Hi everyone. I want to start out with some special milestones of Illinois shooters. Dave Dressler has now reached 500,000 targets in his career. Dave was just inducted into the Illinois Hall of Fame this past year. These two achievements, to my way of thinking, go hand-in-hand. Talent is not enough. Just as important is dedication and commitment. This many targets pushed Dave to the top of Illinois shooters, and he deserves all the praise imaginable. Congrats, Dave. You have earned it!
A couple of months back I told you Randy Miller had shot 100,000 combined targets. That was incorrect. Randy actually has shot 100,000 Singles targets. He broke a 98 with a 35 mile per hour wind at his back to get that milestone. Again, talent, dedication and commitment can push people to the top. Congrats, Randy and sorry about the screw up.
Finally, Gerald Goudey has shot 25,000 Handicap targets. Congrats, Gerald.
Illinois shooters have been shooting well at both the Spring Grand and Southern Grand. No major wins, but we have placed well in categories, yardage groups and classes. Keep it up everyone.
Shooting is picking up again in Illinois so let me take this opportunity to wish everyone good luck this year. Shoot well and support your local club.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate

     Hi everyone. I want to highlight some shooting accomplishments of Illinois shooters. Carson Sievers has the second highest all-around average in the Sub-Junior category. Ian Lawrence is second in the Junior Gold category. William Blender is one of the age group co-rookies of the year Great shooting guys.
     This has been a terrible winter for Illinois trapshooting. Another great one has passed. Jim Matteson died a few weeks ago from complications from cancer. Jim cast a huge shadow over our sport for years in Illinois. He was a Director of the ISTA for over 20 years, a delegate to the ATA for about 10 years, a great shot and an even better man. Jim was the best of us. When Jim decided to give up being a Delegate, he came to me to ask me to run for the job. At the time I was not ready to do it, but it meant the world to me that he would ask me to do it. Later, when I was ready to do the job, I told myself I would do it just like Jim. I like to flatter myself that this is what I have been doing these last few years. I can't give any better tribute than that. Rest well Jim. You have earned it. 
     Tom Kelly also passed away in December. Tom didn't shoot a lot of registered birds in his career. He mostly shot leagues and derbies in southern Illinois. He was a great guy and will be missed by his family and many friends.  
     I want to give you an update on the new HoF building. It is wired, insulated and drywalled. It still needs to be painted, the lighting installed and the HVCU installed. We should have it up and running by the state shoot.
     Shoot well and support your local clubs.

Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate

Hi everyone. I want to start out with John Stegler. He reached the 25,000 target milestone in both Singles and Handicap. Nice shooting, John.
Frank Payne and Lauren Dunn were elected to the ISTA Hall of Fame. I have known and shot with both of these shooters and I can tell you they are well deserving of this honor. Congratulations to you both. I can't wait till June when they are inducted.
I have some exciting news about a new shoot. For several years Brittany Shooting Park had a telephonic shoot in April with a club in Texas. It was called the Illinois-Texas Challenge. Through some hard work and cooperation, the shoot has been expanded to six clubs. Brittany, two in Texas, and one each in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. The really exciting thing about this is if we have 450 or more shooters participate, this becomes a point shoot. The shoot will be held on April 19, 20 and 21. Watch for the ad in Trap and Field for the exact clubs where you can go to shoot. 
I was sad to hear that another Illinois shooter has passed. Daryl Fornoff was from Havana, IL and shot all over the Central Zone of our state as well as many other places too. Daryl was a really good guy and will be missed by all his friends and family.
I am writing this in January and the weather across the country has been terrible. Hang in there. Spring is just around the corner. Shoot well and support your local club.
                                                                         
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
                           

Hi everyone. I want to start with some milestones Illinois shooters have reached. Jim Ketchum has shot 25,000 Singles and Gary Crowe has shot 25,000 Doubles. Mike Dennis has shot 100,000 Singles. Great shooting guys. 

Illinois is well represented in the 20,000 targets in one year club. Leland Hassler, Mike Dennis, Dave Dressler, Mike Westjohn and Lawrence Gillum all shot at least 20,000 targets. That's 80 flats of shells. WOW. I really respect their dedication to our sport. Nice job.

I was looking at my latest issue of Trap and Field magazine and came across a page listing the AIM All-Stars, basically a list of the best AIM shooters in the country. As I looked at the names, I started to realize there were a lot of Illinois shooters listed on that page. I did some basic math and found 1/4 of those shooters were from Illinois. Boy, this is impressive to me. I knew the competition was tough, I just didn't realize how tough. Well done to all the AIM All-Stars, particularly to those from Illinois.

I was saddened to see in Trap and Field magazine that Jeff Brown has passed. Jeff would come down to Brittany Shooting Park from time to time and I always enjoyed talking and shooting with him. Rest well in Heaven.
Spring is just around the corner. Shoot well and support your local clubs. 

Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate