Flocking with the Turkeys on Thursday Morning Jim Morrison, 67, is one of the younger members of the Thursday Group that meets, of course, every Thursday at the range sometime just after sunrise. As it described on the home page of the Papio Air Gun Club (which Jim helped start in 1970), the Group is open to all East Nebraska Gun Club (ENGC) members and their guests, and “It’s all in fun as long you don’t talk about your ailments.” This past summer, Jim and several other ENGC members began meeting on Thursday mornings on the range. This weekly venture soon became a way to encourage new members to participate in the ENGC, although “new” may be a misnomer given that thus far all the regulars are of retirement age. As Jim puts it, “Who else can take off Thursday morning?” Still, every Thursday, rain or shine, the small band of shooters meet at the range. Jim usually arrives first between 6:30 and 7:00, early enough to watch the sun rise and the wild turkeys running loose. Others arrive, coffee in hand, ready to shoot a course of fire. Although Jim describes the Thursday morning sessions as “informal,” the group takes its practices seriously, shooting “a legal course of fire, no tin cans or junk targets.” It is also friendly competition. Recently the ENGC opened a 600 yard range. The Thursday Group was the first to try it out. After firing 9 rounds with an M1 rifle, the last three marking the target, to establish a 600 yard zero, Jim went on to shoot a score of 71 0x/100. As this was the first known shots to be fired on the ENGC 600 yard range under the NRA High Power Rule book, he claimed it as an ENGC Record. Pictured is Jim with three sighter shots. His range record lasted all of one week—the next Thursday Greg Reynolds shot an 83 1x/100. Pictured below, left to right, is Carl Metz, John Peterson, Jim Morrison, and Greg Reynolds (the one with the big grin on his face). Members such as Jim are also crucial to the continued functioning of local shooting sports. Retired from the U.S. West Telephone Company after 40 years, Jim now serves as the web site administrator of both the Nebraska Shooting Sports Association and the Papio Air Rifle Club. “In between shooting and grandkids,” he keeps the sites updated, and even though his sites may lack style, he more than makes up for it in content. He uses a MacIntosh 5500, an ancient machine by computer standards (“You just gotta be patient”). He also admits “I never learned how to type.” Jim also runs summer and winter postal matches, something he has been doing for 25 years, and helps with year-around activities, including the annual Snow Ball Match. He does find himself, however, questioning his own sanity, especially in taking part in an outdoor match in Nebraska in January. “It’s so damn cold, you don’t know whether you want to do it or not.”