Narrabri Clay Target Club president John Farr could not have been any prouder of the 2025 King of Kaputar two-day shoot that was held across the weekend, with numbers exceeding expectations and some top-quality shooting on display.
The annual shoot attracted 93 shooters, who travelled from all across NSW and even from Queensland to compete.
There were six events held across the two days, with three shot on Saturday and three more shot on Sunday. Saturday’s events were the B&W Rural Narrabri and Tyreright Narrabri 30-target medley off 18 metres, the SierraTek Global 30-target handicap and the Nutrien Ag Narrabri 30-target double barrel, and Sunday’s events were the Northern Inland Credit Union 30-target point score, the Ezy Frame Sheds 30-target single barrel and the Lowes Petroleum Service 25-pair double rise.
This year’s King of Kaputar was Gurya shooter David Edmonds, who shot an off-the-gun score of 266/280 across the six events and a total score of 302/319 when shoot-off numbers were taken into account.
Boorowa’s Aaron Jones also registered an off-the-gun score of 266/280, but he fell five points short of Edmonds as he ended the weekend with a total score of 297/319 to finish as the AA-grade high gun winner.
The other high gun winners were Cobar’s Cliff Overton in A-grade with 259/280, Cessnock’s Nicholas Wells in B-grade with 244/280, home-town shooter Ashley Finlay in C-grade with 243/280, Guyra’s Jodie Henshall in the juniors with 247/280, Brewarrina’s Macka Codrington in the ladies with 256/280, and Camel Hill’s Gary Carlyon in the veterans with 256/280.
The Narrabri Clay Target Club president told The Courier that the two-day event was a great success due to the hard work of the committee and volunteers who helped across the weekend as well as the support the club received from local businesses and individuals.
“It was a great weekend. Under the economic conditions that we’re in at the moment, we were a bit worried about it, but we ended up with 93 shooters. With families, there were probably 30 or 40 extra campers there too,” Farr said.
“We were really happy with those numbers. We were actually hoping for at least 80 shooters, but we would have been happy with 60, so we’ve outdone that, that’s for sure.
“Shooters came from more than 20 different towns from a 500km radius. They came from Moree, Tamworth, Guyra, Grafton, Berrima, Cessnock, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Sydney, Port Macquarie, Kingaroy, Inverell, Lightning Ridge, Brewarrina, Bathurst, Walcha, Tyagarah, Cobar, Camel Hill and Toowoomba. It was very widespread.
“We had a few little hiccups with the traps, but it wasn’t something that we couldn’t fix quickly. It was really well run.
“Mick Brennan did a great job on the barbecue and the ladies in the kitchen did a really good job, so all the meals were really good.
“A lot of people helped out on the weekend. We have a full committee and they all pitch in and the members definitely pitch in too. It takes a lot of hard work from around about March to get it all running smoothly.
“Tammy and Brad Henshall come from Guyra. They are both top shots and have been shooting for about 30 years. Even though our secretary Anthony Gray is there, it’s a big job for him to handle by himself, so Tammy goes into the office and helps him with the scoring, and Brad runs the shoot like a shoot marshal. Because we only have four traps and we have 20 squads, you have to keep everyone moving because otherwise you run out of daylight. I think that he did a great job with that.
“We are very, very lucky to have the quality of sponsors that we’ve got and have had over the years. The major sponsors are great, and almost every business in town would donate something in a small way.
“It’s a real credit to the Narrabri community how much support and sponsorship we get, which is why we are known as one of the biggest and best shoots in the Northwest.
“It was a really good weekend all round. It went very smoothly, and everyone said they had a good time.
“We had some really good scores as well.”
The place-getters from each event across the weekend are as follows:
Event one – B&W Rural Narrabri and Tyreright Narrabri 30-target medley off 18 metres:
Open winner: Justin Turner (Griffith) with 50/50; AA-grade: First – Tony Ryder (Grafton) with 49/50, second – Douglas Ferguson (Warren) with 48/50; A-grade: First – Cliff Overton (Cobar) with 48/50 (73/75 in a shoot-off), second – Aaron Marsh (Kingaroy) with 48/50 (69/75 in a shoot-off); B-grade: First – Julie-Ann Sainsbury (Guyra) with 46/50, second – Darcy Manns (Cobar) with 45/50; C-grade: First – Damon Taylor (Moree) with 493/50 (63/75 in a shoot-off), second – Jessica Haverhoek (Narrabri) with 43/50 (60/75 in a shoot-off).
Event two – SierraTek Global 30-target handicap:
Open winner – David Schneider (Inverell) with 30/30 (32/32 in a shoot-off), second – Brett Chittick (Tamworth) with 30/30 (31/32 in a shoot-off), Jamie Poole (Walcha) with 30/30 (30/31 in a shoot-off), fourth – Ashley Finlay (Narrabri) with 29/30 (39/40 in a shoot-off), fifth – Aaron Jones (Boorowa) with 29/30 (37/39 in a shoot-off).
Event three – Nutrien Ag Narrabri 30-target double barrel:
Open winner: Douglas Ferguson (Warren) with 30/30 (167/167 in a shoot-off); AA-grade: First – Tammy Henshall (Guyra) with 30/30 (166/167 in a shoot-off), second – Dustin Hone (Walcha) with 30/30 (130/131 in a shoot-off); A-grade: First – Amanda Farr (Narrabri) with 30/30 (166/167 in a shoot-off), second – Darran Wills (Cessnock) with 30/30 (78/79 in a shoot-off); B-grade: First – Julie-Ann Sainsbury (Guyra) with 29/30 (49/50 in a shoot-off), second – Darcy Manns (Cobar) with 29/30 (48/50 in a shoot-off); C-grade: First – Ashley Finlay (Narrabri) with 29/30, second – Richard Marshall (Narrabri) with 28/30.
Event four – Northern Inland Credit Union 30-target point score:
Open winner: David Edmonds (Guyra) with 90/90 (93/93 in a shoot-off); AA-grade: First – Dallas Codrington (Brewarrina) with 90/90 (98/99 in a shoot-off), second – Adam Brown (OCTC) with 90/90 (95/99 in a shoot-off); A-grade: First – Keith Connor (Glen Innes) with 88/90 (105/108 in a shoot-off), second – Amanda Farr (Narrabri) with 88/90 (102/108 in a shoot-off); B-grade: First – Wolf Reichmann (Tyagarah) with 87/90 (90/93 in a shoot-off), second – Nicholas Wells (Cessnock) with 87/90 (87/93 in a shoot-off); C-grade: First – Jessica Haverhoek (Narrabri) with 89/90, second – Ashley Finlay (Narrabri) with 85/90.
Event five – Ezy Frame Sheds 30-target single barrel:
Open winner: Dustin Hone (Walcha) with 30/30 (39/39 in a shoot-off); AA-grade: First – Brad Henshall (Guyra) with 30/30 (39/40 in a shoot-off), second – Adam Brown (OCTC) with 30/30 (38/40 in a shoot-off); A-grade: First – Justin Turner (Griffith) with 28/30 (31/33 in a shoot-off), second – Amanda Farr
(Narrabri) with 28/30 (30/33 in a shoot-off); B-grade: Doug Smith (Moree) with 29/30, second – Tony Robb (Cessnock) with 28/30; C-grade: First – Damon Taylor (Moree) with 27/30, second – Karen Smith (Tamworth) with 26/30.
Event six – Lowes Petroleum Service 25-pair double rise:
Open winner: Bryan Manns (Cobar) with 47/50 (67/70 in a shoot-off); AA-grade: First – John Haris (Narrabri) with 47/50 (66/70 in a shoot-off), second – David Edmonds (Guyra) with 47/50 (65/70 in a shoot-off); A-grade: First – Dutin Hone (Walcha) with 45/50, second – Aaron Jones (Boorowa) with 43/50; B-grade: Darcy Manns (Cobar) with 45/50, second – Theresa Montgomery (Moree) with 43/50; C-grade: First – Jeff Pritchard (Walcha) with 43/50, second – Justin Tuner (Griffith) with 39/50.
