Patrick Palmer
Lead Reporter, Life Member

What is a "Sportsmen's" club anyway? The Issaquah Sportsmen's Club has been around for generations serving the sporting community. Fishermen, riflemen, hunters and shooters have gathered at the clubhouse on a regular basis for as long as I can remember. The range helps pass along that great American pastime of shooting and has been handed down from our country’s fathers, on down the line, to you and me. Don't get me wrong.  I believe there are many great female shooters and sportsmen out there also. But, what is a sportsman?

The Shooter: Someone learning and exploring the mechanics of shooting. This includes shooting with a purpose. A shooter will head to the range for many reasons. For example, I dropped my rifle down a small rock outcropping and the scope come completely off. I needed a safe place to test it after I got the scope reattached. During my testing, I found my crosshair (reticle) would not respond to vertical adjustment. I had to send it back for repair. This is a typical example of a shooter using the range. 

Another shooter will be testing ammunition. There are many shooters who hand load ammunition to help cut the cost of shooting. Hand loading can also help the shooter tune a particular bullet type OR a specific powder to your rifle or pistol. 

Still another shooter will be shooting from the bench at 50 yards with a scoped .22 rifle.  There are games a shooter can use to improve his ability. For example staple up an A23/5 target (number 9) and after sighting in at fifty yards, shoot a group of 10 shots into the ten ring. You can't do it?  Well, here is your first milestone in shooting rifle from a bench.  Take your time, separate what works from what doesn’t work and don't forget to talk to other shooters. After all, we are sportsmen. 

See you at the range. ¥

[CORT Class (“Eyes in the Woods”)- Learn how to report fishing and hunting violations. This course is required for all Master Hunters and those applying for Master Hunter status. Thurs., June 12, 7-9 PM

Contact Tom Mechler at 425 255 0922 or email him at tmechler@msn.com to register. (The next class will not be held until Feb 12, 2009.)

[Hunter Education- The June class is full. To register for the July, August, or September classes, call Don Wakeley at 425 746 4480 starting June 1.

[Drawing Winners- April: Keith Martin won the small pot ($5.00) and Will Berg would have won the large pot of $629.50 if he had been at the meeting. May: Don Beach won the small pot ($9.50) and Cliff Hineline would have won the large pot of $639.00 if he had been at the meeting. The large pot will be over $630.00 at the June meeting but you must be at there to win!

[Newsletter Inputs- If there is news or an article you have written for the newsletter, please get the information to me by the 15^th of the 2^ndth of May for the June-July issue. Thanks, LoriL.

String Your Bows
Archery Range under Construction NOW

Pat Moore
Reporter, Annual Member

Hello folks- Good news! The board has approved an Archery range to be placed on the backside of the rifle range berm.  The range will consist of at least 4 butts from 20 yards to 50 or 60 depending on space available.  The hours of operation and usage requirements have been outlined specifically and will be available on the website shortly. I would anticipate that we’ll have the range open sometime in late July or early August depending on the help I get. Look for the formal opening announcement here in your news letter.

 I would like to thank those folks who have already offered to help, any assistance would be welcomed. I will typically be working on the range on Sunday mornings before the rifle range opens. You may also find me there on Tuesday evenings between 5:30 and 6:30. If you want confirmation I’ll be there or to coordinate your efforts, you can contact me via my preferred communication of email at WCArchers@comcast.net or via cell 425-233-2606.

Some of the Tasks That Need to be Performed

» Pick up a 10’ x 6’ gate at Home Depot (Coordinate pick up and save the receipt for re-imbursement)

» Pickup a 42” x 6’ gate for foot traffic also at home depot (Coordinate pickup and save the receipt for re-imbursement)

» We’ll also need some sand for the broad head pit so if you have an inexpensive source for that let me know.

» Remove the smaller fence posts to make way for the gate posts

» Place the larger posts (3) with sack concrete to support the additional load of the gates. Posts can be found inside the clubhouse fence just beyond the antique farm equipment. The fence area has already been cleared of bushes.

» The area just inside the fence needs all the briars and underbrush removed.

» Shooting lanes need to be cleared as well; I have already cleared the lane for the 20yard butt. There are multiple downed trees in the range area that could be cut up and used as firewood or compost.

» Once the gates are in and the lanes are cleared we can start on the target sheds and butts. I have the pressure treated lumber for the sheds and the arrow butts will be carpet bales which I also have.

» We’ll need a sign to post the range rules and procedures so if any of you are in the sign business we could use some help there. Also the signs on the rifle range are looking awfully shabby might be nice to clean the whole works up.

Well that’s all for now I’m looking forward to working with you all and having a convenient range to shoot at. Happy hunting and straight shooting from the archery director-  Pat Moore

More archery information will also be available at http://westernCascadeArchers.org and on the Issaquah Sportsmen’s Club website. ¥

Use Your Range Time to Become a Better Shooter

Patrick Palmer
Lead Reporter, Life Member

Have a plan.

Make your time count. Get in to the habit of taking notes. Make written reflections about your shooting day. Work on specific things. For pistol shooters, there is the always the mighty sight alignment. 

Take notes

Taking notes on a forty round shooting session, for some, could fill this publication. Not everyone is good with writing reflections and may have not done much writing since high school. However, if you want to become a good shooter, get a notebook and keep it with your shooting stuff. Successful shooters refer to their notebooks in planning a day at the range.  Notebooks are also a good place to keep reports to yourself about your shooting. 

An example of note taking:

On a recent shooting day I shot fifty rounds of Winchester ball .38 special ammunition through my 4 inch S&W 686 revolver. The first six rounds were single action and the remainders were shot double action. My attention during this section of my shooting day was on maintaining the sight picture through the rather longish trigger pull during double action shooting. 

Shoot at a distance where you can easily keep your shots within the scoring rings.

It is OK to shoot at seven yards. You are learning many things for the first several hundred rounds anyway and quite honestly, if you are shooting outside of the scoring rings, move the target closer or shoot at a larger target. Pistols shooters do well with our number one and two targets at any distance. 

Do your homework.

Shooters have homework too. Dry fire your firearm as a practice. Make sure your ammunition is not near you.  This is very important. Do not load your firearm. You will be surprised if you forget this step. Check your firearm to make sure it is unloaded. After doing this you can run the trigger mechanism. Tape a small target to a wall and, with your firearm unloaded, practice shooting at this target. This will help with at least a couple of things such as how the trigger feels as it is being pulled. Dry firing can also help with your follow through, breathing, and natural point of aim.   

Shooting should be fun as well as enlightening. It is always good to have a shooting buddy. But remember, becoming a good shooter requires practice. 

See you at the range.¥ 

Black Tailed Deer Hair Loss Syndrome
Keep an Eye Out and Report Sightings

Lori Laughren
Editor, Range Master

With the arrival of spring, the deer sightings at the range increase as the “Range Herd” follows their warmer months feeding route. So a few weeks ago, I was pleased to have camera in hand when the little doe and her yearling decided to hang out and eat around my home, just off the range parking lot.

I got some good shots of them. The little doe looks healthy and her coat is sleek and shiny. But the yearling had a really odd shed going on.

Can Deer Get Mange?

 The yearling’s hair was discolored, a yellow to white on both sides from hip to hip and over its ribs. It was patchy- almost as if someone with no ability had tried to shave him/her and missed spots. What’s up with that, I thought.

I called the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and asked.

Black Tailed Deer Hair Loss Syndrome Basic Facts

WDFW is tracking sightings of deer with this syndrome. There is a link for reporting sightings on their website. This syndrome has been documented for at least 10 years and is seen in both Washington and Oregon, with one report found out of W. Virginia.

You will often see deer with the syndrome alongside healthy, unaffected deer. You may observe excessive licking and grooming in affected deer which contributes to hair loss.

If the weather is cold and damp enough, particularly through the winter, and the affected deer has lost enough hair, it will become hypothermic and die.

Studies show affected deer have a high count of biting lice, but healthy deer often have similar counts of biting lice. Affected deer often develop a low-grade pneumonia, caused by parasites in the lungs. Theories abound as to a correlation between the infestation of lice and lung parasites causing become hypersensatization of the skin, thus causing the syndrome to occur. But like the problem of which came first, the chicken or the egg, there is no definitive answer on which parasite may be at fault.

Deer that survive the syndrome over the winter, usually regain their health on their own.

Just a note: a couple of articles stated the meat is ok to eat, even when hair loss is present in the deer. I would urge hunters to err on the side of caution: if it’s sick, why chance eating it?

Report seeing a deer with hair loss and link to more info here:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/research/health/report.htm