Shooting Sports
About
The goal of the 4-H Shooting Sports Program is youth development. Through participation in firearm safety training and shooting sports activities, young men and women are given the opportunity to learn responsibility, sportsmanship, self-discipline, and other qualities critical to the development of productive citizens.
4-H Shooting Sports is a national program with over 300,000 young people taking part, thus making it one of the largest shooting education programs in the United States. New Mexico 4-H Shooting Sports involves of kids and continues to grow annually.
Certified Coaches
Santa Fe County Shooting Sports is run by 4-H volunteers that have been certified to serve as coaches on behalf f the New Mexico 4-H Shooting Sports program. It is the member’s responsibility to communicate regularly with their coaches so they may stay informed of anything related to their discipline. A list of coaches can be found at this link:
Member Requirements
** The last day to enroll in a shooting sports project is January 21, 2025. **
There are several requirements that member must meet to participate in shooting sports events. First and All members that wish to participate in 4-H Shooting Sports must have completed all the requirements for 4-H enrollment. Cloverbud members are not eligible to participate in Shooting Sports. A full list of member requirements is included in the Shooting Sports Member Letter. Below is a list of those requirements:
Family Fee
There will be an annual fee of $20 per member enrolled in any shooting sports project. This fee will go toward providing essential equipment for our members including ear/eye protection, arm guards and finger tabs (archery), targets, clays, ammo, first aid supplies, team shirts, etc. This fee will be collected by your club leader with your other general insurance and dues. This fee will be collected regardless of whether a member chooses to compete.
Mandatory Meeting
Santa Fe County requires ALL 4-H members that are enrolled in shooting sports or would like to participate in Shooting Sports are to attend out Mandatory Meeting. We will be having two of them, one in Santa Fe and one in Edgewood.
- January 11, 2024 | 12 – 2 PM | Stanley Cyclone Center
- January 21, 2024 | 6:30 – 8:30 PM | Santa Fe County Extension Office (Exhibit Hall)
Practices
- Every discipline has a practice schedule, please get with your coach or the extension office for this schedule if needed.
- Coaches will be communicating with shooters in their own discipline
- It is very important to communicate with your coaches. They will ask you to RSVP for practices- make sure you do this! They are trying to schedule the appropriate number of shooters per practice time. If you are not receiving information about practices, it might be because you are not enrolled in that project.
- You are required to attend at least three (3) official practices in order to compete in that discipline at county contest.
Safety Training
The Northern Rio Grande Sporting Club requires that every shooter that visits this range complete a safety training. Santa Fe County utilizes this range for several disciplines as well as portions of county contest therefore ALL shooting sports members are required to complete this training. The training is offered virtually by the club. A link to complete this training will be provided to members after 4-H enrollment is complete.
Contests
Shooting sports members are offered several opportunities to participate in competitive events. Members must meet the above requirements to be eligible for competitive events.
County Contest
The Santa Fe County Shooting Sports Contest will take place on (date TBD). This contest will be held over several days in several location. A detailed schedule with locations will be shared shortly. County shooting contest is open to Novice, Junior, and Senior members. This contest will determine qualifications for District and State Shoot. Makeups will not be allowed for this contest.
Santa Fe County Shooting Sports Rules
** The Santa Fe County Shooting Contest strives to keep county level rules as consistent as possible with the District and State rules. However, we reserve the right to make changes to rules based on available resources.
The rules for Shooting Sports were updated for the 2024-2025 year. Please ensure that you are looking at the correct rules for your discipline. If you need help please contact Sunny Finley at sunnyf@nmsu.edu
Northeast District Shooting Sports Rules
Santa Fe County participates in the Northeast District. This contest is for Novice and Junior Members. It is held in at the NRA Whittington Center (dates TBD). Participants in this contest must qualify for the event at County Contest. ** Northeast District DOES NOT offer Air Rifle. **
Novice and Junior Shooters are required to take a written test at the District Contest Level. Below are some test banks that can be used to study for these tests. In addition to these test banks, you may also study your project books.
Test Banks
State 4-H Shooting Sports Rules
This contest is for Senior Members. It is held in at the NRA Whittington Center (dates TBD). Participants in this contest must qualify for the event at County Contest. Participants may only compete in two disciplines.
Raffle
Every year we have a raffle to raise money for our Shooting Sports project, this helps the coaches to get what might be needed for the disciplines to ensure the members have what they need. This we are raffling off two guns. The kind of firearm will be given the day of the Mandatory Meeting.
The raffle tickets will be given out at the Mandatory Meeting, and they will need to be returned to the Extension Office in March (official date to be set for meeting).
Marksmanship Contest
In order to recognize the outstanding achievements of the Santa Fe County 4-H members who participate in Shooting Sports, Santa Fe County awards the Marksmanship award. The shooter with the best overall accuracy percentage for the year in each age group (Novice, Junior, and Senior) will be awarded at the end of the 4-H year. Below is a list of requirements to meet qualify for marksmanship.
Results
Results will be posted after our contests.