Owatonna Gun Club to Open
The Owatonna Gun Club will open on July 1 with health safety guidelines in place according to a post on their Facebook page. The club will close for the 4th of July holiday weekend but then go to a Wednesday night and Sunday morning shooting schedule.
Shooting/clay target was listed as a "low risk" activity by the Minnesota Department of Health in their "Guidance for Social Distancing in Adult (and Youth) Sports" advisory. Low risk "sports can be done individually, or with social distancing, or no to minimal sharing of equipment or the ability to clean the equipment between use by competitors."
The Owatonna Gun Club Facebook page lists COVID protocol that will be in place.
- six-foot distancing at all times
- masks encouraged when inside the clubhouse
- no food or concessions available
- no social gatherings larger than ten people
- squads determined on a first-come, first-served basis
- no scorekeeper at the trap line
- shooters should not adjust the voice-release equipment
See more details on their Facebook entry.
Trap shooting is a mainly a spring sport for high school athletes, although there is a more informal fall league as well. Clay target was canceled along with the other spring sports this year. During an AM 1390 KRFO High School Coaches Show broadcast this spring, OHS clay target coach Mike Kingland addressed the idea of summer shooting.
"They're trying to work things out. The social distancing things they're also working with...Trying to figure out things with trap help, loading the trap houses and how to do that safely. And the clubhouse isn't very big, so they will have to account for how they are going to sign squads up."
At the time, Kingland was hopeful that some sort of league could be formed this summer for the four high school teams that shoot at the Owatonna Gun Club. He believes there's at least 250 shooters, combined between those teams. The Huskies had a team numbering more than 100. Twenty-two of them were seniors.
The Owatonna clay target team recently announced that Brady Carrigan is the first college recruit for the Huskies with his commitment to Upper Iowa University. A story was published by the Owatonna People's Press.
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