Range has a lot to offer
By Staff
Kim West
Franklin County Times
Cedar Hill Trap Range, owned by Wade Willingham, is the only public trap range still in operation in the Shoals area and attracts shooters from as far away as Waterloo, Decatur and Mississippi. The Belgreen range celebrated its grand opening last December and hosted its first trophy shoot last Saturday as 22 shooters competed for first and second-place trophies in divisions for junior ladies, sub-junior boys, junior boys, women and men.
James King, a former Marines firearms instructor, is the range's certified instructor and coaches the Cedar Hill Smoking Guns with Don Ross, along with a handful of other youth teams sponsored by the range.
King, who retired from competing in trap shooting a few years ago, broke away from watching several of his pupils fire away at the small, fast-spinning orange discs known as "birds," to explain trap shooting to someone who has only fired a shotgun once and was unaware of the level of participation in competitive shooting sports, especially by local sportsmen.
"We add to the teams each year as the seniors go off to college," said King, who supervises weekly practices on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. "Most of the kids on the sub-junior team started when they were 10 or 11 but we started some off a lot earlier than that. We have a rookie who began at age 5, and he's now a ripe old age of 9.
"Sometimes people think trap shooting is dangerous, but the first thing I teach is safety and how to handle a gun, and the sport hasn't had a fatality in its 108 years of existence. Wouldn't it be nice if that was true with football and racing?"
King, who coached a local team to the 2004 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) national championship in a field of 37,000 shooters, said trap shooting is a lifetime sport for all ages.
"I like to see the young people move up the line and become excellent shooters," said King, who believes the sport teaches self-discipline, teamwork and responsibility. "Trap shooting is a something a person can participate in at any age, and it's like any other sport – some people have natural marksmanship ability, while some have to put more time into it but anyone can learn how if they're willing to practice."
I might be a little biased after sampling the homemade golden hushpuppies and fresh, deep-fried fish fillets, which came from a 52-pound catfish caught on a trot line last week by Jessie and Logan Taylor and their father Donald Taylor, but I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to Cedar Hill. I'm looking forward to returning to the range with a couple of friends for some target practice, and I wish the Smoking Guns best of luck as they prepare for the state shoot June 28 in Irondale.
Kim West is sports editor for The Franklin County Times. She can be reached at kim.west@fct.wpengine.com or (256) 332-1881, ext. 30.
