We want to have a gathering of kindred spirits, much like a family reunion. Building the community for us is bringing together a group of people to celebrate the tradition of wing shooting with the double guns. Our mission statement was to build the sporting community and help others. We started it as a promotion and not as a profit center. It is a lot of work but a labor of love for all of us at Deep River. Bill Kempffer explains, "We've been in operation for twenty-nine years with this being the eighteenth year for the Southern Side X Side event. Congratulation to the Parker shooters on winning the Challenge Cup this year."īill and Mary Kempffer own the Deep River Sporting Clays where the spring and fall championships are held. It's great to get the guns out where people can shoot and enjoy them. Regardless of which brand you shoot, we are shooting an American heritage. We are all in this together enjoying the fine shotguns. Both are the finest early American Side by Side shotguns. Finch summed up the event, "I think the fellowship we have between the Parker and LC Smith organizations is great. However this year the Parker Collectors Team emerged with a couple more broken targets than the LC Smith Team. After a tough start in the early years, the LC Smith Team had won the cup the last four years. It was a spirited competition with the top ten shooters from each organization vying for the honors of winning the cup.
I wish our LC Smith Team all the best and, of course, to the Parker shooters also." I'd love to see us take the Challenge Cup five years in a row. Of course, I'm a little bit prejudiced for the LC Smith Team. We are happy to be here watching the fine shooters and guns trying to win. This was the fourteenth year for the special LC Smith Collectors Association versus Parker Gun Collectors Association Challenge Cup.įrank Finch, President of the LC Smith Collectors Association, comments, "After two days of preliminary qualifying we have an opportunity to shoot against the best ten guys with the Parker and LC Smith guns. I saw many late 1800s hammer guns still looking good and functioning flawlessly. The fine shotguns deserve to be taken out of the safe and used in the manner they were intended. I had a wonderful time shooting with various members of the LC Smith Collectors Association. We hunt and fish together so it was natural to travel here to enjoy this venue together." The temperatures are about thirty- degrees above our normal so I could use some cooler weather." Cindy Yonker added, "I love being with my husband and doing things together. My shooting was only average but we are having a great time. It's great to have so much knowledge about the old shotguns in one place. It sounded like a lot of fun so we decided to make the trip. I've heard and read about the camaraderie that happens here. Mike Yonker explains, "This is my first time here. Mike and Cindy Yonker, from Ketchikan Alaska, likely traveled the greatest distance to the event. Water stations were strategically located throughout the course so shooters could stay hydrated. Thankfully much of the sporting clays courses are set in the woods with plenty of shade. Shooters were welcomed with unseasonably hot April weather with temperatures into the low 90s. I went, not expecting to compete in any championship finals, but to share the experience with fellow members of the LC Smith Collectors Association. Shooters can from as far as California and Alaska. The Deep River event attracts some of the finest shooters from around the country each spring. Adding to the trip is the LC Smith Collector's Association versus the Parker Gun Collectors Association annual shoot-off. These are some of the reasons I love heading south to North Carolina each spring as the Deep River Shooting Grounds located outside Sanford, NC hosts the Spring Side by Side Championships. There is something about this time in shotgun making that produced guns with a graceful lines and a timeless beauty. I really appreciate the classic side by side shotguns made in the late 1890s through to just before World War II. Nostalgia for the way things used to be just sneaks up like another birthday. Perhaps it is a sign of aging but it seems I like old things - old dogs, old cars and in this case old shotguns.
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