Throughout the Trap Shooting Season, many APTA shooters travel all over Canada and the U.S. to represent the Atlantic Provinces at many of the largest organized Trap Shoots.
June 30 - July 3, 2016
Hamilton Gun Club
Report by: Andrea Bassan
A group of shooters from the Atlantic Provinces attended the 2016 Canadian Trapshooting Championships held in June at the Hamilton Gun Club in Ontario.
Congratulations to all shooters, to Preliminary Day winners Monty Petipas and John Tucker and special congratulations to Jack Nicolle – the 2016 Canadian Handicap Champion with a CTA record score of 100 / 100. Great shooting Jack!
NS & NB Shooters: L to R: Jason Thomas, Jack Nicolle, Jamie LeBlanc (ON shooter but formally of NB), Reynold D'Entremont, Aubrey Spinney, Steven D'Entremont, Herbie Nickerson, Gerritt van Raalte, Janaya Nickerson, Doug Blades.
NL Crew: L to R: Peter Tucker, Monty Petipas, John Tucker, Old Man Bailey, Troy Coldwell and Andrea Bassan
Presenting Jack with his trophy is Dwight Smith - Canadian Trapshooting Association President
Johnny Tucker. C class preliminary singles champ.
Monty Petipas. D class preliminary doubles champ.
February 22 - 28, 2016
Tucson Trap and Skeet, Tucson, Arizona
Report by: Doug Blades
After returning from this tournament last year, I said that I would not hesitate to go again and I didn’t. John Nichols, Herbie Nickerson, and I made the trip to Tucson Arizona to attend the Spring Grand tournament for the second year in a row. Once again “winter” in Tucson was a welcome change from winter in Nova Scotia. Temperatures averaged between 26 and 30 degrees Celsius, and the wind was minimal all but for one day when it was a steady 30mph Easterly (Murphy’s law made sure this happened on doubles and handicap events!)
The shooting highlight was the championship singles event on February 27th. John Nichols started the morning with 100 straight as did another gentleman on our squad hailing from Kansas. I dropped one target early but held on for a 99. The afternoon saw another 99 from myself, and a 97 from John. My 198/200 was just enough to force a 4-way tie for A class champion. The shoot-offs were called late in the day and so they took place under the lights. Only one of the other three A class shooters joined me for the shoot-off, which went three rounds. I won with a 22-25-25, and a trophy returned to the Atlantic Provinces! John Nichols also earned a full yard punch with a handicap score of 97 on February 26th, while in the same event Doug Blades shot a 96 for a half-yard punch. This now puts both shooters on the 24.5 yard line.
The facility was amazing and every aspect of the shoot was well organized from office work to reloading trap houses. With 968 total registered shooters it somehow is not as overwhelming as one might think. If you have the chance to escape our winter and do some trap shooting, I suggest checking out the Spring Grand at Tucson Trap & Skeet Club.
