Take aim for scouting Oct. 7 at the annual Quapaw Area Council Sporting Clays Classic at Blue Rock Gun Club in North Little Rock.
Sponsored by Deltic Timber, the shoot will help fund Boy Scout activities in the 39-county Quapaw Area Council.
Dick Browning, a member of the Quapaw Council executive board of directors, said the Quapaw Area Council is expected to raise $30,000 from the shoot. It will be open to a maximum of 30 teams or 160 individual participants.
"We have achieved that the last couple of years," Browning said.
Sporting clays is a relatively new game compared to trap and skeet. It mimics diverse hunting situations featuring targets in an array of presentations. Targets can fly at or away from a shooter. One station might feature targets flying high over treetops, like mallards in flooded timber. Another might feature targets dropping into a hole, or targets zipping low through timber.
A good course also will feature pheasant and quail imitating shots, dove imitators, rolling and bouncing targets and, of course, tiny bumblebee-size targets.
There is not a better way to improve overall shotgunning skills, and it's a lot of fun.
Whole Hog Cafe will provide lunch. Shooters must supply their own shotguns, but 12- and 20-gauge shot shells will be provided.
Entry fee is $1,000 per team and station sponsorships are available for $1,000 per station. For more information on sponsorships, contact Blake Cole at (501) 664-4780, ext. 277 or [email protected].
To obtain an entry brochure, go online to quapawbsa.org/content/uploads/2016/06/2016SportingClaysBrochure.pdf.
FLW expands to Africa
Beginning in 2017, Fishing League Worldwide (FLW), will begin conducting bass fishing tournaments in South Africa by way of an exclusive licensing agreement with WJ Lindeque CC, of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
The tournaments will be open to South African citizens, and they will compete for spots in the International Division of the Costa FLW Series Championship. Two anglers will compete as pros, and two will compete as co-anglers.
Ranger Boats, based and built in Flippin, will provide boats for the South Africa events.
The top pro award at the Costa FLW Series Championship is $95,000, including a Ranger Z518C boat if the pro is Ranger Cup qualified. The top co-angler award receives a Ranger Z117 boat. The highest finishing pro from the International Division at the Costa FLW Series Championship will advance to the following year's Forrest Wood Cup.
South Africa is the fifth country to sign on for the international sanctioning program, joining Canada, South Korea, China, and Mexico.
Kathy Fennel, FLW president of operations, recently talked about the challenges of expanding bass fishing tournaments to other continents. Chinese anglers, for example, face logistical hurdles that are unknown to North American anglers.
For example, it is illegal to move a boat between waters in China. A boat must remain on its home water, so anglers must either own a boat on a tournament water or gain access to a boat that is already there.
Bass tournament fishing is not entirely new to the African continent. Zimbabwe once had a highly competitive bass fishing contingent. One of its members, Gerry Jooste, has qualified for several Bassmaster Classics, the last being in 2013 in Oklahoma at Grand Lake O' the Cherokees.
Quail on AETN
Arkansas Educational Television Network recently began airing episodes of This American Land, with segments devoted to the northern bobwhite quail.
The program airs Thursdays at 10:30 p.m.
A new segment titled Bobwhites on the Brink will run each week. It will feature the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative's efforts in restore the northern bobwhite in many states across the Southeast.
"This is an excellent way for people to learn about northern bobwhites and how important it is that we do whatever necessary to bring them back," said Clifton Jackson, small game program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. "We need the help of private landowners if we're going to be successful in bringing back the bobwhite, and outreach like this can help shed light on how they can help."
Sports on 08/18/2016