Williams Lake Sportsmen’s Association members came together during the weekend to honour the late Cliff Stinson.
Members held the inaugural Cliff Stinson Memorial Shoot at the WLSA shotgun range on Bond Lake road, attended by roughly 50 shooters after Stinson — a 40-year member of the club — passed away this past February.
Shoot organizer Lloyd Como said it was a great weekend, and a nice way to remember a good friend to many within the WLSA.
“I met Cliff five years ago and we became really close, and really good friends,” Como said, who, in recent years, would help Como continue his passion for hunting and fishing.
“This is kind of a send off — a nice memorial for him.”
Como said Stinson took part in WLSA trap shoots and sporting clay shoots for many years, along with “just about any kind of shotgun sport.”
“He also did a lot of bird hunting,” Como said. “Everybody loved Cliff. He would’ve been 93 in April.”
Participants attended the shoot from Vancouver, Kamloops, Quesnel and 100 Mile House, Cache Creek, Lone Butte, Prince George, plus many local shooters.
Saturday’s festivities featured a sporting clay shoot where shooters walked a course consisting of 10 separate stations and 120 targets in the morning, and another 120 in the afternoon.
Cash prizes were awarded to the top three shooters in four separate classes. Dave Clem of Kamloops was high overall with a score of 108. Como, meanwhile, took the Class B honours with a score of 96.
Allen McLean, Reid Williston and Barry Jenkins tied for top scores of 78 in Class C. In the D Class it was Dan Carson of Lone Butte leading all shooters with a score of 67.
Sunday’s event was a five-stand shoot where clays were ejected from multiple, strategic locations at the shotgun range for shooters to try their hands at.
Winning the A event was Dave Rogal of Lac La Hache, while Clem was the runner up.
In the B event it was Quesnel’s Chris Kelly taking the top spot, while Castlegar’s Bill Chapman was second.
Lastly, in the C event, it was a three-way tie for first place between Williams Lake’s Bill Abercrombie and Roxanne Bambrick, and Quesnel’s Gord Johnson.
“Saturday we had a nice dinner and Cliff’s two daughters and their significant others attended, so that was really nice,” Como said.
“He was remembered by all. We had a few toasts, told some stories around the camp fire, and had a few laughs.
“Everybody had a good time remembering Cliff.”
