Club teaches youths shooting sports and safety

Courtesy photo
Supervised by Al Pfeister, Delta Sure Shots members Trinity Busick and Mackenzie Blume practice shooting .22-caliber rifles at the Great Lakes Sports and Recreation Club.

ESCANABA — The Delta Sure Shots, a 4-H shooting club in which kids aged 8 through 19 “learn by doing,” are preparing for a new season. The program, conducted under the umbrella of Michigan State University (MSU) Extension, teaches archery, BB gun and .22-caliber rifle shooting with safety as the priority. The Sure Shots meet weekly on Monday nights from November through spring and then participate in a regional tournament in June.

4-H as a whole, with its various programs geared towards empowering youth through hands-on learning in areas related to agriculture, science, health, civics and more, has programs in over a dozen countries. In the U.S., 4-H is run through the Cooperative Extension, which includes more than 100 public universities in partnership with the Department of Agriculture.

The Michigan 4-H Foundation has been operating since 1952, providing grants to state and local 4-H programs in all 83 counties within the state.

The local 4-H shooting club has been training young marksmen since at least the 1980s. A news article from 1987 reported that 16 youths from the Delta County Sure Shots competed in the state tournament that year, and several brought home top honors.

“A lot of the kids from the club have gone on to military careers and have won quite a few marksmanship awards … because of the time they spent in shooting sports,” said MSU Extension Educator Dave Radloff, presently the club leader for the Delta Sure Shots.

Radloff became involved about 20 years ago, when he got certified so that the program could continue. He said that he started with BB gun training and has since recruited other leaders to teach the other disciplines.

The Michigan 4-H Shooting Sports program allows for classes in shotgun, rifle, air pistol, muzzle loading and archery. Currently in Delta County, however, only three disciplines are taught.

“We haven’t had shotgun here in probably about 10, 15 years, (when) our shotgun instructor retired,” Radloff said.

An instructor for .22-caliber rifle training — students of which must be 12 years of age or above — joined about 20 years ago. The archery program was added a handful of years later.

“Archery is a relatively new discipline, I mean, longitudinally, when you think about the 4-H program — we’ve been around for 100 years — but archery has been one of the most popular things that kids seem attracted to,” Radloff said.

He acknowledged that there’s been a lot of support from the U.P. Whitetails and the Great Lakes Sports and Recreation Club, the latter of whom provide the space for the program’s weekly classes.

Volunteers may help during lessons, but in order to run the line during active shooting, an instructor must be certified.

“Safety is our highest concern, and that’s why we like to have a lot of volunteers. The more adults you have assisting and supervising, the less likely you are to have an accident,” Radloff said.

When asked if he had ever had any accidents, he replied, “None whatsoever,” and said that can be chalked up to the “very strict guidelines” of the 4-H program.

“We open the line, we close the line, we check our equipment. So there’s a whole protocol that we follow that keeps it safe,” Radloff explained.

Three are active instructors for the Sure Shots: Radloff, Al Pfeister and Travis Blume.

This year’s curriculum includes classes Mondays nights beginning Nov. 4, with BB and .22 from 6 to 7 p.m. and archery from 7 to 8 p.m.

Many students return to the program year after year to build their skills.

Participation in 4-H shooting sports is said to enhance “the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of youth;” promote personal growth; improve decision-making, self-discipline and concentration; and “encourage the highest standards of safety, sportsmanship, and ethical behavior.”

Enrollment and re-enrollment with the Delta Sure Shots can be done online at v2.4honline.com; for assistance, call 906-786-3032.