Appeal for Hunting/Fishing Gear and Clothing

This has already been announced in an email blast to the membership, but is worth repeating here in case folks missed the email.

The Rolling Wave Foundation is a nonprofit in Scituate run by Rich Bonanno that supplies everyday living items to people in Appalachia. They take donations of new and used items and deliver them to areas most in need of assistance. There has been a request from a very impoverished community in Kermit, West Virginia for any used hunting or fishing gear. They hunt and fish year round to live and could use any clothing, gear, accessories that they can get. Rich has asked SRGC members if they had any items that they could donate to this effort.

There will be a collection box/area in the clubhouse that you can drop off anything in your basement gathering dust that could be put to good use. We would like to have all donations by Sunday December 12th so Rich can send it down to West Virginia before Christmas.

Thank you in advance for your support.

For questions, contact SRGC Treasurer Mike Fechter at (781) 383-2268 or mjfechter@gmail.com

Pistol

The Pistol Commitee held a combat shoot on Saturday, November 13th. Nine shooters shot the course of fire twice. Winning both relays was Andrew Thompson who is blindingly fast. Andrew gets this from his dad, Drew who is also fast but has a predilection for punching holes in hostage targets.

There is no shoot scheduled for December at press time, but keep an eye on the calendar on our web site in case the situation changes.

Cowboy Action Shooting

The Gunnysackers held a match on on Sunday November 14th and, thus far, have not announced a match for December. Again, keep an eye on the calendar for changes.

Trap & Skeet

Recently, National Grid replaced the bulbs in the lights for the skeet and trap fields with energy efficient LED lights. During the process they re-aimed the lights to point more towards the ground. National Grid was contacted and asked to re-aim the lights, which they did by pointing them even more towards the ground.

Thanks to the efforts of Dave I-Can-Pick-Anything Glancy and John Hatherly the lights are now illuminating the flight path of the birds.

Deer Hunting

We have quite a few members who hunt our property and adjacent public lands. Most years they are quite successful, but not this year. Prior to the opening of archery season, hunters noticed a lack of deer sign — scrapes, rubs, etc. — in the usual areas; also a lack of photos on the game cameras they have scattered around. At press time only three deer had been harvested during archery season. It is now shotgun season until December 11th then muzzle-loading season until December 31st. 

A cautionary note; if you like to hike the trails in the West End, please wear hunter orange and if walking Fido, have them on a lead until the season ends.

Quotes of the Month
“The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will loose.”
- James Earl Jones 

"A golf course is the deliberate and willful misuse of a perfectly good rifle range."
- Col. Jeff Cooper USMC 

Welcome Aboard
Scituate Rod & Gun Club welcomes these new members who have joined us recently:

Richard Bryan Tom Clements

Charles Dongara Arthur Fiorillo

Stephen Hughes Ryan Joseph

Eric Kraemer Michael Lennon

Connie O'Neill John O'Neill

Ronald Ranaldi Brian Sasso

Why Defensive Firearms Training is So Important

by Sheriff Jum Wilson — Sourced from Shooting Illustrated

The other day I was talking about the need for a defensive shooter to get professional training. One fellow spoke up and said that, since so few citizens are actually involved in gunfights, getting training was really not all that important. I find that to be a rather simplistic response. I replied, “I’ve never had a house fire, so why should I have a plan for dealing with one? And I rarely have a flat tire, so why should I carry a spare tire?”

A lot of Americans own guns and enjoy the shooting sports, and that’s a good thing. But plinking at the gun range and engaging in a gunfight are two entirely different things. You can’t imagine the stress involved when you realize that, within the next few seconds, you may be in mortal peril. The percentage of citizen-involved gunfights may be low, but that is indeed little comfort when you happen to be the exception to the rule. And, once the criminal attack begins, what you could have done or should have done really doesn’t matter very much.

I live in a small town in the middle of big ranch country, with the Rio Grande river just a bit south of me. We really have a very small rate of violent crime around here, but there is always the chance of running across some drug smugglers. The real problem is that, when we are confronted with violence it make take law enforcement quite a while to get to us. Thirty minutes to an hour, or more, is not unreasonable. I remind my friends that the gunfight at the OK Corral took place in about 30 seconds. That helps to put things into perspective.

Those who guide hunters for dangerous game have a philosophy of planning for when everything goes wrong instead of when everything goes right. On a cape buffalo hunt in Mozambique I was fortunate to be able to put my bull down with one shot. However, that very afternoon, my partner’s shot on his bull was just a little off and we spent seven or eight more shots getting things resolved. But, we had planned for that contingency, knew that it might happen and knew what to do about it.

Yes, you may never have to fire your handgun in defense of your life or family, but the possibility always exists. In fact, some of you who read this may have to do that very thing before today is over. It is my hope that you will have taken advantage of the good training that is out there to help you meet the challenge and survive the crisis.

Club Calendar

MONTHLY MEETING
Monday December 6th – 8:00 pm
Monday, January 3rd – 8:00 pm

SKEET
Sundays: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Wednesdays: 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm

TRAP
Saturdays: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Tuesdays: 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm

PISTOL
Nothing planned.

COWBOY
Nothing planned.

SAFETY COURSE
Tuesday, December 7th – 7:00 pm & Thursday December 9th – 7:00 pm
Tuesday, January 4th – 7:00 pm & Thursday January 6th – 7:00 pm

RANGE ORIENTATION
Sunday, December 12th – 9:00 am. Register here.

…And Finally