Newsletter - Fall 2025
Salem Trap & Skeet Club
Home of Mid-Valley Clays & Shooting School
The objective of the Club shall be to further the common good and general welfare of the community by providing well maintained facilities where individuals have the opportunity to learn about the safe use of firearms and to develop skills in the shotgun sports.
https://www.salemtrapandskeet.org
welcome to the quarterly newsletter!
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President’s Message
Dear Members,
Change is in the air! At our August meeting we appointed Brook Douglas as the newest member of our Board of Directors. Brook is an avid outdoorsman, national competitor in retriever hunt tests, and brings many years of business ownership and volunteer board service to his new position. He jumped head-first into the role by overseeing the capital improvement project that repaired and refreshed our skeet houses, main 5-Stand house, and adjacent storage buildings. His work ethic and positive energy have already been felt in board meetings and out on the property. Brook’s term runs through the end of 2026 and we hope he’ll continue to serve well beyond then.
At our September meeting, the Board learned that two of our most senior members will be stepping down at year’s end with the conclusion of their current terms. Art Heitlauf and Brad Carbaugh have each volunteered on the STSC Board for seven years. Art has only officially been Treasurer this year, but for the entire seven years he’s been keeping the books, preparing financial reports, and working with the club’s accountant to prepare our tax return. Brad has run our Stewardship program for the past 10 years (well before he joined the board), ensuring that club lands are managed in accordance with our stewardship plan. Both of their roles are crucial to the normal and healthy operation of the club and all too easily taken for granted when they’re being performed correctly. The Board is so grateful to Art and Brad for their many years of service and dedication!
With these two vacancies on the horizon, I’ll conclude by inviting each of you to our upcoming annual membership meeting in December (details directly below)! Our membership meeting is expressly held so that members can elect Directors and Officers and review the annual financial report, along with giving our members and board a chance to see each other in person. It’s also the primary venue where you can exercise your rights as members and help guide the future of the club. With this year’s meeting fast approaching, I not only ask you to attend but to consider taking on a leadership role by applying for nomination to the Board of Directors. We’re looking for new members who are ready to help improve our facilities, grow our organization, and engage our members. The online application and an FAQ that covers expectations of Board Members and requirements for nomination can be found on our website.
See you in December! And in the meantime, break ‘em all!
William Turner
STSC Board President, William Turner, at the Holland and Holland Shooting Grounds.
Save the Date!
2025 Annual Membership Meeting
Saturday, December 6th @ 11 AM in the Clubhouse
Coffee and donuts will be provided. We encourage all members to attend this meeting, ask questions, exercise their voting rights, and meet/chat with the Board.
Directors and Officers standing for re-election:
Ara Roselani (Director)
Chuck McClaugherty (Director)
William Turner (President)
Directors and Officers not seeking re-election:
Brad Carbaugh (Director)
Art Heitlauf (Treasurer)
Around The Club
Skeet Houses and Utility Buildings
If you’ve been at the Club recently, you probably noticed a fresh coat of paint on the skeet houses, main 5-Stand house, and some of the utility buildings. If you take a closer look, you’ll notice the new siding, trim, trap doors, safety barriers, and concrete work that are under the new paint. The Club worked with a local contractor to get this done with a minimum of impact on the shooting venues. Hats off to Board Member, Brook Douglas, who scheduled and supervised this project from start to finish, going the extra mile to get it finished in time for our Member Appreciation Day event.
New AC unit – Not sexy, but VERY cool
In the face of a late-Summer heatwave, one of the combination heating/cooling roof-top units started acting up. Small repairs were made to keep it running, but shortly after it failed completely. We did get 29 years out of it though! A local contractor was engaged to replace the unit, and the clubhouse has remained climate controlled without interruption. Thanks to Board Member Chuck McClaugherty who ran up and down a ladder more than a few times to get the project done.
New Flag Halyard
While he was supervising building repairs and painting, Brook also set about replacing the missing flag halyard for the main flagpole by the clubhouse. Club member Terre Rogers (also a Mid-Valley Clays shooting instructor), identified the length and size needed and secured the hardware. Brook reached out to the Woodburn Fire District for an aerial assist, and the firefighters of Station 21 were kind enough to oblige. It was nice weather for a flag raising!
Brook Douglas, newest member of the STSC Board, riding high above the club on Woodburn Fire District Ladder 21.
Interested in volunteering? Please fill our interest form! All skills welcome.
Success! 2025 Member Appreciation Day
September 27th was a gorgeous early autumn day at the club and nearly 90 members stopped by for shooting, lunch, a raffle and comradery! Sporting Clays, Trap, Skeet, Helice and a friendly game of Snooker were all available with exciting targets set by Mid-Valley Clays.
A delicious lunch was donated by long-time board members Jerry Richardson and Brad Carbaugh. Board President, William Turner, along with board members Ben Simmons and Ara Roselani, checked everyone in and provided raffle tickets. Board VP, Jonathan Hussain, manned the Snooker game at the 5-Stand station. They all enjoyed meeting new faces and seeing regulars throughout the day. Members Terre Rogers and Mike Moon generously volunteered with the Helice and Snooker, respectively.
Amongst our raffle prizes this year were a set of Pilla shooting glasses, Filson bags, Gerber and Benchmade knives, onX Hunt memberships, O'Connell's boots, Orvis gloves, Cabela's range bags, Sig Sauer swag, ammo, and a beautiful custom push cart designed by Todd Rau. These prizes were a combination of donations and purchases by the club. Thank you to our kind corporate and individual donors!
We can’t wait for next year’s Membership Appreciation Day and will release the date in early 2026. Hope to see you there!
Jerry Richardson, STSC Director, at last year’s member appreciation day event. Photo by Fred Joe.
Photo by Fred Joe.
Clay Crusher News
The Mid-Valley Clay Crushers youth team was featured on KPTV Fox 12 Oregon! During this news segment, team members talk about their many accomplishments, how shooting builds life skills off the range, and how they feel like a family. We are so proud of our Clay Crushers. Watch the interview here!
Also, welcome to three new team members!
Bo H.
Emmett S.
Jones D.
New Corporate Member: Bear Electric
Bear Electric, Inc is located in Donald, OR and has been in business since 1978. They do Residential, Commercial, Service, and Industrial work up and down the Willamette Valley -from the coast to central Oregon- and have over 70 employees. In late September they became corporate members, and they’ve made several outings to the club already. Bear Electric opted for our Corporate Hospitality Program (CHP) option so they could take builders, designers, developers, clients, and employees out to shoot sporting clays. By choosing the CHP option the company also received station sponsor privileges, and you can find their new sign featured on Sporting station #7.
The company tells us that inviting out clients and colleagues helps them build relationships and allows their guests to try something new or revisit a beloved pastime. If guests need a lesson, Bear Electric asks Chuck McClaugherty (STSC Director and one of Mid-Valley Clays & Shooting School’s instructors), to get them started safely and with good fundamentals. After all, first-timers always have more fun when they’re actually breaking clays!
Interested in having your business become a corporate member? Learn more and find our application form here.
STSC Secretary Michael Sullivan admiring the fruits of his labor. Great work, Michael!
Helice Anyone?
In 2023, club member Dan Pesznecker financed and installed the Helice Ring situated on Field 3. Not only is it a fun and challenging game, it has proven to be a popular spectator sport as well. Doesn’t hurt that it’s right in front of the Clubhouse! It’s not unusual to have a dozen shooters and a dozen spectators cheering (or lamenting) the varied and unpredictable shots. As of publication, STSC has the only Helice ring in the Pacific Northwest that’s open to the public. You’d have to travel 580 miles to Martinez, CA to find the next closest public ring.
Invented in Belgium in 1963 as a replacement for live bird trap shooting, it is an international game popular around the world. Sometimes referred to as ZZ Birds (zinc zurritos) because the first targets were zinc castings used to replace the zurrito doves previously used, the discipline is governed internationally by the FITASC organization and in the United States by the US Helice Association.
Standing 26 meters from five machines (referred to as ‘boxes’), the shooter activates all 5 machines with the press of a button. The targets are voice activated. When the shooter calls pull, one of the machines will release a target – it’s completely random. Adding to the challenge, the machines oscillate and any machine can throw any trajectory. The shooter has two shots to hit the target, separate the witness cap completely from the wings, and drop it inside the fence (21 meters from the machines), for a score. Add a tailwind into the mix and it can be quite sporty. Tight chokes and steady nerves are the order of the day.
Board Member Michael Sullivan has become an avid Helice shooter, participating in all the local tournaments and travelling to out-of-state shoots as well. Recently, he decided a dedicated rack was needed to accommodate the usual number of shotguns and range bags showing up at the Ring. Inspired by some designs at other clubs, he got to work in his garage. While he asks that no one examine his welding too closely, we think it turned out nicely! The Ring is generally open Wednesday and Saturday 10:00 to 1:00- ish barring tournament schedule or weather conflicts. Stop by for an introduction to the “most fun you can have with a shotgun”.
Club member and Helice patron Dan Pesznecker demonstrates how to separate the witness cap from the wings.
Club Dog Corner
Every newsletter, we’ll feature dogs at the club and their doings!
Fall 2025: Jackson
by Art Heitlauf
Jackson is an English Cocker Spaniel (ECS). He turns 13 years old in January. We got him as a puppy from Fallen Wings Spaniels, a breeder of ECSs for over 30 years that is located in Hilbert, Wisconsin. Jackson’s coloring is black and white which is known as “blue roan”. Even at 12 years old, Jackson still acts like a puppy!
English Cockers started out as Springer Spaniels. Way back, their breeders choose the smallest Springers to hunt woodcocks, a migratory game bird, because the size of smaller dogs is advantageous in dense, low-lying woodland cover where woodcocks live. The breeders called these dogs “cockers” and eventually created a separate breed called ECS.
We first saw ECSs at Sunnydell Shooting Grounds in Sequim, WA. These dogs were unbelievably well trained by Sunnydell’s owner Chuck Dryke. Cockers are incredibly intelligent, fast and make excellent upland bird dogs. Jackson is all these things. His hunting career included pheasants, quail, ruffed grouse, sharp-tail grouse, doves, pigeons, a couple of ducks and woodcock. He loves the water and will retrieve tennis balls, bumpers and will just go swimming on his own.
We have spent most every summer since around 2016 at Mid Valley Clays and Jackson considers MVC as his 2nd home. He is a total “people” dog and if we are around the clubhouse, Jackson acts as the official gun-club dog greeter to all guests, shooters, visitors and UPS guys. He loves everyone and he thinks everyone loves him and he’s probably right.
He’s the best dog we’ve ever had in every way. He’s sweet, loving, fun to watch and have around. He’s also a great companion and listener and hardly ever talks (barks). In fact, one day at the club he went missing for over an hour and we frantically searched the clubhouse, the lake, and the sporting clays course and couldn’t find him. So we went back to the clubhouse and searched the office, ammo room, meeting room, and men’s bathroom, but still no Jackson. I finally pushed open the ladies bathroom door and he trotted right out looking at us like “I wasn’t lost, I’ve been right here waiting for you.” Seems he had no trouble pushing open the bathroom door to get in, but pulling it open by the handle proved quite impossible. Most other dogs would have barked to get out, but Jackson didn’t make a peep.
Have a fantastic fall, and we hope to see you around the club!
