INUVIK - Inuvik can now claim the sharpest shooter in the territory after the 2011 Silhouette Rifle and Handgun Championships held in Yellowknife earlier this month.

Rick Lindsay practises at the Top of the World Sporting Club in Inuvik. Lindsay took the top place in the territory at the 2011 Silhouette Rifle and Handgun Championships in Yellowknife on June 18 and 19. He heads to the nationals in 2012. - Samantha Stokell/NNSL photo

Rick Lindsay of Inuvik took the Top NWT Adult Shooter title with excellent scores in smallbore standard silhouette rifle, hunter rifle and highpower/centre fire cowboy rifle categories. While a Calgarian claimed top spot overall, Lindsay's second place finish means he'll represent the territory at the 2012 national championships.

"Personally, I want to do well, but I would like the territory to do better," Lindsay said. "No one expects the snow shovellers to come down and do well. I want to make them eat their words."

The Yellowknife competition had a number of different categories for shooters, depending on the size of the gun. For the silhouette competition, shooters must shoot targets of different sizes, at different distances: 100, 77, 60 and 40 yards for the rim-fire rifles and 50, 100, 150 and 200 yards for the more powerful centre-fire rifles. The person who shoots the most over the two days wins the competition.

The targets are metal animal likenesses of chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams. The larger the target, the farther away it will be so that the target is the same size. Shooting the targets that only measure a few inches tall can greatly help hunters, too.

"If you get good at shooting those little targets, when a rabbit hops by it looks huge," Lindsay said. "It's all about hunting because it'll make you be a better hunter and more of a sportsman."

The Inuvik shooting community has shrunk a bit in the past few years and the range has fallen victim to vandalism and neglect. Lindsay hopes to revitalize it by introducing youth to the sport. At the territorial competition, only three youth competed: two female and one male, which doesn't leave much room for competition.

"I want to teach youth, male and female, how to shoot safely," Lindsay said. "You have to do it safely or you'll end up with dead people all over the range. It's about honing your skills."

For Lindsay, concentration is key to becoming a successful shooter. During competition there can be any number of distractions and focus will help a shooter maintain accuracy shot after shot.

Lindsay hopes to organize a Thursday evening when people can come out to the range and learn or practise shooting and eventually gain their Possession and Acquisition License (PAL).

First, though, a bit of renovation will have to be done. Over the past year, $6,000 worth of damage was done to the range from fires that burned chairs, tables and gun racks.

In the meantime, Lindsay will practise for the 2012 national championships against shooters from the rest of the country, the U.S. and Mexico. The date and location have yet to be chosen, but he's looking forward to it.

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