45th Les Johnson Memorial Shoot

On Sunday, the sound of repetitive gunfire and the smell of powder filled the air from the northeastern corner of the Village of Denmark. That day, the Denmark Rod & Gun Club opened their doors for the 45th Annual Les Johnson Memorial Shoot featuring over one hundred of the area's top shooters competing over six hours of rapid-fire action. The Denmark News was in attendance for this year's competition to learn more about this time-honored tradition.

Each summer, the Denmark Rod & Gun Club hosts an annual trap shooting tournament from their headquarters on North Avenue. The tournament is named in honor of club founder Les Johnson who helped assemble the organization way back in 1948. Over the years, the event has come to be the club's largest annual undertaking drawing top competitors from across the area and beyond.

This year's action kicked off shortly after 10 a.m. on Sunday with the first entrants lining up for the opening round. What followed was nearly five hours of non-stop trap shooting action with competitors taking turns across two separate shooting areas. Shooters were assessed on their best score out of 50, with top scorers advancing to the afternoon shoot off.

Throughout the day, competitors and observers relaxed and socialized with one another under tents set up along the backside of the shooting areas. Although earlier forecasts warned of rain for the day, organizers lucked out with a beautiful, albeit hot, summer day. Many attendees took refuge from the heat in the air conditioned clubhouse where they could also stock up on food and refreshments served up by club volunteers. The clubhouse also hosted an extensive bucket raffle featuring a variety of donated items for all ages to enjoy.

Along with the participants and spectators was special guest Nancy Johnson, who is the daughter of the tournament's namesake. Nancy was joined with members of the Johnson family who had traveled from as far away as Australia to attend this year's event.

When all shooters had taken their turn, only one--Joe Schepper--had achieved a perfect score of 50 earning him this year's 1st Place title. A shootout for 2nd Place was awarded to Lee Simonar with a 49. The women's competition concluded with Morgan Siebert in 1st Place and Crystal Wondrash in 2nd. Austin Chervenka was crowned 1st Place in the youth division with Dylan DeGrave achieving 2nd. When shooting had completed, tournament organizers presented winners with their prizes before thanking everyone for coming out and taking part in this year's competition.