4-H Shooting Sports starts June 2

Shooting Sports in Eddy County are set to return with the start of summer, and right now is the perfect time to sign up.

Eddy County 4-H Shooting Sports is having their first shoot on Sunday, June 2 from 6-8 p.m. at the Eddy County Rod and Gun Club Range just northeast of New Rockford.

For several years now, 4-H Shooting Sports has offered local youth a way to sharpen their skills and improve their handling of firearms.

Every week during the summer, members partake in one of three forms of shooting sports: skeet, rifle and pistol.

For the first four weeks the kids will focus on skeet shooting, the next four weeks they'll focus on rifle, and they'll end with pistol shooting.

They'll shoot every Sunday at the Rod and Gun Club Range throughout the summer months, culminating in a showcase of their skills with each weapon at their annual shoot-off this fall.

This year's shoot-off will take place on October 5, and as per usual there will be unique prizes for the kids to earn.

Prizes will include guns, knives, sleeping bags, tents and other outdoor gear.

But believe it or not, 4-H Shooting Sports is about more than just shooting at the gun range – it's also about participating in outdoor activities such as camping and hunting.

Members are invited to go on a camping trip this summer, for example, and every hunting season the kids go out and put their shooting skills to good use.

"The main reason I put this together is to get comfortable with firearms and learn how to be efficient shooters and work on their skills," said Mike Brazil, who leads 4-H Shooting Sports and was responsible for getting it started about four years ago.

"And eventually if they want to hunt, which the majority of them do, we work towards getting them out to go hunting."

This year, Brazil said they'll have the option to go either duck hunting or deer hunting on the third weekend in September, providing a great opportunity for local youth to put their shooting skills to use.

4-H Shooting Sports provides local youth with a structured group where they can learn about the outdoors and take part in various outdoor activities.

In some ways it operates like a Boy Scout troop, something New Rockford no longer has.

"When I started this, the biggest thing was trying to get kids outdoors and doing other stuff," said Brazil. "We do winter camping trips, we do summer trips ... work on gun skills, hunting, a little fishing, just exposing them to more things.

"Because New Rockford doesn't have Boy Scouts anymore, there's nothing here except for sports, so we're just trying to open them up to other things."

Any youth interested in joining 4-H Shooting Sports is encouraged to go to the NDSU Extension Eddy County Office at 205 3rd Street SE in New Rockford to get signed up.

The only requirement for doing so is having passed a hunter safety course.