Jason, you're past military for 23 years, is that correct?
- [03:31]
C
Yes, sir.
- [03:32]
B
So we appreciate your service for that.
- [03:33]
C
Absolutely.
- [03:35]
B
You know, now you're. You're back in. In the civilian world and, you know, got back into trap shooting because you started in what, about eight in the 80s, roughly. You joined, didn't shoot a lot of. Of registered stuff.
- [03:51]
A
Correct.
- [03:51]
B
You know, but you have the last couple years and really got into it, you know, more than most. So you're, you, you've come back, you know, strong since last year. I've seen you, you know, raised your average about five targets alone, which is awesome.
- [04:10]
C
Yes, sir.
- [04:11]
B
So. But you're hailing Wichita Falls, Texas.
- [04:15]
C
So.
- [04:16]
B
And that, that is. There's been a lot of good shooters out of Wichita Falls.
- [04:21]
C
Absolutely. We've got, you know, in North Texas, southern Oklahoma, kind of this area. You know, we got, you know, Pat Stacy, you know, he comes down to Owl park and shoots with us all the time. You know, we've got so many great shooters in this area, and, you know, I've got some big shoes to fill.
- [04:37]
B
Yeah, well, you had Lloyd Taylor Jr. Yeah. And so Lloyd was a. A squad made of mine. Years ago, when I was. God, in my teens, I shot with Lloyd at. I met Lloyd, I think, at Spanish Fork, Utah, excuse me, one year. And then, you know, was fortunate. I shot a couple shoots with him over the years. And then he used to come up to Nebraska State. Shoot. And the one year my wife and I, we were just dating, we shot. It was me and. And Jody and Lloyd and Jackie Schnellenberger and Harlan Campbell. We shot together.
- [05:16]
C
That's awesome.
- [05:17]
B
At Nebraska. So that was always fun. And to see Lloyd. And I'd see him at the Grand. You know him, Skip Trammel, a lot of the old time guys, which I'm sure you remember, Skip.
- [05:26]
C
Oh, yeah. You know, that's what's funny. Yeah, I remember, you know, growing up and having to pull and, you know, even loading targets. You know, back when we had, you know, handset, you know, pull and score. You know, some of these kids don't realize how good they have it, but trying to pull and score for Lloyd Taylor, my dad, Mike Price, Ronnie Ramsey, Troy Call, you know, you know, and they're all trying to call it on the same time because, you know, there. There was, you know, they wanted to get the target in the same exact location as the person before them, you know, so, you know, as soon as you say the wrong thing, they all stop, turn around, and, you know, tell you that it was hit. It was either a broken target or loss really quickly.
- [06:08]
B
Yeah. So you grew up, you know, Poland, setting targets, doing all that stuff, and then you went off to the military, correct?
- [06:18]
C
Yes, sir.
- [06:20]
B
So. And I know you, you know, because your dad had shot and traveled around the country and. And such and. And what was it? You just wanted to go the military or, you know, what was your plans back then?
- [06:33]
C
It was his. Kind of. A lot of things kind of all happened at once. You know, my. My older brother passed away. My. My mom's father passed away. It just. College really wasn't for me. You know, it was one of those things. I went to college and, you know what I learned trying to get an undergrad versus getting a grad certificate. It's night and day. You know, as an undergrad, you've got to study everything. Not that you like everything, it's just you got to check that box. And, you know, 1999, well, 98, I decided I was going to join the military. And then, you know, 99, I shipped off in August of 99 and went to basic training and advanced individual training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. And, you know, backgrounds, military police. And, you know, from. Went there. Went to airborne school at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and then, you know, or Fort Benning, North Carolina. And then my first duty station was Fort Bragg. And so I spent a few years jumping out of airplanes and all that fun Stuff. And, you know, then 2000, deployed to Kosovo, 2001, Afghanistan, 2003, Iraq. And while I was in Iraq, I kind of knew I needed to take a break and reenlisted for Fort Meade, had no idea where that was, but ended up being Maryland and had a blast there. Then, you know, career kept going, went to West Coast, Fort Lewis, Washington, Arlington Heights, Illinois, Grand Prairie, Texas, got picked up for sergeant Major, went out to the sergeant Major Academy, graduated, went to San Diego for a year, and then I got picked up for a Penn State fellowship at the Sergeant Major Academy. So I went back to the academy, got my master's in education from Penn State, topped for two years, and then went to Camp Parks, California, which is Livermore, Dublin, Pleasanton area. Absolutely gorgeous part of the country. Amazing people. Then from there went back to Fort Bragg, spent two years there, and my wife decided she wanted to get back in law enforcement. And now she's a state trooper here in Texas. And she's, she's also in the Army Reserve. She just got promoted. Oh, wow. You know, so when we're living at Fort Bragg, I got her into shooting Sporting Clay. So we, you know, every other weekend we'd go shoot sporting clays. Had a blast. And you know, we actually, this past month, well, in March, we did a, our monthly registered shoot here in Iowa Park. And so she, she shot her first registered targets.
- [09:10]
B
There you go.
- [09:11]
C
You know, Glenn, granted, she was the only lady one that showed up, so she won, you know, but she, she shot my mom's TM1 parazzi and. And then also my Badelli. You know, my mom, she's got her. We still have my mom's Perazzi, but it, it's got a, it's got a really light trigger on it. Okay. And you know, she shot at practice one day and it kind of went off and I kind of went full sergeant Major mode and you know, knife hander almost yanked it out of her hand and. And you know, so we adjusted the trigger, got it, got it tightened up and you know, so she was.
- [09:45]
A
Yeah, I mean, sometimes those triggers can get a little finicky on those, on those early model Parazis. I mean, and I've seen it happen before, they can get a little light, you know, TM1 CMXs and things like that. I mean, a soft trigger pull, but, you know, it happens. But, you know, it sounds like you've had a very extensive career all over the world. You know, when you said jumping out of planes, you know, I, I've never done Anything even close to remote to that. I mean, so. So for you, like, when you're shooting trap, is there any correlation to the adrenaline that you got when you were doing that kind of stuff? Or is there anything that you learned to calm your nerves when you're about to jump out of a plane that you've correlated back to use to shooting? Now, that's.
- [10:28]
C
That's actually a really good question. A lot of it's just kind of box breathing, you know, just, you know, four seconds in. Hold at four seconds, four seconds out. It's just, you know, it's one of those things, you know, you've been here before, you know, just getting in that right. Mental mindset. And, you know, I love one of Yalls episodes. You're talking about, you know, kind of focusing for three seconds depending on, you know, the shoot and so forth. And, you know, and that's. That's really my thing. And, you know, I know y' all have gone back and forth between listening to music, not listening to music. I listen to music because if not, I am so intently laser focused on. On the targets, on what's going on, and then I hear stuff behind me. I'm literally all over the place. And. And so it helps me, you know, now.
- [11:11]
B
Yeah.
- [11:11]
C
As I get more experience, you know, I'll probably go away from it, you know, just, you know, able to kind of, you know, my own self talk.
- [11:19]
B
Yeah, it. You know, honestly, Jason, the music stuff is. Is. Honestly, it's. It's your preference. I shot with music when I was a kid. The songs I listened to I probably won't recommend to most people to listen to. You know, I grew up in the. I grew up in the heydays of some heavy rap music.
- [11:37]
A
So, as you know, he. He had the Beastie. He had the Beastie Boys blasted.
- [11:40]
B
We didn't have the Beastie Boys. We had the 2 Live crew and. And, you know, Dr. Dre and. And Tupac, Master B. Yeah, exactly.
- [11:48]
A
He was rolling, you know, Easy E,
- [11:50]
B
that sort of stuff. So I listened to some crazy music. And I remember back then, you know, it was kind of the over the ear stuff, and the puller could hear it. I remember one time, this is at the grand in Vandalia. I was probably 16. The puller goes, sir, sir. And I'm like. And they got off the chair, come over. He's like, I can hear that. And that's not very nice or something. I was like, oh, sorry. You know. But yeah, it's all kind of preference. I know, like, my Son Tyler, he listens to music. You know, Wyatt Debris, who we shoot with a lot, listens to music, you know, but it is one of those. Now, Tyler, in college, you can't listen to music.
- [12:32]
C
Oh.
- [12:33]
B
So at first it was, you know, like, how's this going to work? He. So he's shooting ata, but. But he transitioned into it, and, you know, like, they had a. What do you call it, the regional shoot they had in Sparta here a couple weeks ago or about a month ago, I guess it was before nationals. So they did that. He shot okay there, then at nationals, you know, he just came from shooting the Southern grand with Zach, and I listen to music the whole time. Pops right out there, breaks 100 straight, no music. And I asked him, I said, what do you think? He goes, well, Dad, I just changed. It's like, well, this is college. You can't do it. So he goes, I just try to change my focus a little bit, and that's amazing. Just do the same thing. And I was like, yeah.
- [13:15]
A
I mean, I think Rick. Rick said it best. It's what you prefer? You know, I don't think there's right or wrong. I think it's. It's what you want. I think there's times where I've done it and it's helped me, and then I've done times where it's like, okay, this is actually distracting me a little bit from what I'm trying to do and. And being my surroundings. Yeah, yeah, I'm. I'm in a rave, you know, so. So we gotta. We gotta settle down. But. But, you know, I. I love what you said about the box breathing. Jason, when. When you were in the military, did they. Did they have, like, pamphlets or, like, instructions on how to do that for people that have never done it before or never heard it? Is there, like, a process?
- [13:55]
C
A lot of it were the guys that had the experience, you know, and, you know, if you go special operations, you go. Certain types of communities, they teach that, and that is their jam, you know.
- [14:08]
B
Yeah.
- [14:09]
C
Us on the conventional side, you know, the big army, the big A army, you know, it's one of those things that, you know, you've got the guys, you know, when I joined in 99, you had a couple of guys that were left over in the reserve and the guard from Vietnam, you know, but on the active duty side, you had guys that, you know, had jumped into Panama, you know, and then the Gulf War, you know, which, you know, wasn't a big war, but, you know, the guys that had the Experience with that stuff, you know, they would pass it on to us, you know, and that's where. Yeah, you know, Afghanistan. And, you know, we deployed to Afghanistan in 01, staged in Bagram for Operation Anaconda in 02, you know, and, you know, we were, you know, a combat unit out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. You know, high speed, low drag. You know, we show up wearing flak vests. You know, they just did not have enough body armor for us. And so we were talking about going through Operation Anaconda. And I remember being a young corporal and, you know, I kept raising my hand, you know, platoon sergeant, telling my platoons, I'm like, hey, can we, you know, some of the guys that are here in the FOB and the, in the base there in Bagram, like, hey, can we get their body armor? You know, he finally told me to shut the heck up. You know, little more colorful words. And, you know, I finally kind of pulled him aside. I said, hey, they may have taught you how to dodge bullets when you join, but they did not pass that on to us, you know, so, yeah, you know, if we get shot, you know, I want the, you know, the best gear we can get.
- [15:43]
A
Yeah, stop these bullets. That'd be good.
- [15:45]
B
Yeah, exactly. So now you were, you were stationed for a short time in Fort Benning in Georgia, correct?
- [15:51]
C
For a little while I went there for. Mainly for school. You know, I went there airborne school and then went back for combatives level three and level four, which is the Army's version of, you know, hand to hand fighting. You know, I became an instructor for that and, and, you know, did that for, for several years.
- [16:09]
B
So. Did you ever partake in any shooting there with the amu?
- [16:13]
C
I did not. You know, and that was one of the things my dad, when I joined the army, he's like, oh, you can join amu. I' no, you know, it was like one of those things where, you know, I, I didn't really, you know, I, I enjoyed it for a little while as a young kid, but it was one of those things where your, your dad and even my mom, you know, my mom, you know, only really shot singles and handicap, you know, she was, you know, for a while number one shooter in the state of Texas and, you know, singles and female and, you know, but since then she's had four, four back surgeries and you know, and she, you know, we, we had her, my dad, my little brother, my older brother, you know, all five of us on the same squad. And it was amazing, you know, but it was One of those things where as I got older and you know, I'd miss something, you know, I'd ask my dad and he's like, well, just hit the target. What did I do? You know, and I don't, you either shot behind it or you raised your head. Okay.
- [17:18]
A
You know, well, and I think that's a very important topic that you bring up, Jason, is so many people, you know, they're with their friends, they're with their family, they're with whoever, they miss a target and you know, the natural response from the shooter behind them is you shot over, you shot under, you, you did this, you did that. But, but that information in itself without, like diagnosing why you did that really doesn't mean that much. Because if you're like, oh, you shot over that one. Well, okay, I shot over it. But why, like, what, what did I do? What did I do before? Because, you know, we've talked about this a lot on the show and a lot of the times, whatever you did was because of the step before. It wasn't the thing you did there, it was the thing you did before. Like, oh, I moved on the caller, oh, my eyes weren't set, or oh, you know, I, I, I was looking at the beads versus looking at the target. Like there's these little things that you start to dissect from an instructor's level or from a, you know, I'd say a high end shooter's level that most people don't get to, they just get to the, yep, you shot behind it or yep, you lifted your head but really didn't check the gun fit or check the mount or check any of that other important stuff. So, you know, I appreciate you sharing that with us.
- [18:37]
B
Yeah, it is, it is. Zach, on, on that a lot of people don't realize that you, your miss is not caused it, it is caused by what you did at that time. But it starts with your pre shot routine. It always starts with your setup. I mean, 110%, it's always your setup, which is going to dictate what happens.
- [18:58]
C
Right?
- [18:59]
B
And you know, and that's part of the deal. I understand. You know, it's like in the words of Joey Charnigo, you shot underneath it. Overneath, Overneath.
- [19:09]
A
And we laugh about that.
- [19:10]
B
But it's true is a lot of people at a club will tell you, oh, you're behind it. I mean, I've been doing lessons, you know, the last two weeks non stop, and it's crazy. I've had several dozen students Easily. And I've had two that stand out that every time they miss, they could tell me exactly where they were. And even on the ones where they shot and threw the gun. And so it looks like they're in front of it, but they were actually behind it.
- [19:36]
A
And I said, where were you?
- [19:37]
B
They said, well, I was behind it and then I threw the gun. And I was like, yeah, so where was your shot? Well, behind it and then I threw the gun. 99 of the people are going to be at walls in front of it. So what are they going to do then? They're going to try now to shoot at the back of the target, so to speak. Yep. So, yeah, in your case, you know, with your dad, you know, being as successful shooters, he was. It is, you know, and some people that are. That are great shooters don't coach. Well, it's. And especially your kids.
- [20:05]
C
100.
- [20:06]
A
Well, that's. That's. That's it.
- [20:08]
B
You know, I mean, you know, with Tyler, he was good and then it was bad there for a few years and now he's back to. He's good, you know, but it is one of those. And same thing with Zach. I consider Zach like a, you know, disinherited child sometimes.
- [20:25]
A
Yeah, but illegitimate steps.
- [20:28]
B
Yeah, but he was the same way. You know, he'd listen and then he's like, oh, you know what your types of. But it is true. You got it. It's tough to teach your kids. And as you know, Jason, you know, your dad, you're just like, whatever. You don't want to help me, then I'm. I'm gonna go do my own thing.
- [20:42]
A
Hey, folks, I got to give a quick thank you to integrated companies out of Utah. They're a great company. They support trap shooting and they support trap talk. Ricky, tell them what they do.
- [20:50]
B
They do about anything you can imagine for all businesses of all size. But they do insurance, hr, payroll taxes, accounting. But we would like to thank Terry and Flynn Paulson for supporting us. We really appreciate it.
- [21:04]
A
Absolutely. If you're a business owner in the trap shooting community and you like supporting brands that support trap support integrated companies out of Utah. Hey, folks, we got to talk about 12 gauge leatherworks out of St. George, Utah. I just got my package in the mail. I got a brand new Trap Talk pouch with a holder and shelves. I got all kinds of stuff. What kind of stuff you got, Ricky?
- [21:23]
B
I got the same. Got the initials on there. Nice four box holder. But the best thing is the buckle holder, folks. That is cool. Got it stamped with Initials. It's awesome.
- [21:35]
A
I love that buckle holder. We can. I'm going to hang that right behind me when we do podcasts. That's a great gift for Christmas. I mean, think about everybody hanging their buckles up. And you know these guys pretty well, right, Rick?
- [21:44]
B
Yeah, I actually did lessons at Livermore with them here at the beginning of the year with his Jared and his son Carson. There's a nice little pick of us there. And as you can see, it was a little cold in California, but great folks. They support trap shooting, they support trap talk.
- [21:59]
A
If you need some leather stuff, give them a try, and we'll see them at a shoot near you soon. You know, Rick, I just love having the peace of mind and knowing that if I'm traveling or I'm flying, something happens, I can get my winig and my Craig off replaced quickly and easily without costing me a bunch of money.
- [22:13]
B
Yeah, exactly. The gun and trophy insurance. It's the best out there to ensure your guns, ch, your trophy, animals, everything.
- [22:20]
A
Thank you to the whole Cushman family for supporting the show and everything they do for Trap Shooter.
- [22:24]
B
Absolutely. Get a hold of Cole Kushman and he'll get you set up.
- [22:27]
A
You know, Ricky, I know you use it on your barrels, but you even know what RGS stands for?
- [22:30]
B
No, Zach, what does it stand for?
- [22:32]
A
Really good.
- [22:33]
B
Well, that is true. It is good stuff, folks. I use it to clean my barrels, and it does make them shine.
- [22:39]
A
Only problem is I wear white T shirts when I clean my barrels, and I get them all messy, so I got to be better at that. But it gets all the plastic, all the gunk out. Give them a try, folks. They're great.
- [22:47]
C
That's right.
- [22:48]
B
Give RGS a try. We appreciate all the support.
- [22:51]
C
And that's what happened to me. You know, like I said, we, you know, we, you know, we had a gun. You know, my dad ran Hatton Road Gun Club here in Wichita Falls. And then, you know, we built the house out in the country in the, you know, 1980, 81, you know, and almost immediately, he built a trap house out there, or trap field. And, yeah, thank God he put in a pack trap, because I didn't, you know, I didn't want to, you know, have to load on myself, but.
- [23:15]
A
Oh, no, yeah, no, we ain't doing that.
- [23:16]
C
And this was before Voice, you know, and so, you know, you would roll out the, you know, the button, you put it right by your foot so you could step on it, you know?
- [23:26]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [23:27]
C
You shoot by yourself, you know, but it was one of those things. It just, you know, and, you know, you know, I'll give y' all praise all day long to everybody I talk to. And every time I talk to y', all, you know, this podcast has just helped my learning curve so much. And, you know, my dad, he'll go out there and watch me shoot. You know, if he can't shoot, he's gonna. At least gonna watch me. You know, afterwards, he says, you mount it. You. You know, in. In essence, he'll say, your pre shot routine is exactly the same every single time. And I told him, I said, well, you know, listen to the podcast and talk with y' all and other shooters. If. If I could keep everything the same, you know, you know, I'll change my. The only thing I really have changed is either my whole point, you know, across the trap, wherever I'm at, and my. My feet. And if I keep that, I'm in it, you know? Yep. You know, Tucson, I think it was the. The championship singles. You know, I dropped the 90, 93rd bird for a 99. And I know what it was. I. I mounted the gun. You know, as soon as I put it up in my head, I knew it was off. But I'd been rolling, I'd smoked them all, and I got to that target, and I. You know, I know y' all say it all the time. Just put your gun down. Put your gun down. Go back through it. Remount. But in my mind, you know, again, you know, my mind, I'm still a young shooter. I don't want to be that guy or gal that slows everybody else down. So I called pull, and I knew I wasn't in it. And pull, bang, lost.
- [25:01]
B
That's. Well, you know, Jason talking about that, and. And I've been hearing this a lot lately with people, you know, they're like, hey, I jumped this squad, and there were some good shooters on there. And I'm like, okay. And they're like, so I just shot. And I'm like, okay. And they look at me like, what? And I'm like, well, there's your first problem. Okay, that's fine. Jump on a squad with it. Could be the top four shooters in the world. You're jumped on it. You paid the same amount of money I know as I paid Zach paid whatever. So, yeah, I always say, take your time. Shoot when it's your turn. Now, if you're a slower shoot, you got something you might want to, you know, tell the squads, hey, guys, you know, I got floaters. Sometimes it takes Me five or six seconds. You know what I'm gonna say. Okay, fine, but don't get. So what happens in your case, that was the reason you missed is you are more worried about them 100. And you were worried about just doing the task at hand. Yeah, that's the one thing I'm. I'm seeing this a lot lately because this is the greatest sport in the country, where you could stand there, you could. You could sign up for the ATA that morning, walk out, get on a squad, and it's three, four, two. The top shooters in your state, your
- [26:23]
A
gun club in the country.
- [26:25]
C
Absolutely.
- [26:26]
A
And.
- [26:27]
B
But you can't do that when you go to a golf tournament.
- [26:30]
A
No.
- [26:30]
B
You know, you can't just. We just got. The master just got over.
- [26:33]
A
You ain't rolling around with Rory.
- [26:34]
B
Around a golf with Rory.
- [26:36]
A
No.
- [26:37]
B
Pay a lot of money, you know, so this is the one thing that I've been really stressing to a lot of students is, hey, you paid your targets. Just shoot when you're ready. But get that pre shot routine and practice that at home. Where you get into that? I mean, I just flew back and I did some private lessons down south, and. And that was one of the biggest things was, gentlemen I was teaching. He rushed a couple of the shots, and he knew it, and he's like, ah. And he missed. And he's like.
- [27:08]
A
And right away, boom.
- [27:09]
B
This is where I was at. Yep. Every time. And I said, you know, just, this is the thing you got to do. You got to get into your little world and do your thing.
- [27:19]
A
I want to circle back because you said you got all the way to 93, right?
- [27:23]
B
Yep.
- [27:23]
A
And so you got to that point to where you're seven shots away from 100. At that point, as a newer shooter, you're like, okay, I. I want to get this done with. It's almost like you're.
- [27:35]
B
You're.
- [27:35]
A
You're trying to finish it quicker than it needs to be finished, and you don't slow it down. And I think you need to take a little bit of time and breathe and slow that down mentally and just be like, okay, acknowledge these feelings, acknowledge these thoughts. And even if you were to mismound the gun, which obviously the right thing to do is to remount and get ready again. But even if you were to mismound the gun and continue to shoot through that, the most important thing is to focus on looking at the bird and not focus on, oh, my gun's mounted wrong. Because if your last thought is, my gun's mounted wrong, you know, lost, right? It's that quick. But, you know, I think if we're focused on only looking at the target, I'll admit I've mounted the gun wrong before, but instead of acknowledging that, I just only looked at the bird and was able to break the bird because of it, because I was so focused on, you know, making that move in that shot, in that, in that moment. And I think newer shooters, they have to go through that. They have to go through getting to that point, feeling that feeling, either pushing through and succeeding, or on the other end of it, missing and then learning the lesson. And I think the lessons that you learn when you miss are as good or better than sometimes the, you know, the, the finish scores. Because there's some stuff that I won't do again because it hurts so bad. You know, you touch that hot oven, you're like, I ain't touching that hot oven again.
- [29:05]
C
No.
- [29:06]
B
Yeah, it's. It's one of those, I think that you, you just gotta. The pre shot routine, that's all done in, in your practice. When, when you're, you know, when you're practicing and when you're in the moment, it is different. But in your case, you know, past military is. I've taught a lot of past military guys.
- [29:25]
A
You're.
- [29:25]
B
You have those breathing techniques like you just talked about, you know, the four box breathing, you know, and such that you can get into that, which will help you get through it, because like Zach said, you always want to speed up and get it over with. And what I try to tell people is, is just break the next target or the target at hand. You break this one. Okay, done with that. Now it's this one. Because if you're worrying about that 100, even with seven shots to go, you're still. It's probably in the back of your head like, man, I might break up.
- [29:56]
A
He's coming.
- [29:56]
B
Usually what happens, loss. And it's like.
- [30:01]
A
And I've done it.
- [30:02]
B
I've done.
- [30:03]
A
Everyone's done.
- [30:05]
B
Don't matter. Your, your ability level, there's no difference.
- [30:09]
C
It's.
- [30:10]
B
The only difference is, like, I tell everybody all the time, and I say it over and over again, the only difference between myself and an average shooter is I'm like a dead person. Everything's the same. Where the average shooter is like a heartbeat. It's up and down.
- [30:23]
A
I'm only dead inside.
- [30:27]
B
Well, and speaking of this stuff, Jason, you know, we, you know, we know you guys own Johnson's Furniture appliance and mattress. And, and speaking about, you Know, with the mattress stuff like we were discussing sleeping. That's a big thing that people take for granted because every night we go to sleep, or in Zach's case, he tends to nap during the day sometimes at the shoots, you know, but no, there ain't nothing.
- [30:52]
A
There ain't nothing better than a little 15, 20 minute nap after handicap before doubles on a 300 target day, I'm telling you.
- [30:58]
B
Yeah, well, especially getting a shoot off, you know. But what is your recommendation? You guys been in this business for what it's been a family owned business for over 50 years, correct?
- [31:07]
C
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
- [31:09]
B
What, what's your biggest, you know, thought on sleeping mattress wise? Is there one that's better than others? Is it? You know, I mean.
- [31:19]
C
Well, my, my dad's big thing is this sport is expensive. There is no reason to sleep on a crappy mattress.
- [31:26]
B
Yep.
- [31:27]
C
You know, and, and probably 20 to 25 of the RVs you see floating out there at the big shoots, they have tempur Pedic mattresses. You know, that's, that's our absolute favorite mattress, bar none. You know, the only, the only thing that sucks is a lot of times if you have a king size mattress in your rv, typically we end up having to do a California King because it's a little narrower and you may lose some, some walking space, you know. Now if you have one of those beds that are adjustable, you bring it in. It's no biggie. But you know, and my dad's had shooters, you know, and he's done it for them and they've done it themselves where they take a fillet knife and cut off the extra material that they don't need to, where it'll fit into that spot. But yeah, we, we.
- [32:16]
A
You know, if I save up for one of the mattresses, I ain't filling nothing. I'll have that thing hang all day. I'll be like.
- [32:21]
C
That's.
- [32:21]
B
When you said that Zach's like, oh
- [32:24]
A
no, my Italian just hurt.
- [32:27]
B
That'd be.
- [32:27]
A
That's like cutting the meat off of the sandwich that hangs over the bread. Like. No, we eat that.
- [32:34]
C
I, I agree. 100. You know, you know, good friend of ours, you know, Justin, right. You know, we just, we put a mattress in his RV and you know, he's got a Tiffin Allegro bus. And so we, I mean those things are, they're the, especially the Tempur Pedic, you know, and he wanted, you know, he's a bigger guy, you know, so he wanted a, a good firm mattress. So, you know, this this is a 13 inch mattress. We're trying to weave in through the doors and through the chairs and, you know, get it to the back. And by the time we get it on there, I mean, it, you know, it's almost up to your waist. I'm like, oh, he's not going to be happy, you know, but he absolutely loved the mattress, you know?
- [33:12]
A
Yeah.
- [33:12]
C
You know, and if. Even if you don't need a mattress for your house or for your rv, you know, we can white glove a Tempur Pedic mattress to your house. And not everybody can, you know, afford a Tempur Pedic or Lot don't like a Tempur Pedic. They don't necessarily like the memory foam. Yeah. You know, Tex. Tex and Joy Hollis, you know, they bought a mattress, they were down here for a leather show in our park, and then they drove to Fort Worth for a shoot there, I think the Bear Hatcher in Fort Worth. And so we'd order them a mattress, and we literally got it probably within 48 hours. You know, it was wow. You know, you can go, you know, plush, medium, or firm. They kind of wanted a medium and they want it specifically cut for their fifth wheel. Just because they have limited space and travel and work out the fifth wheel wheel and. And, you know, feed the entire, you know, shooting world, you know, out of their fifth wheel. So they wanted enough space. So we, you know, Tex and I, we met on the side of the road in Decatur, Texas. It looked like a shady, you know, deal, you know, taking a mattress.
- [34:20]
B
We're moving some foam. Yeah.
- [34:23]
C
Yeah. We had a guy pull up and he's like, hey, you know, there's 17 acres for sale around here in Texas. You know, thank God he's got his pistol and I've got a pocket knife. I'm like, I don't know what we're gonna do, you know, but, you know, it was one of those things. We got the mattress in there and Joy called me the next day or the day after that. She's like, there's only one problem with this mattress. She's like, I don't want to get out of bed. It is too comfortable.
- [34:46]
A
That is a good problem to have.
- [34:49]
B
Is it? So I'm looking on your site right now now, because I've got a king size in mine and my slide out bedroom slide out slides. So I know right now I've got a. A thicker. It's one. I think it's the Montana Mattress Company, the RV deal. You know, nice mattress, it's comfortable. You Know, the only problem is it is tall. And my wife is, you know, five, three on a good day. She's got almost like jump up Superman in there. So, you know, it's kind of funny. And I said, hey, we could have got this one. It was 15 inches. She's like, yeah.
- [35:26]
C
And I just slept on the couch,
- [35:28]
B
so I was like, well, maybe I'll get that one, because then I can have the whole bed to myself.
- [35:32]
C
But.
- [35:33]
B
So you do run a California King, so.
- [35:36]
C
Yeah, a lot of times, you know, if, you know, we just need to get the measurements and all.
- [35:40]
B
Yeah.
- [35:41]
C
You know, but typically, you know, for. If it's not cut down specifically for an rv, we go with California King. Just because you have the. Typically your, your little nightstands on the side.
- [35:53]
B
Yeah.
- [35:54]
C
So that California king will slide in. And again, it's. It's a little longer than a regular king, but it's narrower, you know, that's why most of the times in an RV with a California King.
- [36:04]
B
So mine would have to be a regular king, then probably could see I. Mine, when it closes up, butts up
- [36:10]
A
to the, the dresser.
- [36:12]
B
So. And that's where it may be a
- [36:15]
C
California King, you know, because it may be longer than a normal one. It probably hangs over the plywood on the end.
- [36:22]
B
Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
- [36:25]
C
You know, and that kind of goes back to the question you had. It's. It's one of those things where, you know, we all want to talk, you know, your, Your swag, your, Your gear, your. Your. Your glasses, your vests, your gun, your gloves or whatever. But nobody really talks about sleep. You know, it's.
- [36:43]
B
Yeah.
- [36:43]
C
You know, we'd love to hang out and party, you know, in the night. Most of the time we're just, we're so exhausted. You probably sleep on concrete, you know, but when you wake up the next
- [36:53]
A
day, how good's the sleep?
- [36:55]
C
Absolutely. And that's.
- [36:56]
A
Yeah. How good is it? And how rested are you the next day? And then when you look at the toll of it day after day after day, I mean, that, that's a lot. And I think especially at the grand or at these state shoots where, you know, it's 100 degrees outside and you're. You're going through and you're making these movements every day, and you're trying to compete at the high level. I mean, rest is so important. But I do want to circle back because you said, you know, white glove delivery, you know, what's that look like? If I'm both scenarios, I want to know if I Have an rv and I want to, and I want to get a, a mattress in my rv. What does that look like? And then if I have a home, you know, what does that look like? Because I've never in my life had a mattress delivered. I mean, I just go down to Costco, get one thrown in the back of my truck and then I'm, and then I'm wrestling that thing downstairs. I'm. I mean, I'm going down. It's about falling on me. It almost kills me every time. And you know, it's, it's almost one of those things that I don't want to replace because it's a pain in the butt to do so, you know, what's that like?
- [37:54]
C
Oh, so the, you know, tempur pedic is really the only one that we can ship anywhere in the country. You know, we do sell other mattresses and a lot of great mattresses.
- [38:03]
B
Hey Zach, have you been out to 73 Pointers Ranch lately?
- [38:06]
A
You know, I have Rick and Carla Burk been great. I normally hunt pheasants and chucker down there, but now they got a brand new sporting clay facility and it is topnotch. I shot it the other day, absolutely loved it. And if you guys haven't, you need to go give it a check out.
- [38:21]
B
We'll all have to come out and do a little hunting and we'll shoot some sporting clays.
- [38:24]
A
Then 45 minutes from St. Louis Airport, come see it. If you haven't. Guys, check them out. You know Rick, when you're riding around your air conditioning and your nice can am and I'm walking, I'm thinking to myself, where do I get one of these things?
- [38:35]
B
At Big Red Motorsports, that's where you get one. George or Jason Lee, they'll take care of you, Zach.
- [38:41]
A
I mean, I need one. I'm tired of riding on the back of that cooler. I want to sit inside that cab and roll around in style. I mean my face is on the back, but help me out.
- [38:48]
B
Listen, I'm gonna move your face to the bumper is where it's gonna get moved for the new one, okay? All you need is a little quiche and we can take care of you. But listen. BigRedMotorsports.com thanks Jason and George Lee and Big Red Motorsport sports for all the support. They'll take care of you folks. And it's free delivery.
- [39:05]
A
You know, Rick, the only thing looks better than these hats we're wearing right now is a bunch of gold and silver from Ron Prescott at Mid State Precious Metal. Show them the goods.
- [39:12]
B
Listen, all I got silver right now, I won't bring the gold out for
- [39:15]
A
Zach but you know I always want to get that.
- [39:16]
B
Gold shotgun shells, 10 ounce bars folks, he could do anything for you. For all your shoot needs, give Ron Prescott a call. Midstate Precious metal dot com.
- [39:26]
A
And he's a great guy, so support him. He supports all the shoots, he supports trap talk. If you're thinking gold or silver, you need to be thinking Ron Prescott at Midstate Precious Metals. Thank you, Ron.
- [39:35]
B
That's right. Thanks for all the support.
- [39:37]
A
You know Rick, I was at the Autumn grand and the Nevada State shoot and I was just really impressed with how I could see where my squad was when I was up. Just the technology, the ability to be able to see what options I've played if the event's paid or not. I mean what's your experience with, with the app?
- [39:52]
B
Listen, SOS Clip Clays app. It's the best thing out there folks. You can see everything. It's great. You see your option payouts, you can see when you're up, you can see who's paid on your squad. Sometimes Zach doesn't pay on time, but it's okay.
- [40:04]
A
I get out there. But what I really think is, is for gun clubs it's free. Call Greg, get a hold of them. He'll set you up, he'll get you running. Right. And if you pay the the premium once a year you get free pre squatting in all the shoots. And that's the best value in trap shoot.
- [40:17]
B
Absolutely. SOS clays dot com.
- [40:19]
C
You know, just like I said, you know, tempur pedic's what I sleep on. My parents sleep on, my brother and sister in law, you know, they all sleep on. But so the only thing that kind of sucks is tempur pedic is price protected, you know, so no matter who you go to in the nation, we're all supposed to have the same price. But, but what I do is, you know, basically wherever you're at in the nation, you know, I'm not charging you tax because I don't have a store there, you know, so I'm gonna save you tax. But also, you know, if we do white glove delivery, I'm gonna pay for that. You know, typically it's about 200, 220 bucks, you know, so. And literally it's a, it, it's a team, you know, typically of two people that'll show up. Not they don't work for us, they work, you know, the, you know, tempur pedic Hires on a deliverer service. Courier. Kind of. Correct. You know, so now the only. The only thing that sucks on the flip side is they will not take your old mattress away, you know, so.
- [41:16]
A
Oh, so I still got to lug that thing out and drop it on my head, kill myself.
- [41:20]
C
They will put it in the garage for you, you know.
- [41:22]
A
Okay, well, that helps.
- [41:23]
C
Yeah. You know, slap it on Facebook Marketplace or something and say, hey, you know,
- [41:27]
A
oh, trust me, I'm selling. I'm gonna get about 15, 20.
- [41:31]
B
Zach's the type of guy, he's gonna put the Tempur Pedic on top of his old mattress because he just don't want to move it, so that's what he's gonna do. I could tell you that with the
- [41:39]
A
NINI folks, we'd have to really jump up into that thing, get a ladder to jump onto that bed. I mean, that's. That's way up high.
- [41:45]
B
So with the. With the white glove, that can be done anywhere in. In the United States.
- [41:50]
C
It can. It can. Now, I haven't done it for an RV yet, so I would. I'm. I'm willing to try anything to see how this looks like. We're gonna test. They may call me and tell me, hell, no, no more.
- [42:00]
B
Yeah, we're not taking this to the KOA Park.
- [42:04]
C
You know, now, I could reach out to, you know, maybe Rob Taylor, because I know, you know, he bought a new one for his house and supposedly moved the old one to his rv. So I could probably call him, say, hey, did they move that for you? Do you have to? You know, so that might be a
- [42:17]
A
side deal where you got to slide him an extra 50 on the download. You know, an Italian job, you just say, hey, here, a little something.
- [42:23]
B
So what's the difference, looking at these between the hybrid and just the regular mattress? Like, I look at the. The Tempur Pedic Temper Pro Breeze, and now each one. Is it. Are they separate mattress? Because I'm seeing here where they're split, or is that a different. Or is that just pictures that showing?
- [42:42]
C
So a split one, you have a split king, you know, so you know, his and her side, where if you like a firmer mattress, she likes a softer, but you can make sure they're the same height, you know? You know, you put it on a split, you know, you can either do it on a split ma. You know, split box springs or a split adjustable bed. You know that.
- [43:03]
A
Okay.
- [43:03]
C
You know, you start snoring, you know, so your wife doesn't want to smother you. You know, it raises your head to
- [43:08]
B
stop you from other way around in my case. So.
- [43:10]
C
Fair.
- [43:11]
A
Fair. I just sleep with.
- [43:12]
C
I sleep with a sound machine and I crank it up.
- [43:15]
B
So my luck, if I had the split deal, Jody would take hers, put it all the way up, and I'd completely roll into like, what the heck's going on here? So, but, so the hybrid and the regular one, what's. What's the big difference between those?
- [43:29]
C
So a lot of people love the memory foam, but they always hated that continuous sinking feeling when you get on memory foam.
- [43:35]
B
Yeah.
- [43:36]
C
And so they develop the hybrid. So the hybrid, you'll have about halfway through of coil springs and then multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple layers of memory foam. And gel.
- [43:46]
A
I see.
- [43:47]
C
And so it's, it's more pressure relief. Quicker pressure relief, but also it's more support, you know.
- [43:55]
B
So with the, the hybrid.
- [43:57]
C
Yes, sir. You know, so our number one mattress we, we sell is the Pro Adapt Medium hybrid. And that's, you know, medium. Most people are in the medium range. You know, we'll have people that come to us and, oh, I want a firm mattress. I promise you. Don't, you know, unless you've slept on one. You know, it is Tempur Pedic's number one seller, but it's also their number one returned. And I could put you on a Tempur Pedic firm mattress. I could put you on a Certa firm or a Sealy firm, and they're night and day, you know, all different. A Tempur Pedic firm, and there's different firms. You know, you. You know, your, your Adapt firm, your Pro Adapt firm, your Lux Breeze firm, your. Or your Breeze firm, your Lux Breeze, you know, it's just different levels, different cooling. You know, so, like, if you have somebody that sleeps hot at night, you know, we push you more on the cooling side. But yeah, it's just, you know, you know, we, as trap shooters, we really don't think about it. A lot of times we'll try and find either the. The cheapest hotel, you know, the cheapest airbnb, you know, we really don't look
- [45:05]
B
at sleeping that you hit the nail on the head with Team Nanini.
- [45:11]
A
Sometimes you gotta. You gotta save a dollar here and there. But, you know, I've learned over time, you gotta. You gotta sleep good. And, and that's more important because if you're waking up and your neck is contorted and your back's all messed up, you're trying to hit a singles target and beat Ricky, it's hard. It ain't easy.
- [45:27]
C
And as we get older, you just do that wrong movement. You throw out your back. You know, I'm like, this is so stupid. And I don't. I don't remember who it was. I don't know if it was Harlan Campbell or someone else, but I know they back in the day, and I don't know if they still do it or not, but they would. You know, when trap shooting season would come around, they bring out their RV or travel trailer and they would sleep in it. They would start trying to get used to the mattress in their rv instead of flipping it and get you a mattress just like the one you have in your house.
- [45:59]
A
Get a good mattress. Yeah, that's it. That seems more appropriate to me.
- [46:04]
B
Yeah, Yeah.
- [46:04]
A
I mean, matching the same mattress here, mattress there. And like, the one thing I learned, because coming up, there was a lot of hotel shooting, you know, you're not always with your rv. We're just traveling around, staying with guys. And. And I used to stay with Kelly quite a bit. Dave Kelly. And he. His thing was, you know, because he didn't know what mattress you got, but he always brought his own pillow. Like, he had his pillow that he loved.
- [46:23]
B
He brought his own pillow and his own sheets.
- [46:26]
A
Exactly. He had his.
- [46:27]
C
He.
- [46:28]
A
He had his own pillow and his. So shout out to Dave Kelly for teaching me that a long time ago.
- [46:32]
B
But he.
- [46:32]
A
He's like, I got my pillow, I got my sheets, I got my stuff. I want my bed to be a certain way. I want to feel a certain way. And, you know, that mattered to him. That was his routine. And I think, you know, for me now, I always. If I'm staying in Airbnb or a hotel, I always bring my own pillow. Because you never know if the pillow that they give is going to be one that you could sleep on or you wake up the next day with a, you know, a crick in your neck, obviously, but. But that's. That's. That's really cool that you guys are able to get it anywhere in the country to people listening to the show. I mean, you guys are down in Texas. But any of our listeners coast to coast, if they want a mattress and they want to get it from somebody that trap shoots, it sounds like they can, you know, get in contact with you and you can make that a relatively easy transaction.
- [47:17]
C
That's the plan. That is the plan.
- [47:19]
B
Yeah.
- [47:20]
C
No, that is easy as possible. And honestly, like I said, if you don't want a tempur pedic, you know, but you're, you know, you're coming to a shoot in, you know, El Reno, Oklahoma, or somewhere here in Texas. Give me a call, and I'll get one cut for you that you want, and we'll get it installed. I mean, you can bring your RV right to the parking lot at our store, or, you know, I'll load it up my truck and bring it to you. I told my dad, I said, I want to buy an enclosed, you know, trailer and then start going to these shoots. And, you know, people call me, give me their orders. He's like, hold on. You want me to work at a shoot?
- [47:52]
A
I said, well, whole another deal.
- [47:54]
B
You know what? Hey, it's part of the business, you
- [47:57]
A
know, hey, if you had really comfortable beds and air conditioning set up, you could do like, Airbnb nap stations. Like, you just do a little. Little 45 minutes before handicap, you know,
- [48:07]
B
Zach's always thinking of an angle. Jason.
- [48:10]
A
I thought about, like a.
- [48:12]
C
A recovery trailer.
- [48:13]
A
Yeah, yeah, we'll have a little. Little IV nurse in there, pump them up with some juice. They're napping.
- [48:18]
C
Little tv, massage, and. Yeah, it's.
- [48:21]
A
We could. We could. We could make this work. But that is.
- [48:24]
B
You know what, though? Talking about this sleep stuff, that's something that is. That is highly overlooked, 100% all the time in. In every sport. It doesn't matter. It. People always, you know, they. They short themselves, then they wonder why they can't perform form, you know, and that, you know, I'm fortunate that I'm. I'm usually a five hours a night or six hours a night guy, and I've been that way forever. So it. It, you know, I could stay up late, get up early, where there's some people that. They stay up late, next day, they're just dragging.
- [48:55]
A
Well, yeah, you know, well, and what. What. What really, you know, hurts my. My ego as I'm. I'm. I'm getting a year older every year is how much we used to do back in the day, Ricky. And not the sleeping was not really the main priority. So, you know, when we would go out there and do what we did every day, day after day after day after day, I mean, yeah, some people were like, how do you guys. How are you guys functioning at a. At a high level? Because, I mean, we were out having fun. We were out, you know, enjoying. Enjoying.
- [49:27]
B
That's why I came up with the three. The three seconds. That's all you need.
- [49:32]
A
That's all he had. He only had five minutes of concentration left. A day after the nights we had.
- [49:36]
B
So actually, you guys keeping me out late. You, Justin Debris, I mean, yeah, I might have been the one keeping him
- [49:43]
A
out, but yeah, you were. You were doing good. So. So, Jason, I do want to circle back and I love that we're talking about the mattresses, but I also want to talk about, you know, your journey back to trap shooting. Because in my opinion, you know, you are what I would call the premier target audience for the ata, right? Like, you're a guy who shot as a young person, right. And you kind of did it, but it wasn't like you were, oh, I'm an all American or I'm going to travel around. I'm like, you just kind of shot and then you lived your whole life, you know, adult life, basically. And now you're like, okay, I'm back into it. So what were the reasons why you came back to this sport? Like, like, what do you think the ATA should be doing to target people like yourself to, you know, increase and have a bunch more. Jason Johnson's all over the country shooting trap, having a great time.
- [50:38]
C
That's a really good question. And I've kind of wrestled with that for a while. You know, I, I really came back to do something with, with my dad to make memories. And you know, my little brother, you know, he's a fantastic shot. He just gets out there and squirrel, you know, and, you know, he just, you know, he loves sporting clays, you know, because, you know, he doesn't have to think a lot. I. For, for me, it was, you know, I, I've trained jiu jitsu, you know, I got my brown belt in jiu jitsu about a year, year and a half ago. And, and the older I got, I realized that it kind of hurts. I want, I want to, I want a hobby that I can enjoy and not physically hurt every day. Now, again, you know, at the end of the day, shooting 300 targets, yeah, you physically hurt, you know, you're tired, but it's, but it's nothing that is, is going to, going to hurt you down the road, you know, for, for lack of a better, you know. Yeah.
- [51:35]
A
No long term damage. Right.
- [51:37]
C
You know, but it was something I knew that, you know, I wanted to do with my daughter, she's 10, and then my wife as well, you know, something I wanted to, but it was something that we grew up doing. And, you know, if I could go back 25, 30 years ago, I would probably have done a lot more, you know, because, you know, me spending the money on it sucks versus My dad spending the money on it. You know, it's just one of those things.
- [51:59]
A
I. Yeah.
- [52:00]
C
You know, if I could go back and do a lot more back then. Absolutely. But really, you know, my jumping off point was, you know, going to Owl park and I shot a, you know, registered shoot. I don't know if it's zone shoot or what, you know, but I had a shooting penalty. And, you know, my dad and I, we had talked about. He brought up Yalls podcast and, you know, and I just kind of became a student of. Of y' all of listening and, you know, everybody, you know, y', all, bro, you know, everybody you brought on, you know, and it just helped me with my learning curve. But I think, you know, ata going back to some of the conversations y' all brought up, they've got to bring money back into the sport, you know, and I'm not talking about, you know, 80s money. Yeah, I doubt we'll ever see that again, you know, but, you know, like the Las Vegas shoot, the Nevada State shoot. Holy crap. You know, that was what I knew trap shooting to be. That's what I grew up around, you know, all the activities afterwards, you know, that the added money, the silver, you know, hell, I want that 5 ounce silver shotgun shell, you know, and it was in a drawing, you know, but, you know, I, you know, I, you know, I'm short yardage. I'm 21 yardage or 21 yards. And, you know, so I signed up for the back fence shoot. I said, hell, I'm here. I want to do. I want to have fun, you know.
- [53:24]
A
Rick, I know you had a lot of involvement with them since the beginning, since they started. But I really love the way that the shot tracker, you know, catches the doubles from shot to shot with the looping, you know, tell the folks what they need to know about that system.
- [53:35]
B
It's the best system out there. It's like having a coach on the end of your barrel, like we say, but going especially in double from first shot to second shot. You can see it on the graph. You can see it on video.
- [53:46]
A
Yeah, I mean, if you talk about that J Hook with Shawn, Holly and all them, I mean, it'll literally show that loop, and I think that's really powerful if you're doing it. They've supported the show so they. Since the beginning. They love trap shooting. They're great people. Give them a shot, folks. They make a great product.
- [53:59]
B
Take Aim Technologies.
- [54:00]
A
Hey, Rick, we got to take a second. We got to thank Outlaw Engineering and the Freston Family for supporting trap shooting and supporting Trap talk podcast. They've been here for us. They're great people, you know, you know them real well, Rick.
- [54:11]
B
Yeah, I've known Randy since 1988. R2 and. And the family, they're great supporter of the show. Coup just won the Autumn Grand Handicap CH Championship with a 97.
- [54:21]
A
I know, I was there. I got to interview him. It was great. I was so proud of him. He's doing a great job. Hashtag, where's Coop? He's somewhere with that big buckle. He's having fun. You need anything engineering related, get a hold of Outlaw. They'll take great care of you. Great folks. Thanks for all the support. Outlaw. Rick, I really think that gunfit is probably the most important part of shooting big scores. Would you agree with that?
- [54:41]
B
Absolutely. I think gunfit is the most important thing.
- [54:45]
A
I mean, most of the top all Americans are shooting custom stocks. I know when I got my custom stock, my scores went up. I broke 100 trips in the 27 within seven days. I mean, I'm sure your experience has been similar.
- [54:55]
B
Yeah, I've been shooting a custom gun stock for 20 years, winning. If you want to win championships, get a win of gun stock.
- [55:02]
A
Yeah, call Bobby, call Luke. I mean, we got the stock whisperer over there, Bill. Give them a shot. They're great and they know what they're doing.
- [55:08]
B
Absolutely. Winig.com Check them out.
- [55:10]
A
I just love the way they're covering all the shoots across the country, the content, the pictures, what they're doing online, what they're doing on Facebook, Instagram. What do you think?
- [55:18]
C
Yeah.
- [55:18]
B
Traption usa, it's a great magazine. They are the official magazine of our podcast and we are the official podcast of Traption usa. So we really appreciate it.
- [55:28]
A
That's really cool. And what they got is a deal right now. If you put Trap Talk P in for the print version and Trap Talk D for the digital version. It's 19.99 for the print and $9.99 for the digital for one year. You're not going to find a better deal. So subscribe today. You won't regret it.
- [55:42]
B
Absolutely. Thank you for all the support.
- [55:44]
C
Yeah, I had. I had a blast. But halfway through, you know, Jeff Webb, you know, great family friend, he pulled me aside, he said, hey, what choke are you using? I said, I think I'm odd. He said, you go put your full in. You know, and I think I put my full in and I haven't changed it since. And I know, you know, y' all always say is, you know, you can choose any choke as long as it's a full, you know, and so I went, you know, put a full in, and I banged out the last 50. I mean, it felt amazing, but I dropped so much in the first, you know, but it just. It was an absolute blast. And, you know, I hope more people, you know, sign up to do that and. And, you know, but it was after activities. You know, my daughter, you know, she went to the Kansas State shoot with me, and, you know, she lived her best life. You know, she was going up and down the RVs, talking to everybody. Everybody hanging out with their dogs.
- [56:35]
A
Yeah, Lanny's ice cream's there.
- [56:36]
C
That's a good.
- [56:37]
A
That's a good hit. You can't. You can't go by without hitting that.
- [56:40]
C
No, no, absolutely. But it's. It's just, you know, I think the ata, you know, if you're a king for a day, you know, trying to bring money back or, you know, trying to do something for the. The people, you know, starting off again, you know, I. I know here, our local club, you know, our monthly shoot, our monthly registered shooting, we always make, you know, new shooters shoot penalty. And I got pissed about it the other day, you know, there's absolutely no reason, you know, you know, for a monthly registry, because really, what we're trying to do is get people targets, you know, to get their, you know, the required targets for the year, you know, so they're not shooting penalty when they go to their next big shoot, you know, And I get it, you know, like in our handicap, when we do the. The big 50 or special 50 or whatever you want to call it. I. I understand stuff like that. You know, people coming out and sanding back, sandbagging and winning $800, you know, but it's a lot of the stuff like that, you know, I. I think it's getting better, mainly with podcasts like y' all getting the knowledge out just because people don't know what they don't know, you know, and. And again, you know, one of the pod, you know. Hell, you know, I think it's every. Every other month, y' all do some kind of episode talking about All American points and, you know, not that anytime soon I'll be, you know, trying to achieve All American points, but it's having that knowledge, you know, in understanding the. The rules and the regulations and, you know, etiquette, you know, stuff like that. You know, I. I think, for the most part, ATA is doing pretty good. But I just. We've got a ton of money or a lot of money up there, just kind of just adding.
- [58:21]
B
Hanging out.
- [58:21]
C
Yeah, hanging out, doing nothing. You know, I think they got to get more added money to it, you know, and what that looks like, I don't know. You know, it's. It's the guys like y' all that have been around for a while that need, you know. Yeah.
- [58:33]
B
A backfit shootout at the Grand, I think, would be an awesome deal. You know, that, as you said it, you know, you signed up, enjoyed it. And that's. There's a. There's the thing that, you know, we got the Ohio State shoot, you know, coming up and in June, and, you know, and there probably be close to 600 people that come just to shoot the back fence shoot. I mean, people that are there, they're going to shoot it, but that's what we're gonna have to cap it at. And it's a huge event. It's been a huge success to show that people will try different stuff, and it's something absolutely.
- [59:09]
A
I think. I think in that type of deal, though, why it's such a success is because it's spreading the wealth across everyone. I mean, if you go out and shoot it, you're not. You're not just saying, okay, well, here's another event for. For Dagon to win or for, you know, or for these top guns. I mean, yes, there is that, which you have to have for the guys to keep the sport interesting and keep the sport alive so you can have that top end competitor. But you also, you know, I. I think the mentality of a trap shooter is they love to gamble at some level internally. Like, they love to, like, oh, well, today I could shoot this event. And whatever I shoot, I'm in it for the silver, I'm in it for the bags. I'm in it for the guns. I'm in it for the Louis. That's $3,000. Maybe with my, you know, 77 or 78, like, just the opportunity to. To be able to hit something and have that memory and, And. And. And live with that forever. I think, you know, there's. There's a lot to be said there, and, and, you know, I love the fact that you're so passionate about it, Jason. I mean, I love. I mean, we've had conversations. I've seen you shoot off. I've seen you have success now, and, and you're moving down your path of. Of growing in the ata, and that's the story that needs to be told. More is the guys, you know, you, you are the backbone of the sport. The guys that, that love it, that want to do it, that are taking their time, energy and money and resources to go to another shoot and to, to learn and to, you know, to, to have fun with it. It's. That is what ATA is. I mean, you can't absolutely, you can't, you can't build the sport on, on, you know, the top of the top of the top guys. I mean, there's only a few, there's only a few percent that can 1%.
- [60:51]
B
1% of the. Yeah.
- [60:55]
C
Different levels to this game.
- [60:56]
B
Yeah, well. And Jason talking about a little, you know, shooting everything and your journey and stuff and you know, for the folks out there that are listened or the folks that watch too, the folks that are listening can't see your hat, but you have a national police shooting complex hat on which is the founder of that is Justin Wright. And you know, Justin's a friend of mine and, and let's talk a little bit about that. That's close to you, correct?
- [61:20]
C
It is. It's literally right, right across the street from our local trap club in Owl Park. You know, so Justin, he has dumped a lot of money into this facility and so he is leasing land from the city of Iowa park and he has built a 13 station sporting clays course which we just utilized to raise money for a memorial fund for one of the kids that passed away a little over a year ago on atva. ATV accident. And so we, we used it, you know, we've shot it several times. Absolutely phenomenal sporting clays course. But his, his big thing is Hallease or ZZ Bird as a lot of people call it. But so he's got six rings there. He's, he's got a shoot in April and a shoot in May. You know, check out their Facebook page. Just type in National Police sporting Complex. But he runs a five star event. I mean for, for the food. I mean you literally, you know, this last big shoot he had and again doing fun games and stuff like that, but he, he has catering in for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I'm talking five star chef, five star Mills, you know, probably Michelin rated, probably. But you know, you have your, your big Halise shooters there. You know, you, your Scotty Robertson Clay Clay, all those guys. But they, you know, night, they'll do what's called a zombie shoot. You know, they've got the black lights on the targets. You know, my daughter again, you know, she goes out there with me. She's my Little battle buddy. But she absolutely had a blast watching it, you know, and it's one of the things, like, you know, one of your most recent episodes y' all talked about, you know, you know, people were trying to budget stuff for shoots, you know, talking about budgets, you know, and I love, you know, what you said, Zach, you know, if. If that's your lunch money, you know, don't. Don't spend it, you know, but if you have money, you know, go out and have a blast. But at the end of the day, if you make money back, it's. It's a bonus, you know, so if it's something you love, you know, go do it, you know, with a lease. We absolutely love Halise it. It's not a cheap sport by any means, you know, but it's. It's an absolute blast.
- [63:47]
B
Yeah, that's what. Looking at it. So it's right across from the Iowa Park Trap Club.
- [63:52]
C
Yeah. And a lot of times as they were building it, they had two practice. Well, three practice rings, which actually became the rings they use right in front of our trap houses. And they used, you know, our clubhouse, you know, leased it from us for a little while. But he finally, on the other side of the street where he's got his six rings, he built a huge building. We, you know, again, we ordered them furniture for it. They've got, you know, 30 tables, 250 folding chairs. You know, they've got a. I think a collegiate shoot coming up. You know, they got, I think 150 people already signed up for that.
- [64:31]
B
Oh, really?
- [64:32]
C
Yeah, the. The huge one in May. I think it's the. It's one of their. Trying to remember what it was called.
- [64:45]
B
They've got the April, they've got the. It's the Spring Fever Shootout. NHSA College, High school, Junior High School Under National Lease Championship. Then maze their Grand Prix of Halif. ZZ of USA Grand Prix. The Grand Prix and the Beretta cup and then the. In June, they got the US Open Championship. And then September, he's got the Star Spangled Banner Classic, it looks like, listed up there. So.
- [65:13]
A
Yeah, I know.
- [65:14]
B
You know, Justin doesn't do anything, you know. You know, 50, 50. So.
- [65:20]
A
No, it's all the way.
- [65:21]
C
Oh, it. Yeah, Justin. I mean, and it's absolute perfection. I mean, he is. In a sport like this, you know, he is so anal retentive. Everything's perfection because, you know, he wants people to come back. You know, it's like, you know, some of these big shoots we go to, you know, they Go all out, you know, because they, they want you to come back.
- [65:43]
B
Yeah, well, exactly. And that's one of the things that you, you, customer service is what you get continued, you know, attendance. And that's where people sometimes fail on that, you know, and they wonder why people coming back. Well, if you're not going to give us good customer service, we're not going to come back, you know.
- [66:02]
A
Well, it's entertainment dollars, right? Like, if it was, if it was a whole nother thing, then I could understand that. But this is not, you know, this, this is not a position where people are going to take their time, their energy and their money and then go have a bad time. Right. If their experience isn't good, you know, it's, it's like you can, yeah, they talk about in the restaurant industry, you can make a good meal at home. Like you could eat. You know, you go to the restaurant for the dining experience. You, you know, with the service, the atmosphere, the people, the memories, the camaraderie. You know, we can cook a steak at home. But you go to, you know, really nice places because, yeah, the food's there, but it's the rest. And I think with a trap shoot, you know, you're catering to that person and that experience, you know, they want to be able to go and hang out with their buddies. They want to be able to, you know, do some things afterwards. They want to be able to have fun and also shoot at a good target and have an opportunity to maybe win something. You know, it just, whatever it might be, I mean, even if they don't win, the opportunity to win excites people. I mean, the opportunity to. I mean, heck, how many people go to a casino that don't win, but it's the opportunity to, to win, right? Then they're done. That Ricky could do a whole episode on that.
- [67:21]
B
We could do a series on what not to do in the casinos. As my cell phones out of Las Vegas.
- [67:29]
A
Stay away from the three leg parlay.
- [67:31]
B
Yeah, no, no, this is, this is good. And I'm gonna try to get down to one of Justin shoots down there. I don't shoot a lot of halise. I've only done it a few times. But it's, it looks like, you know, he's trying to do some stuff that's, that's awesome. And, and you know, just promoting. I, I say shooting anything trapskeep, sporting, you know, ZZ's, you know, whatever, you know, shooting a shotgun. And what he's trying to do is awesome.
- [68:00]
C
Yeah.
- [68:00]
A
Do you know do you know when that next shoot is, Jason?
- [68:05]
C
So they have the, the next big event is April 24th through the 26th.
- [68:12]
B
Okay.
- [68:13]
C
And then you have his. The ZZ championship finale, Beretta cup of America and Grand Prix of Elise. That one is May 20th through the 24th.
- [68:25]
B
Okay. That's during the Missouri State shoot. Zach.
- [68:28]
A
Yep, that is, that is.
- [68:29]
B
And then the US Open. The one is, is June, and that is 19th, 20th, 21st. And I think that is the weekend of Illinois State shoot. Yeah, that's our Illinois shoot. And then we go right from there to Ohio State shoot. So I might be able to make that May one. I'll have to look and see. I got to talk to mama and see what she's doing because I think Tyler. Tyler might be home from college by then, I think.
- [68:57]
A
Okay, tell me about the one coming up in April. What. What are they doing there?
- [69:03]
C
So the one in April, basically how it's broken down. So you'll have, you know, your Thursday come in and shoot some practice. And then, you know, Friday is a non sanctioned race. So you've got, you know, basically, you know, and I'm, I've shot it quite a few times. I just, I'm ignorant on the terminology, you know, so, hey, if anybody does a lease podcast, maybe I can learn some terminology, you know, but you know, maybe we can bring y' all down here, do a podcast on it. Yeah. You know, and I think that's what would be great. Just get the information out. But it's, you know, you'll shoot 30 birds, you know, and everybody. Oh, man, 30. That's it. Well, you get two shot at each bird, you know, so. Or, you know, target. And you know, so Friday is non sanctioned, so Saturday and Sunday will be their sanction race. But Saturday night is their Calcutta and they'll do their zombie shoot. You know, so they'll. You have a crank, which is, you know, the 15 birds, you know, first crank, second crank, so on, so forth. But yeah, you know, shoot the glow in the dark targets, but the food is really what's bringing a lot of these people in. You know, like I said, Justin doesn't do anything half assed. You know, this, this food that he had last time was absolutely phenomenal. You know, if you, if you go away from here hungry, you were in the wrong place.
- [70:24]
B
Yeah. Yeah. It looks like the high school, the youth deals in conjunction correct. With the championship. And I, I think the, the bigger one's going to be the one in May.
- [70:33]
A
Yeah.
- [70:35]
B
Which is the, the Grand Prix. That's the, the big, big event.
- [70:39]
C
Correct.
- [70:41]
B
And such. That's one I might see if I can possibly, you know, make it down to that. But yeah, we might have to get, get Justin on the show too. You know, we can get both you back on and, you know, and talk about everything. Him as a promoter. Use a shooter there too, which helps with, with people understanding more so than the promoter and the owner of the complex. They tend to be more biased. So it's, you know, it's always good
- [71:06]
C
to hear your, your, you know, average guy, you know, that, you know, just loves to shoot. Not necessarily gonna go out there and bang it out and win everything, but, you know, just loves to do it. Loves to have fun, you know, and, you know, we've got it in our backyard now. I mean, it's, it's absolutely amazing. You know, even sporting clays, you know, we, you know, it's, you know, closest sporting clays courses we had were probably in Decatur and then up in Ducklin, Oklahoma. So you're gonna drive an hour, hour and a half. You gotta load up your golf cart, take it out there, you know. So to have this in our backyard is absolutely, absolutely amazing.
- [71:40]
A
That's a unique opportunity and I'd love to check that out. And you know, Jason, I, I appreciate you, you coming and sharing with us all this information about you, your family, your business, your life learnings and your journey and trap shooting, you know, and, and for everyone listening to the show today, like I said, there are new sponsors, so if you, you need anything from Johnson's Furniture and Appliance, I mean, they'll, they'll take good care of you. Mattress. Yeah. So we gotta have, we gotta have mattresses every once in a while. I mean, so. So is there anything that you want to part with or say before we get out of here, Jason?
- [72:14]
C
Anything we're missing, you know, just keep what, keep doing what y' all are doing. You know, I absolutely love it. You know. You know, Zach, you know, really appreciate you. You know, when we're shooting in Tucson, you know, right before my shoot off, you came up to me, asked if I've been a shoot off before and, you know, and I've been on a few and just kind of talk me through it and, you know, I love y' all being out there, you know, you know, John, you know, kind of, you know, being the puppet master in the back, but also, you know, him being out there taking lead and, you know, in Nevada and then, you know, helping out in Tucson, the actual primary or grand week and, you know, just keep doing what you're doing. You know, your normal people are listening to it. We absolutely love it. You know, don't hesitate. You know, we'd love to sell you a mattress or even furniture or appliances, you know, but if you don't, there's no hard feelings, but give us a call. You know, we will take care of you or at least point you right direction on the right mattress or furniture. You know, we try to stick with American made, good quality stuff. That way if we have a problem, we, you know, we've got people to reach out to. But yeah, just let us know and appreciate what y' all are doing.
- [73:26]
B
But we appreciate that, Jason, and, And listen, for all the folks out there that. That's the truth is you want to support people that support the sport. We do. You know, so we. We really appreciate you becoming a. A show sponsor and, and believing in our journey of what we're trying to accomplish here, so.
- [73:43]
C
Absolutely.
- [73:44]
B
Yeah.
- [73:44]
A
And we're gonna have a lot of giveaways here at the grand this year. You know, we're talking about August 4th is the day we're kind of tentatively picking for our grand party. So put it on your calendar. We're going to have a lot of show sponsors there. We're going to have a hot dog grill and some beverages, lots of cold drinks and lots of raffles. Will be giving stuff away. Who knows what we'll come up with. But, you know, that's just a. An appreciation event for everyone that listens to our show. Everything's absolutely free and we could not do it without our sponsors. So, you know, we're, you know, our goal here at Trap Talk is to make it as fun as possible and to give away as much stuff as humanly possible to everyone that comes and supports us and shows us love. So, you know, and. And that's. That's what we're doing. And we couldn't do that without guys like Jason. So thank you so much for everyone and listening and tuning in. Keep the questions coming, keep it. Keep it relevant, keep it fun. Wear your Trap Talk gear and don't be shy to ask some questions at the next Trap Shooter hit us up or. Or whatever. Whatever works for you. So, so than. Thank you so much, Jason.
- [74:50]
B
Yeah, thank you.
- [74:51]
C
Thank you all very much.