King of Kaputar shoot goes off with a bang

The Narrabri Clay Target Club was loud and proud across the weekend it hosted its annual King of Kaputar shoot.

A large number of shooters took part as there were 108 in attendance.

That figure is especially impressive, considering that the Western Zone shoot was not incorporated this year, but shooters travelled just to take part in the Narrabri club’s event.

They came from all over the place too, from parts of Queensland and Victoria and right across NSW.

Narrabri Clay Target Club captain Lindsay Taylor told The Courier that it was a fantastic weekend.

“It was a great weekend,” he said.

“We had 108 shooters and it was an awesome atmosphere.

“Everybody enjoyed themselves and we had no problems.

“The targets were good an we had no major hold-ups or anything like that.

“The whole weekend couldn’t have really gone any better.”

There were six events shot across the weekend at the 2023 King of Kaputar shoot, including the Northern Inland Credit Union 25-target point score, the John Harris and Max Pest

Solutions 50-target handicap, the Nutrien Ag Narrabri 50-target double barrel, the B and W Rural 45-target medley, the Ezy Frame Sheds 25-target single barrel and the Kelpie Crop Protection 15 pair double rise, respectively.

Guyra shooter Brad Henshell was crowned the 2023 King of Kaputar champion as he took out the overall high gun with 298 out of 305. The high gun is calculated by adding the scores of all six events together, meaning that Henshall almost had a perfect weekend.

The AA-grade high gun went to Tamworth’s John Sleightholme with 295/305, and the A-grade high gun was decided by a shoot-off and was claimed by the Narrabri Clay Target Club’s David Jackson. Jackson’s off the gun score was 294/305, which was tied with fellow A-grade shooter, Guyra’s Michael Roan. They then went into a shoot-off, during which Jackson shot 13/14 to Roan’s 11/14 to finish with an overall score of 307/319.

The B-grade high gun was also decided by a shoot-off and it was Walcha’s James Poole that claimed it with a 12/14 score after finishing with a 281/305 off the gun score.

The C-grade high gun winner was Cobar’s Aiden Barraclough with 272/305, junior high gun winner was The Forest’s Thomas Dimeglio with 288/305, ladies high gun winner was Guyra’s

Tammie Henshall with 286/305, and the veteran high gun winner was Western Sydney’s Paul Mansueto with 290/305.

Several Narrabri Clay Target Club shooters excelled across the various events.

In the Nutrien Ag Narrabri 50-target double barrel event, Murray Johnson was the open winner with a score of 50/50 and then a shoot-off score of 29/29.

Jackson was the A-grade winner in that event with 50/50 and a shoot-off score of 15/16.

In the B and W Rural 45-target medley, Andrew Martin was the A-grade winner with a score of 75/75 and a shoot-off score of 48/50, while Frank Hedley was the B-grade winner with 74/75.

There were then three Narrabri Clay Target Club winners in the Ezy Frame Sheds 25-target single barrel event, as Jackson took out A-grade with 25/25 and a shoot-off score of 7/8, Hedley claimed B-grade with 25/25 and a shoot-off score of 4/5, and Geoffrey Farr won C-grade with 24/25.

Hedley placed second in B-grade in the Kelpie Crop Protection 15 pair double rise with a score of 27/30 and a shoot-off score of 9/10.

A list of the winners and runners-up in each grade from each event are as follows:

Event one – Northern Inland Credit Union 25-target point score:

Open winner – Brad Henshall (Guyra) with 75/75 (63/63 S/O); AA-grade winner – Alexander Bourke (NSWGC) with 75/75 (60/63 S/O) and runner-up – Peter Hosie (Cobar) with 75/75 (36/39 S/O); A-grade winner – Louise Machul (Narromine) with 75/75 (44/45 S/O) and runner-up – Michael Roan (Guyra) with 74/75 (33/33 S/O); B-grade winner – Melanie White (Singleton) with 75/75 and runner-up – Darren Whipps (Cessnock) with 74/75; C-grade winner – Hayley Albo (The Forest) with 69/75 and runner-up – William Davidson (Tamworth) with 68/75 (3/3 S/O).

Event two – John Harris and Max Pest Solutions 50-target handicap:

Open winner – Michael Roan (Guyra) with 49/50 and runner-up – Gary Carlyon (Camel Hill) with 48/50 (22/22 S/O).

Event three – Nutrien Ag Narrabri 50-target double barrel:

Open winner – Murray Johnson (Narrabri) with 50/50 (29/29 S/O); AA-grade winner – Jeff Richardson (Guyra) with 50/50 (28/29 S/O) and runner-up – Douglas Ferguson (Warren) with 50/50 (27/28 S/O); A-grade winner – David Jackson (Narrabri) with 50/50 (15/16 S/O) and runner-up – Michael Roan (Guyra) with 50/50 (7/8 S/O); B-grade winner – Greg Brush (Cobar) with 50/50 (16/17 S/O) and runner-up – Jamie Poole (Walcha) with 50/50 (8/9 S/O); C-grade winner – Aiden Barraclough (Cobar) with 48/50 (2/2 S/O) and runner-up – Matthew McGuiness (Moree) with 48/50 (1/2 S/O).

Event four – B and W Rural 45-target medley:

Open winner – Brad Henshall (Guyra) with 75/75 (50/50 S/O); AA-grade winner – Brett Trindall (Coonamble) with 75/75 (49/50 S/O) and runner-up – John Sleightholme (Tamworth) with 75/75 (49/50 S/O); A-grade winner – Andrew Martin (Narrabri) with 75/75 (48/50 S/O) and runner-up – Gary Carlyon (Camel Hill) with 74/75; B-grade winner – Frank Hedley (Narrabri) with 74/75 and runner-up – Ross Morris (Cobar) with 73/75; C-grade winner – Koby Brown (Cessnock) with 70/75 and runner-up – Aiden Barraclough (Cobar) with 69/75 (25/25 S/O).

Event five – Ezy Frame Sheds 25-target single barrel:

Open winner – Matthew Bach (Condamine) with 25/25 (20/20 S/O); AA-grade winner – Brad Henshall (Guyra) with 25/25 (19/20 S/O) and runner-up – Peter Hosie (Cobar) with 25/25 (8/9 S/O); A-grade winner – David Jackson (Narrabri) with 25/25 (7/8 S/O) and runner-up – Michael Roan (Guyra) with 25/25 (1/2 S/O); B-grade winner – Frank Hedley
(Narrabri) with 25/25 (4/5 S/O) and runner-up – Kendra Schwartz (Moree) with 24/25 (6/6 S/O); C-grade winner – Geoffrey Farr (Narrabri) with 24/25 and runner-up – William Davidson (Tamworth) with 23/25.

Event six – Kelpie Crop Protection 15 pair double rise:

Open winner – Sophie Sainsbury (Guyra) with 29/30; AA-grade winner – Matthew Bach (Condamine) with 28/30 (10/10 S/O) and runner-up – John Sleightholme (Tamworth) with 28/30 (10/10 S/O); A-grade winner – Brian Kneipp (Moree) with 28/30 (10/10 S/O) and runner-up – Douglas Ferguson (Warren) with 28/30 (9/10 S/O); B-grade winner – Bill Fletcher (Walcha) with 28/30 and runner-up – Frank Hedley (Narrabri) with 27/30 (9/10 S/O); C-grade winner – Walter Friend (Lightning Ridge) with 28/30 (10/10 S/O) and runner-up – Dean Rumbel (Port Macquarie) with 28/30 (8/10 S/O).