By Kevin Tatum
The Coffee County 4-H shotgun team traveled to Savannah for the weekend of May 27th-28th to compete in the Georgia 4-H Trap, Skeet, and Sport Clays Match. The match was held at the Forest City Gun Club. Coffee 4-H had a senior 4-H team and two individuals (grades 9-12) and two junior 4-H teams (7th and 8th graders) to compete. Teams can be composed of three to four members. Senior 4-H team members included Emily Purvis, Huntington Smith, and Barron Thomas on one team and Slade Smith and Lauren Tanner competed as individuals. The Junior 4-H Teams included Aaron Fletcher, Hudson Lott, Drew Purvis, and Avery Vincent on one team and Jake Fletcher, Elijah Turk, and Waylon Vickers on the other. Coaches for the teams include Richard Grantham and Clay Thomas.
The junior 4-H team composed of Fletcher, Lott, Purvis, and Vincent scored a team score of 520 out of 600 to capture third place in the team competition. The junior 4-H team of Fletcher, Turk, and Vickers captured the 15th place spot. The senior team placed 12th out of 48 teams competing. Drew Purvis and Avery Vincent were recognized for placing 8th overall in sporting clays and Avery Vincent was the 11th high individual in the junior 4-H competition.
A special thank you goes out to coaches Richard Grantham and Clay Thomas for their dedicated service and to the shotgun team parents for their support of all of the team members competing. Congratulations shooters and coaches on your successes this year.
Cloverleaf 4-H Camp
This year’s Cloverleaf 4-H Camp for 4th-6th graders was held at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center near Eatonton, Georgia, the week of June 12th-16th . We had a great group of students who attended camp. There were 955 campers, teen leaders, and adult chaperones from eight counties at camp during this week. Campers enjoyed many different workshops including wildlife, forestry, herpetology, archery, and more. Older campers enjoyed the experience of the climbing wall, zip line, swing shot, and more. All campers had the opportunity to go canoeing as well as swimming. They really enjoyed the two story water slide at pool 2.
The adults experienced even more excitement as we worried about the escaped prisoners in the area. Campers were unaware of the happenings with the escaped prisoners, but the camp staff, adult leaders, and local law enforcement were on high alert from Tuesday morning until the news of their capture in Tennessee on Thursday evening.
Throughout the week, the camp was divided into three Indian tribes, Cherokee, Muskogee, and Shawnee. This is based on which cabins you are housed during your week of camp. Coffee County 4-H members were Muskogee’s along with Atkinson and Oconee County 4-H’ers. Travis Dopson, a Coffee County 4-H Alumni, is serving as camp counselor for the summer, and was in our tribe. He served as cottage leader for the Coffee County girls’ cabin.
Rock Eagle has been undergoing remodeling for the past several years. As funding is available, six old cabins will be torn down and six new cabins built in their place. The original cabins were built between 1951 and 1955, so they have served Georgia 4-H well for over 60 years. At this point in time, 28 new cabins are completed with six more almost finished. This leaves only 19 more to replace. The 4-H members love the new cabins. They are very nice and provide more bathrooms than the older cabins.
Our staff and volunteer leaders had a great week of camp and really enjoyed the students who attended with us. It was a great week (even though we didn’t win the tribal shield). And we know that these kids will forever remember their week of camp at Rock Eagle. We especially appreciate Mr. William Tucker who served as our bus driver and chaperon for the week.
Goat Show Information
I would like to remind 4-H and FFA members who are interested in showing goats that the next tagging date for goats will be on Tuesday, July 18th at 6:30 PM in the Billy Walker Livestock Center at Coffee Middle School. Please be sure to bring your checkbook along with your goats. Registration fees are $15 per goat for the first three goats registered. If you choose to register a fourth or fifth goat, the fee is $25 each. The two local shows are scheduled for Saturday, July 19th, for the Bring on the Heat Jackpot show, and Saturday, September 23rd, for the county show. For more information, please contact the 4-H office at (912) 384-1402, or any of the Coffee County School System agriculture teachers at Coffee Middle, Coffee High, or George Washington Carver Freshman Campus.
If you have questions about the Coffee County 4-H Club program, or questions around the farm or home, please feel free to contact the Coffee County Extension office at (912) 384-1402. Remember, we are YOUR local connection to the University of Georgia.