Howdy!
My name is Austin, 10 years behind a trigger, 7 of that competitively and I'm just now turning 20. I started off hunting rabbits with buddies out in the Buckeye area of Arizona and quickly made the jump to shotguns and dove hunting. First time out I was given a 1970's Ithaca M66 super single .410 with a fixed full choke. (I know what you're thinking, someone didn't have a clue what they were doing with me lol) To their surprise and my own, I didn't miss a single bird that day or for the remainder of the season with that .410.
The man that took my father and I out every day that season loaned me a Winchester 1300 12ga and said "go shoot trap and skeet, then we'll see what we're gonna do with you". We went straight to the range and my first attempts at both events were 23/25 in trap and a 22/25 in skeet, at age 12. The sport was addicting to me and I was soon on the Scholastic Clay Target Program, as well as NSSA/NSCA shoots. When I was 14 we won our first national championship as a squad, which cemented my love for the sport, and pushed me into the bigger shoots. By age 15, I had the state title twice, and sctp was my favorite thing, twice a week.
Fast forward to the 2009 NRA convention, and I literally walked up to Kelly McMillan just to meet him and I didn't know he knew me from my sctp days. He invited me to shoot the Sportsman's Team Challenge national championship that year on the junior team he sponsored, I was shocked and graciously accepted. The next three years were a blessing to say the least, practicing with the man and shooting for the McMillan/Leupold Junior team. We cleaned up 2009 and 2010, 2011 was the last year of the McMillan involvement and we finished 2nd as team Leupold. In 2012 we came back to win it again the final time the match was held in San Antonio. This year, my father and I competed for the second year as a two man team and shocked ourselves when we found out we'd won for the second year after a far from stellar performance on the combo and rifle events.
Throughout my 8 year career, I've competed in everything from SCTP to USPSA and Sportsman's Team Challenge, and had some very astonishing experiences from meeting Mr Miculek and Mr Koenig to the ultimate honor of wearing the McMillan/Leupold Jersey to the line.
Now I'm 20, and engineering student at Texas A&M, shooting on the Trap and Skeet team and addicted to long rage steel and hog hunting.
My name is Austin, 10 years behind a trigger, 7 of that competitively and I'm just now turning 20. I started off hunting rabbits with buddies out in the Buckeye area of Arizona and quickly made the jump to shotguns and dove hunting. First time out I was given a 1970's Ithaca M66 super single .410 with a fixed full choke. (I know what you're thinking, someone didn't have a clue what they were doing with me lol) To their surprise and my own, I didn't miss a single bird that day or for the remainder of the season with that .410.
The man that took my father and I out every day that season loaned me a Winchester 1300 12ga and said "go shoot trap and skeet, then we'll see what we're gonna do with you". We went straight to the range and my first attempts at both events were 23/25 in trap and a 22/25 in skeet, at age 12. The sport was addicting to me and I was soon on the Scholastic Clay Target Program, as well as NSSA/NSCA shoots. When I was 14 we won our first national championship as a squad, which cemented my love for the sport, and pushed me into the bigger shoots. By age 15, I had the state title twice, and sctp was my favorite thing, twice a week.
Fast forward to the 2009 NRA convention, and I literally walked up to Kelly McMillan just to meet him and I didn't know he knew me from my sctp days. He invited me to shoot the Sportsman's Team Challenge national championship that year on the junior team he sponsored, I was shocked and graciously accepted. The next three years were a blessing to say the least, practicing with the man and shooting for the McMillan/Leupold Junior team. We cleaned up 2009 and 2010, 2011 was the last year of the McMillan involvement and we finished 2nd as team Leupold. In 2012 we came back to win it again the final time the match was held in San Antonio. This year, my father and I competed for the second year as a two man team and shocked ourselves when we found out we'd won for the second year after a far from stellar performance on the combo and rifle events.
Throughout my 8 year career, I've competed in everything from SCTP to USPSA and Sportsman's Team Challenge, and had some very astonishing experiences from meeting Mr Miculek and Mr Koenig to the ultimate honor of wearing the McMillan/Leupold Jersey to the line.
Now I'm 20, and engineering student at Texas A&M, shooting on the Trap and Skeet team and addicted to long rage steel and hog hunting.
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