By Larry Wagoner

     Shotgunning at Stockton (Waterloo), scheduled on February 20th, was
postponed because of rain. Our regular shoot took place on the following
Wednesday on “soggy” ground but beautiful weather. The five shooters,
pictured, had a “bang up” good time….but the guys missed Roger. He was
visiting his Dentist.  

Tom, Bill, Jim, Will and Larry     
Jim Kahlert brought the food and Tom Kenny helped with the cooking….the
sausages were GREAT! Bill Shattuk, Will Peterson and Larry Wagoner
brought their appetites……and their Shotguns, of course. The crew takes
turns bringing the food…Tom will bring corned beef and cabbage for the
next shoot….March 19th. Everyone is invited to join the crew (no pros
allowed)….just contact one of the guys in the photo. If folks just show up,
there may not be enough food. The Stockton (Waterloo) shoots are
scheduled for the third Wednesday of every month, starting at 10:00am and
ending….whenever.
  Sheet is usually the shooting game played (they play at it…nothing
serious) but Trap is available. Skeet allows the guys to talk to each other,
yell, joke…etc. between shots…Trap does not. The Trap Fields are set up
with “voice activated” target releasing so any talk, or noise during a round of
Trap, will release clays….Skeet is “push button” release. All gages are
used….from 12 gage-down and none of these guys can break all of the
targets all of the time….they all miss (quite frequently) no matter what gage
they use, so no one will be intimidated. The guys like to cook out and shoot
and they enjoy the company. Cooking out occurs when the weather permits
(if the person bringing the food chooses) or they have sandwiches (if the
person bringing the food chooses)…..no rules…the person bringing the
food just wants a count of expected shooters.
    Larry does most of the yelling! He stands behind the shooters and is sure
to tell them if they were ahead, or behind, the target….but then he misses a
lot and they guys yell at him. Tom was breaking targets…by large part…with
concussion from the shells he was shooting (Al Hajovsky’s reloads).
BANG!.....the earth shook!....Tom survived but he was going to talk to Al
about what in the heck was in those things!
      Will had a Shotgun that was made in the same year that Bill and Larry
were born ….the gun is about 70 years old…but it worked just fine. (Bill and
Larry don’t work so good anymore). That was not the Shotgun that Will uses
though. He uses a more modern Shotgun but the old one had character.
      The number of shooters varies from month to month, depending on
what is going on with each individual. Since the event occurs on a week day
and in the morning – afternoon, most folks (that are not retired) cannot
attend….regularly….but once in a while some can sneak out of work to
“play”. The crew has fun. If you can imagine a group of kids poking fun at
each other, that is what they seem like. Sometimes, if one didn’t know, it
would seem that they were mad at each other…..NOT at all!
      The Stockton Skeet and Trap Club is easy to find. It is approximately
100 miles from the Foster City club house, in Stockton. If you are interested
in attending, find a map of CA and get yourself to the intersection of Highway
99 and Highway 88. Turn onto 88, headed towards Jackson and Waterloo.
Within two miles, on 88, turn left onto Ashley….and you are there (big sign
on the left)…..there is a Bocce Club there too.
    
Stockton Shootout
Foster City Rod and Gun Club