<p>2/28/2012
Woodberry Forest School’s Rod & Gun Club hosted its second annual Wild Game Feast on February 25, 2012. Students, faculty, and staff gathered to sample such delicacies as venison chili, squirrelswick stew, grilled quail, smoked duck, goose barbecue, wild boar sausage with cranberries, roasted whole pig, smoked cole slaw, and steamed-in-the-shell oysters. Much of the game was harvested on the campus’s 1200 acres and prepared by the club members themselves.</p>
<p>Are you kidding? Clearly you don’t subscribe to Garden & Gun, sir. Now if you tell me the location of the still on those 1200 acres, that would be information I’d be much obliged for. ;)</p>
<p>Are there boarding schools, other than Thatcher, Deerfield, Groton and Woodberry Forest, offering either shooting, sportsman or even a 3P target clubs? I think Blair might have a sporting clays club with Griffith and Howe at Hudson Farms.</p>
<p>I am not sure if my child could get into any of these esteemed schools but I am certain he would like to continue with his sport. It is curious that such controversial ECs seem to be available only at the top tier boarding schools.</p>
<p>There are shooting clubs my daughter and husband have been to, close to Millbrook, Trinity Pawling, that direction. They shoot clays only though. I bet you could check with the NRA and they could give you a list of clubs in the NE (if that is your “target area”), and then see how close they are to the schools you like. Unfortunately sometimes we have to chase the outside sports, but this could be his opportunity to start a club!</p>
<p>Weatherby, was that sarcasm? I wasn’t thinking of Columbine. As you said, shooting is a sport–even if it is probably limited to club or IM. There seems to be such a variety of different clubs at schools and maybe there are other students who share this interest. A faculty advisor might be willing to drive the kids to a club once a month or so. Just a suggestion.</p>
<p>I think this is the sort of thing where boarding school takes a back seat to living at home with a parent who doubles as a free chauffeur to unique and exceptional extra-curricular activities.</p>
<p>In order to continue shooting clays at boarding school, you have to organize a club or get cab rides (or – possibly, but doubtfully – find a faculty member who can drive you) while working around or outside of the daily routine in place.</p>
<p>In order to continue shooting clays at home, you call downstairs and say, “Hey, maaaaa! I think it’s time to go!”</p>
<p>The boarding school route builds character, helps demonstrate initiative, and puts hair on your chest and all that…but, in the end, you may end up never shooting clays (or doing whatever odd thing you’re passionate about) during your time at boarding school. Whether that cost outweighs that benefits is up to the individual to figure out, but these sorts of activities that don’t enjoy wide popularity rarely have a place in the boarding school experience. Unless it is already organized and happening, it would be unwise to assume that it will get organized and happening after you matriculate (if it’s something you’re totally committed to pursuing further through high school).</p>
<p>Kitten, no sarcasm. I stated my surprise that only the very top schools seem to have shooting sports or clubs, that my son probably can’t get into such a school, and that he could be a leader at a lower tier school by starting such a club. That was pretty much all I intended, not sure where your left field Columbine comment came from</p>
<p>I am not sure which if I take more exception to your categorization of shooting sports as odd or your silly, condescending lecture that seemed to have been directed at my question whether if there are boarding schools offering shooting sports other than Thatcher, Deerfield, Groton and Woodberry Forest.</p>
<p>I loved shooting when I was a girl - except that I nearly always missed and my (very thrifty) mother would make me search in the field for the unbroken pigeons.</p>
<p>I don’t think Dyer meant shooting was “odd” in a bad way; but that it was just unusual.</p>
<p>Neato, Dyer can respond but I seem to recall the effusive advice Dyer gave to someone wanting to bring their horse to boarding school, which I found rather odd since horseback riding is one of the most dangerous sports out there and one that requires a great deal of resources compared to trap shooting that might only need a handful of acres.</p>
<p>Shooting sports are enjoyed by nearly half the population and therefore, I took “odd” more in the perjorative sense than in these sense you saw the comment, namely, that few people participate.</p>
<p>Eaglebrook has a shooting range for .22’s and not for skeet or trap. I shot my first shotgun at St. George’s on the beach. I don’t think they still offer the sport at SG. The schools do look for leaders to start such clubs as shooting and it most certainly is a sport.</p>
<p>I read “odd” simply as not being mainstream in the brooks brothery new england prep school sense, like lacrosse or crew. I saw no abnormal condescension in Dyer’s response. Maybe you need to step back for a little while and come back and re-read with a clearer mind.</p>
<p>I am in a similar situation as your son. I am choosing between going away to school or continuing my sport. Unlike shooting, I know there is no chance my sport will be started at the school I attend, (if they did decide to make the investment, I’d be graduating before they could get the infrastructure in place.) I am not looking at it as giving up my sport, but that I’ll be more of a “weekend warrior” and thus appreciate the moments I get to participate all the more for the scarcity of the opportunity to play.</p>
<p>We all make choices, and ultimately those choices close some doors while opening others. What is more important to him? Does He really want to go to BS? Or would He rather stay home and have the comforts of home (including shooting)? He has to make that choice, and then enjoy the consequences of his choices.</p>