Camas Prairie League cures winter doldrums


The Camas Prairie Trap League offers shooters, some from as far away as Meridian and Nampa, the opportunity to get outside and participate in a fun event while visiting with friends. Above, members of the Weiser Trap and Skeet Club take aim at clay pigeons during the third week of the 10-week league. Club membership is only $20 per year. Photo by Philip A. Janquart
By: 
Philip A. Janquart
The Camas Prairie Trap League, put on by the Camas Prairie Trap Shooting Association, is in full swing.
 Now entering its fourth week, the 10-week winter shooting league plays out at the Weiser Trap and Skeet Club north of Weiser every Sunday, beginning at 10 a.m.
 “It’s a pretty friendly bunch of guys,” said member Rob Dickerson of Weiser’s team. “We aren’t leading right now, but we’ve been doing very well in the three years we’ve been a part of it. Last year, there were 24 individual gun clubs shooting against each other. The first year, we got runner-up and the last two years, we won it.”
 Participants representing Weiser’s club come from as far away as Meridian and Nampa.
 “We have guys that come down here from New Meadows and we have a couple guys from Cambridge,” Dickerson said. “They are all roughly the same age, in their 40s and early 50s, and they are really close friends and became close friends through this trap club. They shot against each other in other places, but they look forward to this winter league, and they are pretty serious.”
 Dickerson said the winter league consists of shooters of all ages, both men and women, and features one event, the trap shoot, which is shot at the 16-yard line, the closest distance to the trap house. He added that the league, which uses a formula to even the playing field between large and small teams, has become popular in the area.
 “It’s something you can do during the winter and keep yourself busy,” he said.
 The Weiser Trap and Skeet Club, located at 890 Highway 95, has been around since about the 1980s. The club house was erected at its current site in 2009, according to Dickerson.
 “This was just a shack back then,” said Dickerson who served as Washington County’s planning and zoning administrator for over 11 years. “We don’t have any employees and if we have any kind of construction project, we do it ourselves.”
 Last October, club members added concrete to the trap line (shooting deck) for added safety, helping to prevent individuals from tripping. 
 “Everybody knows that our primary objective is safety,” Dickerson noted. “And if there is somebody new that comes out to shoot, we send an experienced person out there with them; they don’t do anything on their own until they’ve proven that they know how to handle a gun.”
 Weiser Trap and Skeet boasts five shooting games, and five stands.
 “We’ve got two trap houses, and we have a trap house set up to throw doubles; it throws two at once,” Dickerson said. “The main trap house throws one.”
 There are also eight skeet stations arranged in a semi-circle, positioning shooters at varying angles relative to the clay pigeons as they are thrown. 
 There are two meat shoots per year, one in October and another in December, which are sponsored by Falls Brand, an independent meat company located in Idaho Falls. 
 Dickerson said the club relies on its members to help keep costs under control.
 “There’s always somebody that is good at something and the rest is just our labor,” he said. “We filled in some areas out there with some cement; we have a guy who knows the concrete business inside and out and has the equipment, so all we had to do was back up a cement truck. In my personal opinion, some clubs spend too much money. We don’t have any employees. We are a nonprofit, so we do things ourselves, so we can keep things going.”
 Dickerson noted that it doesn’t cost much to join Weiser’s club.
 “The membership is only $20 a year,” he said. “We try to keep it really reasonable. We make our money on the cost to come out to shoot and all the money goes back into the club. We buy the clay pigeons. It’s six bucks for 25 [shots], which a lot of people call a trap or skeet line.”
 Worth noting is that the Weiser area has been historically known for its pheasant hunting. 
 A black and white photograph of Hollywood legend Bing Crosby holding his day’s tally hangs on the wall inside the clubhouse as testament to that reputation.
 For more information, visit the Weiser Trap and Skeet Club’s Facebook page or call Rob Dickerson directly at (208) 350-0191.
 
Camas Prairie Trap Shoot, 
week four results - Feb. 4
 Top Weiser individual scores:
Gary Shrum – 25; Ian Hastie – 25; Chris Linder – 24; George Stevens – 24; John Kepinger – 24; Roger Eubanks – 24.
 Adult overall team scores: Colton – 296.13; Orofino-Pierce – 296.00; Grangeville – 295.14; Wallace/Kellogg – 294.00; Weiser – 294.00; Cottonwood – 293.50; Garfield – 293.40; Boise – 293.00; Winchester – 291.75; Hermiston – 290.00; Wenatchee – 290.00; Nezperce – 289.00; Pomeroy – 288.75; Culdesac – 288.20; Troy-Deary – 284.77; White Bird – 281.00; Davenport – 275.75; Endicott – 273.00; Indian Valley – 271.00; Bonners Ferry – 269.00; St. Maries – 272.00; Walla Walla – 202; Malden-Pine – 158.00. 
 Juniors overall team scores: Hermiston – 276; Grangeville – 275; Boise – 267; Garfield – 266; Orofino-Pierce – 262; Pomeroy – 260; Cottonwood – 256; Culdesac – 249; Davenport – 244; Troy-Deary – 243; Bonners Ferry – 239; Nezperce – 232; Wallace-Kellogg – 210; Endicott – 190; Colton – 169; Walla Walla – 162; Winchester – 152; Weiser – 141; St. Maries – 105; White Bird – 40.

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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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