The Southern Sportsman/Deer Stand Open Archery Contest wrapped up this Thursday night with a bang.

Since this was the end of the summer series, the Deer Stand and J-Kaulk doubled the prize money and added a special shoot at the end of the night for a new Summit SS climbing stand.

The heat was on for the year end standings in all the divisions and with the trophy’s on the counter to see it put the pressure on for young and old alike. I don’t care how many you have, how old or young you are, there is just something about winning your own trophy.

The button bucks division had a great tournament this year and a fun shoot. Thursday night first place shooter was Lucian Failla with a score of 36. Audrey Furr took the second place spot with a score of 32. Third place was won by Devin Fore with a score of 18 and fourth went to Morella Failla with a score of 16.

The Top Gun Archer for the Button Bucks Division is Lucian Failla with a score of 186. The second place spot is taken by Devin Fore with a score of 150. Third place is won by Audrey Furr with a score of 102 for the year. The remaining places are as follows, Morella Failla with 96, Dillon Bell 68 and Brandon Childs with 62.

The spike division is always fun and very competitive. The shoot Thursday night was won by Travis Fore with a score of 38. The second place shooter was Bradley Guilliot with a score of 32. Third place shooter was D.J. Failla with 30 and on his heels in fourth place with a score of 24 was his sister Belle Failla.

The Top Gun Archer for the Spike Division this series is D.J. Failla with a score of 208. Second place is Travis Fore with a score of 203 and third is Bradley Guilliot with a score of 160. The remaining spike spots for the year are Belle Failla with 106, Colt Faith with 37 and Lindsey Nunn with a one shoot score for the year of 8.

If you have ever wanted to hear some smack talk, you should have come listen to the Youth Division shooters. This is a great bunch of young fellows and I have enjoyed them as I have all the young people a great deal this series.

The winning shooter for the Youth Division Thursday night was Hugh “Hot Shot” Guilliot with a score of 38. The second place spot was “Pretty Boy” Jordy Meadows with a score of 36. The third place spot was won by Brandon “Toy Boy” Lossett with a score of 34. The fourth spot was taken by Colby “Sweet Thang” Wallace with a score of 26.

The Top Gun Archer for the Youth Division is Brandon Lossett with a year end score of 194. The second place archer is Jordy Meadows with a year end score of 176. The third place spot was taken by Colby Wallace with a score of 168. Fourth place is Hughe Guilliot with a score of 146. Klint Hensarling rounded out the top five spots with a score of 86 for the few shoots that he entered.

Making each and every competition is the way to take the Top Gun Award. If you notice the scores are not far apart and all that keeps some from making the top spot is missing a shoot or two.

The adult division has just as muck smack as any of the others and fun ain’t the word for it. All summer the shooters have stayed true and supported the shoot and for this reason the prize money was doubled for all three spots and the shoot off for the Summit SS climbing stand was thrown in.

The top spot in the hunter division shoot for Thursday night was jimmy McBeth with a score of 54. The second place spot was Shaun Briggs with a score of 50 and third place was won by Reed Wallace Jr. with a score of 48.

The top spot in the open Division was also taken by Jimmy “Spotter” McBeth with a score of 58. The second spot was taken by Shaun “Squeaky” Briggs with a score of 56. Third place was won by Tim “Always There” Fore with a score of 50. Tim proves that persistence gets the top spot with plenty of shooting.

The Top Gun Archer of the Adult Hunter Class is Tim Fore with a total of 354. Runner up for the summer series is Gary Furr with a year end total of 332 points. Third place spot was taken by Reed Wallace Jr. with a score of 332. Rounding out the top seven is Jeremy Mcbeth with 318, Walley Amacker with 316, John “Hoss” Simmons with 312 and Reed Wallace Sr. with 302.

The Top Gun Archer for the Open division is almost a snap shot of the hunter division. Tim Fore is the top shooter with a 322, Wally Amacker is runner up with 312 and Gary Furr is the third spot with 310. Rounding out the top seven is Reed Wallace Jr. with 308, John “Hoss” Simmons with 296, Jeremy McBeth with 294 and Reed Wallace Sr. with 292.

To go out on a bang, the Deer Stand put up a brand new Summit SS climbing tree stand to be won by a shooting competition. The competition went like this, everyone starts at the 10 yard mark and shoots one arrow at the bulls eye, those in the yellow bulls eye advanced and those that didn’t got to watch.

The group that was left went to the 20 yard and the process was repeated and then to the 30 yard mark for those that were left.

The thirty yard mark proved to be tough enough since we were shooting under the lights after shooting the competition. The final shot was made and the stand was won by John “Hoss” Simmons, congratulations Hoss.

This was a great series and we are putting together the winter series so be sure to keep up right here in the Southern Sportsman column. See you on the range and as always, get outdoors and enjoy what God has given us.