Hey shooters!
The 2018 Illinois Central Zone shoot was held at Peoria Skeet and Trap Club on May 12 & 13 in order not to coincide with the US Open. After a rainy start to Saturday, the singles event was down 38 shooters with 86 taking the line. Even a short rain delay couldn't deter Dave Dressler from finishing on top with a 197. Sunday's weather was much better with a cloudy morning giving way to a very sunny Mother's Day. All ladies present were given a rose as a Thank You for attending on THEIR day! The doubles event was down 30 shooters from 2016 with only 47 participants. Dan Roberts took top honors with a 96. Handicap was also down with only 79 shooters. Rick Liggett turned in a 98 from the 18.5 yard line to take the Champion honors. HOA was won by Dan Roberts with Leland Hassler taking Out of Zone honors.
The 2018 IL Southern Zone Shoot was held at Brittany Shooting Park on May 26 & 27. The weather was beautiful! A little on the warm side, but much better than the weather we've had for the last few months. There was one storm that we thought would make its way in, but we lucked out and it remained just north of us. There were 126 entries for the singles, 72 for the doubles and 81 for the handicap. There were 3 199s on Saturday - Lauren Mueller, Mike Jordan and Mike Hathaway. Mueller came out on top after two rounds in the shoot off. Mueller also was the lone 99 on Sunday's doubles for the Champion honors. On the handicap, Brady Cox broke his first 100 straight ever! Quite the accomplishment, especially on one of the toughest events! Mueller won Champion for the HAA in zone and Tal Seger took Out of Zone Champ.
There are a couple other honorable mentions - Elise Baker broke a 98 from the 25.5 yard line in Linn Creek for the Handicap Championship to make it to the 27 yard line! She then proceded to go to the Great Lakes Grand in Michigan and broke another 98 to claim Champion of the event the following week. Ian Lawrence had a great show up there as well - he was tied for HOA Champion and Singles Champion! Chloe Turasky broke 100 in handicap from the 19 yard line and won Champion at Menard County Sportsman Club. Everyone keep up the awesome shooting and I'll see you either at the ATA Central Zone Shoot July 26-29 or in Sparta for the Grand!
Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate
Hello shooters!
It's State Shoot time! Last year, we had several shooters make it to the 27 for the first time, gave out several 100 straight pins for the first time someone broke 100 at our State Shoot, and numerous people were telling me they had shot the best scores they had for a while. Let's keep that tradition going! I've checked trophy lists from a few of the bigger shoots this year and some of you have been on fire. Thanks again for representing the State of Illinois across the map and reminding them that we have some of the toughest shooters in the country!
If you haven't gotten a chance yet, be sure to check out the improved website (illinoistrapshooters.org)! The board has been working on tweaking and finding the best way to disseminate information. Look for some changes in the near future! You can also find the monthly delegate report on there as well. If you haven't yet, you can "like" the ISTA page on Facebook with the tag @IllinoisTrapshooters and get some more information there. Also, the Illinois Hall of Fame is now a 501c3. They are still looking for funds to help build the building. It will be built onto the west side of the ISTA building. If you would like to make a donation, contact any of the directors. Every bit helps!
Hope to write your name in the next article when I mention the champions! Good luck shooters!
Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate
Hello shooters!
There's a lot coming up! Hope you've been getting ready for everything coming at ya!
Don't forget - to make the state team, you have to shoot in one of the IL Zone shoots. The Central Zone shoot is in Peoria and the Southern Zone shoot is in Bunker Hill in May. Be sure to get out and shoot one to qualify! There were a lot more people that qualified this past year compared to the one before and I hope to see that trend continue!
The state shoot is coming up quickly now. Can't wait to see you all again! If you want the same camping spot from last year, be sure to let me know by May 1. I have received a lot of emails from people so far, which is great. Don't want anyone to miss out! To reserve from last year or to save one for this year, my email is
There was a great turnout of IL shooters at the Spring Grand in Tucson, AZ - 33 shooters! I was keeping up with the IL names on the leader boards as well. Some names I saw a few times - Ian Lawrence, Mike Westjohn, Chase Horton, Drew Strohecker, Alex York, Bill Lawrence, Dan and Sue Staker, Ken Rigler, Dale Miller, Brian Frost, Charlie Bickle and Ken Rogowski. Great job representing our state down there!
Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate
Hello shooters!
Hopefully by now you’ve all swept the dust off your gun and have taken advantage of the weather to send a few rounds down range. Shooting season will be in full swing before you know it!
I’ve had several texts and emails asking about dates for state shoots this year. June is a busy month for it! The Illinois State High School Clay Target League has their state shoot June 2nd and 3rd. They have 2 days this year because of how fast word is spreading and the amount of teams has increased drastically. We don’t have a number yet for how many, but from word of mouth, sounds like it’s going to be boomin’! The AIM State shoot will be June 9th (200 Singles) and 10th (100 doubles, 100 handicap).
The ISTA State Shoot will be June 11-17. We have changed the program a bit this year! Instead of doing 200 singles on Thursday, we are knocking the Class Singles to 100 targets and adding 100 doubles. Be sure to let me know if you do or don’t like the change in the program.
Something else that will be changing is our website. It isn’t complete yet, but it is getting close! The old website wasn’t mobile friendly, so we have changed that. We also plan on updating more, adding new spotlights and making it overall more user friendly. I will share the link for that as soon as it is complete!
Don’t forget to catch an IL Zone shoot this year to qualify for the state team. You do have to shoot the 200 singles, 100 doubles and 100 handicap at any of the 3 zones to qualify, as well as the HAA 200 singles, 100 doubles and 100 handicap at the IL State Shoot. There was a big jump in participation from the first year I figured the teams to the second, and I hope to see that continue! Competition is what keeps the sport rollin’!
Hope to see you all soon!
Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate
Hello shooters!
Hopefully by now everyone has recovered from the holidays and are getting ready to get back into shooting again. I'm sure some of you will be heading down to Tucson or Florida and I would love to hear how many trophies you brought home! Shoot me an email at
Also, by the time you read this, the Illinois Hall of Fame will be a 501c-3 and can start taking donations. The blueprints for the building are getting their final touches and will begin construction as soon as the funds are there. Dennis Baker is on the board and will be handling the donations, so if you are interested in donating, please get a hold of him. Every little bit helps!
For those of you who are looking to make plans for the 2018 AIM and ISTA State Shoots, the dates will be June 9 and 10 for AIM and 11-17 for ISTA. I do want to mention that if you want to keep your camping spots from last year, you will have to get a hold of me by May 1, 2018, to reserve it. Looking forward to another year of great scores and great memories with you all! See you soon! Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate