AT THE Woods Point Gun Club, the competitors for the Howqua Championships faced a difficult day of shooting.
The weather was cold and clear, but the light was poor.
The clubs is located in a valley surrounded by mountains and tall timber, which means that at the mid-year shoots, the shadows over the ground make the targets extremely difficult to see.
So this shoot was challenging, as can be seen by the final scores.
However, this didn’t stop Trevor Ewert and Phillip Desmond from shooting perfect 15/15 scores in the eye opener.
The first championship was 25 targets double barrel supported by long-term sponsor, Scott McKenzie of Jamieson River Autos.
Mick Ward returned to top form to shoot a perfect 25/25 to take the JRA sash outright as well as the AA Grade prize.
Desmond’s 24/25 was enough for AA 2nd.
A Grade was easily won by Laurie Poile 23/25 from Tom Apps 21/25.
Phil McDonough for his first shoot in six months took B Grade, 21/25 with Daniel Chinn 2nd, 19/25.
Now that he has regrown his beard after ‘Movember’, Ron Press regained enough strength to take C Grade 21/25 with Steven Bedggood in second place 20/25.
The main event was the Phil McDonough sponsored Deauville Quadruples, 80 targets of sheer difficulty.
Shot in randomly selected teams of two, they had to try and shoot four targets at a time with only four shots between them.
The targets were hard and the scores were low.
The best team was Daryl Ewert and John Winters with a final score of 53/100 after a shoot-off with Tom Apps and Garry Ewert who took 2nd place, 47/100.
Trevor Ewert and David Fraser won third with 46/100 while Dave Hoon and Lachlan O’Halloran rounded out the winners’ list on fourth with 49/100 after a shoot-off with Ward and Bedggood.
The day finished with 15 pair of double rise tower sponsored by Steven and Cassie Bedggood.
After shooting 24/30 each, Trevor Ewert and Mick Ward shot off for the sash with Ward taking the honours 41/50 to Ewert’s 38/50.
Daryl Ewert won third with 20/30 followed by McDonough in fourth place, 19/30.
Mick Ward also claimed the Steven and Cassie Bedggood High Gun Sash with 89/135.
A big pot of biting chilli con carne, Bushies Bakery pies and a barbecue kept everyone warm and well-fed.
The next shoot is the Matlock Championships on Sunday, 26 July, at 10.30am.
