What an outstanding day for the Fudd! This past Saturday saw another great Fudd shoot at the Hamilton Angling and Hunting Association.
To start off, a hearty thank you to:
The Hamilton Angling and Hunting Association for the use of the range and kitchen. It was wonderful to have an indoor space after the shoot, and, as always, the range was excellent. Thank you!
Chris H and Geoff M for the wonderful food! Chris, your chili warmed our cold bones and Geoff, you are truly a master of the carrot cake. Thank you!
To Rob W for another great course. Lots of grumbles and smiles. Well done!
To Marla W for the delicious chocolate chip cookies. Total yum!
To all those that set up and took down the course. Your speed and thoroughness with the process is truly impressive. Under 20 minutes for take down… simply awesome! Thank you.
On with the shoot!
The day dawned cool at 7C and sunny with no wind. People started arriving about 8:30 am and we were in full setup mode by 9:00 AM.
Setup wrapped about 9:45 AM and the 25 shooters had completed sign in. After the standard safety briefing we opened the sight in range so that users could get some time in with rigs that they don’t often shoot. Nearly everyone showed up with something different, including 8 pistol shooters and 6 shooting iron sight rifles! Plus, three shooters, Ashley W, Nathan S and Rob W, that shot the entire match standing!
The shoot got underway just before 10:30 AM and still the wind was quiet! We all got to enjoy Rob W’s interpretation of a full-sized kill zone! To his credit, none of the targets were smaller than ½” and those were up close. The max distance was 34 yards. Definitely a sub-500 fps friendly course.
Things moved along smoothly and still the wind stayed away! It only started playing about in the last 30-ish minutes of the shoot. Along the way we enjoyed hot chocolate and scrumptious homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Shooting wrapped up about 12:30 PM and we had the course down and score tallied straight away.
We then adjourned to the club house for a delicious chili and cake feast. It was nice to have everyone seated together, sharing stories and enjoying the comradery.
As we tucked into the carrot cake, Jeff H shared highlights from the past season including:
Lots of new shooters at HAHA and Port
Renewed interest from US shooters with John C making nearly every match in Port and another 5 joining for the Nationals
Our highest ever participate rate at the Nationals with 37 shooters
Conversation about increasing publicity for matches
Participating at the World FT Championship in Northern Ireland, with Joel G finishing 3rd. An outstanding result and the best ever performance by a Canadian.
We wrapped the day with comments about the next Worlds in 2027 in Calgary and encouragement to see everyone at the final match on November 15th in Port.
A final thank you to all those that joined us for the day and the season.
See you all again soon.
Be safe, shoot straight and shoot often
HAHA Match Directors Bob W and Jeff H
For those that keep track of scores, here is the list with the Fudd specific classes using Hunter rules:
Brian W
72
Hunter
Iron Sight Pistol
Nathan S *
55
Hunter
Iron Sight Pistol
Geoff Mac
85
Hunter
Iron Sight Rifle
Bob W
76
Hunter
Iron Sight Rifle
Tony L
70
Hunter
Iron Sight Rifle
Rob W *
62
Hunter
Iron Sight Rifle
Ashley W *
59
Hunter
Iron Sight Rifle
Lanny
119
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Howard S
116
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Chris H
115
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Dennis E
114
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Alan G
113
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Dave D
110
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Larry Y
108
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Marc S
108
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Rob G
107
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Ted M
97
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Raymond C
94
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Magdy H
89
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Andrew
84
Hunter
Unlimited PCP
Mike P
115
Hunter
Unlimited Piston
Adam
113
Hunter
Unlimited Piston
Joel G
111
Hunter
Unlimited Piston
Tom K
110
Hunter
Unlimited Piston
Dave W
84
Hunter
Unlimited Piston
* Nathan, Ashley, and RobW shot the entire match standing.
The weather for this weekend turned out perfect – not too hot, a few breezes, and NO RAIN!
A HUGE THANK YOU to the organizing team of Jeff, Bob, Joel (+ me) who have been working on this event for months.
Plus, of course all the people who helped to get things ready, to transport things, to prep and setup the course, to run the match, to run the chronograph station, to be course marshals, to process the scores, to tear down and pack up… This event could not happen without all these people putting in their time, effort, and positive support to make this happen.
Our Course Marshals for the weekend were: Joel as Chief Marshal with his team of Jeff, Marc, Dennis, and Richard T.
We had 37 shooters complete the 2-day event. Shooters in the Open and WFTF Divisions shot the Red Course on Saturday and the White course on Sunday. Hunter and Modified did the reverse. Each course was 10 lanes with 3 targets per lane and 2 shots per target. We did have one exception on Lane #1 of the White course since we had a very elevated target to provide some additional challenge for those shooting standing. We set separate targets for the Modified Division shooters on this lane only.
We had two juniors out, as well as several shooters who only started shooting Field Target this year – it was great to have them out and hope to see them at many more matches to come.
We again welcomed several US shooters to the Port Colborne club – it was great to have you join us again!
The courses were planned to be fairly challenging, but my plan crashed into reality and a couple last minute layout changes meant that they both ended up a little easier than planned. That is not to say that they were easy – no one cleared either course on either day. (I will make another post with some of the details of Troyer factors and K% for those who want more details.)
A few highlights: In the Hunter Division, Mike P. edged out Kelsie M. by just 3 points – each of them knocked down 48 of 60 targets on their best day. In Modified Division, Richard S. only left 3 targets standing on Sunday, and Brandon made 55 of 60 in the Open Division. Joel showed us the skill that earned him a medal at the WFTF World Championships a few weeks ago and only left 2 targets standing on Sunday. This was the best result of any division on either day – and done with a 10.5 FPE, spring powered rifle! These results definitely give the rest of us something to shoot for.
The Canadian National Champions are the top Canadian shooters in each class.
Thank you also to the Port Colborne & District Conservation Club for providing the awesome facility for this match (and to Steve and Frances for a great wrap up lunch!).
Thank you also to our sponsors who made the prize table a huge hit again this year and caused some excitement for those first few names drawn in each round! Make sure that you look to our sponsors when you need anything airgun related.
AGS: https://www.airgunsource.ca/
Airgun Archery Fun: https://airgunarcheryfun.ca/
Plus generous prize donations from:
Peter E.
Andre N.
And Ten-Ring (from the CAF forum)
Of course, there is no point doing all this work if we do not have people come out to shoot – so thank you to everyone who came out to shoot – several on both sides of the border drove almost 8 hours just to join us for this event!
Thank you to everyone that was a part of this event, I really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing many of you for the rest of the matches this season and of course at the Nationals next year.
Another perfect day for FT at HAHA! The day started coolish and quickly climbed up to summertime temps, reaching 29C! Combined with very little wind we had near perfect conditions for the “Can You Clean It” challenge.
First, some thank you shout outs!
Hamilton Angling and Hunting Association for graciously providing the rifle range for the match, thank you!
Everyone that helped setup and take down the course. It’s truly a pleasure to witness how well you all worked together, thank you!
To all those that made it out to shoot and observe. You are why we do this, thank you!
To our shoot-off contestants. More on this in a bit. Thank you for the extra excitement!
Folks started arriving at 8:15 AM and we got the course step up by 9:40 AM. It took a bit longer this time as we painted targets.
Setup was followed by the safety / shooters meeting where we went through the standard safety protocols as well as talking about the upcoming Fudd match and the CAFTA AGM (Nov 1). Then we opened the sight in range and started the shoot at 10:00 AM.
This one was a “Can You Clear It” challenge. What is that you ask? It is where we go outside the typical technical, gear focused parts of FT and explore the mental side. If offers a moderately difficult course to see how many shooters can knock down all the targets. Like last year, we kept targets mostly full sized with nothing smaller than 1” and the distances between 10 yards and 45 yards. It sounds easy on paper… then we go to the real world where the results speak for themselves…
Fascinatingly, this year no one cleared the course! We did have a handful of people get tantalizingly close and a few great scores including a three-way tie for the Hunter Piston group with scores of 112/120. For perspective, that translates to 56 / 60 for the Open/Modified/WFTF groups. Outstanding indeed!
Beyond the ties, notable performances were turned in by Richard S getting the closest at 59/60 (Modified PCP), Chris H with 57/60 (Modified PCP) and Mike H with 115/120 (Hunter PCP). Plus, a pile of season highs by multiple other shooters.
The highlight of the day was the Hunter Piston shoot off. After Rob, Tom and Tony agreed, we set up a formal shoot off. That meant:
We set out three targets, one for each shooter, at an unknown distance.
The shooters take two shots in seated, then progress to kneeling and standing if the targets are successfully knocked down.
The winner is the person who knocks down the most targets.
For this one, we used the deer targets and set them out at 33 ½ yards. All three shooters knocked them down for the seated position. Tony dropped out in the kneeling round to take third while Rob and Tom advanced to the standing round. Tom clinched first by edging Rob by a single shot!
Special mention to Tom who for the first time got the better of Tony after a season long back and forth where Tom typically came up 1 shot behind Tony. The friendly rivalry continues!
Excellent shooting and great entertainment! Thank you, Tom (1), Rob (2) and Tony (3)!!!
After that we pulled up the remaining targets. Everything was wrapped up and back in the shed by 1:30 PM.
A heads up for upcoming shoots:
Grenville, October 18th
Port Colborne, October 25th
“The Fudd” & AGM @ HAHA, November 1
Thank you everyone for a fantastic day shooting Field Target!
The day dawned cool and clear with first arrivals just before 8:00 AM. By 9:00 AM we were in full swing getting the course setup. Before going further, some thank yous!
Frist, a big thank you to everyone that helped with the setup and tear down. We always appreciate your efforts in setting up the course! You all have become a smooth working crew with the fastest turnarounds we’ve seen! THANK YOU!
Thank you also to HAHA Club for providing a fantastic place to shoot. For the first time in recent memory we had no wind, yup, that’s right no wind at HAHA! Quite an event.
Continuing the trend from the previous match, the course was more challenging as we ramped up for the Nationals next weekend in Port Colborne. We had a season high Troyer rating of 29.62, a smidge under the 30-rating designation for Expert. While a definite challenge the saving grace was the winds stayed down.
A couple of call outs:
High score: Richard S, 59/60
Sleeper score: Joel G, 55/60. After placing 3rd at WFTC2025 he came home and put on a masterful spring gun demonstration
New Hunter rivalry… Rob W tweaked Tony L by 1 with a 103. Kicker, he did it with a piston rig. Nice shooting Rob
Everything was wrapped up and back in the shed by 2:00 PM.
A heads up about upcoming shoots:
FT Nationals (2-day shoot), September 13/14 at Port Colborne
Grenville September 20th
Plus 5 more through October and November, see calendar
Thank you all for a fantastic day shooting Field Target!
With holidays and folks off to Ireland for the world match, I was not sure how many folks would be around for this one. We ended up with ten shooters, including two shooting FT for the first time. It was fairly hot, but with the humidity being quite low, it turned out to be ideal for a mid-August match. We did things differently for this one, using 17 lanes with three targets per lane on 16 of them and one lane with two targets. Shooting one shot per target, this layout gave us a 50 shot match. Personally, I really enjoy the challenge of the one shot per target format.
For this, his second match, Radek showed up with his dad, Oldo and his brother Mark, making this a great family outing. All of them did very well for being so new to the sport. Mark was shooting a break barrel with open sights, a challenge for even a very experienced shooter. It was great to meet them at this match and I look forward to seeing them at future matches.
Hunter springer was the largest group, with three shooters contending. Rob made the trip from the west and took top honours, just ahead of Blane. Mark did very well with the gun he had and seemed to have a great time, being taught by one of the best, Rob W.
Kim shot her usual great score followed by Oldo, who was very happy to knock a few down and hit many more.
Radek is improving very quickly, scoring a 38/50 on his second match and his first attempt at WFTF PCP, with a borrowed gun no less. I was able to take top spot this time, but I anticipate great competition in the near future.
The rest of the competitors were solo in their class. Jeff struggled with his holdover chart and still managed to knock a good number down, including some long ones. Richard shot his best match ever, was very please and rightfully so. Good shooting Richard!
Andre shot very well as usual, but unfortunately, at least for the group, shot his last match with us. He is retiring and he and his wife will be moving to France in the near future. Good luck to Andre and his wife, starting a new chapter in their lives. We will miss you my friend.
A big thank you to all that attended and to the Grenville club for the use of the grounds and equipment.
A reminder that the CAFTA Nations will take place at the Port Colborne FT Club on September 13th and 14th. I look forward to seeing everyone and enjoying a great weekend of camaraderie.
This was an awesome day to be out in the woods shooting Field Target. The temperature was comfortable, not too hot and humid, the sun came a went making the shadows change in the forest, and the breeze was a bit gusty, but not crazy.
Thank you to everyone who came out to make this a fun day. We had 17 shooters with a few of our regulars away, also a few of our regular shooters were out sick – best wishes to all for a speedy recovery. A different group of our regular shooters were waaay out of town at the WFTF World Championship in Northern Ireland. (Well done Team, and Way to go Joel!!) It is always great to have Bob at our matches, but I wish that he could have been with Team Canada for the Worlds instead this week, unfortunately the Air Canada strike took him out of the game.
In preparation for the Canadian Nationals coming up in less than 3 weeks, I wanted to try out a few different target positions and some lanes that have not seen action this season. It likely will not surprise anyone that not everyone was in love with all my targets…. A 1 inch squirrel target on a standing lane at a distance of only about 11 yards would not have been controversial at ground level, but it was slightly elevated and introduced a challenge to most shooters. The Troyer factor for this target including the extras for Standing and Extreme Elevation, still only came out to 22 – exactly the same as Woody on lane #2, but the squirrel only dropped 29% of the time while Woody dropped 76% of the time.
Shooters might be surprised that the longer target on that lane for standing shooters (the moose with the full sized KZ) actually had a higher Troyer (27) and got knocked down exactly the same number of times as the elevated squirrel. They were tied for the stingiest on the course. Marc was the only shooter to drop the squirrel with both shots, and Dennis was the only one to get the moose twice. (For those who wonder if the course designer has an advantage…. I hit the squirrel twice but did not drop it with either shot, and I dropped the moose once and hit one face-plate). Modified shooters on this lane had two different targets set out at longer-than-usual distances for the size of the KZ.
The highlights in terms of scoring were Tom AGAIN posting the best score in Hunter at an impressive 112 (he hit every target on the course and only 8 failed to drop). David D is still dancing on the verge of triple digits. In the Modified division, Rob G again lit things up with a 56 only missing 4 targets (he made ALL of the unnaturally long ones). Larry had a great day and set a new personal best for lanes cleared – his practice time at the club is paying off! In Open division, Dennis and Lanny were trading the lead back and forth all day and Lanny was up by two coming to their final lane…
Thank you to everyone who helped with setup and tear down and to our Marshalls for the day: Jeff, Ted, and Dennis.
Thank you to the Port Colborne club and members for making the range and facilities (and hot dogs!) available.
Upcoming FT Events:
HAHA September 6
Canadian 2025 Championships – Port Colborne September 13 & 14
Another wonderfully hot day of shooting at HAHA! Temps were into the mid/upper 30s with the humidity and started from the time that we setup the course.
Big thank you to everyone that helped with the setup and tear down. We always appreciate your efforts in setting up the course!
Thank you also to HAHA Club for providing a fantastic place to shoot. Being able to shoot from shaded positions made the day.
The course was more challenging as we ramp up for the Nationals in about a month. This meant pushing the reduced targets further out and mixing and matching kill zone sizes to keep everyone on their toes.
We continued the challenge targets for the Modified shooter too. Putting a 15 mm at 48 yards and a 25 mm at 58 yards.
Combined with the breeze that kicked up as the day went on, everyone had fun and a challenge.
A couple of call outs:
High score: Rob G 60/60
Sleeper score: Mike P 106/120 – standardized, he had the third highest score, and he was shooting Hunter PCP, i.e., positionals and mark 1 eyeball range finding. Well done, Mike!
Best Rivalry – Tom K and Tony L, once again they were separated by one shot. This time Tom came out ahead. Great shooting and awesome to watch!
New shooters – Ray C, Nathan S, David D, Dave W and Tracy – great to see you all again and the progress that you’re making!
Everything was wrapped up and back in the shed by 2:30 PM.
A heads up about upcoming shoots and important info:
Grenville, August 16th
FT Nationals Early Reg cutoff, August 22nd.
Port Colborne, August 23rd
HAHA, September 6th, last match before Nationals!
FT Nationals (2-day shoot), September 13/14 at Port Colborne,
Thank you everyone for a fantastic day shooting Field Target!
We had nine shooters turn out to what was a beautiful day with sunny skies and little to no wind in the forest. The course had a good variety of difficulty, ranging from quite easy to quite difficult. The standing and kneeling shot were makeable, but as we all know, they are always easy to miss.
Due to commitments or illness, we were missing a number of shooters resulting in a number of classes being populated by a single shooter. Guaranteed first place!
In WFTF Piston, Bob shot an impressive 48/60 and I know Ryan threw his rig together at the last moment, making his score quite respectable.
Andre was on fire in the Modified Open Piston, recording a 54/60. Great shooting Andre. Bill had difficulty holding the crosshairs still today, but if I am still coming out to every match and knocking down targets at 86 years old, I will be a very happy man.
Richard is still getting use to his new HFT500 and his scores are steadily rising. Kim and Blane shot really well in the two hunter classes as their scores indicate. Jeff shot in the Open Piston class, which includes the standing and kneeling shots, and I have noticed his scores climbing higher as well. I broke out the old Steyr LG100 for the WFTF PCP class and was well pleased with the score, but not with missing 3 out of the four standers. Easy to miss, like I said earlier.
A big thank you to all the shooters that made it out to the match and judging by the banter and laughter, enjoyed the day. Thanks to the Grenville Fish & Game Club for allowing us to set up and maintain this beautiful 30 lane course in the woods.
I am looking forward to the regular monthly match on July 19th and have already started planning and setting up our August, One & Done match, shooting 50 shots on 50 targets. This is my favorite monthly match at Grenville.
Keep shooting and I look forward to seeing you on a FT course.
For a day in July, the weather was pretty much as good as it gets in Canada. Compared to the heat and humidity of the last few week, have a temperature in the low to mid 80s (28 degrees C), it seemed quite pleasant in spite of very little breeze. We had 11 shooters make the trip and a big thankyou to all that showed up, particularly the folks from the west that have quite a long drive.
We had four classes that were one shooter shows. Even though Rob had no others in his class, a 105/120 in Piston Hunter is a great score. Andre is making a habit of doing very well and Pete was well pleased with his core as well. Jeff had some issues with his click chart that I am sure he will work out.
The Hunter PCP class was very well contested with Radek taking the top spot in his first FT match. Kim did great, hitting the triple digits as well. Marc was using a new gun and still managed to post a good score.
Ryan is getting serious now, shooting WFTF PCP and posted an impressive 55 to take top spot. Richard was shooting WFTF PCP for the first time and posted a very respectable score.
Harold and I (Tim) rounded out the group, both shooting WFTF Springer. Having a day where the crosshairs just stay still was something I really enjoyed today along with the score that came with it. Harold shot very well, but experienced what happens when your scope is a full rotation High. Having lost seven points to the mishaps, a 43 is a very good score.
Thanks to the Greville club for the use of a great facility and to Lynn who cut the grass on our side of the road to create a park like setting to our parking and greeting area. Thanks to all he shooters who always create a very friendly and enjoyable atmosphere.
A reminder of the One & Done, WFTF type match at Grenville on August 16th, using a one shot per target format. A big shout out to everyone about the CAFTA Nationals at the Port Colborne club on the second weekend of September. Friday the 12th will be the setup day and the 13th and 14th are the competition days, with a 60 shot match each day. I hope to see a great turnout shooting the excellent courses at Port.
