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Boss Tom
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Posted: Sat Feb 16th, 2008 12:27 am |
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High-schooler is among best young trapshooters
Chester Allen
The Olympian
Cole Mitchell is a little less than three weeks away from his 16th birthday, but he's already one of the best trapshooters around.
 Mitchell, a Capital High School sophomore, recently was named to the Amateur Trapshooting Association's 2008 sub-junior All-American team.
This is quite an honor, and it only goes to trapshooters who can turn clay pigeons — little targets that look like small Frisbees and whiz across the range at 43 to 45 mph — into clouds of rust-colored dust over and over again.
Mitchell shot a perfect score of 100 last August in the Grand American — the Super Bowl of trapshooting — in the Champion of Champions race.
That means Mitchell dusted 100 clay pigeons in a row.
Mitchell eventually placed third in his age group, and he's about to plunge into another season of breaking clay targets.
All this really started on the day Cole was born, when his grandfather, Richard Mitchell of Mesa, Ariz., walked into a gun shop and bought a 20-gauge Beretta 303 youth-model shotgun.
"I finally got it when I was 9 years old, but it was brand new when I shot it," Cole said.
Cole got his start hunting birds with his dad, Steve Mitchell, and the two still are strong hunting partners. They've hunted pheasants in North Dakota, doves in Argentina and ducks all over the place.
Cole got the trapshooting bug two years ago, when he shot a round with a friend and broke 24 of 25 clay pigeons while using a field-grade Remington 870 pump shotgun.
That is like running a race in street shoes.
"Trap wasn't something I really struggled with," Cole said. "I've always hunted, so pointing a shotgun felt natural to me."
Cole got serious about trapshooting, which challenges shooters to stand at five different stations and shoot at a clay bird that is launched from a small house. Shooters shoot at five birds at each station, and they only get one shot to break the bird.
Top trapshooters can break hundreds of targets without a miss, and the challenge is one of concentration and skill.
This sounds difficult because it is difficult. Top trapshooters shoot a lot.
Cole shot at 10,450 targets during competition last year, and that doesn't count targets shot in practice.
But Cole enjoys the challenge, and he spends a lot of time traveling to trapshoots from the end of February through August.
His mom, Dori Mitchell, says she enjoys the travel and meeting new people. Cole, who carries a 4.0 grade-point average at Capital High, is careful to get his schoolwork done ahead of time.
Cole hunts birds — he also shot his first deer last fall — in the fall and winter when trapshooting is in hibernation.
"I don't know what is cooler — shooting a limit of ducks or breaking 100 in trap," Cole said. "It's pretty close."
Being a shooter and a hunter isn't always easy when you're in high school.
Cole said most of his teachers and classmates are OK with his sport, but there is still some static.
"More so with hunting than with trapshooting," Cole said.
"I've taken about a quarter of my friends hunting, and they had a great time," Cole said. "I don't really associate with people who think it's creepy."
Trapshooting is an Olympic sport, and Cole has gone to an international shooting camp in Texas to try out that version of the sport.
"Olympic trap is a different game," Cole said. "It's a lot different than American trap.
"In American trap, I've broken 400 targets in a row, and our targets average 43 to 45 mph, but in international trap, they're going 70 to 100 mph."
So, international competition might not be in Cole's future.
But trapshooting is part of his life for good.
"It's a hobby more than anything," Cole said. "You can be a trapshooter for your whole life — people in their 80s are still out there shooting."
Chester Allen's Outdoors column appears Tuesdays in The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-4226 or callen@theolympian.com.
Attachment: (Downloaded times) Last edited on Sat Feb 16th, 2008 12:29 am by Boss Tom
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jennyloves
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| Joined: | Mon Jul 5th, 2010 |
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Posted: Fri Jul 16th, 2010 07:22 am |
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that is amazing, which make me remember my happy time at school.
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Tiffany
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Turkey Dancer
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Posted: Sat Jul 17th, 2010 03:47 am |
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| Nice post BT ... how's things ? Leaving in the morning with family and friends to Sun Lakes for 8 days, so may not get back at ya right away. Last edited on Sat Jul 17th, 2010 03:48 am by Turkey Dancer
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