Clay Into Powder

by Allen Treadwell
photography by Cliff White

Allen Treadwell has gone from shooting novice to champion marksman.

Conservationists magazinesContents


My name is Allen Treadwell and I live in the southwest corner of Missouri in a place called Jackett. I'm a freshman at Southwest High School in Washburn, where I am a charter member of the Southwest Shooting Club.

I got involved three years ago when John Harp, a teacher at Southwest, set up the shooting club. Mr. Harp is retired now and involved with Missouri Hunter Education. Mr. Harp introduced me to Youth Hunter Education Challenge, a Conservation Department program that helps young people develop outdoor skills and ethics they learn in hunter education classes.

The YHEC is a competition made up of eight different events. They are hunter responsibility, hunting safety, orienteering, wildlife identification and marksmanship with .22 rifles, bows and arrows, muzzleloading rifles and shotguns.

In the shotgun event, you go through a sporting clays course with your shotgun. You are thrown clay targets from various angles, speeds and distances. This is my favorite event, probably because it is my best event.

I like YHEC because it teaches safe gun handling, responsibility and the importance of safety while hunting. It also gives kids time to spend with their mom or dad, or their grandma or grandpa. It can give kids an alternative to trouble.

For the Challenges, you have to work and study hard in order to do your best. For me, YHEC is really a family event and includes hunter ethics I have been taught all my life. My Dad has stressed safety to me ever since I can remember. He taught me to shoot the muzzle loader, .22 rifle, shotgun and bow. My Pa Fletcher has taught me a lot about how to tell different animal tracks and furs. This was a great help in wildlife identification. My Mom makes me read (I really don't like to read much - I'd rather shoot!)

On my fourth birthday my great-uncle, Edward Fletcher, who worked for Daisy BB Manufacturing in Rogers, Ark., gave me my first real gun - a Daisy Red Rider BB gun! I also entered my first shooting contest that year at Wal-Mart in Cassville. My Mom let me shoot just to be nice, and I won.

I have done a lot of hunting and had lots of good luck. I have been fortunate to take six deer in six deer seasons, all with a gun. I have hunted deer since I was nine years old and only missed getting a deer one year. But I got two this last deer season to fill my bonus antlerless and any-deer permits. I have bow hunted, but haven't had any luck.

I have been squirrel hunting with my Pa Fletcher since I was five years old. Pa was probably the first to have the courage to let me shoot a .22 without anyone holding the gun for me. He would take me squirrel hunting (still does), and if I didn't shoot them in the head, he would get to shoot the next two (he hasn't got to shoot too many).

I have hunted pheasants only once. I got this great chance by being the Missouri State Junior YHEC Champion in 1996. My Dad and I got to go to Moser Pheasant Creek in Franklin. They have a great range. I killed five pheasants, two cocks and three hens. Because it is a private range, there are no limits, and you can kill hens. My guide was Mike Moser, and he was exceptional. Pheasant hunting was a great experience, and I enjoyed it.

One of the benefits of competitive shooting is that I get to travel a lot. I traveled to Atlanta, Ga. to compete in the 1996 Quail Unlimited/Red Man Challenge with Dave Velten and Ron Lowe. Dave is from Butterfield, and he won first place in the Hunter's Division. Ron, from Monett, placed second. I placed third in the junior division.

I have been to Tahlequah, Okla. to shoot in the Tahlequah Trap Club Championship. I tied for the Championship with a 99 out of 100 from the 16 yard line. This was only the first time I had ever shot trap. The shoot-off went into three rounds. The other man finally beat me with a 24 when I fell down to a 23. I also got to travel to Tulsa for my first skeet competition in 1995, where I placed first in the sub-junior division.

I went to Jefferson City in early June of 1996 to compete in the Missouri State YHEC. In the junior division, I placed second in orienteering, responsibility exam, .22 rifle and black powder. I placed first in wildlife I.D. and shotgun. From overall scores, I received a third place plaque from Sierra Bullets for .22 rifle, a river otter hide from Missouri Fur Association for third in wildlife I.D., and a Remington 12-gauge shotgun for first in shotgun. I finished first overall at that meet with the most total points.

From there, our next trip was to the NRA Whittington Center, Raton N.M., where I competed in the 1996 International YHEC. In the intermediate division, I placed third in .22 rifles, second in muzzle loaders (black powder), second in hunter safety trail and first in shotgun. I ranked Intermediate Runner-up by overall points accumulated in all eight events. I re-ceived a Mossberg .12-gauge pump shotgun, one dozen Easton arrows and a commemorative 1996 NRA Schrade knife. There were only 24 of the knives made. My Dad won one by being runner-up in the endowment division. At the International Challenge, adults can compete.

I have been to San Antonio, Texas, where I didn't do so well, but I got a lot of memories. I have been to Leesburg, Va., where I didn't do well either. You win some, you lose some!

In the short time I have been shooting competitively, I have met some of the BEST people! I had the opportunity to shoot sporting clays with country music star Barbara Mandrell and her husband, Ken Dudney, at Ozark Shooters Sports Complex in Branson, owned by Dale and Peggy Siler, who have been very kind to me. Ken and Barbara are two of the nicest people you would ever want to meet!

My instructor, Gerald White of Springfield has helped me a lot in pursuing the sport of sporting clays. Without help from Jan Morris, state coordinator of YHEC, I would not have been Junior State YHEC Champion or placed as well as I did at International.

I think all kids should be introduced to hunting and fishing because it will teach them responsibility and safety. They will have something fun and challenging to look forward to so they will not join gangs or cause trouble.

Allen Treadwell is 16 years old.

Safety and Shooting:

A Note To Parents
Kids like shooting for the same reasons they like other sports: it's fun, challenging and competitive. These rewards come when parents and kids alike take on responsibility for safety above everything else. This means that parents and kids must learn and obey every rule of firearms handling, storage and safe shooting.

Here are some guidelines.

When handling a gun...

When storing or using a gun...

Take advantage of the many national, state and community organizations that offer youth shooting education. The Depart-ment of Conservation, 4-H Youth Programs, Boy Scouts of America, National Rifle Association and U.S. Jaycees, among others, offer supervised programs taught by certified instructors. A good source for information about competitive shooting is the National Shooting Sports Foundation, 11 Mile Hill Road, Newtown, CT 06470.