SHOOTING A SUNDAY AFTERNOON

JACKSON -- Earplugs in place, three men squared off Sunday at the edge of a farmer's field.

"Pull" said one, and the blasts of shotguns and smell of gunpowder began to fill the air.

The competition Sunday afternoons at the Cape County Skeet & Trap Gun Club is very friendly. The only object is to have a good time shooting down clay birds that are flung overhead at 65 mph.

The shooters in the first round of skeet Sunday -- Dick Wood, Roy Combs and Dick Bangert -- made it look easy but it isn't.

Skeet is a form of trapshooting in which the shooters fire at clay disks from eight different stations in a semi-circle. The angle is different from each station, and the birds come from both high and low positions.

The club also has a trap field. A basic difference between trap and skeet is that the trapshooter doesn't know if the bird is going to be thrown left, right or straight ahead. In skeet, the shooter knows beforehand if the bird is coming out high or low and in which direction.

John Sarff, the "puller" who pushed the buttons that sent the targets spinning into the air during the first round Sunday, said a good score is to hit 20 or more of the 25 shots in a round.

Wood formerly was on the National Guard's pistol team and is considered a good instructor of the varied techniques used in skeet and trapshooting.

Combs of Sikeston is a non-hunter known for his smooth technique. During the first round, his shooting was flawless until the sixth station.

Bangert didn't miss at all that round.

"That doesn't happen very often," the smiling farm manager said after squeezing off his 25th consecutive hit.

Bangert's daughter, veterinarian Dr. Karen Bangert, also is a club member and regularly outshoots him, he said.

The club members don't keep score, except in their heads.

The club has more than 50 members. Some come out almost every Sunday afternoon. "We came here and shot in a snowstorm one day," Sarff said.

The membership includes doctors, lawyers, teachers, people in law enforcement and other professions and trades. Three or four women come out to shoot regularly.

The ages of the club members range from 10 to 91. All the youngest members must be accompanied by parents and be well-supervised.

Some people use skeet and trapshooting as practice before the start of hunting season. Others don't hunt at all but enjoy testing their skill with a gun. Everyone likes the camaraderie.

"It's just a good sport, like golf or bowling or anything else," Sarff said.

The Jackson man worked for the Federal Aviation Administration at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport for 26 years. He primarily hunts turkey and dove but says, "I've done it all."

The club leases space on the Roy Meir farm on Highway 72 west of Jackson. Membership is $50 per year. The cost of shooting is $2 per round, which just covers the cost of the birds and upkeep.

The range is one of very few in the region. A "sporting clay" range which simulates hunting conditions is located at Trail of Tears State Forest in Southern Illinois.

"It's (shooting sporting clays) one of the rapidest-growing sports in the country," said Bangert, who lives in Cape Girardeau.

In its 30 years of existence, the club has never had a firearms accident. "We watch people out here like a hawk," Sarff says, "especially when they're new."

Alcohol is forbidden.

Everyone who belongs to the club also must belong to the National Rifle Association because the NRA carries the club's insurance.

"We stress firearm safety to the utmost," Sarff said.