McHenry Sportsman’s Club Newsletter (April, 2010)

The club held the annual elections for officers in January. George Strode and Noëll Mach will remain our club President and Vice President. Victoria Lunebach will continue on as our club Secretary. Your directors are Rick VanEttan, Ted Beskow, Mike Lunebach, Butch Ackerman and Matt Wood. Gene Higby is our new Trap Chairman and Mark Nelson remains our club Treasurer. Thanks to all that attended and voted in the elections.

I know we will all miss Chuck Sandlin’s smiling face and friendly greetings from behind the counter this year as he has decided to step down as Trap Chairman. Chuck has committed countless hours and personal energies to running the daily operations at McHenry SC for the past three years or so. Next time you see him holding down a chair in the clubhouse or out shooting, please give him thanks for all he has done.

Unless you have not been at the club in the last few months, by now you have noticed the addition of our new deck. When completed, the deck, stairs and walkways out to the traps will help provide a safe no slip environment during inclement weather. In the future we hope to see some new gun racks and tac-bag storage on the deck for summertime shooting. There are many projects such as this in the works, so if you have the time, woodworking skills and inclination, please speak up. We could really use your help in getting some projects completed.

We are proud to say our club now has three sets of Canterbury wireless release systems. Traps two, three and four have been retrofitted to operate with these new systems. These new wireless sets make opening and closing a trap a snap and will eliminate no bird calls due to loose or broken wires and connectors.

This year McHenry shattered all jackrabbit shoot records by remaining undefeated in ten out of ten shoots. All that practice paid off as McHenry won Sunday after Sunday. The weather was not quite as bad as last year but it was still cold and windy most of the time. The final shoot was held at Maywood SC where our team captured the final glory and the Jackrabbit trophy. A big thank you to all the McHenry shooters that attended the jackrabbit shoots and did so well. You can view the results of all 10 Jackrabbit events at http://www.winterjackrabbit.com Last year our club seems to have been on a growth spurt and posted over 300 members! None of use can recall ever having so many members. It’s early April and we already have over 249 members for 2010. Good targets and good fun make our club the choice of discriminating shooters.

This year McHenry will be hosting three ATA shoots April 18th, May 16th and June 27th Your Director Rick Van Etten is the special events (fun shoots, not ATA shoots) chairman and is open to your ideas for fun shoots this year. A league sign-up sheet is on the clubhouse counter. Right now we are asking anyone that may be interested in participating in a ten week league to put your name down. The league would consist of teams of 5 shooters. Each week you will shoot one round of singles and one round of handicap targets. For more details contact Rick Vanetten. Please remember how hard our trap kids work for you during the shooting season especially the long cold winter. The club has a new clear acrylic plastic container for tips in need of filling. We have a website http://www.mchenry-sc.imprintsite.com where you can purchase club T-Shirts and coffee cups. The club earns a small percentage of the price for each purchase so in buying you are supporting your club.

A great deal of work is being performed by your club members to keep your club running. There is always maintenance being performed. This year we have new asphalt grindings on our parking lot, an upgrade to our porch, and a new handicap accessible toilet facility. In addition, each trap machine has been painstakingly serviced to throw the best target possible. Volunteers have installed new stakes in front of each traphouse to ATA regulations to measure target height, speed and distance.

Mchenry Sportsman’s Club now accepts credit and debit cards for payment! We will soon be providing the option of a club card that you can load up with cash for your expenses while shooting.

Shoot safe!

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