Try @ TXST

Giselle Kowalski:
Hi everybody, my name is Giselle Kowalski, and I'm the digital marketing strategist here at Texas State University. You're listening to Try @ TXST, and today we're talking to the Texas State Trap & Skeet Club.

Audio:
(singing)

Giselle Kowalski:
The club meets every Friday around three o'clock out at Freeman Ranch. I'm told by Hunter, one of the safety officers for the club, to follow the dirt road down to get directly to the field.
When we arrive, there are trucks lined up next to a couple of tents where Trap & Skeet members take refuge from the sweltering sun, swapping stories, eating venison jerky and Whataburger, and handing out ice-cold bottled water to one another.
So can you guys please introduce yourselves? Tell me your names, your majors, and your part in the Texas State Trap & Skeet Club.

Hunter Haug:
Hello, I'm Hunter Haug. I'm a senior here majoring in photography with a minor in criminal justice, and I'm a safety officer for the Texas State Trap & Skeet.

Taylor Swanson:
Hi, I'm Taylor Swanson. I'm a sophomore here majoring in animal science, and I'm the secretary for the Trap & Skeet Team.

Giselle Kowalski:
Awesome. OK guys, so tell me about Texas State Trap & Skeet. If someone has never even heard of the sport, how would you describe it to someone like a 5-year-old?

Taylor Swanson:
I would describe it like, I think our team is a family. We have fun going out there, and we all grew up pretty much hunting or being around guns and doing that kind of stuff. And so it's just a chance for people to come and do it together and shoot clays, I mean.

Giselle Kowalski:
OK. So tell me about this. Is there a difference between trap and skeet?

Taylor Swanson:
Yes, there is. In trap, the birds are going pretty much straight out away. And in skeet, they're crossing in front of you, going left and right.

Giselle Kowalski:
OK. Where do those names come from? Do y'all know?

Hunter Haug:
I have no idea. Probably somewhere in Europe, honestly.

Giselle Kowalski:
I'll do my research, don't worry. I'll edit it. I'll edit in.
As promised, I did do my research. Trap shooting began in England, so Hunter hit the target. The "trap" part started in the 18th century. When marksmen wanted to improve their skills, they shot at live pigeons released from cages or box traps. Since then, the sport has undergone a lot of changes, but in 1990 it was added as an Olympic sport.
Now, skeet shooting is a little bit different. Skeet began in the 1920s, when a hunter realized that trap shooting wasn't properly mimicking a bird's flight patterns. In skeet shooting, you have to hit two moving targets that are crossing each other at once.

Taylor Swanson:
Pull.

Giselle Kowalski:
By the way, Taylor is super good at this. I saw her do it in live action.
As far as the word "skeet," some believe it comes from the word skjota in Old Norse. I'm hoping I say that right, to those Nordic folks that might be listening out there. Which also sounds like the Scots would say "sight," which means dart or shoot, hence the word "skeet."
Does that make sense? OK. So tell me about y'all's competitions.

Hunter Haug:
Nationals is a big event. It's in San Antonio at the National Shooting Complex, where everybody from anywhere, part of the whole United States comes and competes. We compete against Alabama, Clemson, anybody who has a team that wants to come compete.
It's a week long, right after actually our spring break. So we get spring break off, and then another week off to go to San Antonio and hang out with our buddies and shoot. And it's just a good time to hang out with your friends and all the work that you've put in over the year to get to that point.

Giselle Kowalski:
Nice. OK, so whenever you're going to these competitions, you're bringing your own guns, right? What kind of guns, what kind of ammo? What are y'all using?

Taylor Swanson:
Most people will use a 12-gauge shotgun. And it can go from different guns to Browning and Solely and Benellis and stuff like that, but everyone will pretty much shoot 12 gauge.

Hunter Haug:
Go ahead.

Tony:
Shoot! That's got a kick.

Giselle Kowalski:
We went to go try it out with our interns, and you guys let us use your guns. But how does that work whenever it's a new member? Do they have to bring their own gun, or ...

Hunter Haug:
So for that, we kind of do the same thing where we'll loan out our own personal guns to them. But if they do expect to stay on the team, or at least go to Nationals, we're trying to help them find something that's going to be affordable, and also is going to last them a long time.

Giselle Kowalski:
What's a day in a Trap & Skeet Club look like?

Taylor Swanson:
It pretty much is just us hanging out. We'll go out there, and we can't put too many people on a field shooting at once, or else no one will be able to shoot. It'll take too long.
So we'll have people go shoot. And then everyone who isn't will sit under the tent and talk and play music and just hang out. Even when we are shooting, we still want to make it fun. Even though we are practicing and trying to get better, we still want to be able to go out there. And if someone hits the targets, be super excited. And if they don't, help them and make them better.

Giselle Kowalski:
So it was our intern's first time ever even shooting a gun. Not AnaBelle, but Tony. And she was very nervous. So whenever you guys are giving tips to people to tell them what to do whenever they're shooting, what's your number one rule for y'all?

Hunter Haug:
Safety is our number one out of everything. And then we'll just go into tips like stance, how you're holding and shouldering the gun, how you're swinging through the targets.

Tony:
Pull.

Hunter Haug:
Under, underneath.

Tony:
Under?

Hunter Haug:
Yeah, just a little bit.

Tony:
Let's try it again.

Hunter Haug:
Just small basic stuff, so that way we can help everybody out to the best.

Giselle Kowalski:
OK. Taylor, you're one of the only girls on the club. How does that feel?

Taylor Swanson:
It's definitely better this year, because now we do have three more girls. But last year, it was just me and one other girl. At first it was kind of nerve-wracking going into it, but the guys are all super welcoming. I look up to all of them.
And even Cooper, he's an alumni, just graduated last year. He even said last week that he sees me as a little sister to the team and all that. And so I think it's great.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah, y'all really create a family. How do you make someone feel comfortable with something that's so intimidating?

Hunter Haug:
Honestly, we just talk to them. We've had a couple people that never shot guns before, never done this. And it's just talking them through it. Or we've pulled people off to the sides of the fields and got hand throwers; just throw them out there with our hands, just trying to get them comfortable shooting a gun and lining up on a target.
Or even just taking them out and letting them pull a trigger, just to get them comfortable. So that way they're not nervous or uncomfortable around it when we're actually on stations practicing.

Giselle Kowalski:
What kind of skills do you guys think that this lends you for whenever you guys are looking for a job?

Taylor Swanson:
I think it'll definitely teach you patience, and even overcoming fears. Because you have to be really patient with this game. And competitiveness.
Because sometimes, especially when you're really into competing, you'll start getting these people that are at the same level of you; and you'll start butting heads. But you got to realize that they're your friends in the end, and you can't do that and you got to be calm with it. Take your time.

Hunter Haug:
You have to be very calm. Because if you start what we call it, counting birds, we'll start counting our score in our head mentally, and you start messing yourself up later on in the game. Because then you're like, "Well, I'm at this score now, I'm missing this and I'm missing that."
So it's a lot of patience and a lot of just breathing through it and restarting. Every station is the new number.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah. What are y'all thinking of? I mean, other than hit the target? What are y'all thinking of to calm you down in those competitive situations?

Taylor Swanson:
You really have to think about anything else. But I've had coaches for this when I was in high school. And one of them would always tell me when I'm in the station, think about ... My dog's name is Ginger. "Oh, I hope Ginger's doing great right now, having fun," or something.
And then whenever you go to actually shoot the target, think about that. But when you're standing back reloading, just don't think about it. Take your mind to something fun and happy to lower your stress.

Hunter Haug:
Sometimes I'll load my round and just visualize where exactly that bird's going to fly, where I'm going to hit it, just mentally preparing myself and my body movement for what I'm about to do.

Giselle Kowalski:
Do you guys have any favorite memories from being on this team? You guys have been on it for a while, so I feel like you guys have some good stories.

Taylor Swanson:
There's a lot of stuff that—

Hunter Haug:
There's a lot of stuff.

Taylor Swanson:
... we go and hang out and do.

Hunter Haug:
Probably one of my favorite ones is after practice, we used to do "bring your own steak or whatever meat" after practice to somebody's house. And everybody just hangs out. We grill it, and we just chill and talk right after practice.
And that's a normal thing for us: is either Friday afternoon after practice or Saturday night, we're all pretty much hanging out with each other. Because we are like a big family.

Taylor Swanson:
Yeah, that was even last Friday, we actually ended up going to one of our alumni's house and his parents' to go swimming and go to the pool. And I heard from a lot of the freshmen that they loved it.

Giselle Kowalski:
Oh ...

Taylor Swanson:
They loved being able to go out and just bond with everyone and have fun, and not really have the stress of anything around them.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah, I was going to say [inaudible 00:08:53]

Hunter Haug:
I was going to say that, or we do the gun-cleaning parties.

Taylor Swanson:
We do.

Hunter Haug:
Those are fun.

Giselle Kowalski:
Gun-cleaning parties?

Hunter Haug:
Yeah.

Giselle Kowalski:
Tell me about that.

Hunter Haug:
We'll all come together to somebody's house. And everybody will bring their gun and we'll just sit there, talk, chill. A good way for all of us to talk about what's coming up in the week with us, and just kind of get one-on-ones with people.

Giselle Kowalski:
That's awesome. Were you going to say something?

Taylor Swanson:
Usually at those, I'll play the music, and I think it really adds to the party.

Giselle Kowalski:
You have Ochs?

Taylor Swanson:
Yes.

Hunter Haug:
[inaudible 00:09:26]

Taylor Swanson:
Everyone on the team knows I have Ochs.

Giselle Kowalski:
How could a Texas State student benefit from being in your club?

Hunter Haug:
I went to a different club with my friend at one point. And the person that was speaking at it was saying that everybody's always longing for a home somewhere. And I definitely found my home in this club.
I feel like if they want to come out and hang out, maybe they're not super serious about competitions. We do have people on the team that are like that. They just want to come and hang out and make it their home. And that's what I've got out of it, is that this is like my home now.

Taylor Swanson:
Yeah, it's definitely a great place to find your forever friends. Because we don't just go out to practice and just shoot and then we're like, "OK, bye. See you next Friday."
No, we all hang out during the week. Every day we're with someone different from the team, just hanging out and having fun.

Hunter Haug:
We're just even seeing people on, walking through the Quad. I mean, I see multiple people. I'll just stop and say, "Hey," or go get lunch with them between classes or study with them.
A lot of the people on our team are in similar majors as well. So they'll see each other in class, or they'll take classes together on purpose to help each other. It's just like a really, really big family, honestly.

Giselle Kowalski:
My last question for both of you is what do you think this sport has taught you about yourself?

Taylor Swanson:
It's definitely taught me that there is something that I can go out and do. Because before shooting, I showed. And showing was very up to what the judge thought of your animal.
But shooting is for what you can put out, what you are able to do, and not what anybody else thinks of you. It's all up to you and you don't have to rely on, "Oh, did they like me? Did they not?"

Hunter Haug:
Actually, my first year that I joined, there was only eight people on the team. I had spinal surgery at 21. And coming back from that, just my buddies right behind me showing me, making me stand on stations and shoot them repetitively until I got it back down, to get the movements back down; of going through a major surgery and then having three months where I could not shoot. And just having those friends to set me up there and be like, "Hey, you can do this."
Just being determined and not giving up, because I definitely could have. Because I was in a lot of pain just trying to do all that. But they wouldn't let me. They'd even stand up there and shoot multiple times, just to get me back to where I was. And from that to where I'm at now, I mean, I'm shooting so much better.

Giselle Kowalski:
OK, awesome. Well, I wish you both luck in these next couple of years. And I know you're almost basically done, right?

Hunter Haug:
Yeah, I've got two more semesters left.

Giselle Kowalski:
Oh my God. What about you, Taylor?

Taylor Swanson:
I still have two years. I'm only a sophomore, but I'm on track right now to graduate a month early, hopefully.

Giselle Kowalski:
I did the same thing. Enjoy every single bit of it. It goes by so fast. And everybody, "eh OK, yeah, it goes so fast." It goes so fast.

Hunter Haug:
It really does go fast.

Giselle Kowalski:
I really wish I was back to freshman year, but you guys have been awesome. You guys did a great job. So thank you guys so much for letting us come out and for doing this with me.

Hunter Haug:
No problem.

Taylor Swanson:
Thank you.

Giselle Kowalski:
Thank you.
Thank you to the whole Trap & Skeet Club for letting us come out and teaching us everything you guys know, and for being so kind and patient with us. And thank you to both Taylor and Hunter for talking to me and just being some of the sweetest, kindest kids I've ever met.
And thank you for listening to this episode of the Try @ TXST Podcast. Make sure to tune in next time to learn more about something else you can try on campus at Texas State. And also remember to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube @TXST.
This podcast is a production of the Division of Marketing and Communications at Texas State University. Podcasts appearing on the Texas State University Network represent the views of the hosts and guests, not of Texas State University.
Again, I'm your host, Giselle Kowalski, and I'll see y'all next time. Bye y'all.