Founders Day Shoot to Honor Dale Hutcherson
The Fayette County Gun Club is hosting its first annual Founders Day Shoot, which is open to the public. This year’s shoot will honor FCGC founder Dale Hutcherson with a 10-station, 100-bird Sporting Clay event on August 12.
“(Dale) got everything started,” said Craig Oltmann, member of the club and one of the organizers for the shoot. “The club just grew and grew from there. A committee eventually was formed to help. It took a lot of work. He couldn’t do it by himself, but he loved encouraging more people to help. He was always interested in getting someone new out on the shooting range to shoot with.”
Hutcherson had a reputation for being a great gunsmith, with a specialty in bench-rest rifles. When he moved to Fayette County, there was not yet a place for people to go and shoot safely. So, in 2001, Hutcherson, alongside several other men, got together to start up the Fayette County Gun Club.
Creation of the shooting range was completely volunteer-based, with local organizations donating time, services and money to assist in building it. Over the years, the club has seen its membership grow in size from roughly 100 to over 600 members, and much of that is due to Hutcherson’s ability to recruit newfound friends.
“Dale was whatever we needed in the club,” said Robert Huckabe, another member of FCGC and Founder’s Day Shoot organizer. “He had a big influence because he had previous experience in creating clubs in other areas. I like to say that Dale’s fingerprints are all over our facility, because he really took care of everything. We could always turn to him when we didn’t know how to do something.”
The main event of the Founder’s Day Shoot will begin at 9 a.m. with a “shotgun” start of four-person teams, as well as individual shooters. The last start time for shooting is 11:30 a.m. Cost is $75 for shooters 18 and older, and $50 for shooters younger than 18. Shooters younger than 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Hearing and eye protection is required during the event, and no tactical shotguns are allowed. Only lead shots larger than 7.5 are allowed to be used.
“It does take 2.5 hours to get through the course, but people seem to enjoy it,” said Oltmann. “Some take it really serious, but it’s overall a relaxed atmosphere. Hopefully, we’ll get more kids out here shooting with their families.”
Lunch will be served 11 a.m to 1 p.m. The cost is included for those who have registered to participate in the shoot, and a free will donation is asked for guests. There will be a bucket drawing at 2 p.m. and awards for high individual score and high team score will be presented after.
For early registration, call Sandra Paulus at (979) 9668870; credit cards are accepted. Registration the day of the event will be from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. The Fayette County Gun Club is located at 5338 N. US Hwy 77, La Grange, TX. For further information about the event or FCGC, call (979) 484-7177.