Trap Talk 170 | Big Wins, Long Shoot-Offs, and a Full Shoot Recap

Summary

Trap Talk From The Back Fence: Episode 170 Big Wins, Long Shoot-Offs, and a Full Shoot Recap Aired: April 3, 2026 | Hosts: Zach Nannini & Richard "Ricky" Marshall Jr.

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Episode Overview

In this packed episode, Zach and Ricky deliver a comprehensive recap of early season trapshooting events, focusing on the Southern Grand, Florida State Shoot, and the ACUI Collegiate Nationals. The hosts dive into big wins, marathon shoot-offs, standout performers, fresh trends in the sport, and the evolving landscape at the collegiate level. Full of camaraderie, stats, and memorable tales from the trapline, this episode is a treasure for avid fans and shooters alike.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Upcoming Shoots & Personal Schedules [01:01-02:39]

• Ricky’s Next Events: Weighing options between Missouri State Shoot, Grand Prix ZZ shoot in Texas, Western Grand, and juggling teaching and business commitments.
  • "It's all kind of up in the air right now, but for sure, the Western Grand, June 1st." – Ricky [01:30]

2. Southern Grand Recap – Stellar Weather & Standout Performances [02:39-10:50]

• Best Weather Yet: Consistent sunshine, minimal wind and rain—one of the smoothest runs the hosts recall at Odessa, Florida.
  • "Probably some of the best weather that I've ever seen consistently...our whole squad had a great showing." – Ricky [03:22]
• Joey's Dominance in Handicap: Joey posts a remarkable 986/1000 in handicaps, possibly a record.
  • "He really set the bar...to shoot a 986 at Florida...that's about as good a shooting as I've ever heard of coming out of that place." – Zach [04:26]
• Insights on Chokes & Gear: Discussion on Joey's switch from a 37,000" Rhino choke to a 32,000"—paying off across his events, showing even subtle equipment changes matter at the top level.
• Singular Achievement: Joey’s high overall (HOA) wins, Tyler and Isaac's shoot-off marathons, and Bruce Burton and Shelby Skaggs’ class victories.
  • "Bruce, longtime student of mine, shout out to Bruce. He shot well." – Ricky [08:34]
  • "Wyatt Debris won the junior high overall. Shelby Skaggs won the Lady One championship." – Zach [08:30]

3. Long Shoot-Offs & Co-Champions – The 450+ Bird Saga [11:18-17:49]

• Singles Championship Shoot-Off: Five shooters go 200 straight, resulting in an epic 450+ bird shoot-off—eventually called for time limits and declared co-champions.
  • "It went 19 [boxes] actually...We were just smoking targets." – Ricky [12:42]
  • "I would have a problem if you broke a 200. And then after 200 they're calling it a CO championship. I think you can go a lot longer than that. But I mean, 450, 475. I mean, that's quite a bit of extra overtime." – Zach [15:19]
• Logistics of Shoot-Offs: Noise ordinances forced hard stops, impacting timing for all other shoot-offs and awards.

4. The Squad’s Strong Showing & Shout-outs [17:49-21:28]

• Handicap Showcases: Shout-outs to Perry Weiner and Jack for their stellar 98s and 99s through punishing conditions.
  • "Perry shot really good because that was the day it was a little windy." – Ricky [19:08]
• Team Medal Moments: Ricky ensures Zach’s named singles event trophy stays with Zach—an act of good-natured sportsmanship.
  • "For whatever reason, my singles were not necessarily dialed in...but Rick, he was struggling, folks. Hey, I fixed that in Florida." – Zach [20:56]
  • "That kind of gave me the drive to stay in...I guess I got to win this thing for Zach because he can't do it." – Ricky [21:28]

5. ACUI Collegiate Nationals – Lindenwood’s Dominance [21:55-41:37]

• Travel Woes & Gun Mishaps: Ricky shares a travel nightmare, including lost bags and a marathon at Houston airport—but they make it to San Antonio in time for competition.
• Lindenwood University's Banner Year: Seven 100s in trap—a new ACUI record, victories in trap and doubles, and their 19th Division One National Championship.
  • "Lindenwood won the Division One National Championship for the 19th time. So that was cool." – Ricky [27:59]
• Stars of the Show: Anna Rao wins Ladies Trap with 150 straight in the shoot-off, and Jacob Diller takes Men’s.
• Increased Competition: Notable improvement in depth across collegiate teams, tightening the gap between top squads.
  • "Now I feel like there's talent spread across the country...it's anybody's game on any day." – Zach [30:07]

6. Florida State Shoot – From Brutal Wind to High Scores [44:12-61:15]

• Windy Early Week, then Beautiful: Tuesday-Thursday plagued by wind and cold; scores plummet as a result. Only four 100s in singles Tuesday despite equivalent field size to the Southern Grand.
  • "Tuesday's doubles, 97 was the high score...that just shows you, you know, with, with the talent that was on the ground, there was a little bit of a difference." – Zach [46:26]
• Big Winners & Confusion Over HOA Scoring: Matt Trammell is the all-around champion with 389/400; Cody Meredith secures the overall title amid confusion among shooters about which days counted for HOA scoring.
  • "A lot of folks...didn't shoot on Monday because they thought it was a preliminary day...and I think that was what happened to Matt." – Zach [48:47]
• Memorable Quotes:
  • "Not only shoot well, but run the shoot. And that's a whole nother, you know, that's a whole nother level of, of effort when you're having to shoot and run things." – Zach [47:58]
  • "I had to have a little self talk...and just started paying attention and really holding still. I ended up breaking the next 499, and then I just set up the next 400." – Zach, on his singles turnaround [51:12]
• Squad Success: Multiple all-around winners on one squad; shoutouts to Tank Lunsford (Veteran) and Madison Oswald (Lady 1).
• Bag Option Raffle: A $3,800 prize. Entry by luck of the draw; popular and well-received by attendees.

7. Reflections on the Sport and Community [61:16-66:27]

• Interactions with Legends: Stories of meeting Nora and Randy Ross, and the importance of recognizing the sport’s foundational figures.
• Celebrating the Community: Enthusiastic support for more podcasts, content creators, and positive promotion in trapshooting.
  • "Rising Tide lifts all ships...if you can get one more person to do it because of the content that you're releasing, then it's a win." – Zach [64:41]
• Promoting Participation: Encouragement to bring new shooters to the game, lend gear, and grow the sport.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On long shoot-offs:
  "We were just smoking targets...We had to shoot off the doubles. And we went 40 in that for runner up." – Ricky [12:42, 16:24]

• On resilience and mindset:
  "If you run enough stuff, you can clean up those mistakes on the beginning...I was thankful that I was able to keep fighting regardless of how low I was on the board." – Zach [56:43]

• On the growth of collegiate trapshooting:
  "It's a team event. It isn't just one or two shooters...everybody came together. The camaraderie, what I saw at the hotel...one team, one roar." – Ricky [37:07]

• On the value of spreading the sport:
  "Shout out to everyone doing their own thing in the trap shooting world...Keep it up. Keep doing the right thing." – Zach [65:55]

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Important Timestamps

• Southern Grand Recap and Weather: [02:39–04:42]
• Joey’s Record-Setting Handicap: [04:13–06:49]
• Squad Members & Other Winners Highlighted: [08:30–10:38]
• Epic Shoot-Off—Championship Singles: [11:18–17:49]
• Handicap & Squad Shout-outs: [17:49–21:28]
• ACUI Nationals Recap Begins: [21:55]
• Lindenwood's Historic Wins: [27:12–29:48]
• Rising Collegiate Competition: [30:07–33:17]
• Florida State Shoot Weather & Scoring: [44:12–47:45]
• State Shoot Winner Highlights: [47:45–56:17]
• The “Bag Option” and Raffle: [59:46–60:28]
• Why Promote the Sport?: [61:16–66:27]
• Reflections on Legends and Community: [62:15–65:06]

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Final Takeaways

• The show provides a rich, first-person perspective on both high-level and grassroots trapshooting, from technical details like chokes and gunfit to the communal joy of squad victories.
• This episode shines a light on the importance of both celebrating the legends and welcoming new shooters.
• Through detailed reporting of results and personal milestones—along with encouragement to all forms of promotion—the hosts exemplify their commitment to keeping the sport vibrant and inclusive.

“Keep them coming, and we appreciate all the love and support. We'll see you soon on a trap line near you.”
– Zach & Ricky [66:48]

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to season four of TRAP Talk

[B]

brought to you by Craig off the choice of champions.

[A]

Hey folks, if you're wondering where you can get your merch, head on down to shop.trap talk podcast.com.

[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?

[A]

We got all the swag. Head on down to the website. Thank you so much for being TRAP Talk supportive.

[B]

Thanks everyone.

[A]

Hello, TRAP Talk listeners. I'm your host, Zach Denini and I'm here with my co host Richard Marshall Jr. We are back from a few weeks on the road and we are looking a little bit more tan than before we left and back in the Midwest.

[B]

Yes we are. It's. It's an Internet world. It's Friday,

[A]

so. So Rick, you know, I know we just got done with the, with the Florida State shoot with the Southern grand with the ACUI Nationals and we figured we'd take some time and just recap the highlights of that stuff. Not everything, but just some highlights and then talk a little bit about what's coming up moving forward for you. What's your next shoot coming up? Rick, I.

[B]

It's up in the air on Missouri State shoot. Maybe there is a the Grand Prix ZZ shoot in Texas. I might go to that. I don't know, it's kind of up in the air, but for sure, the Western Grand, June 1st.

[A]

Yeah, I would love to go to that, that ZZ shoot that you were telling me about. I mean, that looks like a lot of fun. The problem is for me, I always go to the Missouri State shoot because I'm a resident of Missouri. So I'm trying to, you know, build my Missouri resume if you will. But, but for you, if you could, you know, if you miss it, you've been to Missouri so many times it doesn't matter if you go or don't go. It's just a. Yeah.

[B]

First 25 years of my shooting Missouri State shoot I hit every year in the fall handicap. But it's, you know, I've been absent for a while and, and such. So. Yeah, I don't know, the weekend prior I'll be in Michigan teaching and the Great Lakes Grand's going on too. But I also have some other stuff, some business stuff to, to take care that week. So I don't know it. We'll see. It's all kind of up in the air right now, but.

[A]

So starting off with the recap, you know, we Were. Both were at the southern ground, obviously. Odessa, Florida, this year, what I will say is probably one of the best weather years for the Southern Grand. Yeah, I've seen. I mean, we had. I mean, every day was just a clean day. There wasn't a lot of wind. I mean, did we have one. One windy day?

[B]

Yeah, there was some wind here and there. I mean, you spent two and a half weeks down there. That's why you don't remember. But, you know, you got that sun brain going on so.

[A]

Well, I remember how windy it was at the Florida State shoot, I'll tell you that. And it was. It's like. And we'll go over that, but it was literally like one shoot was one thing, and then the next week was a completely different.

[B]

Different.

[A]

Yeah, completely different.

[B]

You know, the, you know, we had the rain a couple times at night, but other than that, I, I would say it's probably some of the best weather that I've ever seen consistently, you know, and it was hot, you know, a few days in there. And, and, but targets were good, you know, as it shown. I mean, we. Our whole squad had a great showing, you know, so it was, you know, me and Tyler and Herbie and yourself and Joey, you know, and, And Joey shot some of the best handicap I've seen him shoot in a long, long time, consistently Monday to Sunday.

[A]

Well, you know, not only that, not, not saying the best handicap I've seen him shoot, I would say the best handicap I've seen anyone shoot in, in four handicaps. I mean, he.

[B]

Well, five if you consider Monday, you know.

[A]

Yeah, he. He. He really set the bar, you know, lead, leading the overall. He ended up with a. A986 out of a thousand. So, you know, shooting.

[B]

Is that what it was?

[A]

Yeah, 90. I'm looking at it right now. Because you had a 979.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And to shoot a 986 at Florida, in my mind, that's about as good a shooting as I've ever heard of coming out of that place.

[B]

Yeah, that's got to be close to a record, if not a record for sure for the hoa. I mean, you know, Joey. Joey struggled in the, in the singles and, and doubles a little bit. And I say that lightly, is, you know, he broke 199 standing next to me in the singles. You know, we had. Remember that day, we had some slow polls and he called really loud and moved the gun at the same time. But, but, you know, his handicaps, you know, for the whole time, he. He broke two 97s, two 98s and a 99. And one of the 98s, he missed two in a row on the same post.

[A]

And, well, you know, both of the 98s, he had a three post.

[B]

Yeah, that is true.

[A]

Both 98. So. And it was the funniest thing because when he missed, he'd missed. But then he'd get right back on his horse, he'd go. And I said, damn, maybe that's a secret. You shoot a three post, get a 98. I mean, but when I tried it, it didn't work that way.

[B]

Yeah, I tried it too, on the two. Two of the handicaps, and I shot. I was happy with my handicaps. In the four handicaps, I broke a 94, 295s and a 97. And the only problem was the 295s. I did have three posts. And the one I missed four out of the first, like, what was it, first 17 targets or something. I was down four. Zach's looking over at me. Tyler's looking at me like, you okay? And I'm like, yeah, it can only go up from here. And it did. You know the one.

[A]

No, you're right.

[B]

Yeah, it was. It was some phenomenal shooting. And I know Joey taking a second, talking about his handicap, you know, he went from his 37,000rhino choke down to a 32,000th, which the rattle chokes are. Seem to mike a little tighter. So the 32, about a 34, which is a full. You know, I shoot a 35 factory choke. But yeah, those Rhinos, I mean, he was hitting them and, you know, breaking some targets and, you know, his doubles, you know, I. I think he missed. He actually could have probably been closer to a 990.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If the doubles, you know, because I know the one day him and I broke hundreds in the doubles, but then he broke. I think he broke a 96 the one day, if I remember right.

[A]

So, yeah, I mean, we're speaking off memory here. I'm not looking at the scores in front of me, but. But, you know, it was impressive to stand with him all week and see what he was doing. Definitely his strong game was the handicap. If he was missing anything, it was in the doubles, which normally doubles is not. You know, it wasn't a weak showing in doubles by any. By any means. But no, that was where he was missing more birds that week. And I think what he said was he had forgot to change his chokes over and he had. He had the wrong choke in the wrong barrel one day I think he was shooting, like, overly tight is what he told me. And.

[B]

Yeah, that one, I think. Was that the. I think it was the Jack now doubles on Thursday.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

If I'm. I'm just. I'm actually looking it up right now. Well, I know he broke 98 that day. 48.50. That was when he missed too early. But maybe it was then it would have been the class doubles, I think, and no, 98 in that 1 too. Maybe it was a champ. What do you have in the championship? 98, I think. So it might. Maybe it was 98 then.

[A]

He was having 98s. I mean, they're not bad, but. No, no, for him, you know, it could have been 99, could have been 100, obviously. I mean, just that little bit edge. Yeah, he won. He. He won the high overall. As far as other friends of the show that we've had on here that have won. I see. Wyatt Debris won the junior high overall. Shelby won. Shelby Skaggs won the Lady One championship. Who else are.

[B]

Our friend.

[A]

Bruce Burton, he won senior vet champion. That's awesome. Yeah.

[B]

Bruce, longtime student of mine, shout out to. To Bruce. He's. He shot well, you know. Isaac Zillman, junior gold champion. No, Isaac, you know, shot well. He had a 976 and he shot solid. Yeah, him and Tyler, you know, they shot off for all the singles all week long. They were tied.

[A]

Yeah, I've seen that. They had to do two days because of the.

[B]

Yeah, they went a hundred the first night where Weston and I and Maverick went 125. And then we came out the next day and. And Tyler missed in the first box. So he got runner up everything. And then Isaac, you know, won everything. And then Maverick, I think, missed in the second box. And then it was down to Weston and I forever. So.

[A]

Yeah, it went into two duration.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Other names I'm seeing here. Perry Weiner, he won Sub Vet High overall.

[B]

Dale Stockdale.

[A]

Dale Stockdale, veteran. Which is. Which is awesome. And then our friend, Mitchell Loveless, he won the double AA champions. Yeah, you know, I don't know.

[B]

He shouldn't be in Double A.

[A]

He's a champion in my book, that's for sure.

[B]

I know. Well, one of my. My students here, Brevin Harvey, he won class C champion, you know, so, yeah, it looks, you know, a good showing, you know, the all around. Ian Lawrence shot a stellar 396 and that was fantastic. Yeah. In the, in the all around. And Joey was runner up with the 395.

[A]

You know, because Joey went 199.99 and 97.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, that was, that's what, that's what he did.

[B]

And then looks like Bruce Burton again. He was the senior vet champion of the all around. So great deal veteran was Dale.

[A]

Dale pretty much cleaned up the veteran. I mean looking at it, looking at his week and looking what he did. I mean most of those trophies, he got a lot of them. And then, and then even winning the doubles championship outright with that lone hundred, which we'll talk a little bit about that. But.

[B]

Well, yeah, and then it looks like, yeah, classes. I got aaa Jack Canals him and I flip for whatever. Anthony Fortino, another two time ring winner in double A in the all around. What the heck? Come on, Tony.

[A]

Hey, I already talked to him. We're gonna have him on the show one day. He says he needs to get back to banging big scores before he comes on. We can just go off of past, you know, past known ability, baby. I said we're good.

[B]

But yeah, getting into kind of the, the, the championship stuff, you know. Of course we had the singles championship Friday or Saturday. Excuse me. And there was, what was there? Five two hundreds, I think five two hundreds.

[A]

And then went in and you know, I'll just kind of tell it because you were in it, you guys shot off and it came down to you and Weston there at the end. And that's when they said, hey, there's no more time tonight. And that was on Saturday. So they, you know, at 8:00'. Clock.

[B]

Well, it was down to Weston, myself and Maverick the first night. And we all carried over is what it was because Ian missed. Ian went out. So Marco Canazaro, student of mine, he broke 200. I did lessons with him a couple years ago in Vegas. He broke his first 200. Of course, Ian was in it. And then Maverick, sub junior from Kentucky, that was his first 200. So we had two first in the shoot off, which was cool. And yeah, Ian and Marco went out and then we carried over. And then the next night is when Maverick missed in the second round the next night and then it was down to Weston tonight.

[A]

And that's when my understanding was it went a total of 450 extra rounds. Is that correct? Yeah, I mean 18 boxes is what I thought.

[B]

Yeah, I think it went 19 actually. We were talking about it and there were some couple people there too that said that it was, you know, 19. I don't know. 18, 19, it don't matter. It was long, that's all I know.

[A]

But basically what ended up happening is because for, for those of you that haven't been to the silver dollar at 8pm they have a hard stop, so they can't shoot because of a noise ordinance after 8pm so the single shoot offs that first night and it ran right up to that and they said, hey, let's carry it over, shoot it off the next day. And then you can't shoot off the doubles or the handicap or the overall the all around until the single shoot off is. Is concluded, you know.

[B]

Well, you can, but what happened was I was in the double shoot off a runner up with you and Joey. And who else was in that shoot of me, you, Joey, Jack, and there's one other person in the, in the doubles, dang it. And I, Jeff Fenello from Ohio. So they called you guys to go shoot or something. And the referee's like, oh, I'll take care of that because I'm in it. So they couldn't start that. But with that, then you. So it's partially your fault on My fault. Yeah. Now you were in the handicap shoot off for champion, so they couldn't start the handicap championship shoot off and all that. So it was just a stair step deal falling down. And so that's when they had mentioned to me about being co champions. I said, whatever. Now we did add about think we put a total of seven turns on the spring. Weston and I did seven to eight over the. The rounds of. To 450 or 475, whatever it was. And we were just smoking targets. And so I had missed west and Mist. Then I got to the last post and the. With the lighting on post one, first one came out, I didn't see it and I'm like, oh. And I let him back in. That's when we went like another 150. But they, you know, said, hey, let's do COD champs after you shoot another 50. And I said, and my exact words were, Diane ain't gonna allow that, you know, being co champions. And she all a sudden I heard, what do you. What I ain't gonna allow? And I turned around, it was Diane. And I said, well, they said something about making us co champions. And she said, yeah, let's do that now because of the time. And I was like, yeah, you got

[A]

to give it to Diane. That was smart to do at that point because you both missed and you were both going to go a while. And it could have been another 50, 100, 150, 200 rounds before either one of you missed again. Just looking at the shoot off. Because I watched most of it and both of you guys were in the center of them and, and I think you break a 200 straight and then you follow with 450 or 475 rounds of the shoot off. You can call that a co champion. I, you know, I would have a problem if you broke a 200. And then after 200 they're calling it a CO championship. I think you can go a lot longer than that. But I mean, 450, 475. I mean, that's quite a bit of extra overtime.

[B]

Yes. Yeah. And that was the thing. Sorry, I had a phone call from Kathy Key and I'm sure it's about the all American points with the co champion deal, I bet you. But I'll call her back. But it's one of those deals that we could have kept going. And when she made that decision. Okay, which I was like, fine, you know, it is what it is. Well, then I went. We had to shoot off the doubles.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And we went 40 in that for runner up. And you know, that was a fun shoot off. So, you know, then Jack and Joey shot off from the 27 for there. What was it?

[A]

AAA, I think, or triple A. Runner up. Yep.

[B]

You know, and I think Jack ended up winning that, you know, and then as soon as we were done with that, then you had to go shoot off the handicap for champion and so did Joey for a potential runner up with the category people in there. And you came out the winner in that. But it was dark. I mean, the lighting was horrible. You know, you were champ, Joey was runner up. And I mean, it was just a, you know, it was a great ranch shoot. It just, it honestly sucks with the timing issue because I remember and so do you in the years past, shooting there and shooting late into the night. You know, I remember 10 o', clock, even 11 o' clock years ago, shooting the singles off or the doubles and whatever. So it does suck with that. But they're, you know, they're trying the best they can and, and hats off to, to Diane with everything she did. And, and I thought the shoot ran smooth. You know, the help was good. You know, I thought the targets were set good. You know, the weather was good. Shout out to Joey, he was champ or runner up in every handicap.

[A]

Yep, every single one. I mean, he was.

[B]

That's pretty amazing. You know, and we had a great squad, like I said earlier, I mean, not to, you know, you know, give ourselves pass on the back, but it was, I mean, you know, you won A lot of stuff. You know, I, I think I got all the singles even with the co champion Tyler and I had the loan hundreds in the doubles in one day. So that was really cool for me to do that again with Tyler breaking 100 side by side. That's the second time we've done that. So, you know, that was, you know, cool, you know, to do that. And then, you know, like I said, shout out to Joey for the hoa. That's, that's the big one, you know.

[A]

Know. Yeah, the HOA is huge. And you know, there are some other people that I, that I want to recognize that had some great showings. Obviously Perry Weiner, he won the handicap on Friday with a 99 that, you know, and you know, Joey was there runner up, but Perry got ahead of him, which that was definitely hard to do because that was a, that was a day where I thought the 98 was going to be strong. You know, you get done, you walk off the line and you're like, okay, that event like you, you know, oh, oh, everybody's gonna do good today. Or oh, that was a really good score. And that was one of those situations where I'm like, you know, that 98 is going to be strong. And it was the low 98 on the grounds. It was just beat by the low 99.

[B]

Perry shot really good because that was the day. It was a little windy.

[A]

It was.

[B]

That was a stellar 98, you know, and Perry's 99 was even stellar.

[A]

Yeah, but I mean the 90 the day before on Thursday, Joey broke the 99 and, and so. Yes, and, and then, you know, Jack, our friend, he, he won runner up with the 98. So, you know, it was that upset of, you know, that 99 and 98 all week long. And then finally on Sunday, it was just a 98 that took it, which was, which was thankful for me. So.

[B]

Yeah, no, exactly. No, you shot well. That was Sunday. You shot really good. You know, you finished good. So you know that, that made a big difference.

[A]

Yeah, I will, I will give a shout out to Ricky though. I, for whatever reason had an event there last week at the, at the Silver Dollar. It was the Zach Danini singles on Tuesday. And for whatever reason, my singles were not necessarily dialed in at all in Southern Grand. I'd say I missed, I missed 11 birds out of the 500 singles that we shot and probably some of the worst singles I've shot. I ended up with a 195 on Saturday's singles and pretty much cost anything. I would get in overalls and all arounds because I didn't know how to hit a target at the 16 yard line. I had seven day amnesia on, on the, on, on the singles. But, but Rick, he was struggling, folks. Yeah, I was struggling. Hey, I fixed that in Florida. But, but that week it was just like, you know, I, I had a move that was a little bit too hot out of the house. I was really working on my handicap. I've been working on my handicap and trying to be more competitive there and it dribbled into my singles and I, you know, the Zach Dany singles on Tuesday, I think I broke a 98. But, but Ricky, thank God, broke 100 and then didn't let me down in

[B]

any of the carryovers.

[A]

And when I was able to win the trophy and being as he's my good buddy, he gave it to me. So I, so I, you know, I can actually have the trophy. So I wanted to say thank you for the, that I really means a lot to me. I've.

[B]

You're welcome.

[A]

I appreciate it a lot. You know, I, I've, I've had some events with my name on it before and, and was thankful enough to, you know, win a trophy, but this one, it was a nice plate with, you know, kind of engraved in. It wasn't, you know, a little money clip or anything like that. And I, I, I really appreciated it. It meant a lot to me. So.

[B]

No, absolutely, I, I, that, that kind of gave me the drive to, to stay in it, in the, in the carryover because I was like, well, I guess I got to win this thing for Zach because he, he can't do it. So I couldn't do it.

[A]

I was waiting for the handicap. That was all I was doing. I was there, I was there for something else. But, but overall, great week. You know, moving on the next week I stayed at Florida and you went to, to the acui.

[B]

So. Yep.

[A]

Talk a little bit about Acois. What, how it was down there because normally, Ricky, you're really good at recapping things as a shooter because you go to shoots as a shooter. You went to the shoot as a spectator. So what, you know, how did.

[B]

I was a spectator. Parent slash assistant, assistant coach.

[A]

Yeah. I mean all the different hats kind of.

[B]

Yeah. I did some lessons with Lindenwood earlier this year on trap and trap doubles with all the kids that were going to shoot. And so it was good. It starting off, you know, we got, we had to stay back to shoot off the events at the dollar. So Tyler and I changed our Tickets and so he could shoot off and such. And. And you know, if it wouldn't have been for that, if he would have been in the shoot up, I would have probably left. Just because it was his college nationals, we had to get there. He had events to shoot on Monday and you know, he was looking forward to that. He really put his hard work into the Southern Granite shot. Well, and he was looking to carry that over in the AC Nationals. But we went to leave Monday from the dollar and he. I was messing around the clubhouse, talked to some people and you were sitting there, I think, and. And ran into some guys and next thing you know, Tyler texts me and he's like, dad. They changed our flight and I'm like, oh God. So I went over. Well, they did. So we packed up early and headed to the airport just to see if we could get on an earlier flight and that was a no go. We were supposed to leave at 5, we're supposed to leave at 7. We end up leaving at like 8:45. And we made it to Houston. Our connecting flight was pushed back also, but Jody ended up driving out because her flight got canceled. So she come down, she came over to get us. Let's just say I spent about 18 hours in the Houston airport trying to get Tyler's gun and bag, which his bag ended up going to San Antonio. They ended up, we got Tyler's gun, but in the meantime my gun was going around on the carousel, so. Oh yeah, so got it. There's a very nice lady there, her name is Lisa. She didn't give me her last name. I tried to give her a tip, anything. She got Tyler's gun. She found my bag in the back amongst a thousand plus bags. And then we finally got out of there, but we got a hotel room at 4. We left there at 4:30, got a hotel room at 5am in Houston. And then we ended up leaving Houston at 5 o' clock Monday night. Tyler missed his sporting clays. He was supposed to shoot early Tuesday morning. Coach Sherry Rao pushed his sporting or his double skeet back. So we got there in time. I had him shoot a practice round. He went out, shot trap, broke 100 straight. So him, Anna Rao, Wyatt Bain on his squad broke hundreds. Charlie stone broke a 97, which, you know, Charlie. And then Tyler's good friend Dylan Bowman standing next to him, broke 99 straight. Missed the last one so they could add four hundreds on the squad. Dylan just made a bad move. But they ended up having a total of seven one hundreds on the Lindenwood Team which ended up it is a record for acui. The most before I think was six.

[A]

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?

[B]

At big red motorsports, that's where you get one. George or Jason Lee, they'll take care of you, Zach.

[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.

[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. Yeah, but listen, Big RedMotorsports.com thanks Jason and George lee and big red motorsports for all the support. They'll take care of you folks. And it's free delivery.

[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 midstate precious metal. Show them the goods.

[B]

Listen, all I got silver right now, I won't bring the gold out for

[A]

Zach, but you know, I always want to get that gold.

[B]

Shotgun shells, 10 ounces bars. Folks, he could do anything for you. For all your shoot needs, give Ron Prescott a call. Midstate precious metals.com He's a great guy.

[A]

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 presses medals. Thank you, Ron.

[B]

That's right. Thanks for all the support.

[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?

[B]

Yeah. Trap 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.

[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.

[B]

Absolutely. Thank you for all the support. So out of the the the 700s, it was Chris diller, Anna ra, Tyler marshall, Wyatt bane, Aiden masters, Jacob diller, and Vanessa Donato. So that was pretty cool. At the end of it, the Linda would had a five by five. There was two other teams that 499. So they won trap team first place. Anna ended up winning the ladies in the shoot off. She broke 150 straight in the shoot off to win the ladies. And then Jacob Diller from Oklahoma is a senior graduating, which, you know them, they're from Nash, Oklahoma. So they're right there where Shelby Jacob ended up going 325 and won the the men's against Michael Day from Iowa Western. So that was good. Then moving on the doubles. Leonard would won that by I think four and with a 490 out of 500. Tyler had 99, Ben had 99. Those two shot off for their class and Ben won that after a hundred straighten the shoot off. Tyler Brook 99 missed in the fifth round. But yeah, so they won first place in that also for team. And then Lindenwood won the Division One National Championship for the 19th time. So that was cool. Yeah, that was huge for them. They were the top overall team out of everybody though by I think it was 14 targets over. William Penn, I think was second. So I know IVA Western won their division for like the fifth straight time. Which, you know, shout out to them. They got a great bunch of kids over there. I think William Penn won their division also. So a lot of good scores broke. You know, the, the most important thing that was cool for me. Well, in backing up Grace Caselli, she won the Howver all ladies and. And then Matthew Laurio who's on Lindenwood, he was second overall men's. So Linda would dominate. They won in their division. They placed I think in everything in their division. But overall they trapped.

[A]

They.

[B]

They dominated, you know. Yeah.

[A]

And. And I will say like, you know, there's a big difference between now and back when I was there because like right now there's so many other teams that have the talent right now. Oh yeah, you know, it's. It's a lot tighter and thinner of a game than it was. I mean, you know.

[B]

Well, you had, you had your own discipline where you shot trap. That's all you shot, you know.

[A]

Well, correct. It was. And then, and then as things changed, you know, I actually shot it all. I mean there was years where I was shooting every single event at ACU eyes. But like the big changes that I've noticed because I remember when I did it, we had international ski. We. We had wobble as international trap, which was a fast, you know, a Fast target on wobble. You know, you had 16 yards, you had five stand, you had sporting clays and you know, you just didn't have a lot of opportunities as a trap shooter. If you were just a trap shooter, you didn't have double strap, you know, you just had the 16 yard, the 16 yard singles and then the wobble and technically the wobble. I mean a lot of those kids, especially any of the ones that are holding higher guns, you know, they didn't have a prayer in the wobble. I mean they don't, they didn't know how to, you know, make that shot and shoot that target and get after it. So, you know, that was a big shift and at the time when we were swinging through, you know, if, if you didn't win first in, in the singles, the doubles, the, or the singles, the, the, the sporting clays, the skeet, the, the, you know, all of it. I mean, Sean would have a conniption. He, he would, you know, he'd come off the rails. But at that time, at that time, there just wasn't as many programs that had the quality of shooters, you know, wasn't, there just was a huge gap between where the talent was and where the talent is now. I mean, now I feel like there's talent spread across the country. I mean, I feel like there's universities and programs that have great teams all over. And I feel like there's, it's more of, you know, know, it's more of a, an achievement I guess, to win and place in those podiums because it's anybody's game on any day, you know, it's, it's anybody's and it's a little

[B]

different now, like, so I'm looking at some of the scores. So like the sporting clays, you know, Emanuel University clay target program from Georgia, they broke a 452 out of 500. They beat Texas A&M by four. And then third was Jacksonville University. And you know, they had a 445. Well then it was 443, 442. So you know, Linda would finish sixth in the sporting, but they shot on Monday and it was blowing and cold and they, you know Matthew Lorio from Louisiana, great kid. I mean this kid can shoot and you know, the all around stuff, you know, he had a 92 and that was high there for the first few days until the weather got a little bit better. But you look at the scores, you know, and, and then you go on to like, you know, the American skeet, you know. Well, the the team in the American Skeet, uh, Hillsdale and Texas A m tied with 496 out of 500. And then Lindenwood and Shriner were at 495. So averaging 99 there.

[A]

It's right there.

[B]

So they didn't lose anything there. But with the, the Super Sporting, they, you know, they shot that well. You know, they lost the Super Sporting by two targets. 484. 4, 483. Linda would add 482. So that's the stuff that keeps you in and, and that's where, you know, it's crazy now. And that's, you know, like now they have all the, the. Well, they did even when I was coaching. And I know they had it when you were shooting the combined stuff, but back then it was a little different because they had wobble trap and stuff where now they have the, you know, combined trap overall, which is the trap singles and trap doubles. Then they have the skeet single, skeet doubles and, and then they have like singles. But you know, Tyler, he broke 199 and out of 841 kids, he was first place all by himself with the 199. And then there was a bunch of 198s. So that was cool for a freshman to come in and, you know, and shoot as well as he did, even under the circumstances of the travel issues we went through. But the thing that, that surprised me the most was they shot Super Sporting on, on Friday. We were supposed to shoot doubles Thursday night at 5 o', clock, power outage. So they said, hey, go down below. We're gonna do something about. Well, they came and said, listen, you guys are just going to finish tomorrow. The five o' clock squads. You're shooting at seven o' clock now you've shot in San Antonio. Seven o' clock at night. The lighting is not the best in San Antonio. No, no. So they came. We had to shoot Super Sporting at 3:30. So all these kids go out there, shoot Super Sporting. And Tyler shot 85, which I was tickled with with his, his new Rhino chokes. He was trying that, that Joey let him borrow and a shout out to them. Tyler loved him. He just smoking targets with them. He broke 85 and he lost a pair. The referee puller fast pulled him. Tyler's not a sporting shooter. He just stopped, put his gun down, didn't say anything and went to mount. And the referee's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's your last pair. And he goes, no, that. And he was Trying to say it. And the referee says, you know the. You know what the ruling is, son? It's lost pair. And Tyler's like. And he walked out. Well, he was pissed. And then I told him, I said, son, if it's fast, you need to tell. Because he was getting the gun mounted, the targets came out, and he put it down and the puller's like, that's the rule. Well, it's not the rule. You know, if it's fast, you need to tell him. So he lost a pair. Otherwise he got in a shoot off for super sporting, for his class, for runner up. And he went out in that shoot off and broke nine out of 10. And I was tickled for him because they weren't easy shoot off targets.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No, no.

[A]

Yeah. And it's a new experience, right? I mean, yes. So I remember going through that in my time of life, and it was like, okay, everything was so exciting and so new. You had your team there, you had, you know, your, your coaches there. And yeah, you were trying to learn what to do and how to do it. And, you know, everybody wanted to pull their best. And it's just. It's a whole nother world. Luckily for me, at the time, I shot so much ata and traveled so much that the traveling side of it or the new gun club side of it, like San Antonio wasn't anything new to me. It's a, you know, I'd been there and done a bunch of times and. And, you know, got some experience there, obviously. But. But shooting the other games, the sporting clays, the ski, the five stand, all that other stuff, that was a totally new experience for me. And I'm sure it was a new experience for him. And, you know, yeah, you know, obviously done it a little bit practice here and there, but as a, you know. Yeah, competing. This is a whole another deal.

[B]

That was his first time competing in skeet. He broke 91 in the ski and had a. A 20 on the first box because he was still in trap mode. And. But he. He shot well after that. But that. That super sporting. They came right off the super sporting course. We went up, they had practice traps. Well, they were shut off already, so they went right out and shot. And, you know, the kids shot good, like I said, but I was real happy for the whole team is Sherry took all 56 kids down there this year, which was kind of an unusual deal. So she took every kid down there. No matter if they shot all the events or they just shot certain events, like Anna just shot trap and trap Doubles, you know, there were several of them that just shot trap. But it's a team event. It isn't just one or two shooters. You know, Grace shot well. You know, Matthew l' Oreal shot well. Jacob Diller shot well, you know, and. And so did Chris Diller, you know, but it's all a team, so it's not just one person or two people or three. Everybody came together. The camaraderie, what I saw at the hotel, you know, with all the kids, you know, it was like Sherry said, it's one team, one roar. That was a cool thing. You know, she did a great job, you know, wrangling up, you know, hurting them 56 cats.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

As you know, because I know what you did when you were in college at those hotels.

[A]

Oh, we had a good time. I mean, but, you know, it was serious when we got to the shoot, you know, you got to nationals and, you know, everybody was so excited for it, you know, and we'd, you know, we'd play cards till, you know, midnight and, you know, whatever and have a good time. But. But at the end of the day, we were there to win that. I mean, that was the most important shoot of the year for us. We were all on pins and needles, you know, and at the time, linen would have never been beaten in that consecutive run. So, you know, we did not ever want. I knew I didn't want to be a part of the first loss. Like, that was the thing that was always motivating us to shoot better is, you know, it has to happen. But, you know, thankfully, it didn't happen when I was there. Right. I mean, I got five clean years of it and got out. And then after that, you know, the team obviously started dwindling at some level just because of recruiting, because of money, because of other teams getting better.

[B]

I mean, a lot of reasons, other schools coming up and. And, you know, that's grown so much. I mean, looking at the team HOA, you know, Linda would. Had a 2889, but I'm going all the way down. And I want to say, Zach, there was like, you know, teams here, 105 colleges, universities that were there competing type of stuff, and it was. It was cool. You know, shout out to the. To Royce and his team there at the, you know, National Shooting Complex with everything they do, you know, they did a great job with stuff, and we had the power outage. That. That ain't something they can, you know, it wasn't uncontrollable under their control. Yeah. So that happened. But you know, there's quite a few vendors there. You know, I got to see Norbert from Zoli. He was there, so it's always cool to. To catch up with. With Norbert and Nick Arnold was there from, you know, White Flyer and such. And, and then I had the Fiocchi building open for a minute, but Tyler was shooting in all the chaos. But shout out to Fioki for everything they do for, for us and, and you know, Tyler was happy and, and that was his first time actually shooting in San Antonio.

[A]

So it's a different place. I mean, it really is. I, I mean, since they don't have the Southwestern grand down there, the last shoot I went down there for was that Sporting Clay shoot that we went to.

[B]

Yeah, Nationals.

[A]

That was the Nationals and I had a great time and I'll definitely go back again. But. But it's been a minute since I've been to that. To that gun club and, and I'm really happy for Leonard Wood. I'm really happy that they were able to clinch number 19. That's a huge deal. You know, Shout out to everyone that competed in it and did it and you know, the 56 members that went down there, hopefully they have memories that last forever.

[B]

And oh, yeah, a lot of people

[A]

on the team and we're gonna give you some more.

[B]

Yeah, we need to. And, and you know, Tom Ruck was a. A big deal with that, with coaching them kids at skeet and sporting Clays. So, you know, big shout out to. To Ruck.

[A]

He does a great job.

[B]

Oh, yes, he does.

[A]

He's a, He's a great shooter and he's even, I think, great guy instructor when it comes to that stuff. He helps and he knows how to break it down and make it easy to digest for people. Because sometimes there's people that are shooters, sometimes there's people that are instructors and very few. A little bit of both. But. But yeah, it's. It's a good time. And, and I'm sure you were very proud to be there and see that, you know, from a different point of view, obviously, you know, but. But it sounds like nobody let anybody down, so that's wonderful.

[B]

No, no, it was a great time. So. And with. With that, let's get into the Florida State shoot.

[A]

You know, Rick, I just love having the peace of mind and knowing that if I'm traveling or I'm flying, I. Something happens, I can get my winig and my Craig off replaced quickly and easily without costing me a bunch of money.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. The gun and trophy Insurance. It's the best out there to ensure your guns, sure. Your trophy animals, everything.

[A]

Thank you to the whole Cushman family for supporting the show and everything they do for trap shooting.

[B]

Absolutely. Get a hold of Cole Kushman and he'll get you set up.

[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 Midstate Precious Metal. Show them the goods.

[B]

Listen, all I got silver right now. I won't bring the gold out for

[A]

Zach, but you know I always want

[B]

to get that 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 Metals dot com.

[A]

He's a great guy. 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. That's right.

[B]

Thanks for all the support.

[A]

Hey Rick, we to take a second. We got to thank Outlaw Engineering and the Fren 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.

[B]

Yeah, I, I've known Randy since 1988. R2 and and the family, they're great supporter of the show. Coupe just won the Autumn grand handicap championship with a 97.

[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. Where's Coupe? He's somewhere with that big buckle. He's having fun.

[B]

So that's.

[A]

So you need anything engineering related, get a hold of Outlaw. They'll take great care of you. Great folks.

[B]

Thanks for all the support. Outlaw. Hey Zach, have you been out to 73 Pointers Ranch lately?

[A]

You know I have. Rick and Carla Burke have been great. I normally hunt pheasants and chucker down there but now they got a brand new sporting clays facility and it is top notch. I shot it the other day, absolutely loved it. And if you guys haven't, you need to go give it a check out.

[B]

Well, I'll have to come out and do a little hunting and we'll shoot

[A]

some sporty clays then 45 minutes from St. Louis Airport. Come see it. If you haven't guys, check them out

[B]

where you stuck around.

[A]

And you know Florida was great just since I was there. The general recap is it was really well, well ran and the big highlights that people need to know going into next Year as they're booking and scheduling is Florida did make a five. So it was, it was a four the year before and it actually got the attendance to make a five. So per my understanding of the ATA rules, that means it's going to be a grandfathered five next year for at least one one shoot, regardless of attendance. But I don't see them having a problem keeping the five now, just the little adjustments that they've done. The, the super high overall buckles were a big draw. They had them for the ladies and for the men, which was singles, all the singles, all the doubles or all the handicap added together. And then they had given away a lot of silver, silver coins and silver bars to event winners and event runner ups all the way through. A lot of people were talking about how that was really cool. They had, you know, good targets across the board. The big difference and just being real and that this had nothing to do with Florida State Association. But the difference between the Southern grand and the Florida State Chute was on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we had some weather. We had some, you know, it was, it was, it was really, really windy and a little bit colder. I remember the first day, you know, we were actually shooting. I shot with Justin and we were, we put sweatshirts on and pants on and you know, it was windy and you're like, okay. There was only four hundreds in the singles. On Tuesday's singles events to give you some perspective on, you know, basically had the same amount of people as Southern grand, where it was anywhere from 12 to 20 hundreds and singles every day. There was four on Tuesday. So, you know, we, we seen, you know, points down into the handicap. Wyatt, Wyatt debris broke a 93 and handicap from the 27. And he's. And he was kind of like, I don't know about that. And I'm like, no, that'll probably be high. And it ended up being high from the 27 for that day. So yeah, there were some other scores higher, you know, from shorter yardage. I think there was a 96 or 97 from short yardage. But for, for long yardage shooters, I mean 93 being the maxed out score with all that talent on the grounds that just tells you how, you know, how difficult it is. And yeah, and in Southern grand we had Multiple hundreds and 99s in every doubles event all the way through the week. Tuesday's doubles, 97 was the high score. So, you know, that, that just shows you, you know, with, with the talent that was on the ground, there was a little bit of a difference. But then, then towards the end of the week, then we started getting that same great weather where the sun came out, the wind slowed down quite a bit and you know, we were able to go. And, and my opinion is if you spend any 14 days in Florida anywhere in the year, you're gonna get a couple windy days. Like there's not.

[B]

Yeah, you're, you're definitely gonna get the, the wind down in Florida, you know, one, one fashion or another. That's a fact.

[A]

You might not get the cold, but you're gonna get the wind. And, and that time of the year you could get some, some cold and, and have to deal with it. But as far as the big, the biggest winners goes, you know, obviously it's their state shoot, so you know, highlighting the handicap on Sunday, Dominic real one with a, with a 97 out of a hundred. So that was, that was. I think I'm in the right event really quick.

[B]

That is, that's correct. I'm looking at it.

[A]

He won that. And that was. And you know, our friend Thomas Harrington, who we had on the phone on the, on the podcast, he came in, he came in third place. So that was really impressive. Not only shoot well, but run the shoot. And that's a whole nother, you know, that's a whole nother level of, of effort when you're having to shoot and run things. And yeah, I would say the most winning person in the state of Florida was Matt Trammell. Matt. Matt broke a 3, 389 out of 400 in the all around. He ended up winning that. I don't think he won the overall though, because everything counted well and he didn't.

[B]

Cody Meredith, Cody Meredith actually won the hoa. He's a junior shooter. So Cody Cody won. It looks like he got Matt. Where is Trim?

[A]

Yeah, he.

[B]

Well, Trammell I think shot the whole thing.

[A]

He didn't shoot the whole thing. He missed on Tuesday. So Tuesday a lot of people, there was a little bit of confusion. Some people thought that the HOA started on Wednesday. It actually started on Tuesday. So every single target in the program counted towards. So there was a lot of folks that actually didn't shoot on Monday because they thought it was a preliminary day. And then by the time they figured out that it was in the overall, it was a little too late. And I think that was, that was what happened to Matt, if, if, if I remember correctly.

[B]

Yeah, well, and Matt won the, he won the doubles in state with the 98. Thomas Arrington was, was runner up. And then. Yeah, Drake Duvall won the out of state after it looks like five or six rounds in the shoot off and he won that over. There were several, but one of them my, one of my students or Ryan Cooper. So Ron fell back but now the single. Let's talk a little bit about the singles we got. So the singles in state was Matt Trammel and Cody Meredith shot off, they went one round, Matt broke 25 and Cody had 24 and Cody fell to, to junior champion. Okay, and then let's go to the, the non resident. Looks like there was two two hundreds and looks like you won that. But it says in the deal gentleman's agreement. Now listen, he forfeited cuz he was at dinner. I got the full story. He was at dinner and he said he didn't want to waste any shells. That's what I heard.

[A]

You know what,

[B]

but listen, all, all joking aside, kudos to you Zach, for the deuce because I know the, the Southern, your, your singles game was struggling a little bit. And so you know that that's a, that's a heck of a score. Any 200 is a heck of a score. But breaking one in Florida, you know,

[A]

I was very, very happy with that. You know, I, I had to have a little self talk and you know, Dave Kelly used to teach me about self talks and when I got done with the Florida for the Southern grand the first week I had looked at where I could have picked up targets in the overall, in the all around in all those areas. And yeah, it was singles. I mean it was, it was no doubt like I gave it up to singles more than anything because my handicaps were good. My doubles.

[B]

Yeah, your handicap wasn't bad at all. Doubles were doubles. You, you struggled the one day in the doubles.

[A]

Yeah, I had one, I had 196 out there that didn't feel the best. But, but you know, hey, it happens. But the singles is where I found some room. And you know, we went out there on the first day on Tuesday and it was kind of funny. I got to tell the story. But Justin Debris, he was leading our squad. And the first one out, the first target out of this, of the chute, he missed it. And so Wyatt looks at me, Barrett looks at me, I look at them, we're all kind of laughing and we're pointing them like, oh, that sucks. You know, this, that and the other thing. And Gooch shoots on second and, and then Barrett shoots third and it comes around to my turn. So I mount the gun, I'm like, oh, no big deal. I missed the first one out, too. And so then they're laughing at me. So me and Justin miss the first target out. And in my head I'm thinking, oh, my God, not again. Not another week of 97s and 98s and singles. Like, I cannot. I cannot do this. And so I just. I bear down and. And I just started paying attention and really holding still. And I ended up breaking the. The next 99, 499. And then I just set up the

[B]

next 300, didn't you?

[A]

400. So I, I ended up with a 499 out of 500 in the singles, missing the first one out, and then winning the. Winning the championship on Saturday. So that was the best I'd ever shot singles in Florida and went from. Went from the worst I ever shot the week before, you know, basically the best I ever shot. And, And I, I think the only thing that really changed was just my mindset and like, okay, I'm gonna pay attention to them. I'm really gonna, you know, do my job and give them as much effort as I can instead of just, you know, shooting at them. But, but yeah, Gooch was, was. It was very nice of him. I asked him, hey, do you want to shoot off tonight? He's like, no, I want to go to dinner. He's like, you know, I. I got the 200. I'm happy. He's like, I'd rather you win champion. It doesn't affect the points for you. And I can get sub vet champion. It's good for me. And, and then we don't have to go out there and, and bang all night long on targets. And I said, hey, if that's what you want, I'm down. But if you want to shoot, I

[B]

mean, you told me that you tried to get him to shoot, not listen. You were like, oh, okay, thanks. And you hung up like you do to me. Oh, goodbye. I guarantee that's what you see later. It's okay. Oh, you said forfeit.

[A]

Gotta go.

[B]

That's awesome, though. You know, breaking the deuce and. And then, you know, you came back and broke 95 in the, in the. You were. You were right behind Austin Jacob all week long in the overall. Trust me, I was watching it. And, you know, I told you to get your crap together, and you did. On Sunday, you broke 95 and you ended up winning the HOA by two over Austin. And, you know, which was. Was a stellar feat, you know, to, to come back and, and win that. And you won the all around, you

[A]

know, I had a very good shoot. I will say Austin shot fantastic.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You know, it came down to, in my opinion, and this is just my opinion, it came down to draw on Sunday. I got, you know, good. I got, you know, what I would consider a decent bank on Sunday. And he got. Know what I consider not the most optimum bank on Sunday as far as, you know, where you can shoot, but you know, where the weather hits, where the targets are, the time of the day, I mean, all that comes into play. I was able to shoot and you know, I'm not saying I shot bad. I shot good, but. But, you know, it was anybody's game going into Sunday. You know, you never know who's going to shake it out. I ended up doing it, but, you know, he could have just as easily done it and, and, and Ben ahead and. And you know, he was shooting really well all week long. You know, Ricky, I know you used it on your barrels, but do you even know what RGS stands for?

[B]

No, Zach, what does it stand for?

[A]

Really good.

[B]

Well, that is true. It is good stuff, folks. I use it to clean my barrels and it does make them shine.

[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.

[B]

They're great. That's right. Give our GSA try. We appreciate all the support.

[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?

[B]

Listen, SOS Clay's 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 playing paid on your squad. Sometimes Zach doesn't pay on time, but it's okay.

[A]

I get out there. But what I really think is, is for gun clubs, it's free. Call Greg, get a hold of him. 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.

[B]

Absolutely. SOS clays.com Rick, I really think that

[A]

GunFit's probably the most important Part of shooting big scores. Would you agree with that?

[B]

Absolutely. I think gunfit is the most important thing.

[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 shift in the 27 within seven days. I mean, I'm sure your experience has been similar.

[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.

[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.

[B]

Absolutely. Winig.com Check them out.

[A]

I had dug myself into a hole early into the week and was basically trying to climb out of it because the first two handicaps I had 88, 89 and yeah, those, they're kind of hard to recover from.

[B]

That hurts in an hoa.

[A]

But when you, yeah, Florida, if you, if you start hitting stuff though, and you start, you know, really putting yourself involved. I was making fun of Wyatt a little bit because, you know, we were talking after the first couple days of shooting bad, you're like, oh, we're out of the overall. And you know, I laughed because I said, hey, you're never out of the overall. I said, you just got it, you just gotta turn it on. I mean, you gotta run, you gotta start going to work and start closing scores and closing boxes and, and running stuff because if you run enough stuff, you can clean up those mistakes on the beginning. But you know, a lot of people, I think they, you know, they have that 80 need, you know, that those scores that would put them out of the overall, you know, so called. And then they give up. You know, they're just like, they stop hunting for those events. And I was thankful that, that I, I was able to, to keep fighting regardless of how, how low I was on the, where I was on the board. Just, you know, give my best efforts moving forward. But, but you know, other people that shot really good. Like I said, just Austin won the runner up in the overall. Madison Oswald, who was on the show, she won the lady one champion overall. Wyatt Debris, who was on the show before, one junior champion overall. You know, Tank Lunsford, veteran champion, he shot great. He had a 1243 out of, out of 1300. So those are just some of the kind of the highlights that I seen that really performed well in the, in the out of state category and, and then in the, the, the all around. You know, I want to give a Shout out to Nico. He won runner up with a 391 and that was probably the best I've ever seen him shoot. So you know,

[B]

according to. According to Randy, Nico should be working. Just saying.

[A]

I. He shot fantastic, you know. And, and Barrett, he broke a 385. I got to watch him shoot the handicap on Sunday and he broke the first 50 out. Yeah, I thought he was gonna win that handicap. And then we just got to the back 50 and the targets obviously were a lot different than the front 50. And you know, things were jumping right when he was shooting and it just kind of didn't work out. You know how that is.

[B]

But well, it looks like on your squad, you, Barrett and. And Gooch won sub vet. So you had three all around winners on your squad. So.

[A]

Yeah, it was, it was, it was good. I mean we had fun. Tank won the. Won the all around for veteran and actually Harlan shot really well too. I mean he had a389 out of. Out of 401. The won the double A champion. But that's. They didn't have triple A at the. So it was. It was maxed out. But all in all, you know, like I said, I think this is me speaking. They're doing a really good job at Florida. I mean, this is one of the hats I got. You know, they sell out pretty quickly, hats and shirts. Their merchandise is really cool. They did a big bag giveaway.

[B]

Who won the bag?

[A]

It was a young lady and I couldn't remember her name, Rick, but she was like a 22 yard yardage newer shooter a couple years in and she won it. And, and I talked to Tom and he said, you know, the bag was a $3,800 bag and you know, it ended up. They ended up making it work, obviously, but so many people played that, you know, that bag option and.

[B]

Yeah, and.

[A]

And you know, just a luck of the draw. But you know, I definitely played it and I thought it was a. I thought it was.

[B]

Did they not shoot off for it? I thought they were shooting off.

[A]

No, it's just a. It's just a. You put your name in and then they pull one. One ticket out and one ticket.

[B]

Oh, I thought it was a shoot off. I think they. They should have done a shoot off for it. That have been cool.

[A]

Yeah, you could. The problem is. And the reason why. And I asked about that. The reason why they didn't do a shoot off is because they had so many other shoot offs and the time constraints at 8pm that they didn't want to add another thing that could take 45 minutes or an hour because when they got done shooting on Sunday and I was there all the way to the end to pick stuff up, they shot until on Sunday to finish the handicap, the doubles, the overalls and all around. They shot until 750 and it had to be done really. So at 7:50 they got the last shot off. Right. So you start adding, you know, that other, you know, other shoots for other things at Florida in that week. Yeah, I just think, you know, they don't have the time. And you know, Diane, she did a great job pushing them through and getting them done, which, you know, hats off to her for doing that. It was not easy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then getting everybody out of there and getting them on the road, I mean it was, it was crazy wild. But, but the good news is, and this is, this is something that I, that I want people to heckle about and to send, send in messages. But I did see our old friend Randy Ross and Nora Ross down there at Florida and I, I talked to her more about being on the show a little bit and Randy and, and you know, I think we're moving her in the right direction. But if anybody wants to send in some messages and say, hey, Randy North, Nora nor getting Nora on the show, I, I think that'd be helpful. It wouldn't hurt anything. It wouldn't, it wouldn't, it wouldn't hurt anything. So, you know, she's, she's down there and she was watching some people shoot and it's always fun to run into the legends of the sport whenever you get a chance. And you know, I know they're always down there and they've been long time friends.

[B]

Oh yeah, no, absolutely. We, we spent a little time with them and stuff. Couple nights sitting out, chatting to, telling old stories and you know, gotta see a good buddy of mine also down there besides Randy and Nora. But Keith Hilton, high tone, he's a, he's a watcher of the show. So yeah, it was good, it was great to see everybody, you know, had a lot of compliments from people. I even actually had a gentleman in the airport come up to me and, and I'd never seen the gentleman before. He was a newer shooter, just said, hey, really appreciate what you guys are doing. So we really appreciate that stuff folks. It's, you know, it means a lot

[A]

and you know, obviously we know that you guys love the, you know, the interviews and, and with the shooters and we stack them as much as we can and I appreciate you guys grueling through, you know, episodes with me and Ricky just, you know, kind of going over what happened. I do think it's important, though. I think there's. There's information here that I want people to be able to get if they want to know what happened to shoot, you know, listen to it. But ideally, you know, I want to be able to highlight other people's successes, you know, wherever they are when they do it. You know, we had some people that. That made some accomplishments for the very first time. They shared them with us, which was really, really cool. And. And, you know, another legend that I got to see down there that I was thankful to see was K. I mean, Koi.

[B]

Yep. He.

[A]

He was riding around and kind of watching and the shoot offs, and on Friday, they had the KOE handicap, and that was, you know, an amazing event because he got to be there to, you know, to watch his event and kind of see it go down. But, you know, for anybody that hasn't ever got to meet a legend like that, I mean, it's. It's. It's really cool.

[B]

He's a good guy.

[A]

When we had him on the show, you know, his. One of his things is like, you know, he shows up and nobody knows. Nobody knows who I am and this, that, and the other thing. But I think it's important for the people that are new into the sport to acknowledge and recognize, you know, the people that laid the foundation, people that did the work and won and created, you know, what we have today as the sport of trap shooting, whether you like it, don't like it, whether you want it to be better, worse, whatever. But they're still the forefathers. They're still the people that laid the foundational work. And, you know, the other thing that I want to say is I'm really, really happy for everyone that I see that is doing something to try to promote the trap shooting, whether it's, you know, trap life 247 or the other podcasts that are out there. You know, I'm so happy that. That, you know, in doing this, there's other people that said, hey, you know, we want to be a part of it, too. We want to do something just because I think, you know, Rising Tide lifts all ships. And I think the more people that are inspired to do a podcast or do posts or do whatever about trap shooting, if you can get one more person to do it because of the content that you're releasing, then it's a win. It's a big win. And I think I Think as a

[B]

community, we're all shooting sports, Zach, that, that not just trap, but you just getting people out there shooting and, and promoting, you know, shooting sports and, you know, and. And, you know, our second amendment, you know, that's absolutely. That's one of the best things.

[A]

I had a few people come up to me and they're like, you know, you've done so much hard work on this and that. And, you know, and. And they're like, you know, do you. Do you ever get bothered when other people, you know, do this or, you know, come out with that? I'm like, you know, I'm so happy for it. I think it's a great, great. It's the greatest thing in the world that other people are trying and doing and building and, and coming out and that. That makes me ecstatic, honestly. And I, I'm. I'm one of those people where I never think, you know, it's not like there's an endless. There's an endless supply of resources in this world. We can, you know, there's plenty of love for everyone and why not?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, grow it and do it and, and get the information out there and be happy with, you know, and that's. That's the way I think about it. So. So shout out to everyone that's doing their own thing in the trap shooting world, whether you're posting, whether you're making videos, whether you're taking pictures, you know, keep it up. Keep doing the right thing, you know, and promoting your local shoots. I mean, inviting people out for the first time, you know, giving them a box of shells, giving them a gun. I mean, that's what it's going to take to really.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Keep this thing rolling and moving forward.

[B]

Forward. And on that freight train, on.

[A]

On the train. The train keeps it rolling. So. Well, Ricky, I know we've got a lot of stuff going on. We're, you know, we're moving forward into the trap shooting community season. Anybody that wants to ask us questions, send them in, like, share, subscribe, get your merch at the Trap talk store. You know, Ricky's always threaded looking good in that traditional.

[B]

I'm always wearing merch, unlike Zach.

[A]

Hey, I'm wearing merch. I just rep other people's merch. I'm telling you, this hat right here, it's got the American flag on it. It's got the 110th Florida on it. I'm. I'm liking this. This Richardson 112. So thank you guys for tuning in. Another episode. We'll keep them coming, and we appreciate all the love and support. We'll see you soon on a trap line near you.

[B]

Thanks, everyone. Good luck to you.

[A]

You know, Rick, I. 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 sh. Shot with the looping. You know, tell the folks what they need to know about that system.

[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.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, if you talk about that J Hook with Sean 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 since the beginning. They love trap shooting. They're great people. Give them a shot shot, folks. They make a great product.

[B]

Take Aim Technologies.