Warren Gun Club

On Saturday 11th February 2017, shooters from across NSW and QLD converged
on Warren to contest the coveted Ernie Wills Memorial Trophy.

The memorial event started in February 1997, one year following the loss of
Warren’s own local lad and valued gun club member, Scott ‘Ernie’ Wills.
This year’s event, the 20th anniversary of holding the shoot, was sponsored
by the Wills family, and saw a massive $2000 cash plus prizes up for grabs
for the overall grade winners of the day.
It is a sought after trophy and has been won by some of the best shooters across the state, including state and national champions.

With temperatures reaching 48 degrees, the conditions would be extremely
tough just to stand in the sun and hold the shotgun, let alone concentrate
and shoot clay targets. It was anticipated that numbers would be down for
this year’s event, but twenty five brave shooters took on the challenge, and
showed determination and grit to provide very competitive shooting.

The event win, normally comes down to the final stages, and this year’s event
proved to be no different. With some spot on shooting local Warren shooter
Kyle Walton, who only dropped 6 clays for the day, took out the event.
Being the victor, he received $1000 of cash prizes, high gun sash, bottle of
‘Ernie’s favourite drink and his name etched in history on this great
trophy.

Other grade winners for the day, who all received $250 cash and a
bottle of liquid ‘gold’ included Douglas Ferguson (Warren) – AA Grade, Adam
Norton (Dubbo) – A Grade, joint winners Bruce Hunt (Warren) and Andrew
Murphy (Dubbo) – B Grade and Nicholas Eastman (Mendooran) – C Grade.

During the day, we also held the Double Barrel Championship event, a 30T event that
at the conclusion was tied with local shooters, Kyle Walton, Graeme Patten
and Nigel Clark all shooting the possible 30/30 targets. This was a huge
feat by the shooters given the extraordinary conditions, and a final shoot
off was required to determine the champion.
Kyle Walton again was victor, and was the happy recipient of the Double Barrel Championship sash and a case of shells.

Following the conclusion of the shooting events, all in attendance were
treated to a scrumptious feast of seafood, bbq meats and salads, followed by
a delicious array of deserts. The Wills family yet again out did themselves
with generous hospitality and sharing of the family love with all.
To finish off the great event, the club bar was opened and the mellow tunes
from local artist Craig Williamson and Raymond Cusack filled the ‘warm’
night air, while fond memories, stories and a few loud laughs were shared.

The unprecedented heat wave caused a few concerns, but all in all, it was a
fantastic event, and one of the best ‘Ernie Wills’ Memorial shoots we have
had.
Thank you to all the shooters, travellers, members and families who
continue to make the Warren Gun Club, one of the best Gun clubs around.
Just a reminder, next month is our annual two day event – the Denis Hunt
Memorial and Golden Ibis Shoot, being held the 11th and 12th March.

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