Hopkins Game Farm; Kennedyville, Md. – By Jim Previti
4 /24-25/2010 Hopkins Game Farm in Kennedyville Maryland was host to the 2010 FITASC Grand Prix and Sport Clays events this year on April 24th and 25th. The course is a favorite among many who gather here regularly. The course was laid out and targets expertly set by George Hopkins and sons Brad and Bart. All in attendance agreed that everything was perfect except for one thing – the weather. Rain the day before and the threat of more over the weekend kept attendance low – about half of last year’s turnout. There were 68 shooters for the Sporting Clays on Sunday and 51 for the FITASC shoot. The sky was heavily overcast and there was a definite chill in the air with an occasional mist that had you feeling it in your bones.
The gray skies and mist made visibility an issue for many of our attendees. There was one notable exception among the shooters I spoke with on Sunday and that was Barry Zigas who told me that the flat lighting conditions, to him, are preferable to bright sunlight and made his sighting easier.
One thing the weather was not able to squelch was Chris Cox punching up to Master Class in Sporting Clays. The shooting conditions apparently did not adversely affect Brady Simms who found the #8 shooting station a particular challenge but managed to shoot at the top of his AA Class with score of 92. Jeff Szuhaj shrugged off the weather. “I’ve shot in a lot worse conditions” was his answer to my query on the days shooting.
One thing I noticed while watching the day’s events was that the rabbit targets were slower than usual due to the wet grass. Perhaps that’s what threw Christine Corkle off on her rabbit shooting this day. “I usually hit them and today I missed all three of them” said Christine. She still managed to top her Class B with a score of 81.
The weather being what it was the days shooting wrapped up early. We all look forward to a longer day of shooting next time at Hopkins Game Farm.
