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Those of us who have been around the clay target sports for a while know

that shotgun shooters come in all different sizes, shapes and from many different walks of life. Dale Bouchillon is no exception. A star performer on the USA Sporting Clays Team at the World English Championship this past June, held at England’s venerable E.J. Churchill Shooting Grounds, Dale was on his first outing competing as a US team member. This was also his first trip shooting abroad on the “big stage”, but that didn’t

stop him from coming home withfour podium finishes in Super Veteran category! How he got there is the interesting subject of this feature.

Introduction to the SportDale grew up in Savannah, Georgia, in a hardworking family. His dad worked for car dealerships as a paint and repair specialist until 1969 when he started his own collision repair business. In 1970, Dale graduated from high school,

going on to college, and even considering a career in the military. However, having grown up essentially with a paint gun in his hand, Dale instead chose to return home to Savannah and go into the family business. In 1973, he married his wife, Donna, who worked for a Federal Court Judge, and they have been together ever since. Donna is now retired and spends her time painting and photographing.

In spite of the fact that he shot his first shotgun at age 6 and grew up only 15 minutes from Forest City Gun Club, Dale never shot a sporting clays target until he was 51 years old, and that was almost by mistake! In 2003, nearby Dorchester Shooting Preserve was hosting a charity shoot for cancer, and Dale was approached by a buddy to have his business sponsor a team at the upcoming event. He agreed, and participated as a member of his team. The next year, he got the same call again, so he signed up a team the second year. This went on again for a third consecutive year when, at that event, he was approached by Sonny Howard and Sam Byrd who invited him to come out to Forest City Gun Club to shoot on

Wednesday afternoons, and the rest is history.

In Dale’s own words, it went like this. “So, I quit playing golf, I quit deer hunting, and I was hooked, dedicating all my spare time to being a sporting clays shooter.” He shot his first registered shoot in 2005. In 2006, he entered his second-ever registered shoot and, by then he decided he really wanted to improve his skills. After doing a little research on coaches in the south, he drove four hours each way to take several lessons from Will Fennell. He then figured out there was a guy named John Woolley who lived only two hours away. Wanting to do more shooting than driving, he signed up with John, and recalls they hit it off right away.

When he took that first lesson from John, he was in C class and Dale recalls that after watching him shoot just a few targets, John immediately picked up on several things he was unconsciously doing that needed correcting. So, Dale worked on the changes and went back to John to take four lessons that first year. He was so excited about his progress that he decided he and Donna would invite John

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SAVANNAH’S DALE BOUCHILLON

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and Gretchen to have dinner with them for his birthday. As it turned out, Woolley thought the invitation was to celebrate his birthday. You guessed it… they discovered during dinner they both have the same birthday, only Dale is one year older than John. It’s no wonder they seemed to get along so well right from the start.

TeachingI asked Dale how he eventually became part of Woolley’s well-known shooting instruction program. He reiterated that their personalities seemed to just “click” from the beginning, and as Dale’s shooting improved dramatically, John suggested he take a Level 1 certification course. Dale says he had always enjoyed coaching – baseball, martial arts, etc., so he signed up for a class thinking it

would help him improve his own shooting skills. After taking that Level 1 course, his self-confidence in shooting grew, and he discovered he had the skills to help others learn to shoot. He then volunteered as a trapper for Woolley at his group clinics. Dale says that he thought he knew a lot about shotgun shooting, but after observing John close-up for a while, he concluded that Woolley knows more about shooting a shotgun than anyone! During this experience as a “go-fer” for Woolley, he quietly observed a lot and he learned a lot more.

He then progressed in his own teaching enough to qualify for a Level 2 class. Afterwards, he found people at the local gun club were asking him for lessons and recalls that he was the first non-manager at Forest City allowed to teach there. Next step was Level 3 certification, which he took and was one of only three who successfully passed the course that session. With all this coaching time and seeing John every few months for his own lessons, Dale’s shooting continued to improve. He also became involved in coaching the Low Country Annie’s, Forest City’s Ladies Shooting group, at their monthly shooting outings. He now finds he is often giving 20-25 individual two-hour lessons per month.

As he competed more and became more successful, he began to help John sell a few guns, and the more he shot John’s style successfully, they developed a true, trusting friendship. Dale notes that they have the same philosophy of how to treat their customers, and eventually John asked him to join the staff of his John Woolley Shooting Clinics. At the time we spoke, Dale had just returned from a four-day trip where they taught an eight-person

clinic on Thursday/Friday, then individual lessons all day on Saturday, and then group sessions again on Sunday. Currently, he joins John four or five times/year to coach like this. John refers students to Dale when he is overbooked or feels that Dale can really help the person progress.

Reaching New HeightsDale reached a real milestone when he achieved FITASC Veteran First Team All-American status the last two years. Fast forwarding to 2018, this was Dale’s first year competing as a Super Veteran. He was selected for the first time to the USA Sporting Clays Team - in Sporting and as an alternate in FITASC - quite an accomplishment in his first year of eligibility! His trip to the UK in June, with the extension to France for the French Grand Prix and the World FITASC, was his first international competition experience.

Dale is rightly proud of his success at the World English Championships. He just kept his head down and tried to pay attention all week – with amazing results. In his own words, he did his best shooting ever, with podium finishes in all four events. Besides the obvious thrill of winning the Super Veteran Team Gold Medal for the USA, he recalls the highlight was a Super Veteran Bronze medal shoot-off with the legendary John Bidwell. Dale had heard all the stories about how, before George Digweed came to dominate the sporting clays scene, Bidwell was “the man to beat” in UK sporting circles. To top it off, it turned out that George Digweed was, in fact, the man setting the targets for their shoot-off: five pairs with an especially tough, screaming crosser as the first bird

of the pair. And as Dale was quietly standing there waiting for things to begin, Digweed sidled over to him and commented “Do you realize you are shooting off against the great John Bidwell?” Bidwell shot first, missing the crosser all five times, and ended up with a total score of 3x10. Now, shaking in his boots, Dale stepped up, took a deep breath to collect himself, and started shooting. He broke the first pair and, amazed, went on to break four of the five crossers for a total score of 7x10 for the win. What an achievement! Later, still in amazement, noted British sporting clays mental game guru, Henry Hopking described it as “An adrenaline rush that allowed him to perform at his very best.” Indeed!

Self-effacing and soft-spoken, Dale is quick to point out that at the World English he was very fortunate to be squadded with his teammates. They shot together for all four events that week, making things much more comfortable for him. In all, Dale came home with a Gold in the Team Super Veteran with his teammates Gary Walstrom and another first tripper, Jim Waterman, a Silver in the Individual FITASC in Super Veterans, a Bronze in the

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WITH MENTOR JOHN WOOLLEY AT 2018 FRENCH FITASC GRAND PRIX

Dale BouchillonGun: BLASER F3 Bonsi Custom IVBarrels: 32” Vantage (mid-rib)Chokes: Müller U3Stock: S&S Plus, Polson, MTAmmo: Experiencia X-Claimer 1oz. 1222 fps 7.5 shot

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Individual Main Super Veterans, and a Bronze in the Prelim SuperVeterans. As they moved on to France, Dale experienced random squadding for the first time, but mostly remembers proudly watching teammate Zach Kienbaum’s exceptional performance winning the Silver medal in an exciting shoot-off at the FITASC World Championship.

So, after this life-changing experience this summer, I asked

Dale what his future goals were. In his characteristically understated way, he simply said he wants to concentrate on coaching and being a good ambassador for the sport. He has met so many wonderful people in this sport and now realizes he has been fortunate to have established great friendships all over the country. Moreover, he’s been encouraged by so many people, and he acknowledges hehas had a lot of help getting to

where he is today. He notes that some of the “greats” who he looked up to and has taken lessons from like John Woolley, Wendell Cherry, Bill McGuire and Gebben Miles are now his teammates on the USA Sporting Clays Team. Summed up simply and succinctly, he is “living the dream!” Congratulations, Dale! n

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