Hi everyone. I have to begin with some sad news. Don Herdes passed away around Christmas time. Don ran his own construction business and had many other hobbies besides trapshooting. The cumulative effect on him made it very hard for him to shoot in the last years of his life. When Don was in his prime, however, there was no one any better than him at trapshooting in Illinois. The highlight of his career was him winning the 2012 Grand American Handicap Championship. Don was a funny, thoughtful person who always had good ideas on how to improve trapshooting. The thing I liked best about Don was that he was an honest man, and I always knew where I stood with him. Rest well my friend. We are all going to miss you.

I was looking at the schedule of shoots, on the ISTA website, and saw an exciting trend. A lot more small clubs are hosting Big 50 shoots this target year. I have listened to shooters say they are not going to drive just to shoot 50 targets. I admit I was one of