Local 4-H Headed to Nationals

From left to right Jackson Chairvolotti Nigel Waring, Zachary Willson, Kodi Dyke, Kelsey Aldrich, Kenneth Beaupre, Hunter Michaud, JD Churchill

As the weather is starting to get warmer or expose to be get warmer, the 4-H Families are starting to get ready for the summer full of practices, shows, fairs, and competitions. The 4-H shooting sports clubs are starting to get ready for there competition in July, where they will be shooting rifle, pistol, archery, shotgun, and muzzleloader. They will also throw a tomahawk, use flint and steel, identify different pelts and skulls, and use a compose to go around a course. But for a small group of kids in 4-H shooting sports they are preparing for something bigger.

At the end of June they are going to a national competition that is getting hosted in Grand Isle, Nebraska. They will be competing against kids that are 14 years old up to 18 years old from around the Country. For the kids that are competing they are practicing every day in the discipline that they are representing.The state of Vermont has two teams; a muzzleloader team and a hunting team. Other states might have an archery team, a shotgun team, a small bore rifle team, an air rifle team, a small pistol team, or an air pistol team.

For the Vermont muzzleloader team, the competitors are Hunter Michaud of East Hardwick, Vermont, Kelsey Aldrich of Lyndonville, Vermont, Jackson Chairvolotti of Grand Isle, Vermont, and myself, from Orford, New Hampshire. The muzzleloader team will shoot paper bottles and critters poking their heads out from behind a tree, target at 25 yards, a 50 yard bullseye target, and metal animal targets one being at 44, one at 66, one at 77, and one at 100 yards with a side hammer muzzleloader and open sights.

On the Hunting team, the competitors are Kodi Dyke of Piermont New Hampshire, Nigel Waring of North Kirby Vermont, JD Churchill of Peacham Vermont, and Zachary Willson of Lyndonville Vermont. They have to identify different pelts and skulls, use map and compose, plain a hunt for if you were a guide in Nebraska, then shot a small bore rifle (which is a .22 caliber rifle), sporting clays, then a 3D archery course.

The three coaches that are going out are Candy and Dong petti of Saint Johnsbury Vermont and Tom Decker also of Saint Johnsbury Vermont. They are hosting a bake sale at the Bradford rest stop along I-91 to help raise funds to go to nationals. The bake sale is all by donation and there will be some maple themed baked goods. They are also raffling off two piglets from the Michaud farm in East Hardwick. If interested in buying a ticket or if you would like more information, talk to any of the competitors that are going to Nationals.