Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:13 AM CDT
Lifelong hunter puts his own touch on hobby of sporting clays
By BONNIE CLARK, Features Writer
bclark@jg-tc.com
Olde Barn Sporting Clays, about a mile-and-a-half east of Oakland, may be a third career for Bill McQueen of Oakland, but it’s the one he plans to keep.
“They’ll probably have to carry me out of here feet first,” he said.
McQueen and his wife, Jo Ann, opened the sporting clays course nearly 19 years ago at the urging of their sons, Mark and Stephen.
“Then Mark stepped out on his own and Stephen had a nice job and he moved on,” McQueen said. “And here’s dad, still here.”
McQueen, now 72, worked for DeKalb Seeds in Tuscola for 20 years and later he and his wife sold manufactured housing for 25 years, and, for a time, he and a son did carpentry repair.
Hunting, however, is in his blood and it’s difficult to believe his sons had to talk too hard to convince him to open the sporting clays range where he could shoot any time he wanted.
The range has 25 shooting stations laid out over 80 acres. There are 50 presentations of clay targets to shoot. Each station — 15 on the front course and 10 on the back — has a wooden shooting platform or deck.
Gravel paths wind through the woods for walking from station to station, or to follow in one of six golf carts that are available.
At each station, buttons launch clay targets from electric traps run by batteries. At one, the targets might fly across a clearing, while an instant later, one might come from behind. At others, a target will float in toward the shooter, or travel straight up. There are also a couple of rabbit traps, McQueen said.
Targets may be activated as singles or as simultaneous pairs.
McQueen changes the trajectory of the clays often to keep shooters from anticipating shots.
“If I get a target I can’t hit, I’ll stand there and shoot until I can. I don’t like to set something that nobody can hit.
“The hardest thing to do to keep everybody happy is to keep it set where it’s a challenge for the guy who shoots tournament targets, but keep it easy enough that the average guy who just likes to shoot can get a decent score.
“If you get proficient at this, you’re a pretty good shot,” he said.
“You can come out here and, if you’re a novice and don’t know anything about your gun, you might get 25 or 30 out of 100. If you know how to shoot a gun decently, and can get 40 to 60 percent, you’ve shot well.
“There are people who will break 80, 90 or 95, depending on how difficult the traps are set,” he said.
“We fire over 800,000 rounds a year out here — strictly shotgun. I don’t care for the high-powered rifles. This is a shotgun sport. It’s supposed to simulate hunting.”
A Ladies Shoot, for the novice shooter, is held annually in August. Prizes include a shotgun and many door prizes.
The Couples Shoot is held a day later. “We may have 50 couples — young couples, men and wives, fathers and daughters, whatever. It’s my best week,” McQueen said, “the one I enjoy the most.”
He said he gives away a couple of shotguns at the Couples Shoot based on lucky score.
“If you shoot a 53 and 53 is the number drawn out the hat, then you win. If there are three scores of 53, then we have a shoot-off. I enjoy that.”
Snacks are always available in the large, comfortable club house. On Sundays, meals are provided by the McQueens at no charge.
“We’ve done that since we started,” he said. “If you come in and want a bite to eat, it’s on me. If you show up on Sunday, you’ll get fed.
“It might be chili, hamburgers, or a lot of times it’s pork chops, whatever, but it’s always home cooking. My wife and I do the cooking. It’s not too much work once you get organized.”
Meals are served in the club house in the winter, or at picnic tables in an outside pavilion in the summer.
While many women enjoy shooting, others will accompany their husbands to pull targets, or just sit by the fire in the clubhouse, take a nap, or read a book.
McQueen, who scores in the high 80s, low 90s, said he loves to shoot, loves the business.
“It’s just a part of me. I love to hunt... always have.”
He said he goes snow goose hunting in Canada every year with five or six other hunters, and, while hunting is his first love, he also enjoys taking photographs in the wild.
“In 2006, there were four of us, and our decoys were all set when, I would estimate, 30,000 to 50,000 birds came over us. I’ve got it on film and it’s still awesome.
“You’ve got your dogs, and your equipment all set and when you get a day like that, you’ll remember it forever.”
Turkey hunting was his sport for several days in a row a couple of weeks ago.
“They’re a big, ugly bird, but they’re fun. We’ve been getting up at 3:30 in the morning and going out and I haven’t had a single shot. But, I always think, ‘that’s OK, I might tomorrow.’”
Contact Bonnie Clark at bclark@jg-tc.com or 238-6847.
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Rohn Gordon wrote on May 3, 2009 6:43 AM: