Frost and Field Target

3 hours ago

3 min read

(Match Report by Tyler Patner) October 19, 2026

The Sunday morning for our last match of the 2026 season was a frosty one! With temps dipping into the mid-30s overnight, we were greeted by frost covered grass as we arrived at the Twin Oaks Air Rifle Range on Sunday morning. Thankfully, the frost would soon melt away, as the sun poked through the clouds and ultimately pushed temps into the mid-60s. 24 shooters joined us for the season finale, and they were treated to a moderately challenging course.

Speaking of the course, as has become the norm over our last few matches this year, 20 of the 30 targets were over 40 yards. 15 of those 20 were over 45 yards. The course also featured a 43-yard kneeler, which I am sure created some exasperation and frustration from many. The troyer worked out to a 33.81T before wind, and let me tell you, there was some wind throughout the day. As temps warmed up, this generated some interesting wind that shooters had to account for if they wanted to safely stay in the kill zones.

The match ran smoothly, with only a single cold line for a string that got hung up. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves despite the cooler starting temps, and challenging course. As shooters returned to the clubhouse and chowed down on pizza, scores were tabulated. Dale Prulhiere topped Hunter PCP, with a great 54/60. Tyler Patner posted a 55/60 in WFTF PCP to take the top spot there. Alan Barker matched the 55 in Unlimited, and his brother Roger posted a 47 in Open PCP, claiming the honors there.

We concluded the day with awards, and then held our Buckeye Series Raffle. This year, we tracked attendance for all shooters through the year. Each match attended gets you an entry into end of the year raffles sponsored by Pyramyd Air. Each club raffled a $100 PA gift card for those who attended matches at that club, and then we had a grand prize $500 gift card that combined all matches attended at all four clubs through the year.

Our $100 winners were:

Jeff Farr, Lou Jimenez, Tom Sparks, and Ken Santo.

Our $500 winner was Chris Oldfield

Congrats!

Special shout out to Ryan Spanagel, who attended the most matches through the year with 18! That’s a lot of driving, and a lot of pellets! For any of you data monkeys out there, we had 61 unique shooters attend matches between the four clubs this year (this number is a little higher in actuality because some shooters who only attended GPs at Sherwood or NOA are not counted). This tracks with the number of shooters that have participated in the series over the last few years as well. So it’s safe to say that while FT in Ohio may not be growing by leaps and bounds, it is absolutely holding its own just fine when it comes to shooter retention.

Another season is in the books here at NOA. We’ve been at this for over a decade now, and it’s been a real pleasure and blessing to see the sport continue to thrive. This is largely due to the great base of shooters we have that dedicate their time and energy to putting matches on. To our members that consistently are out at the club to set up, tear down, and take care of everything that makes these matches happen, THANK YOU! To our incredible hosts, Anne and Ashley Reily, THANK YOU for continuing to let us build our field target dreams on your property. And THANK YOU to all of the shooters that made it out to join us this year. While it’s probably fair to say that the handful of us that are setting up matches would continue to do so even if it was just for us, it’s always nice to have good company and very rewarding to see others show up to support and take part in the game we all enjoy.