Moriah Christian was the top finisher in the shooting competition in the recent Squirrel Master Classic near Montgomery, Ala. The event, created by Buckmasters' Jackie Bushman, features 4-H Shooting Sports competitors hunting squirrels in the field and shooting targets on the range.Friends and neighbors, it's true confession time again. I don't know if some of you out there will agree, but here goes: The world is getting to be one messed-up place. It seems some of the basic truths and traditions many of us hold so dear are often questioned and vilified.
What is wrong with people today?
When I was a kid, right after the last ice age (it really wasn't that long ago), it was considered perfectly normal for boys (and some girls) to run around the countryside with a BB or pellet gun. We shot a lot of pop cans and a few birds. (I was allowed to shoot "nuisance" species like English sparrows and starlings but not songbirds.) For the most part we were in training with our marksmanship until we graduated to the next gun, generally a .22 rifle.
All jokes from "A Christmas Story" aside, I don't remember any of us getting hurt with a BB gun, and I am pretty sure most of us turned out OK. We grew up to be doctors and lawyers and mailmen and game wardens - you know, regular people. I don't recall one mass murderer in the bunch.
If you listen to much of the media and popular culture today, guns (even BB guns and other air rifles) and hunting usually get a bad rap. There is an increasing need for hunting and shooting sports to be shown in a positive light, especially for young people.
Four years ago, Jackie Bushman of Buckmasters fame did something about that and created the Squirrel Master Classic. The friendly competition puts together teams that consist of an outdoors TV personality, a young person involved in 4-H Shooting Sports, outdoors writers and a squirrel dog handler. The teams compete in a morning and an evening squirrel hunt, with a shooting competition at midday. This year the range was supervised by world champion shooter Doug Koenig.
The team with the most squirrels and most points earned in the shooting competition wins the overall contest. The six 4-H shooters in this year's Squirrel Master Classic had to compete with other 4-Hers for the privilege of attending the event. The only girl who attended, petite Moriah Christian, outdid all of her colleagues during the shooting competition.
The hunting and shooting competition is done with air rifles by Gamo (gamo.com), the event's sponsor. All of the hunters this year were supplied with Gamo's new Swarm .22 pellet rifle, which features a 10-shot detachable magazine, eliminating the need to reload after each shot.
The event is held at the historic Southern Sportsman Hunting Lodge (southernhunting.com) near Montgomery, Ala. The lodge has a rich 35-year history of hosting hunters in the state's famed Black Belt region by providing great Southern cooking and wonderful hospitality in the middle of some of the state's best deer and turkey hunting in the state (as well as lots of squirrels).
Hunting with dogs was great. The dog with our team was Mo, and he was accompanied by handler/owner Butch Morton from Blue Ridge, Ga. I know a good squirrel dog when I see one, and brother, let me tell you, Mo is a squirrel dog. It was going on 70 degrees this day, but Mo ran his heart out and treed squirrels all day long. I bet he slept good that night.
While the competition is intense for the coveted squirrel trophy awarded to the winners, the real emphasis here is on the young hunters. Gamo president Keith Higginbotham, the TV personalities attending this year - Bushman; Michael Waddell and Travis "T-Bone" Turner of "Michael Waddell's Bone Collector"; Kenneth Lancaster of "Antler Insanity"; Ralph and Vickie Cianciarulo of "Archers Choice"; Richard Eutsler of "Airgun WebTV" - and others at the event all recognize the need to encourage and nurture young people in hunting and shooting sports.
In the end, T-Bone's team won (I was on his team!), and while we were very pleased, I saw no smiles bigger than those of the young 4-H shooters. They had a day in the beautiful Alabama woodlands following some feisty squirrel dogs and shooting air rifles.
It was a day they will not forget anytime soon, and that, my friends, is the whole idea of the Squirrel Master Classic.
"The Trail Less Traveled" is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.