ALAMOSA—The first annual Hunting Heritage Banquet, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain branch of the National Wild Turkey Foundation, is set for this Saturday, Sept. 1, at the Rodeway Inn in Alamosa. The dinner will raise funds for the Del Norte Clay Shooting Club, an official sport at Del Norte High School that is accepting both male and female competitors from all San Luis Valley high schools.
Tickets to the Hunting Heritage Banquet are $55/person or $70/couple. The banquet will include a silent auction and raffle for over $10,000 worth of guns and merchandise. Donors also have the option of purchasing a gun table which includes dinner for eight people, several raffle tickets and a specified gun. Available gun tables range from the silver table with a Thompson Center Compass 6.5 Creedmoor rifle for $900, a $1,450 table with a Kimber Sapphire Micro 9mm and the diamond table for $2,500 including a Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor, and several other gun table options. Purchases of gun tables are considered tax deductible donations to the 501(c)(3) NWTF. Ninety cents of every dollar raised goes directly to projects in Colorado, which focus on getting kids access to the outdoors, including shooting, hiking, fishing and more. For more information about tickets, gun tables or donations to the silent auction, please contact NWTF Regional Director Krystal Adams at 308-737-7227.
The Del Norte Clay Shooting Club is now practicing for its second year as a club and attending competitions. A successful first year saw the team take fifth place at the state competition and sent one competitor, Christian Velasquez, to nationals as well. Clay shooting has several benefits for students looking for a non-traditional sport, because it is scored both individually and as a team, so competitors get to showcase their abilities and only benefit from helping one another get better as well.
The club practices year-round at the Del Monte Gun Range with competitions in the springtime. The club has scored practice shoots weekly.
To find out more about the club, come see their “Jakes Take Aim” BB Gun Shooting Trailer at the Potato Festival on Sept. 8 or contact sponsor Kristen Moore at [email protected].