Lots of big shooting and gun events coming up in September. Let’s check out a few!
Gun Auctions Galore
If you’re not a subscriber to the Gun Digest e-newsletter, then you missed the info on some of the biggest gun auctions coming your way next month. Here’s the rundown:
- Rock Island Auction Company of Rock Island, Illinois, has three days of bidding, starting September 9, on high-grade,
historical German and U.S. military arms, and a bevy of fine Colts and Winchesters, to name a few. - Lakeview, Florida, auctioneer Higgenbotham Auctioneers International is hosting a 200-plus gun estate sale on September 9,
- Sohn & Associates of Beaver Dam, Kentucky is holding a liquidation auction on more than 300 guns September 10.
- Also on September 10, Cordier Antiques and Auctions of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, setting high bids on 300 lots of firearms and military collectibles.
- Lakeside, California’s Past & Present Collectibles bangs the gavel on firearms, antiques and more on September 11.
- A-1 Auctioneers of Alvaredo, Texas, is hosting a September 11 pre-hunting season auction, with guns, camo clothing, ammo and more on the block.
- West Covina, California, seller Gunslinger Auctions promises some higher-end fare, with Wesley Richards and Francotti among the names of arms makers going to bid on September 17
- Antiques and Estate Auctioneers of Wellington, Ohio is banging the gavel on a big selection of guns September 21.
Auctioneer links will take you directly to the online catalogs and bidding platforms, but so you don’t miss this kind of information again, remember to sign up for the Gun Digest e-newsletter (there's a box to sign up for the e-newsletter on every page of this site, including one to the right of this post). We aim to be the go-to source for all your firearms reference needs, and the e-newsletter is a surefire way to get the information out to you.
Big Clay Shoots Coming Up
National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) tournament shooters are going to have to squeeze in some serious practice time in between dove shoots this September. Five Zone shoots are scheduled, to wit: Zone 2 shoots at the Blue Ridge Sportsman’s Club September 9-10; Zone 3 is at Hill N’Dale September 16-18; Zone 4 competitors will hash it out at the Cherokee Rose September 9-11; and Zone 5 shooters meet at the Flint Oak range September 8-11.
Sporting clays shooters aren’t the only ones getting action—and they’re not the only ones who need to eek out as much practice time as they can. Registered skeet shooters vie for cash and honor at two huge shoots. The 2011 U.S. Skeet Open starts right after the Labor Day weekend, running September 8-11 at the Waco Skeet and Trap Club, but that’s just the precursor to the really big shoot, the 2011 World Skeet Shooting Championships. This last big shoot of the season runs September 30-October 7 at the National Shooting Sports Complex in San Antonio, and this year’s competition has a twist. This year the World’s are employing the use of Briley’s voice-release target system known as The Wand. It will be an option on for shooters on all practice and tournament fields, but it will be in mandatory use during all shoot-offs. Now voice-activated target release systems have been available for some time, but Briley’s Wand has made a big splash—and stirred up a lot of conversation and controversy. It will be interesting to see whether the device’s mandatory use—especially when employed in the make-or-break world of high-stakes shoot-offs—will gain a stronghold across clay tournament factions.
EPIC Outdoor Game Fair
This may be the be-all-end-all of introductions to outdoor sports as readers here know them to be. As the event’s website declares, “The EPIC Outdoor Game Fair—at its core—is a celebration of America’s ‘country pursuits’…”. Sounds good—and maybe a little high-toned—but this exhibition isn’t out to address the already initiated hunting sect who watch TV shows with titles that contain words like “Xtreme” and “Hardcore” on Outdoor Channel and the like. Rather, this massive show is aimed at recruiting and educating those who just might want to be the next “hardcore waterfowler” and “xtreme bowhunter.” Or you can just look at the way the event’s organizers do: “Renewing Families with America’s Outdoor Heritage.”
Sponsored by Safari Club International Foundation and Quail Unlimited (which accounts for the “country pursuits” line), and held from September 23-25at the Foxhall Resort and Sporting Club in Douglasville, Georgia, not far from Atlanta, this show is host to a daunting number of outdoor interests. Attendees can wander through any number of “villages,” from archery and birds of prey to shooting and equine disciplines. Industry pro staffers, experts, and equipment reps run each workshop, and each village is completely user interactive. Shoot a bow on the running target course with a coach right by your side. Get casting instruction on the perfect loop from an Orvis pro, then attend the seminar on building your own fly rod, all in the Fishing Village. “Ask a Pro” daily seminars in the Eukenuba-sponsored Canine Village get every birddog owner’s questions answered, and you can take in both amateur and pro Labs making those splash-down retrieves at the Super Dock. And let’s not forget the guns. The Shooting Village has it down! Benelli’s Scott Matthews will put on an “Extreme Shoot Exhibition” no shotgunner will want to miss, and wobble trap, five-stand, airgun range, and both handgun and hunting simulators offer something for every gun enthusiast, beginner or expert.
A three-day family-of-four package at the gate is a bargain at $135, but buy online now and it’ll cost you just $80. Single-day admissions are available, too, but with this event mapped out to be the Disneyland of outdoor activities, you can go all three days and still not see everything you want to. Click the link above for more information.
Duck, Duck, Goose
Close on the heels of doves come the ducks, and for those on the East Coast, you’re going to want to spend a day or two at the Pymatuning Waterfowl Festival. Taking place September 17-18 at the Linesville High School in Linesville, Pennsylvania, this is the 30th Anniversary of the annual Ducks Unlimited show, and it promises to pull out all the stops. Decoy carving demonstrations, seminars on late-season calling and field goose decoy setups, and retrieving canine exhibits run right alongside a decoy carving competition, the Pennsylvania State Duck and Goose Calling Championships, and the Saturday night DU dinner and auction. Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been to a dull DU auction! Attendees also get a chance to win War Eagle and Tracker boats, and cheer on the pretty local girls and young women of the 2011 Miss Waterfowl Pageant. It promises to be a fun time for all, and a great kickoff to this year’s duck seasons.
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