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Taking aim
Parents, youths compete in third Truro turkey shootout
By FREDERICK MELO
STAFF WRITER
TRURO - With the barrel of his empty pellet gun "broken" down toward the ground to reveal an empty chamber, 15-year-old Nick LeDuc playfully aimed his weapon at a paper target hanging at the end of the nearby shooting range, dozens of yards away.
Jim Costa of Eastham helps his girlfriend's 9-year-old son, Andrew Adams, during the third annual Truro Boy Scout Turkey Shoot.
(Staff photo by MATT SUESS)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Nick, don't do that," said his father, Ray, raising his voice in a sharp rebuke.
If his pellet gun were locked and loaded, at least one visual obstacle might have proved to be a distraction to Nick's deadeye aim - his 12-year-old brother, B-Ray, standing just a few yards ahead.
"That's not something you do when there's someone in front of you," growled Ray, a retired boilermaker. "It's a bad habit."
If Ray's words spilled out harshly, he insisted they were also laced with love. The opportunity to turn his teen's general interest in guns and shooting into a studied discipline is part of what drew LeDuc to target practice yesterday at the Truro Transfer Station.
The event - the third annual Truro Boy Scout Turkey Shootout - involved no living turkeys and few actual Boy Scouts.
Instead, a small crowd of mostly adult gun enthusiasts braved chilly temperatures to try their aim at paper targets, competing for prizes such as frozen turkeys, spiral hams, shrimp and 10-pound boxes of lobster.
The annual target-shooting competition attracted at least 75 participants of all ages, including a broad range of marksmen, hunters and parents eager to pass on their skills to their children.
The event is estimated to have raised more than $500 for the Boy Scout troop, which currently consists of two pre-teen boys from Truro and Provincetown.
A few minutes after incurring his father's wrath, Nick's marksmanship earned him the grand prize in the children's BB gun/pellet gun category - a paper bag full of Frito-Lay snack packs, Kraft "Easy Mac" macaroni and cheese, Reese's peanut butter cups, Milky Way bars, Coca-Cola and Sprite.
"He's just hitting puberty," said LeDuc, proudly studying his son's lanky frame as the teen walked off with his bag full of prizes toward the family car. "Last year, he couldn't hold a gun up."
But for the LeDucs, of Truro, a love of shooting doesn't necessarily run in the genes.
"I don't believe in guns," said LeDuc's cherub-faced, 12-year-old son, "B" (Baby) Ray, warming his hands in the pockets of a red-hooded sweatshirt hanging low over cargo pants. "I'm a Buddhist."
Still, B-Ray's father is among those enthusiasts who argue that the best way to protect their kids from gun violence is to arm them.
"These people are very conscientious about their guns," said LeDuc, suddenly stopping short. His attention turned to a teen chatting with friends less than 20 yards away, a pellet gun resting casually in his arms, its lengthy barrel pointed absently at the back of a reporter's head.
"But still," LeDuc continued. "You want to teach your kids."
Sometimes, the kids can almost teach themselves.
"She's good," said Eastham mom Mary Adams, marveling at the skills of her weekend charge, 15-year-old Becca Putnam of Wellfleet.
"I like target sports," explained the athletic teen, who was accompanying Adams' children, Amelia, 14, and Andy, 9, to the shooting range after testing her skills in the backyard of Adams' boyfriend, Jimmy Costa, of Eastham.
"We just did some practice shots, and she got a bull's-eye," Adams said.
Commercial fisherman Phillip Michaud Jr. stood proudly over his sons, Jacques, 5, and Phillip III, 7, as well as family friend Nathan Winkler, 6, while they blasted away at their targets.
Afterward, he spoke of how target shooting is a "generational" discipline that teaches safety and responsibility.
While the target shooting drew an upbeat crowd, some veteran gun users acknowledged their skills had been honed by need.
For those workers who go unemployed in the off-season, hunting puts meat on the table.
"Nothing's fun about it," said a self-avowed deer hunter, resting on a folding chair between rounds, his shotgun planted upright in his arms like a cane. "It's not fun to have your feet up in the air at 5 a.m. in a tree stand. You do it for food."
Lapidator
Taking aim
Parents, youths compete in third Truro turkey shootout
By FREDERICK MELO
STAFF WRITER
TRURO - With the barrel of his empty pellet gun "broken" down toward the ground to reveal an empty chamber, 15-year-old Nick LeDuc playfully aimed his weapon at a paper target hanging at the end of the nearby shooting range, dozens of yards away.
Jim Costa of Eastham helps his girlfriend's 9-year-old son, Andrew Adams, during the third annual Truro Boy Scout Turkey Shoot.
(Staff photo by MATT SUESS)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Nick, don't do that," said his father, Ray, raising his voice in a sharp rebuke.
If his pellet gun were locked and loaded, at least one visual obstacle might have proved to be a distraction to Nick's deadeye aim - his 12-year-old brother, B-Ray, standing just a few yards ahead.
"That's not something you do when there's someone in front of you," growled Ray, a retired boilermaker. "It's a bad habit."
If Ray's words spilled out harshly, he insisted they were also laced with love. The opportunity to turn his teen's general interest in guns and shooting into a studied discipline is part of what drew LeDuc to target practice yesterday at the Truro Transfer Station.
The event - the third annual Truro Boy Scout Turkey Shootout - involved no living turkeys and few actual Boy Scouts.
Instead, a small crowd of mostly adult gun enthusiasts braved chilly temperatures to try their aim at paper targets, competing for prizes such as frozen turkeys, spiral hams, shrimp and 10-pound boxes of lobster.
The annual target-shooting competition attracted at least 75 participants of all ages, including a broad range of marksmen, hunters and parents eager to pass on their skills to their children.
The event is estimated to have raised more than $500 for the Boy Scout troop, which currently consists of two pre-teen boys from Truro and Provincetown.
A few minutes after incurring his father's wrath, Nick's marksmanship earned him the grand prize in the children's BB gun/pellet gun category - a paper bag full of Frito-Lay snack packs, Kraft "Easy Mac" macaroni and cheese, Reese's peanut butter cups, Milky Way bars, Coca-Cola and Sprite.
"He's just hitting puberty," said LeDuc, proudly studying his son's lanky frame as the teen walked off with his bag full of prizes toward the family car. "Last year, he couldn't hold a gun up."
But for the LeDucs, of Truro, a love of shooting doesn't necessarily run in the genes.
"I don't believe in guns," said LeDuc's cherub-faced, 12-year-old son, "B" (Baby) Ray, warming his hands in the pockets of a red-hooded sweatshirt hanging low over cargo pants. "I'm a Buddhist."
Still, B-Ray's father is among those enthusiasts who argue that the best way to protect their kids from gun violence is to arm them.
"These people are very conscientious about their guns," said LeDuc, suddenly stopping short. His attention turned to a teen chatting with friends less than 20 yards away, a pellet gun resting casually in his arms, its lengthy barrel pointed absently at the back of a reporter's head.
"But still," LeDuc continued. "You want to teach your kids."
Sometimes, the kids can almost teach themselves.
"She's good," said Eastham mom Mary Adams, marveling at the skills of her weekend charge, 15-year-old Becca Putnam of Wellfleet.
"I like target sports," explained the athletic teen, who was accompanying Adams' children, Amelia, 14, and Andy, 9, to the shooting range after testing her skills in the backyard of Adams' boyfriend, Jimmy Costa, of Eastham.
"We just did some practice shots, and she got a bull's-eye," Adams said.
Commercial fisherman Phillip Michaud Jr. stood proudly over his sons, Jacques, 5, and Phillip III, 7, as well as family friend Nathan Winkler, 6, while they blasted away at their targets.
Afterward, he spoke of how target shooting is a "generational" discipline that teaches safety and responsibility.
While the target shooting drew an upbeat crowd, some veteran gun users acknowledged their skills had been honed by need.
For those workers who go unemployed in the off-season, hunting puts meat on the table.
"Nothing's fun about it," said a self-avowed deer hunter, resting on a folding chair between rounds, his shotgun planted upright in his arms like a cane. "It's not fun to have your feet up in the air at 5 a.m. in a tree stand. You do it for food."
Lapidator