Ready…aim…win

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

When most trapshooters have a rough day at the range, they’re liable to exhibit any number of indecorous actions.
“They’ll kick the ground, they’ll cuss, they’ll throw things,” said Phillip Earls, a trapshooter from Bland.
And when Earls is off his mark?
He’ll turn around and grin at his wife.
“In this sport right here you might think today you shot your worst score and you might be down in the dumps – but you haven’t,” Earls mused. “There’s going be another day when you do even worse.”
With his even-keeled personality and deadeye aim, Earls has established himself as one of the state’s top shooters.
Trapshooters attempt to obliterate small clay disks launched into the air by a machine. The more you hit, the higher your score.
During a visit to his home in late September, Earls had a plethora of mementos and awards to show off from his many trapshooting triumphs.
A pin commemorating the time Earls hit 100 disks in a row at a shoot in Iowa.
An identical trinket for nailing 200 shots in a row.
A framed certificate recognizing him as the holder of a 27-yard handicap – the highest skill level designation a trapshooter can achieve.
And an ornate lamp in the shape of a trophy buck, his prize for winning the 200 Singles at the 2008 Virginia state shoot.
At the state event in early July at the Winchester Gun Club, Earls used a Caesar Guerini shotgun to hit 199 out of 200 disks – an accuracy rate of 99.5 percent that merely left him in a multi-person tie for first place.
Earls, though, eventually outlasted his fellow marksmen in a series of shoot-off rounds to claim first place all to himself out of field of 220 entrants.
Later in the month, Earls also was part of a five-man Virginia team that won the 2008 Southern Zone championship, hitting a combined 995 out of 1,000 disks to edge runner-up Kentucky by one point.
Earls said it was the first time the Virginia team had won the event in 37 years.
Although he first began shooting about 30 years ago, Earls said it has only been in the last eight or nine years that he’s gotten serious about the sport.
The retired home-builder is a member of the Tri-Angle Gun Club in Bluefield, and he attends regular practice sessions at the club on Thursday nights.
“The people that you meet in the business and the friendships that you make over the years is what keeps pulling you through,” Earls said. “I can’t wait until Thursdays to get to the gun club.”
Gary Stallard of Wytheville, a fellow Tri-Angle member, said Earls is just as good at shooting the breeze as he is the clay disks.
“Phillip’s like a brother to me,” Stallard said. “He’s just a heck of a nice guy.”
Stallard also said Earls is a great promoter of the sport, especially among youngsters.
Earls lamented the fact that fewer young people seem to be taking up trapshooting.
“I really enjoy helping people get into it,” he said.
Unlike some of his male peers, Earls also has the full support of his wife, Linda, in the pursuit of his hobby.
“I guess a lot of wives try to get their husbands not to do this, but now my wife kind of urges me to do it because she knows that I relax when I do this,” Earls said about his weekly trips to the gun club.
“That’s his night out,” Linda said.
Linda also often accompanies Earls to events, and he said she keeps him loose when competitions get tense.
“I enjoy seeing him get excited about something,” Linda said, adding that she also has fun socializing with the “different people from different walks of life” she meets at the competitions.
Earls also uses his shooting talents for more than just personal enjoyment. As a member of Central United Methodist Church, he’s helped organize an annual shoot at Tri-Angle for the past few years to raise funds to fight cancer for Central’s Relay for Life team.
Despite his kindheartedness, Earls admitted that he does have a competitive streak when shooting. Still, though, he pointed to his ability to laugh off a few missed shots as one of the keys to maximizing his talent.
“I think if you’re going to be a good shooter you have to love the game, first and foremost you have to love the game,” he said. “Second, you can’t get excited. You have to be even-keeled and if something goes wrong, don’t let it get the best of you. You’re not going to be a winner at everything every time, that’s what you have to understand.”
Stallard agreed that Earls keeps his composure well, but he said it’s rare that Earls has much to be upset about.
“He’s consistent and that’s about what you can say,” Stallard said. “He’s got a heck of an average.”
Earls said he simply shoots for the center of the disks and trusts that if he is having an off day, his next outing will be better.
“I love shooting,” he said. “If you did bad today, then go back next week and do good.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 1-800-655-1406 or .