Alan Weinhold of Scottsbluff has been shooting BB guns, air rifles, and other guns for about as long as he can remember. But although the 69-year-old Weinhold still loves to shoot, there’s something he enjoys even more than that – teaching youth how to shoot correctly and safely. He’s currently in his 12th year as a certified instructor for the Scotts Bluff County shooting sports program.
JEFF FIELDER Editor
SCOTTSBLUFF – Alan Weinhold was sitting in his yard one day, relaxing and enjoying the sunshine while watching some birds fly over his property north of Scottsbluff.
He couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed, however, by all the flies that were pestering him. So, he came up with an idea to get rid of them.
Using sheetrock as a backstop for BB gun pellets, he set up a target about 10 feet away from where he was sitting. He placed some watermelon next to the target to draw the flies over there. He then used a BB gun to shoot the flies.
“I found that to be very amusing,” Weinhold said.
When Weinhold’s friends came over, he would give them a chance to shoot BB guns at the flies, too.
“A lot of my friends joked about it and laughed at me,” Weinhold said with a laugh.
One of his friends, however, was intrigued by what Weinhold had been doing. His friend, who had served two tours in Vietnam as a sniper, recognized fly shooting as good “trigger time.”
“Precision shooting skills – lining up the sights and gently squeezing the trigger to get the shot on target – require a lot of practice time,” Weinhold said.
You can read the entire story in the September issue of Nspire Today! magazine. A one-year subscription (12 issues) is only $15. You may sign up for a subscription by sending $15 to Nspire Today!, P.O. Box 454, Scottsbluff, NE 69363, or you may pay with a credit card by calling 308-220-8865.
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