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06/13/2009
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Staff photo by Travis Barrettfrom the Kennebec Journal
BUDGET CUTS ORDERED
Many happy returns in Richmond
Tax woes land on Whitefield
Rapist denied new trial
AUGUSTA MINDING A MINE
SPORT OF KINGS Falconry a blend of dedication and commitment
COLLEGE HOCKEY: Maine rallies but falls short against Boston College
COLLEGE ROUNDUP: Colby women win season opener at home tournament
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
WEDDING BURGLAR JAILED
Youths talk Turkey Day
Plenty of free Thanksgiving meals available
Turkey prices make for happier holiday
Kennebec County Superior Court
POLICE
COLLEGE HOCKEY: Maine rallies but falls short against Boston College
COLLEGE ROUNDUP: Colby women win season opener at home tournament
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
John Picher knows what the other side of the equation looks like. Frankly, it's not a pretty picture.
"It's a mess," Picher said of unregulated places where people will congregate to shoot guns recreationally. Not far from the Capitol City Rifle and Pistol Club in Augusta, where Picher has been a member for more than 30 years, are a host of gravel pits.
Those pits often attract people who want to shoot firearms on their own.
"They throw things around everywhere," Picher said. "They take an old washing machine or refrigerator or whatever out, drop it off, and they shoot it up and leave it there. There's thousands and thousands of empty shell casings laying around, or worse. There's bottles and cans on the ground where they've been drinking."
Picher, who lives in Vassalboro, was once a club officer at Capitol City, though now he simply directs shooting competitions at the club. He believes the value of gun clubs, of which there are several of varying sizes in central Maine, is immeasurable.
Recreational shooters benefit from having a place to shoot, one that has set hours and is effectively managed. Hunters have a place to go to dial in their rifles before ever taking them into the woods, where faulty sights could prove dangerous to both wildlife and hunters. Law enforcement officers have a place to train.
And, despite the ongoing battle for entertainment dollars these days, memberships at area hunting clubs have remained consistent.
* * *
Not far away from the Capitol City Rifle and Pistol Club, which offers indoor and outdoor target shooting on ranges, is the Arnold Trail Gun Club. Nestled in the woodlands that line the corridor of Route 23, Arnold Trail has sat in its current location for the last 40 years.
On a recent Sunday morning, nearly two dozen shotgun enthusiasts convened to take turns at skeet shooting, clay targets furiously bursting into little orange hazes in mid-air with every successful shot.
Men and women of all ages share stories, laugh and talk about everything from shooting techniques to gun specifics to what plans they have in store with their families when they leave.
Jim McMullen of Oakland, an officer of Arnold Trail Gun Club, watches everybody on the two active skeet fields and can't help but smile.
"It's a place to recreate," McMullen said. "That's what shooting is. It's a form of recreation."
Arnold Trail Gun Club offers two skeet fields, a five-stand course and sporting clays, all for shotgun shooters. A place like Capitol City, on the other hand, is geared for rifles and handguns, as the name implies.
Still, despite clubs that allow shooting only during specific times and work hard to educate their own members about safe practices, including a banning of alcohol on their premises at all times, shooting is a form of recreation that has taken several hits through the years.
Gun play is considered dangerous. It is noisy. Unfortunately, it is often also equated with the kinds of activities John Picher described in those gravel pits.
But it's exactly the kind of stereotype gun clubs work hard to obliterate.
Arnold Trail's community involvement includes allowing Boy Scouts to come and use the shooting fields as well as hold camping events there. They welcome summer campers, and they raise scholarship money to give to students each year.
"We just try to reach out and give back to the community," McMullen said.
The community is well-represented in Arnold Trail's membership, too.
The club has approximately 130 members, more than 20 percent of which are women. A number of children are members, too, through memberships held by their families.
"Really, it's just people who have an interest in the outdoors," said Russell Hubbard, an Arnold Trail Club member from Farmingdale.
"On a given day, when I go out there might be two or three people shooting handguns out to 50 yards or some shooting deer rifles on the target range," Picher said, noting the varying interests of shooters. "There are always a lot of people shooting hunting rifles. It's a very wide variety."
Picher did say he's seen a change in the trends of what shooters are interested in, specifically at Capitol City, though membership numbers have stayed the same during the last two decades.
"I think the average member now is more of a pistol shooter," Picher said. "They're the people that are more concerned with protecting their families and their homes, and maybe they want to feel comfortable with a handgun or having one in their home.
"It used to be more of a target club."
* * *
Capitol City Rifle and Pistol Club has more than twice the membership of Arnold Trail, reaching close to 400 members. Its clientele is slightly different, too.
With indoor and outdoor handgun offerings, it's a popular spot for law enforcement types. State and local police and game wardens use the facility regularly.
"Well," Picher said with a laugh, "it does help to keep things a little more regulated there."
Which is important. Picher said sometimes it's not only the people who have no interest in shooting sports that don't understand what goes on at the clubs. Sometimes, it's people who are avid shooters themselves. He points to a lack of interest in "sighting-in" days -- when the club would open its doors to non-members and invite them to use their rifles on the club's ranges, with assistance being provided for properly sighting-in a gun or education in how to use it.
"They haven't worked out," Picher said. "It's like people don't want to come and be there and be helped. I feel really bad about that. I've seen how many people miss deer. I think it's important for people to shoot a couple of times, because if anything else, it will help you kill the deer more quickly and cleanly when you're hunting. Don't want to wound it and have it run off and die a horrible death.
"You go into a lot of these places today, and they're almost so concerned about government taking over and watching what they're doing and all that, they just don't want any help."
In either case, club members think the need exists for such clubs -- which they feel are cornerstones of their communities.
"The average person is a person who just likes to shoot. Period," Picher said. "It's just to shoot, it's a stress reliever. It's like golfing or bowling. I golf and I bowl, and I also like to shoot.
"Nothing takes your mind off things quicker than concentrating on what you're doing. With so many things you have to do, so many things going through your mind (on the range), you don't have any time at all to worry about all that stress. It just goes right away."
Travis Barrett -- 621-5648
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
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