Al Lundgren Memorial Trapshoot to take place in Dickinson
Jul. 6—DICKINSON — The Al Lundgren Memorial Shootout will take place this weekend in Dickinson, featuring various contests and will be one of the busiest weekends for trapshooters in the region.
The shootout will be
held
Saturday, July 9, and Sunday, July 10. Registration begins 8 a.m. at the Dickinson Trap Club, and shooting starts at 9 a.m. The event will be hosted by the club in conjunction with the Amatuer Trapshooting Association.
Competitors as young as 11 years old will shoot single claybirds from short, mid and long range distances and doubles from 16 yards. Fees vary by contest. Winners trophies and camping utility sets. Lunch will be served both days.
"Unfortunately our shoot this year is being held on the same weekend as the Montana and Minnesota state trap shoots, so we're kind of split," Club President Blaine Dukart said. "It'll probably be 40 to 50 shooters in eight or nine squads, which is a good shoot for us. If we weren't competing with these state shoots, we'd probably have 10 or 11 (five people per squad)."
Dukart said the event is held in honor of the man, Al Lundgren, who brought the group back to life.
"Al came down here in 2001 and got the club going again. It was basically unoccupied, he got the leagues running again," Dukart said. "He hit 100 straight in Zap when I shot with him there. He was 92 years old; it was quite impressive."
Dukart the event kicks off with a 21-gun salute for the late Lundgren, who served his country in the U.S. Military before dominating trap shoots all over the United States and Canada. He married his wife
Estelle
in 1946, and passed away in 2012.
"My girls were raised in the back seat with the potty chair, puzzles and you name it," Estelle said in a 2009
interview
with The Dickinson Press. "When I say together, it's together. Trap shooting has been my life."
Lundgren had a zeal for using his shotgun skills to instill wholesome American values in the younger generations. He frequently touted his motto, "Go hunting and trap shooting with your boy today and you may not be hunting for him tomorrow."
Dukart has picked up that torch himself as the head coach of the Heart River Clay Crushers youth trap shooting team. It includes sixth through 12th grade students from Trinity Catholic, Dickinson and South Heart Public Schools.
"That's my passion, and I love to see the kids get better," he said. "They're the future of the sport, really."
He emphasized his belief that trapshooting is one of the safest extracurriculars a student can be involved in.
"People like to give guns a bad name. There were over 30,000 high school clay target shooters this year... and not a single accident reported anywhere," Dukart said.
The team
excelled
this trap season and at a June 18 competition in Horace, North Dakota, which is near Fargo.
"I am extremely proud of all of my students that participated and those that participated in the league. With 35 mph sustained winds at 90 degrees, all of my Clay Crushers showed great poise during very difficult conditions," Dukart said in a Facebook post. "One of our teams finished sixth place."
Dukart thanked all the team's sponsors, who collectively donated approximately $10,000 so the young sportsmen would have all the gear and ammunition they needed — free of charge. He said the biggest donors included the Belfield American Legion, Dickinson Eagles Club, St. Anthony's Club and the Bronco Brothers.
