The annual event, which had to be postponed for two weeks this year, is usually held on the first Sunday in November, but incessant, heavy rains left standing water in the shooting areas and in the traps, part of which are below ground.
“This was the only time in the history of the event that it had to be postponed,” said Jim Temmen, who has been volunteering here for more than 60 years. “We have shot in the snow and when it was so cold we had to bring out heaters. We have also had a lot of nice days and days when it has rained continuously. Whatever the weather, we just tried to make the best of it. In the early years, the event was always scheduled for the Sunday before Thanksgiving which often resulted in the weather being even more risky from time to time.”
The trap shoot began as a fund- raiser in 1934 in the midst of the Great Depression when then-parish priest, Father Michael J. McGovern, himself an avid hunter, gathered some parishioners together to organize the initial event. As the years passed, it became one of the most popular trap shoots in the area, drawing shooters from towns and villages throughout the state.
“The event has changed only slightly over the years,” explained Clarence Schmitz, a local farmer and member of Sacred Heart Parish who has volunteered at the event for the last 50 years. “For many years the turkeys and geese, which were prizes for the best shooters, were ‘on the hoof,’ and sometimes as we went to retrieve them from the stock truck, one or two would sometimes escape and we had to have the younger kids chase them down. In those days, too, the traps had to be operated manually. Thankfully today, the 10-pound turkeys, 5-pound packages of bacon and hams are frozen and an electrical launch system has replaced the manual one.”
Again this year, one of the favorite pastimes was visiting the food court, set up in a partially converted machine shed on what has become the permanent site of the annual affair. It featured homemade vegetable soup and chili, hot dogs, hamburgers and pulled-pork sandwiches, a wide assortment of homemade cakes, cookies and pies along with plenty of steaming coffee, hot chocolate and various soft drinks. The concession was staffed throughout the day by 55 women who also contributed all of the homemade goods.
Another popular attraction was the lottery wheel which runs all day. Tickets are one dollar and the frequent winners receive their choice of bacon, sausage or a turkey.
Because this year represents a significant milestone for the event, organizers voted to raffle off a new Henry lever-action 22-rifle which Jerry Cothern of Ramsey won. The inscription on the gun read: “The Seventy-Fifth Oconee-Sacred Heart Trap Shoot, November 15, 2009.”
Proceeds from the trap shoot and from the annual fall festival, which begins on the last Sunday in September and continues for three Sundays in October, support Catholic education for parish children attending Sacred Heart Grade School in Pana.