Youth Learn Wingshooting From Local Olympian
Young Outdoorsmen United held a youth wingshooting seminar on Saturday with the assistance of USA Olympic trap and skeet team member Allen Treadwell.
Treadwell participated in the 2004 summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and currently holds multiple national, international, and world records in trap and skeet shooting.
The event was held in Anderson, in a field next to the McDonald County Schools’ Superintendent’s Office.
“We’re giving youth the opportunity to shoot clay targets with tips from (Treadwell),” said Dan Fuller of Young Outdoorsmen United.
The event started with a safety meeting headed up by Missouri Conservation Agent Adam Strader. He gave the youth several pieces of advice, including always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, always use the safety until ready to fire, and always leave the action open.
“The most important thing you can take home with you is a good attitude about your safety awareness,” Fuller said.
Treadwell, who put on a shooting demonstration for the youth, said, “I have shot a shotgun on every continent in the world. It’s
pretty cool to be doing it in the county I live in.” He lives on the eastern side of McDonald County, west of Seligman.
He said the shotgun is an instinctive gun. He taught them how to determine their dominant eye and told them to let the barrel be an extension of their eye. He made the youth promise not to try what he was going to show them. Then he started shooting clay targets. He shot some with the gun over his head, upside down over his head, behind his back, between his legs and holding the gun straight out.
“Growing up I tried a lot of sports …. My mom always wanted me to play tennis,” he said, as he tossed a tennis ball into the air — and shot it. He did the same with a racquetball and a golf ball. Next he tossed fruits and vegetables into the air and shot them. He started with a head of lettuce, then bell peppers, oranges, apples, lemons, limes, grapes, and then finally, some aspirin, which appeared as a poof of white when he shot them.
Treadwell explained he would often run out of clay targets and so he had to come up with other ways to practice.
After the demonstration, youth got to try their hands at shooting clay targets.
Luke Guss of Nevada said it was “Fun. I shoot all the time.” Asked what he thought of the demonstration, he said, “I liked it. It was interesting to see him shoot aspirin.”
Chase Lowe of Bella Vista, Ark., said, “It’s fun. I haven’t really done it for that long. I’m not really good at it, but I enjoy it.”
Regarding the demonstration, he said, “It was pretty neat seeing that guy hit all those targets. It’s neat seeing how good he is at it.”
Paige Newhard of Anderson, when asked how she did, said, “Good. I hit all of them. I’ve been shooting since I was fairly little.”
Asked about the demonstration, she said, “It was really cool. I thought it was very entertaining.”
Jarek Jordan of Anderson said, “I missed all of them so far. The owner of the gun said the shot (pattern) was a little tight.”
Hunter Keen of Rogers, Ark., said he did “Not too bad — five out of six. I like skeet shoots. I did one with my church. I like shooting a shotgun.”
Regarding the demonstration, he said, “That was awesome.”
“It’s going good,” Fuller said as the event unfolded. “We have beautiful weather. We have kids that are fired up after seeing that shooting demonstration and ready to test their skills and see if they can hit an aspirin. He makes it look easy. They’ll have a greater appreciation for what he does. This affords the opportunity for kids that would never get to do this.”