Friday, June 6, 2008

New Sun Valley Gun Club aims to fire up shooters

Relocated and remodeled, range is ready to roll


By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer

Sun Valley Gun Club instructor Wick Warrick (left) shows a one shooter in a group how to hold a 12-gauge shotgun Wednesday afternoon. Photo by Willy Cook

Overshadowed for years by its world-renowned ski mountain and golf course, the Sun Valley Resort's gun club has been a well-kept secret.

Now that the Sun Valley Gun Club has been lavishly remodeled and equipped, it may attract an enthusiastic sports following of its own.

As part of re-introducing itself to the valley, the Sun Valley Gun Club will have its grand re-opening today, Friday, plus Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Special shooting rates are $18 per round including shotgun rental, ammo and targets, drawings and prizes.

The new location 1.5 miles east of Sun Valley Lodge is the biggest thing, but there's more.

Barely a few minutes drive up Trail Creek Road from the old gun club location, the new trap and skeet shooting range is luring novice shooters and award-winning competitive marksmen alike.

Manager Dick Haskell has thrown the welcome mat out for the entire family.

The club, he said, will take novice shooters as young as 12 years old---since that age seems best able to shoulder the long-barrel weapons—and there is no limit at the upper end of longevity. In fact, he said shooters in their 80s are regulars at Sun Valley Gun Club.

Haskell notes with some pride the frequent presence of Louise Crespi Benners, 70, a wheel-chair bound senior with lifetime honors as a competitive shooter who fires from her wheelchair. Benners, a Texas resident who lives here part-time, has a host of awards, including a national championship in 1998 and being on the U.S. Helice team when it was ranked second in the world. Helice is a winged flying target.

After the old gun club's main building was moved to the new site and expensively remodeled, its debut in the new location last year was a resounding success. Haskell said that some 100,000 shells—that's 400 cartoons of 10 boxes each—were fired in the brief season.

This has required a staff of 10 certified instructors in addition to Haskell, 68, who has been gun club manager since last year. Haskell is an 11-year employee of the gun club with 30 years behind him as an executive producing ice shows for Disney, Ringling Brothers circus and the Siegfried and Roy extravaganzas in Las Vegas.

Haskell believes the Sun Valley Gun Club attracts and trains more first time trap and shooters than any club in the nation. He estimates that 70 percent of the novice and experienced shooters are visitors, the remainder local residents.

Shooters find plenty to do. The club's 27 machines hurl clay pigeons in a variety of directions and heights. The tall tower in the center of the range is the "duck tower" that houses a machine that hurls clay pigeons at a difficult height.

Incidentally, the orange-colored clay pigeons are biodegradable, Haskell said. Shards of the clay pigeons left after a season of shooting simply vanish rather than cluttering the range on a long-term basis.

The club has a galley of rental 12-gauge shotguns. Although the club's shotguns are relatively inexpensive at some $500 each, some personal guns used by competitors cost as much as $175,000 each.

The shells ordinarily used at the range each contain 300-400 tiny lead pellets that form a circular pattern when fired at a clay pigeon.

The club's rates for gun rentals ($8), first-time shooter instruction ($10) and 25 shells ($13.50) are relatively inexpensive. Annual club memberships also are available at $100 each.

An admitted stickler for safety, Haskell said learning trap and skeet shooting teaches young people especially a healthy respect for guns, as well as developing hand and eye coordination.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.