Archive: Around Town

You may not have wanted to be a turkey last Sunday.  It's not that they were being shot at the Lansing Rod and Gun Club's annual Turkey Shoot, but over 200 of them were being awarded as prizes to winners of the annual target shooting competition.  "We have a lot of people who come here, said club president Micky Brill.  "We have a lot of turkeys to give away."


The club has been a fixture in Ludlowville since 1955, and has grown to about 150 members.  It encompasses about 160 acres around Salmon Creek with the club house just below Red Bridge.  The Turkey Shoot is held the Sunday before the opening of gun hunting season every year to raise funds for building and land purchase, and is only one of several events held throughout the year.  Food was served in the clubhouse, and more turkeys were being raffled there as well as a Thompson combination gun.


But the main event was the competition, and people were lining up to shoot at pie plates.  For three dollars you could buy a chance at hitting a pie plate.  The plates were set up in fives, and when all five were sold the competition began, with the best shot earning a turkey.  A pistol event was at the next range, and a running deer target event at the one next to that.  You had to hit the deer target as it moved along a cable, shooting it as it passed between two posts.


At the same time trap shooting competitions were being held.  " We shoot 'wipe your eye,'" explained Brill.  "That's where you have five stations and you have two people on each station.  You shoot from 27 yards and the first guy shoots.  If he misses the clay pigeon, the second guy will shoot.  Whoever hits all of the targets naturally wins.  If there is a tie, then we have a shoot-off."

Greg McEver was excited to try the plates competition.  He came with his dad Doug to see how well he could do.  "I'm looking forward to hitting the plate and winning a turkey," he said.  He and Doug hunt together.  "I like the peace, quiet, and the adrenaline rush when that first animal comes up," he says.  After the shooting, both McEvers also came to eat.  "They've got very good food," Greg said.


Marty Jones was busy selling raffle tickets for the club, while wife Cathy manned a table where she was telling people about their Battling Bucks Taxidermy business.  This retirement business keeps the couple busier than they were when they were working.  While they get some business by appearing at events like the Turkey Shoot, over 17 years as a taxidermist brings a lot of customers by word of mouth.  "We do our own tanning in-house, and he flushes the hides," Cathy says.  "I sometimes help with the washing and the wrapping of the hides.  And I do all the woodwork."

She says Marty is an artist, and pointed with pride to samples they had brought along.  "He takes pride in what he does," she says.  "He won an award last year at the United Taxidermists of New York convention in Syracuse.  He was one of four people who participated, mounting a deer head for the seminars.  The next day the judge came and chose his."


Brill says that between members helping with the buildings and the money raised at events, the club has been able to expand.  Recently they added an outdoor kitchen used for summer clam bakes.  The money is also used to provide scholarships, as well as donations to the Walk For Life and CROP Walk.  "We donate quite a bit of money to these different causes," says Brill.

Brill has been a member for close to 30 years.  "My father helped build this club," he says, noting that he literally helped build the club house.  "I grew up here in Ludlowville, so I've been around this club all my life."  But it is clear from the crowd that he is not the only enthusiast, as volunteers call out the names of the next shooters.  The excitement is punctuated by the crack of shot guns, as more winners rack up turkeys.

It's the volunteers that make the event happen.  "Everybody pitches in to help," says Brill.  "That's what makes it a nice club."

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