Natural Aim, Eagle Eye - Northern Wasco County PUD

Northern Wasco PUD
Quinn Farquharson
aims from the prone
position at The Dalles
Rifle and Pistol Club.
Natural Aim, Eagle Eye
Quinn Farquharson takes marksmanship to the championship level
By Kathy Ursprung
Finding the stillness between breath and
heartbeat is one of the keys to becoming
a championship marksman.
That ability helped 17-year-old
Quinn Farquharson of The Dalles win
the Oregon State Junior Indoor Rifle
Championship for his class in May.
This is not his first championship.
“I’ve actually been overall champion
almost every year I’ve shot, except my
first two years,” Quinn says.
Quinn joined a 4-H marksmanship
club in Pendleton while still in
elementary school, starting with air
rifles. In middle school, he moved up to
.22 rifles, which is what he continues to
shoot. It is standard Olympic shooting.
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S E P T E M B E R 2 0 15 “It takes practice—a lot of it—focus
and stability—mental and physical,”
Quinn says. “If you don’t have a picture
of the bull in your head every time
you shoot, you’re not going to hit it no
matter how good a shot you are.”
Having that image is important,
Quinn says, because the tiny bull’seye is little more than a smudge when
viewed at 30 yards away through an
unmagnified peep sight.
“All you can see through the sights
is a tiny, black circle, and it’s kind of a
blur,” he says. “The two rings have to
line up perfectly every time.”
Quinn’s championship match took
five hours to complete using his
German Anschutz rifle, which weighs
13 pounds.
The specialized uniform competitive
marksmen wear—though heavy, stiff
and hot—is designed to provide the
support and stability required for this
exacting sport.
During a match, Quinn shoots in
three positions: standing, kneeling and
prone. Preparing for each shot, he seeks
the natural point of aim.
“The natural point of aim is where
you let your body relax into the position
and watch your sights come down on
the target, or where it is supposed to
be,” he says. “You can see your breath
and can even watch your heartbeat. You
have to learn to the point where you are
steady enough you can control and time
your shots between your heartbeats.”
Quinn practices with The Dalles Rifle
Left, Quinn with his .22-caliber German Anschutz rifle at The Dalles Rifle and Pistol Club. Right, a tube of lip balm is used as comparison to show the size of the
targets used in competitive marksmanship.
and Pistol Club at its shooting range
in the basement of the Mid-Columbia
Senior Center. He has three coaches:
Ed Goodman, Scott Mengis and Ron
Nelson. Scott was a state champion
shooter and Ron competed in the Pan
Am games.
“Having people of this caliber
standing alongside you shooting is good
for your development,” Ed says. “It helps
you rise to a higher level to see what
your teammates are capable of.”
Quinn says the coaches help him
hone his skills in a variety of ways.
“My shooting instructors used to
throw shells down my jacket,” he says.
The exercise helped him learn to
block out distractions such as the shells
that fly during an event when many
marksmen shoot at once.
The coaches also watch Quinn’s
technique and tell him what he can do
better.
“They’ve all been doing it a lot longer
than I have.” Quinn says.
Ed has seen Quinn improve a lot.
“I can see he is a lot more serious
about it than when he first started,” Ed
says. “He’s much more focused. And he’s
just a really nice young kid.”
Quinn expects marksmanship to
continue to play a role in his life as he
heads to college. He plans to attend
Oregon State University and compete
with the school’s collegiate team while
majoring in mechanical engineering and
agricultural sciences.
“My goal is at least to get to Junior
Olympics once,” Quinn says. n
Looking for Youth Participation
The Dalles Rifle and Pistol Club invites anyone interested in
small-bore shooting to email the club for more information.
“We would like to see more youth participating on our team,”
says coach Ed Goodman. “This kind of shooting is done in the
Olympics, and there are college shooting opportunities for
people who are good enough—even scholarships.”
Gender doesn’t matter, Ed says.
“We have found that young ladies are really good small-bore
shooters,” he says. “We’re looking for any teenagers, generally
over the age of 14.”
Shooting teaches mental discipline, Ed says.
“There’s a high level of mental concentration required,” he
says. “It’s not a muscle game, it’s a mental game. The boogyman
you are constantly fighting is in your own mind.”
The club follows the International Shooting Sports Federation
competition and equipment rules.
Lack of equipment is no barrier to participation.
“We have gear, and we can set up teenaged shooters
interested in giving the sport a try,” Ed says.
For more information on The Dalles Rifle and Pistol Club, email
Ed at [email protected].
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