Profiles in the Shooting Sport

Whether shooting competitively or for recreation, shooting athletes are required to work hard, hone their skills, practice mental as well as physical conditioning, and be dedicated to the pursuit of excellence.

Four young shooters who epitomize a successful commitment to these values are profiled here as an example to the growing ranks of new shooting athletes. We congratulate them all for their enviable record of accomplishments!

Clay Target Shooting Star on the Rise

Cassie Ding had no intention of shooting a shotgun when she accompanied her younger brother and step dad to the range back in 2005. But, when her brother was reluctant to pull the trigger after getting his shoulder bruised from shooting clay targets a day earlier, Cassie stepped in.

“I told him that if I could do it, he could, too,” recalled Cassie. “I ended up shooting at 145 targets that day and liked it.”

Less than a year after firing her first round, and trying to compensate for her left eye dominance by looking over the barrel of the shotgun, Cassie was competing and winning at the Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championship in a field of 1,600 young shooters from 26 states.

“I figured out the whole eye deal and now shoot oneeyed,” says Cassie, who has been shooting competitively for three years now and is a freshman on a shooting scholarship at Lindenwood University in Missouri. “I’m hoping to get my coaching credentials in college, and I still have that whole Olympic dream thing.”

Cassie, whose mom also got involved in target shooting while in college, says she shoots about 100 targets a week in practice. “For me, it’s about quality targets, how well you are training on the targets, not quantity. I do a lot of mental training, preparing myself for competition, as well as the physical training.”

If getting to the Olympics is Cassie’s goal, there’s a good chance it will happen. She says goals are important in the shooting sports, even if others think they are too high. “You have to have a goal and stick with it, no matter what,” she urges. “That’s what gets you through the game .”

Once Cassie learned about national clay target competition, she set her mind to being a part of it, even before she had fired her first competitive shot. “I told my mom I would be going to nationals, which meant I had to first win at state and she said that was probably too high a goal to start out with. But, I did it.”

Cassie won the California state event and her team ended up third at nationals her first year. Since then, she has competed all over the nation, in several national clay target events and has her eye on the gold after faring well at the Junior Olympic Shooting Development Camp.

Austin McMahon has grown up on his family’s ranch in Washington State, where his interest in conservation began. At the age of 7 he began hunting quail and took his first mule deer. In the same year he started a long term project of developing and maintaining habitat for mule deer, chukar, quail and turkey.

It’s that dedication and drive that helped Austin win a prestigious Young Hunter Award from Safari Club International. The award, sponsored by Cabela’s, is based on five criteria. Applicants must submit a 500 word essay on “How to be a Role Model for Hunting,” and are judged on Community and Conservation Activities, Hunting, Fishing and Outdoor Experiences, and a recommendation from an SCI Chapter.

The selection committee gives points based on on the hunter’s ability to demonstrate they are a positive role model for the hunting community. Bonus points are awarded to the applicants if they have attended either the Apprentice Hunter Camp or the Student Week at the American Wilderness Leadership School.

Austin was a natural for the honor, having assisted several disabled youth, and first time hunters harvest those animals on the family ranch. During the past two years, Austin has helped with the SCI Foundation Youth Camps.

Austin also joins his older brother, Trevor, as recipients of the SCI Young Hunter Award. Trevor received his award in 2005.

He has also hunted successfully with rifle, muzzleloader and bow. Hunting has led Austin throughout the United States (including Alaska), Mexico, Canada, South Africa, Namibia and New Zealand.

Young Athlete Picks Shooting Sports

When faced with the choice of playing basketball and running track or shooting clay targets and hunting, Print Zutavern chose the latter. “I like football, basketball and track, but you can only participate in those during high school,” says Print, who attends high school in Broken Bow, Nebraska. “You can shoot the rest of your life. I love hunting!”

Like a lot of kids in rural areas, Print lives on a ranch and got started in shooting at an early age and has been around hunting all his life. He has hunted a variety of game, both big and small. Shooting clay targets was considered in his family to be a good practice routine out behind his house in preparation for bird hunting season. Print decided he wanted to take it to a higher level.

“I have been involved in shooting since I was 8 or 9 and have been around hunting all of my life,” says Print. “I shoot mainly sporting clays but am getting involved more into international trap with USA shooting. I shoot American skeet and trap in local shooting leagues at my club but only occasionally in big competition.”

Print admits shooting has become his passion, and he thrives on the competition and fraternal aspects of the game. “I try to shoot whenever I have time,” he says. “I miss a lot of school in early fall and in the spring. I try to make it to a big competition every weekend during the summer. Traveling is one of my favorite things about shooting in the bigger competitions. I have traveled to many different states to shoot in sporting clay competitions with either dad or mom.”

Among Print’s achievements, he reached Master Class, the highest skill level ranking by the National Sporting Clays Association, at the age of 15. He was on the national champion teams in Scholastic Clay Target Program sporting clays for three consecutive years and was the 2007 National Junior Olympics International Trap Champion.

Print explained that his success in clay target shooting didn’t happen overnight and hasn’t come easy. “It is fun to be a good shot, but you have to practice to be one,” he says. “You can take shooting as just a hobby or make it into an every weekend competition. It gives you something to do and is a good thing to do when hunting season isn’t around. You will make a lot of friends in shooting clays.”

Young Bowhunter Making His Mark

Ben Hellquist grew up in a hunting family. At their family hunting camp in Minnesota, they’ve been hunting the same forest since the 1970s, mostly for deer, but also for pheasant, partridge, ducks and geese. Getting involved in hunting just came natural for Ben.

“To me, it is more than just killing a deer,” says Ben. “I love nature, so sitting there I like to watch many other kinds of animals, ones that you may not see every day.”

A 16-year-old at North High School in North St. Paul, Minnesota, Ben enjoys hockey and baseball, and thrives on competition and challenges. That’s what led him to get into bowhunting. “Hunting would be boring without the pressure,” he says. “That is the best part of it, seeing a deer really gets my blood pumping. Sometimes it feels like my heart is about to pop out of my chest.”

Ben remembers hurrying out to the woods one day after hockey practice with one of his buddies to bowhunt. With only about an hour-and-a-half of daylight left, Ben knew the odds were not in his favor, especially since he still smelled of sweat from practice.

But, about an hour later, Ben got his shot when a nice 8-point buck walked in about 10 to 15 yards away. “I had already stood up,” he recalls. “I remember what Pat Manteuffel said about not looking at the horns when you are about to shoot a deer, so I didn’t. I hit the buck perfect and it ran about 30 yards and dropped.

“I had no clue how big it was until my dad and I tracked it and found it,” Ben explains. “It was an 8-point buck that weighed about 200 pounds.”

Ben has also helped others get into bowhunting and says he was nearly as thrilled when the hunter he mentored, Ben Cole, shot a deer. “I helped him get qualified and got him all of the dates that he needed,” Ben says. “So last year we both had the same hunting weekend. We were just about to go to our stands Sunday night. He didn’t have a stand, so I put him in the same stand that I shot my nice 8-point buck. It was about an hour to dark I heard a loud crushing noise and then a really nice buck came running by me. A few minutes later Ben Cole was underneath my stand. I asked him what was wrong and he said he shot a nice doe that was with a big buck. The buck was at 25 yards and at a bad angle, but the doe was at 20 yards with a good broad side angle. He decided to shoot the doe instead of the nice buck. We went out tracking it and Ben’s eyes lit up with joy when he saw the doe he shot.”

For others interested in getting involved in bowhunting, Ben has this to recommend. “Stay in your stand and stay quiet,” he urges. “You can’t shoot a deer when you are sitting at camp or making loud noises. Practice, Practice, Practice.”