Trap And Skeet Team Starts Season with a Bang

By Misty Cryer

Cavemen Trap and Skeet Team is a competitive shooting team composed of middle and high school shooters from Carlsbad and Artesia. With success on their biggest fundraiser of the year, supportive parents, dedicated kids, and coaches, and one competition under their belt this season, it looks like they are off to a good start.

“Our season started in September,” said Coach Mark Hamel. “We have already participated in one zone shooting in Roswell, which was in October.”

The team did very well, according to Hamel. Even though it was a zone shoot, he said they compiled all the data of scores across the state, and he thinks they were in the top three of 11 teams for both intermediate and varsity.

“Our first head-to-head competition, which is statewide, will be in Albuquerque on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of November,” said Hamel. “We shoot skeet, skeet doubles, sporting clays, and all the disciplines of trap, which is singles, doubles, and handicap.”

With a group of dedicated, hardworking, coachable kids, he said, they continue to do very well. “The coaches and parents help out quite a bit,” he said.

“Our shoots are in October, November, January, February, March, April, and then our state championship is in June,” said Hamel. He explained that in between the statewide head-to-head shoots, the team has zone shoots once a month, which are based in Roswell.

The team is participating in more head-to-head statewide shoots this year than last, in preparation for the State Championship competition, which is held at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, according to Hamel. “We do that every year. We always compete at the State Championship,” he said.

With 17 shooters this year, 11 are on the varsity team, said Hamel, explaining that’s the high school team; the remaining six are on the intermediate team, which is the middle school team. Seven of the team members are new shooters, he said.

“We have some new assistant coaches this year,” said Hamel.

Dillon Lopez, a former team shooter, is working in town and helps when he can, depending on his work schedule, and JD Atkins, a parent from Artesia, is serving as assistant coach, Hamel said, adding that the returning assistant coach is James Gordanier.

Four of the shooters are from Artesia, said Hamel. “We’ve had Artesia shooters on our team for three years, and this year, we added two more. We’ve got a group in Artesia helping us out and participating,” he said, adding that the parents are very helpful and participate in fundraisers to fund the season, which he said is great because the sport and the competitions cost a lot of money.

“We’re doing our fundraiser now—the ‘30 guns in 30 days’,” said Hamel. “We typically sell 2,000 tickets, starting in July until the end of October.”

With all tickets sold, the drawings started on the first night of November with a gun given away each night of the month, said Hamel. “That fundraiser is huge; it funds our entire season. We appreciate everybody who has bought tickets and supported our team,” he said.

“We stay busy. We have competitions once a month, and on the other Sundays of the month we practice,” said Hamel.

The team practices at the Carlsbad Shooting Range in Happy Valley, he said. “We also try to practice once a month in Artesia, over at the Eddy County Shooting Range.”

While the team doesn’t do many sponsorships, Hamel said they will be taking team photos in the next couple of weeks. “Some of our kids may be going around the community asking for donations,” he said, adding that businesses that sponsor the team will be able to post photos, which will help to get their name out. “This is our sixth year. Some people know about us, some don’t.”