Austin Kiemsteadt: The next rising star

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[00:00:43] Also brought to you by Rick Hemingway's Pro-Matic Trap Cells, Cole Gunsmithing, Clay Target Vision, Castellani USA and Ultimate Shooting Accessories, Sound Gear, Clay Shooter Supply and Falcon Strike. Joining us today is an excellent shooter who has had a great year in sporting clay in 2023.

[00:01:18] Currently he's a student at Texas A&M and is part of their Trap and Skeet team. This year he's achieved multiple top five finishes as well as shooting on the lead group of the Super Squad during the NSCA Nationals where he finished fourth.

[00:01:31] I'm glad to have him on with me. Please welcome to the show, Austin Kiemsteadt. What's up, Austin? What's up, Justin? How are you? Good. This is your first time on the show. I'm glad to have you here. Yes, sir. I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:02:06] You know, I watched the scores all through the Nationals. I was pulling for you. You know, a top five finish at the National Championships. Not that bad. Yeah, not too bad. I was happy with how that all worked out.

[00:02:17] Wish I could have been a little higher, but can't complain one bit. Well, especially in those conditions, man. Yeah, it got pretty tough towards the end of that round.

[00:02:25] Yeah, I mean, I wasn't there. I watched the videos, you know, people walking around with cameras and I thought, wow, this is crazy. Goes from one extreme to the next. Yeah, like perfect Nationals conditions, right? Always something.

[00:02:41] It's always windy, but when you throw in hot, cold and rain and mud puddles everybody's running through, man. Yeah, knee deep mud. I'm kind of glad I wasn't there. You know what I mean? Yeah, for sure.

[00:02:54] This is really the first time I've talked to you. I've seen you around. First time I've talked to you. I don't know much about you. Tell me a little bit about where you grew up and what led you to being interested in shooting and things like that.

[00:03:07] Yeah, for sure. So I grew up just outside of Houston, kind of right by Greater Houston Sports Club, about 15 minutes from there in a town called Missouri City, Texas.

[00:03:16] I mean, I really, I didn't start shooting until I was pretty old. I started shooting my basically really competitively my sophomore year of high school. So I wasn't exposed to it early like a lot of the guys that were competing against. Yeah, but that was late.

[00:03:33] Yeah, it was late. And when I first started, I really, I wasn't into it. My dad, he wanted me to get into it and I was playing football at the time.

[00:03:43] So my focus was kind of on that when I was in high school, like early high school. But I got a bunch of concussions during football and decided I needed to move away from that.

[00:03:56] I needed to do something so I kind of moved into the shooting part, like probably my mid-sophomore year of high school. Well, shooting season and football season at the same time, right? Yeah.

[00:04:07] Yeah. So it's hard to dedicate yourself fully to one. I've noticed that where we're at, a lot of the football players can probably be good shooters, but they're a better football player than they are a shooter because they're always playing football. Yeah, for sure.

[00:04:25] So you got into that. So did you do any hunting when you were young?

[00:04:28] Yeah, I grew up deer hunting. I didn't really do a lot of bird hunting when I was young, but I grew up, my dad would take me. We've had this place down south of San Antonio since I was born. So I've been going there my whole life. That's kind of how I got into the outdoor industry and all that.

[00:04:47] Well, it's kind of crazy that you're as good as you are with a shotgun, considering that you didn't shoot one until later in life. Yeah.

[00:04:57] When you got into it, your dad got you into it. Was that who you went with all the time? Did you go with your dad shooting?

[00:05:03] Yeah, I went with my dad a bunch, but my buddy Blake Bajali and I, we kind of started getting into it about the same time. And so me and him really pushed each other to start practicing a bunch. We went out there almost every day in high school. So me and him really are the two, we got each other into it.

[00:05:21] When did you see a coach? Who did you see and who would you think, if you saw more than one, who helps you the most?

[00:05:29] Well, I got some like beginner lessons here and there when I first started. But I really, in my whole shooting career, I haven't had that many like personal one on one lessons. But if I had to pick one, one guy that helped me the most, I'd have to say it's got to be Zach. I mean, he pushed me in the right direction in all aspects of the sport. You know, when I first was getting into it.

[00:05:53] You know, when you said Zach's name, I thought I haven't had a show that I've done that his name hasn't been brought up on. Yeah.

[00:06:02] I guess when you've been around it for 35 years or whatever, whatever it is, you can, your name's going to get brought up a little bit, you know? Definitely. Yeah. I mean, yeah.

[00:06:13] So, so you started shooting late and you really didn't have a coach and you're shooting as good as you are. Is it just natural? I mean, or did you shoot a lot? Well, there's got to be something.

[00:06:27] I shot a lot. Me and my buddy, we shot a ton when we first started in high school. So it's got to be a little bit of that. And I mean, we went to like when we were in high school, we had the time. We went to almost every tournament we could to get tournament reps.

[00:06:41] And for a while, I mean, I couldn't compete in a tournament. I was struggling. So it really just drove me to shoot more and practice more and really try to learn how to compete in that tournament atmosphere.

[00:06:55] And I feel like doing that growing up in the sport, I mean, that helped a tremendous amount for me in my game. You mentioned practice. How did you practice, though? I mean, not really knowing. I'm not saying you didn't know what to do, but how did you practice?

[00:07:12] There really was. Honestly, there was no set practice, we kind of just went out there and almost just shot or just got reps in, you know, because I mean, we weren't we didn't have a real coach at the time.

[00:07:29] And so we really didn't know how to practice, but we were just kind of trying to get the reps in to try to get better, you know? Yeah. And shooting tournaments is probably one of the best places to get reps in.

[00:07:38] Yeah, for sure. I mean, living around Houston, you can almost shoot one every weekend. So I'm sure that was a big part of my development.

[00:07:46] What did what was one thing that you can remember Zach telling you while he's kind of helping you that you still think about today? Is there one of those?

[00:07:57] He always just told me that you got to have confidence for a while. He always talked to me how if I had better confidence, my game would be a lot better.

[00:08:09] And so he always for me to like me and him having a conversation, he always is saying, if I have the right confidence, I'm going to be tough to beat.

[00:08:17] And so I feel like that's always stuck with me, like since our first lesson, he told me that. And still to this day, we talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. There's a fine line in my opinion, between being confident and being cocky. Exactly.

[00:08:32] You know what I'm saying? And a lot of people hop that cocky side and then they start missing and looking like they don't know what they're doing. And then they get mad and they start missing everything. So yeah, for sure. You know, there's a fine line there.

[00:08:44] You know, when you're shooting, um, high school or in what you're shooting now in college. And I don't talk much about this as trap and skeet at all.

[00:08:54] I really don't talk much about that on here at all. And I wasn't interested at all in it until my son started shooting it in school this year. And I never knew how competitive those two disciplines were. Oh yeah. It's unbelievable. It's crazy.

[00:09:08] I mean, I didn't know that you could go to a tournament and miss two birds on skeet and you just, you're fourth place. I mean, I thought, what is the, what's how did, how did you learn that when you were, I mean, did you shoot it over and over again?

[00:09:25] Yeah. I mean, I really haven't, I never shot a whole lot of skeet, um, when I first started. So, but I would go and just practice it just cause it's good, good practice moving the gun. You know?

[00:09:35] Um, I was always decent at it. We have to shoot it once a year for the greater Houston club championship. Um, so that's kinda how I learned how to shoot it was just through that.

[00:09:45] Yeah. It's what, what's weird to me is that you see all different and I guess it's like sporting, but you see all kinds of different people shooting all kinds of different guns and different whole points. And what I would just think the whole different style almost.

[00:10:00] Well, I would think on a skeet field, every they're all the same targets. I mean, you know what I'm saying? Everybody's shooting the same stuff. It's not like you're going to a station where there's a long crosser and then an incomer. They're all the same. And everybody that shoots it looks different.

[00:10:15] Yep. That is the strange thing about skeet. Yeah. It's weird. So, but I've enjoyed it, man. I'm gonna tell you, it's, it's actually fun. It's quick to me. It's fun. Maybe that's just cause we just got into it.

[00:10:26] I agree. I think, I think skeet is fun. Trap on the other hand, I wouldn't go that far, but I enjoy skeet a lot actually. Yeah. What's the trick with shooting trap? I ain't figured that one out yet.

[00:10:38] Well for me, I've finally started to learn how to shoot it. I'm actually starting to shoot a little better. Um, I just, you gotta have a slow gun. That's my, my tip. You see it quick, but you can't move on it quick.

[00:10:54] Shoot right over the top of it, won't you? Yeah. Think that I've had, I know I've had several people on here, but I think it's eight now from Texas A&M off the trap and skeet club. That's pretty crazy.

[00:11:07] Yeah. Well, that just tells you something right there that the school, not just the school, but the shooting team at Texas A&M is pretty strong. I mean, you know, if you go. We got a lot of talent coming in, that's for sure. You got more coming?

[00:11:21] We've got a lot coming and then we've got a lot here. It's exciting to see. Yeah. What now has Texas A&M, they've won national championship three years in a row. Is that right? Three years in a row. Yes, sir. Yeah. And you've been there for all three?

[00:11:37] Just two. I transferred in right after they won their first one. Nice. So what are you going to school for? I'm studying turf grass science. I'm looking to get into commercial landscape and that aspect of the industry.

[00:11:51] That seems like a pretty good, actually pretty fun. You know, it's different from what you always hear. I want to be in construction or I want to be in or whatever.

[00:11:59] Yeah. It's a small major, but it's something different. And I felt like I fit in pretty well with it. You could go to school for anything, I think. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[00:12:08] Was the shooting team at A&M the reason you chose to go there or was it the classes you needed? Which one was it? Well, when I was looking to go into college, I knew straight out of high school I probably wouldn't get into A&M.

[00:12:27] So I really wasn't looking there super heavily. But my brother was here at the time. And so I was coming up every couple weekends and whatnot, hanging out with him. And what really pushed me was just the atmosphere.

[00:12:43] I mean, I really enjoyed when I was just around. There's just like a buzz, you know, you can feel like something different. And that's kind of really what maybe decided to go to Texas A&M. Not really the shooting team at the time.

[00:12:55] Why do you think the shooting team is so good? I mean, I know it's because of the people, but why do you think that everybody that shoots wants to go there?

[00:13:03] People want to come to A&M just for the education at the end of the day. But the last few years, it seems they were getting a lot more pull for the shooting side, which is understandable. Oh yeah.

[00:13:18] But it's honestly kind of crazy how many good shooters want to end up coming to A&M. Can you tell me who's coming that we may not know of?

[00:13:28] I'm not sure who's fully coming yet, but I know we've been talking to a lot of up and coming shooters in the NSCA and stuff like that that have a big interest in coming. What about the football? How many football games do you go to a year?

[00:13:42] Okay. Yeah. Are you still going to have a football team? Yeah. I like to go to the big games. We always try to go to the Alabama one. That's always electric and stuff.

[00:14:00] But usually it's tough during the shooting season. A lot of the shoots fall on the big game weekends. But I usually get to go to two or three games a year maybe.

[00:14:13] So they got rid of Jimbo Fisher. Have they thought about calling Joe Fenezi to be the head coach? It might be a good call, honestly. Yes it would. He can get out there with no shirt on and his cowboy hat and have at it.

[00:14:26] Oh yeah. He'd get them in line. Oh yeah he would. And he gets so mad. Utah's started talking about football if it's got anything to do other than Florida maybe or Texas A&M. He's competitive with the Florida football team too. Don't talk about Georgia. He hates them.

[00:14:45] Oh yeah. What else is there to do there? I'm 45 years old. I haven't been to college in years.

[00:14:54] From what I used to see until now, what else is there to do there? You go to school, you go to football games. What else is there to do at College Station?

[00:15:02] There's always some fun things to do. There's some nice places to hang out. There's always a few good bars to go to if you're allowed to do that. You can always find something fun to do there. It's just like any other town. There's nice restaurants.

[00:15:21] When you graduate, do you hang around College Station? Do you come back often? Me personally, I'm probably just going to get out of here. I'm ready to move on and start working somewhere else.

[00:15:40] I'll come back and visit. Go to football games and stuff. I'll always be a Texas A&M alumni so I'll be back occasionally. When you get a coach. I saw online the other day that you got some sort of ring. Oh yeah. The Aggie ring.

[00:15:56] What does that mean? It's basically your class alumni ring. It's a big deal for Texas A&M students. You can go anywhere in the world and if you've got an Aggie ring on you can make a friend.

[00:16:10] It's a big deal for Aggies just due to the fact that everybody knows what it is. I've been all over the country and I always find somebody with an Aggie ring on and I introduce myself and make a little friend out of it.

[00:16:23] It's a big deal at Texas A&M getting your Aggie ring. You've got to get 90 hours completed at Texas A&M. If you transfer you need 45 but you have to have a total of 90 hours to get your Aggie ring.

[00:16:38] Do you have to have a certain grade point average? You just have to be in good academic standing. You're passing all your classes. What is Texas A&M mostly known for would you say? I would just say for their traditions and their culture.

[00:16:55] You're probably right. No cheerleaders at the games? No, no cheerleaders at the games. That's a good tradition to think about. Yeah. We're kind of back up to nationals a little bit. You finished fourth, right? Yes sir. Have you done that? You haven't done that before, right?

[00:17:21] No, that was the best finish I've ever had in a main event at nationals. That's crazy. I remember when we started the show I was watching the scores and I thought wow.

[00:17:30] Was there a regional this year that I saw you at the top of maybe leading at one point? Yes sir. The Western Regional this year I was in a three-way tie at the end on Sunday. Ended up coming a runner up after the shoot off.

[00:17:44] I saw your name on the, you know, I was watching the scores and I thought wow this kid can shoot. The regional he was just at now he's at nationals.

[00:17:54] How did that make you feel knowing you're in one of them top squads running around on the last day? Was there any kind of nervousness? Any kind of tension at all? Yeah, of course there's a little bit of nervous tension.

[00:18:08] We've got a lot of cameras, a lot of people watching. It felt good to be in that spot. Especially with the people I was shooting with, you know, people I've been shooting with for a long time.

[00:18:19] Feels good to be in the same position with much less experience, you know. Yeah, being in that squad, you know, I don't know that anybody else has seen this yet,

[00:18:31] but I've seen the actual video for the super squad and you get a lot of coverage on there by the way. Could you turn around like, hey man, where am I at on this target? Was there any of that going on? Was it pretty quiet?

[00:18:42] It was pretty quiet, but I'm sure if somebody would have said something, anybody would have helped. I mean the squad was awesome. Leading up to that, when you got to that last day and that weather changed like it did,

[00:18:55] the wind got, you know, started blowing, it got cold. Did that affect you at all? I just, I knew the wind switched. It was going to get heavy and I just knew I couldn't be careful. You got to be aggressive when stuff like that starts happening.

[00:19:09] If you start playing with targets in the wind, you're going to get screwed up. Yeah. Tell me what's your hardest or your station that you still think about? Like, I can't believe I missed all these.

[00:19:19] So the one I'm thinking of, station, I think it was seven on the green course. And Brandon was shooting, he shot first at that station and it was that big teal. On the green course. I don't know if you know what I'm talking about.

[00:19:36] I talked to Madison about it last week, about the same station. And he went up there first and he shot them on the way up. We had a big strong headwind there. I know the whole week everybody was shooting, had to shoot them on the way up.

[00:19:49] And he missed a few. And Anthony was right in front of me and he decided to shoot the first bird dropping. And I hadn't even decided that I wanted to do that.

[00:20:00] But I, last second, right as I get in the cage, I was like, okay, I'm going to shoot that dropping. And I missed the first pair because I didn't really have a strong plan.

[00:20:11] And that one, and I hit the next two pairs, but that one was still really stings a little bit. Cause that would've put me a few more, may have had a little more confidence going into the last three. Yeah. Last three cages.

[00:20:22] You know, I have that same problem all the time. I walk in there and I'm nowhere near as good as you are, but I'll walk in there thinking I'm going to do it one way. And then I see somebody else do it the wrong way.

[00:20:32] And I try to, you know, you don't run that saying he did it the wrong way, but it ends up being the wrong way that I pick, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like he went up there and made it look easy.

[00:20:41] So I'm like, okay, I got that. Anything dropping, it's a 50, 50 shot with me, especially if there's any wind behind it. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I get way too much justice. That's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I don't remember. It was, um, Brandon, Anthony Bainhorn and me.

[00:21:02] Yeah. And talking about Bainhorn, I mean, you know, I don't know. Yeah. He's a, he's a Texas guy. I believe he's from the, um, like South Texas coast, like around Corpus, I believe.

[00:21:15] Well, I didn't, you know, I watched the video and I saw several photos and I'm like, who is this guy that's walking around with a green t-shirt on and no vest and yeah. And a high ribbed gun. I mean, who is it? It makes it look easy.

[00:21:27] You would think you see him go up there and you're like, and who's this guy? And then he goes up there and just hammers them. Okay. This guy knows what he's doing. I mean, he did it all week.

[00:21:35] I was shooting in the squad, the B squad right behind him on the normal rotation. And I mean, all week he was just hammering out and we're like, he's going to finish high. Like we all knew it. Yeah. I've never watched it. Being from Texas.

[00:21:49] Have you seen his name anywhere before? Yeah, I've seen him. I've seen him in Houston, like the, the Briley and the diamond classic and stuff like that. He'll go shoot those. Yeah. I need to, speaking of that, I need to go out there and shoot that one time.

[00:22:01] I just want to, I want to see it. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. It's usually a good challenge. Zach's always talking about how fun it is. Cool trophies too. Yeah. Yeah. So would you rather win a cool trophy or some money? Um, it depends.

[00:22:17] I always, I want to win a cool title, but the money is always a good beneficial thing at the end of the day. You know, I think there's a regional out there next year at defender, right? Yes. Yes, there is. I'm actually really excited for that one.

[00:22:32] I lost, saw that on the schedule. I said, nah, I've got to go to that, you know, Travis, I'm sure he's got a nice place. I've never seen it.

[00:22:38] When they hosted the Texas state a few years ago, it was, it had to be my favorite Texas state I've ever shot. It was a lot of fun. Why? They, this, um, they opened up some new parts of their property. Um, and the courses were just awesome.

[00:22:51] They had some, some courses that had a little bit of terrain on them. Super cool. Um, layouts, good targets. And I mean, just the amenities there are pretty awesome. Yeah. Everything in Texas is cool to me. Oh yeah.

[00:23:05] It just, you know, so what did you spend all week there? Would you, I mean, I'm sure you do. Um, I went up, um, I was actually hunting at our place down south of there on the first weekend. And so I was like, well, I'm already here.

[00:23:17] I might as well go shoot a couple of side events on Monday. Cause I didn't have class until about six 30 on Monday.

[00:23:23] So I shot the cake up and the five stand that Monday and then went back to college station and then drove back up Wednesday night and started shooting Thursday. Yeah. How did you like where the cake cut was this year? Do you like it better?

[00:23:36] I thought it was interesting. Um, I mean, you always shoot something down there on the dirty dozen. So, um, I always kind of liked shooting down there. It's a little, it's a different area, so I enjoyed it. Yeah.

[00:23:49] Probably a change up from it being up there on the, I call it the hill. I don't know what it's called. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So you talked about school. Let's let's let's stop there. You talked about hunting. Where did you go hunting?

[00:24:04] You said your place, but what were you hunting for? I was out there, um, just messing around shooting hogs and whatnot. It's fun stuff. Yeah. Fun stuff. What else did you shoot at nationals?

[00:24:15] Um, I shot the, basically all the, the normal events like fee task, um, super sporting, um, pay cuts, five stand and the main. How'd you finish on the rest?

[00:24:26] Um, I was tied for, um, high score in the super sporting, um, ended up getting runner up to Brandon and that, um, cake up. I was in a shoot off for runner up with like nine people or something with like, yeah.

[00:24:43] And I ended up on, I got second in the shoot off. I ended up third in the cake up. We'll see. There was nine people in the shoot off and somebody won. Yeah, for sure. You know, it was quick too. It was quick shoot off.

[00:24:57] It would always be quick if I was lighting is always crazy. So it makes everything tough at nationals, but, um, and feed task. I shot well, um, didn't finish that one. I had to shoot my whole, um, last rotation, last 50 birds in the pouring rain.

[00:25:11] So that really made it tough, but I finished half decent there, but yeah, I just lucky the drill at nationals, man. I'm just glad I would. I can't say I'm glad I wasn't there. I'm just glad I didn't experience that weather.

[00:25:23] Yeah, the weather was definitely a challenge, but the targets were great and it was good event as usual. It was just muddy. You shot nationals last year too, right? Yes, sir. All right. Did you like where they changed that course?

[00:25:35] I thought it was much better this year in that spot due to the fact that the traffic was not almost non-existent just because that big field on the green course this year was, you had a lot more space.

[00:25:49] I felt like, um, last year I felt like at times it got real crammed with all the carts and stuff like in the middle of the course towards the end, like station 10.

[00:25:57] That wasn't bad last year, but they got real condensed up there, like in between like stations four and six, you know, right there in the middle. Yeah. When are you graduating Austin? Um, hopefully in may, um, this year, this next may.

[00:26:14] What do you, what's your plans after you graduate? You plan on, I know you plan on getting a job going to work, but do you plan on continuing shooting or? Yes, sir. I'm going to keep shooting as much as I can.

[00:26:26] Um, the company I'm looking to work for that, I think they're going to be pretty, um, helpful with, let me, um, go shoot some on certain weekends. You know, I don't think they're going to be like, no, you can't go. So that helps.

[00:26:40] I'm not trying to keep shooting as much as I can. You know, I'm not just going to disappear and stuff. That's what most, I mean, it seems like it's what most kids do.

[00:26:46] Not all of them, but most of them, you know, it's definitely, it definitely makes it tough, but, um, I'm going to do the best I can to stay in it. You know? Well, you're around, you're in Texas. So, I mean, there's a lot of places to go.

[00:26:58] Yeah, for sure. Do you shoot a lot at, at the national shooting complex? Uh, hardly. I think I shoot there just for nationals or if there's a Texas state shoot there, I'll go and shoot that. But yeah, I never get going. Yeah.

[00:27:13] Well, let's talk about some of the rest of your year. I know you had some good finishes. Tell me something. Tell me about some of those. Um, I didn't really get to shoot a whole lot this year. The Western regional was definitely my best showing at the year.

[00:27:25] I would say if not nationals, but I was pretty proud of my Western regional finish. I mean, targets weren't super challenging, but I went out there and only missed eight out of the 500 that I shot.

[00:27:37] Um, and I felt like that was probably my, my highlight of the year for sure. My highlight, probably my shooting career was how I, how consistent I shot there. Um, you're talking about, you talked about the targets not being as difficult to some.

[00:27:51] Um, how do you feel about that at term, tournaments? The easier targets like that? I thought it was a good change of pace, honestly. Like the targets, they weren't bad. They were good, easy to medium targets.

[00:28:03] So, I mean, it was just a challenge within itself, you know, to go out there and I mean, everybody's shooting the same bird. You just know, you can't make as many mistakes, you know, on a hard course.

[00:28:13] Like you go, you're going to Northbrook, you know, you're going to be shooting hard stuff. Um, and you know, you can get away with a few misses.

[00:28:19] And I thought it was fun going out there and having a little bit easier courses and knowing that you can't miss as many. I mean, I kind of thought it was a good change of pace.

[00:28:29] I kind of like the idea and, you know, people will disagree with that, but, oh yeah. You know, the easier stuff, right? The only thing you're proven that when the, in my opinion, with the harder stuff is which one of the best shooters is going to win. Yeah.

[00:28:46] So, so when it's a little easier and you get thrown some more of those different people up in the mix. Yeah, for sure. You know, it just makes it a little more exciting.

[00:28:56] Well, then you have the thought of, well, we're going to have 25 people in the shoot off. Well, okay. Well you have a shoot off, make the shoot off tough or just shoot 25 people. Easy targets and you're, you will eventually get a winner. Yeah. Oh yeah.

[00:29:12] You know, that's just kind of the, I think it's cool because all the people have a really good time and not just some of the people. Yeah.

[00:29:17] Everybody shoots good scores and they're all, and they all enjoy it when they're like on the flight home, you know, what, what's your plans? Look like, uh, what would you like to achieve in shooting as we go into 2024?

[00:29:34] Well, I've been really close the last two years of winning a big tour event. I haven't done it yet. I've gotten caught by a runner up. I've gotten some close, like fourth and third finishes, but I've never won one.

[00:29:48] So that's kind of my big goal is I want to win a tour event for regional us open. Yeah. Something. Yeah. I don't blame you. Um, now talk about your setup. Talk about what you shoot. Okay. Um, well I shoot a, a Blosser F3.

[00:30:05] Um, probably one of the only guys that shoots a standard stock and I would test some stock or anything like that. Really? Just the basic, I would have thought you'd have talked to. I thought you'd have had a pattern stock or something. Nope.

[00:30:19] I'd shoot the standards, um, stock. The Blosser came with, um, actually got a crack in it too. I got taped up. If you see pictures of me with the tape gun, that's why. Yeah. It's not good. But so what happens when it cracks?

[00:30:33] Are you going to get it fixed or you're gonna get a new one? I need to get it fixed. I've been putting it off for a while. So are you going to get it fixed or you're gonna get a pattern of stock? Uh, that's the question right now.

[00:30:42] Probably gonna end up with a pattern of stock. Uh, I don't know, man. That'd be a hard, that'd be a hard one. I mean, you think, you know, as good as you're shooting and you change it up. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know.

[00:30:55] I mean, Zach's always told me he goes, one day you get a pattern stock, your game is going to get even better. So I don't know. That's true. That could happen. I would just be nervous. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Oh no, I agree.

[00:31:07] That's probably why I put it off for so long. You got the new one. Yeah, for sure. So, so you want to win something big? What, what, uh, talk about the people that have helped you get to where you're at.

[00:31:18] I mean, your family and your sponsors and stuff like that. And I mean, my dad is really, he's the one, he's my biggest supporter. I mean, he's always, he's tries to make as many shoots as he can.

[00:31:31] I mean, it gets tougher, um, as I'm getting older just because the, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the. Um, but he's probably the biggest support to get me where I am now. I mean, he's always pushing me to do better, you know?

[00:31:45] Um, but I mean, let me ask you this. This is just, I'll just, you said your dad just made me think of something. How important you being in school and just coming out of high school not that long ago, shooting as a young, a young man.

[00:32:00] How important is it for your parents to be able to support you? How important is it for your parents to be supportive and not mad? Does that make sense? Yeah. We, we talk about this all the time.

[00:32:15] I mean, he says that, um, cause it is an expensive sport, you know? Um, but he says, we're not, we're not buying your shoe. We're buying memories, you know? So that's kind of how we think of it as a family, you know? Yeah. I mean, that's true.

[00:32:31] And he, and he don't get mad with you at all. I mean, what we do argue a few times. I mean, there's always that, but we don't let it get to like too personal, you know? Yeah. Just like every father and son, you know?

[00:32:45] So what's you getting ready for the holidays? What, what you have planned for the holidays? Um, yeah, for the holidays, I'm driving back up tomorrow to Houston for, um, Thanksgiving stuff with my family tomorrow. And then my girlfriend's family on Thursday. And then it rolls.

[00:33:04] Yeah. What do you got? You out of school until when? Or, uh, today was our last day of class and we have like the rest of the week off. And then we have two more weeks until finals. Well, one more week, a real class.

[00:33:16] And then the following week is like, they call it a study week. And then you have finals following. Are you going to study that week? Yes. I've got to get through chemistry. Well, Hey man, listen, it was cool talking to you.

[00:33:33] There's a whole lot more that we could talk about. I know for sure. And, and, but I just wanted to kind of get to know you a little bit and you know, how you got to where you, how you got to where you are.

[00:33:44] And when you get out next year, start shooting again, I'm sure I'll see you around and I'm sure we'll do something. One of these again. Definitely. Thanks Justin. All right, buddy. We'll see you Austin. See you later. Thank you. Thanks for listening.

[00:33:58] Remember to visit us online at shotgunsportsusa.com. Check out the products that our sponsors have to offer and we'll see you on the next one.