Todd Hitch: 2023 Junior World Fitasc Champion

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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. My guest this week has definitely been on top of his game for 2023.

[00:01:23] We talk about the ups and downs so far in his shooting career, his coaching business, a few funny stories, and what his plans are for the future. This guy is always fun to talk to. Welcome to the show, Todd Hitch. Todd, what's up man?

[00:01:51] Not much. How are you doing Justin? Thank you for having me on. I think the last time that I talked to you was the episode we did with the junior team before they went over.

[00:02:00] I think you were actually in England when we talked and all that's over with now. Let's talk about that for a second. How was your trip over there and just talk about the turnout of the world championship. Yeah, the trip overseas this year was a great trip.

[00:02:15] I got to be in England for two weeks. There would be tours for the week before and shot at the world championship the week of. The first shoot was the World English. It was at EJ Churchill's. First time for me at EJ Churchill. Definitely is a fantastic venue.

[00:02:33] Recommend anybody going there. We got some fantastic food on site for you Justin, so maybe I should come over next time. Yes. The targets were good. Everything was fair. The entire team was safe. We flew from England over to Hungary. Thankfully, we made our flight.

[00:02:53] I may or may not have made Zach Keenbaum run to the airport. He may not be happy with me about it. You made him run? I've never seen Zach run. Yeah, he didn't look too happy.

[00:03:07] We got to the gate and looked behind me and he looked like he had seen a ghost. I don't know if that's a sign or not. He's about to pass out. I did him a favor. I made him run.

[00:03:21] He didn't think we were going to make the flight. I said, yeah, let's do it. I grabbed his luggage and took off running. I made him. If we wouldn't have made the flight, we would not have made it to Hungary that day. It worked out. Wow, that's crazy.

[00:03:38] World English at EJ. World Feats Asking Hungary. How did the team finish at World English? Junior team at World English. We shot very well that week and we were able to walk away with the junior gold for the team. It worked out very well.

[00:03:54] We flew over to Hungary and we were fortunate to win the team gold over there as well. Is this your first time overseas? It was my first time to England, but it was not my first time overseas.

[00:04:08] I went over last year and the year before that to Hungary and Italy. You've been to EJ for the first time, second time to Hungary. Yes. Which place do you like the best? I liked England the best. I liked England due to the greenery and the weather.

[00:04:31] The background relative to the targets were more like East Tennessee. But the variation in terrain and coloration that we had in Hungary this year was probably second to none. I've never seen anything like it before. It truly did look like you were shooting at Mars.

[00:04:51] There was red clay everywhere. Some of the hardest targets you've ever shot. I know for a fact that several of the team USA members say they've never shot a target like that before. That says something.

[00:05:03] The one on the cliffs, Phil Gray, actually, one of the parkourers, Phil Gray, straighted it. I didn't think it was a straightable parkour. The parkour was tough all around. The last peg had a 90- to 95-yard baton off the top of a koi.

[00:05:21] It was almost identical to a target I set on the koi at my farm. I never thought I'd see a target that big in a competition. Did you hit it? No. I was expecting to because I actually recognized the target. I was like, well, here we go.

[00:05:41] That practice paid off but didn't quite pay off. At least there was only one bird that you shot one time. You know FITAS just takes so long to shoot. The first day at World FITAS, they had some issues with the targets.

[00:05:56] There was so much strain that getting the targets to the traps on the trucks fractured the clays. There ended up being quite a few no birds. It ended up taking us five hours to shoot 50 targets that first day.

[00:06:10] Thankfully, they figured out the issue and went back and there were no further issues the rest of the weekend. Five hours to shoot 50 birds? Yes. It was a very long day to say the least. I think I saw a picture of somebody laying up under trees.

[00:06:27] Is that why they were doing that? I may or may not have a picture of Thaddeus, the photographer, taking a nap laid out on the clay. May or may not. There's one thing about you Todd. You've always got something up your sleeve. I don't care what it is.

[00:06:44] You're going to be at a shoot somewhere here and something's going to happen if you're close to Todd. It just happens everywhere. I must tell you, if you're not having fun, you don't need to be there.

[00:06:56] If you look at it, anybody that's ever had a good day of shooting, which everybody has, you've never had a good day of shooting without having fun. Me and you have had a few good times like that. That's for sure. We definitely have. Five hours to shoot 50 birds.

[00:07:12] What else you got to say? I was only there for the week of the tournament. We flew in Sunday morning, then we were there through the following Sunday. We were there for seven days total. During the weeks, I got to go to Thomas Jering's place.

[00:07:33] He was the target setter for this year's World Fit Test. He's got a fantastic facility. I could be mistaken on this number, but I believe he's got 26 Fit Test pegs set up at his facility. It's one of the best training grounds I've ever shot at.

[00:07:50] They're fantastic targets and are very similar to targets you see in tournaments. If anybody's hungry, I'd highly recommend going. I shot there twice the week before. Twice the week of in preparation for the shoot. I was fortunate to shoot good enough on the last day.

[00:08:10] I ended up shedding my last parkour to win the junior world title by one bird. It was a very good week, to say the least. Have you won the junior world championship yet? No, not yet. Hopefully this upcoming year I can win it for sporting.

[00:08:28] I can check both boxes. When was your last year as a junior? I believe I was actually talking to Dad last night about this. I want to say I have one more year in junior. I was looking at the NCAA rulebook.

[00:08:43] It's based off of what age you are on January 1st. I'll be turning 21 in March of next year. I believe I'll have all of next year in a junior. I think there was an exception for the World FITASC.

[00:09:03] The FITASC rulebook says that the year you turn 21, you're moved into the open category. I believe for the World FITASC, I'll be shooting open division. For World English, I'll be on the junior division. I could be mistaken on this. I haven't officially gotten confirmation on my answers.

[00:09:25] You won your little trophy and then you came back to the US, right? Yes. Then you turned around and flew straight out to California for the Hallease Nationals. Yes. Flew home Monday night, did laundry Tuesday. Then Wednesday, I flew to California.

[00:09:44] Wednesday, I flew to Maryland, DC, picked up Hoss here. Then I flew to California with him. You shoot a little bit of everything. Yes. Do you not ever get tired of it? You have to balance it. It's definitely very easy to get burned out of touch.

[00:10:03] That's part of the reason why you have to keep it fun. If you're not keeping it fun, you'll burn yourself out very quickly. I think that's part of the reason why I'm pretty like-minded and like to have a good time when I'm at the shoots.

[00:10:15] It keeps yourself from getting burned out. You enjoy it more and remember what you did. If you go to a shoot and you're feeling burnt out and not having fun, you won't remember anything from the trip. How do you have fun but still stay competitive?

[00:10:31] See, that's a problem I think I would have. If I'm really competitive, I don't know that I would want to have a whole lot of fun joking around when I'm trying to be competitive. But you can do that. How do you do that?

[00:10:43] There is a fine line between being too competitive and having too much fun. It keeps you out. You're not focusing well enough. The best thing I'll use as an example is this past weekend in the South Central Regional.

[00:10:57] I shot 99 in the prelim, missed my first putt out and my last station of the course. I don't think I've had that much fun on the course in a while.

[00:11:07] The only reason I was able to shoot at that level while we were joking around that much while we were on the course is because I've helped and I've practiced this year figuring out how to get myself engaged in focus mode.

[00:11:23] I've enabled myself to where I can essentially, if I need to focus, it's go mode. I'm locked in focus strategy go and I'm able to step in and out of that easier than I have this year. In past years, I've not been able to do that.

[00:11:40] So that's how I balance keeping it light and keeping it fun while still focusing. You're not joking around too much. You're joking around. Your buddies and stuff, you're roasting each other back and forth for saying something or doing something funny as you normally would.

[00:11:58] But you're not doing it while you're in the stand. Essentially when you're that second shooter up or third shooter up, that's when you start putting that game face on to get your mind ready. Alright, so you got back. You're done with Hallease.

[00:12:10] Now you're still taking college classes, right? Yes, correct. I do online college. You're coaching, right? Yes. Alright, you're shooting all these tournaments. How do you have enough time to do all of this? I would just think something would have to give.

[00:12:30] You would have to just not be as good at something as the other. But I don't think that's the case. It's all about time management. You got a lot of time in a day if you use it properly. So you have to manage it.

[00:12:44] Now there have been times in the summer where I've done a very poor job of that. And it's been very stressed out couple weeks. But thankfully those weeks have not been enough tournaments and stuff so it hasn't affected my shooting much.

[00:12:57] Typically if I'm doing a lesson, I'm doing 8-10 hours a day. That day if I'm at a state location, I'll wake up. Say my lesson will start at 9am, I'll do 9-7. I'll wake up at 6 to do lessons. So I do school work from 6.30 to 8.00.

[00:13:16] Drive to the club and get there 30 minutes before the lesson. Do lessons all day. I'm watching the birds just like I'm shooting them. I'm teaching my students just as holding myself to as high of an accountability level as I am.

[00:13:30] Then I get done with lessons, drive back, then I do my lessons. Then I do school work from about 8-9.30 to 10. And do it all over the next day? Yes. That's crazy. Alright, so let's talk about school. You're taking online classes. What's your major?

[00:13:51] I'm a business management major. Okay. Which you probably won't ever use that degree but at least you've got it. Do they have like a shoot management degree? Because that's probably what you need to be getting. No, that would be nice.

[00:14:02] That would be a lot easier for me to get A's in that class. But no, so my plan at the moment, my old plan was to open Bolton RV Storage units on our family farm as a side job for what I'm doing currently.

[00:14:17] But I'm actually going to open a wedding venue on our family farm. We've got a perfect spot for it in Lowesville, Tennessee. It's a good view on top of the hill. So I'm going to open a wedding and event center with it.

[00:14:28] So I will get to use my business degree, thankfully. Yeah. Yeah, but you can use business degree for a lot. You can use your business degree for coaching.

[00:14:36] I mean, you know, so you're coaching and I didn't realize you were coaching like you are until I've been talking to you. But you're traveling all over the country. Yeah. Since May, I believe I've been home 20 days since May. And you've been coaching or shooting? Yeah.

[00:14:53] And you've been coaching or shooting since then? Yes. I'd say it's probably been 80% coaching, 20% shooting slash travel. All right. So run me out to the end of the year. How many free days do you have?

[00:15:10] So between now and December 30th, I'll have, well essentially now until the first of the year, I'll have, I'll be, I'll have the weekend before nationals. I'll be at the house, but I have lessons at the house. Then I'll go from nationals.

[00:15:30] I'll be home, do lessons that week. A week after that, I'll be in Georgia giving lessons. And I'll go straight from Georgia to Dallas. I'll be giving lessons in Dallas. Then it's Thanksgiving week. Then I get first of December. I have the back off.

[00:15:48] So the last three days of November, I'm giving lessons in Kentucky. Then after that, I'll be giving lessons in Texas. Then I'll be in Nashville giving lessons December 20th, sorry, December 12th through 14th.

[00:16:02] And then it's the week of Christmas and New Year's where I'll be doing local lessons on house. And then in 2024, so up until January 3rd through the Jack Link's Cup, I'll be in Florida coaching at a croquet plantation. What? So it's a busy schedule, at least.

[00:16:22] I had no idea. No idea that you coach that much. That's crazy. I've got a few openings in, I'd say I've probably got three or four openings in October. Then the rest of it is going to be, I've got a few openings in November and December.

[00:16:39] So if anybody would like a lesson, message me sooner than later. Man, I had no idea that you coach that much. That is crazy. How do you have this much work to do as a coach?

[00:16:52] I guess the best advertising for yourself is word of mouth and results of students. Thankfully, I've been able to coach quite a few students in Tennessee that have been able to achieve quite a bit at a national level and state level. That's gotten my demand up.

[00:17:11] I've got some kids in Texas that are looking very well. One of my students is actually the president and he's starting a student team at the University of Tennessee. Hopefully, in the next year and a half or so, they will be giving out scholarships.

[00:17:30] The contact on that is Wyatt Friels. He's the president of the club. I believe Christopher Keller is going to end up going there. They're looking at a few other very solid athletes to go to that school as well.

[00:17:44] Let's call out a few of your students that are doing well. Just the ones off my top of my head real quick. Wyatt Friels, he's one of my original students. He's done very well. Christopher Keller, Thomas Jacob, he actually won the North Central Regional Fight Stand.

[00:18:02] Beat me in the shoot-off outright. He's got a few up-and-comers in the ladies category. The Hillard goal is still looking very well. Dalton Bailey, he's done very well at Tennessee State this past week. Charles Chelly, he's looking at going on a shooting scholarship.

[00:18:18] Ashley Sellers, she's the Lady SETP National Title Holder. A student of mine, Luke Johnson, he just signed to Hillsdale College up in Michigan. There's quite a few more, but those are just the ones listed off the top of my head real quick. Wow.

[00:18:38] What they're doing is they're taking lessons, they're successful, and they're telling their friends, and their friends are telling their friends word of mouth like you said. Yeah, definitely. Jake Flay, he's a good shooter as well. He's up-and-comer.

[00:18:51] That means you're not practicing as much as you used to because you're coaching everybody and doing everything else for everybody else. Right? Yeah, that's correct. Essentially because I've been watching so many targets and lessons, if I'm giving a full week of lessons

[00:19:07] on average, I'm watching between 8,000 to 10,000 targets a week that way. I'm looking at more birds than I ever have, but I'm not being behind the gun as much. I think the only reason that's helping me a lot is because how much I've shot in years past,

[00:19:24] where I've gotten my technique to a point where it's consistent enough, I'm not having to do gun mounts every night. I'm not having to shoot 500 to 1,000 shells a week in practice.

[00:19:36] Now I'm able to, as I'm looking at the birds, I'm moving with my body just as I would be if I'm shooting. That way I'm able to tell exactly what the student's doing, and it's allowing me to get good reads on birds.

[00:19:51] I'm watching birds and I'm able to benefit the shooter in a lesson. I'm even myself getting something out just by teaching myself the discipline to look at that many birds when your eyes are as tired as they can be.

[00:20:05] I don't know if people know this, but you didn't take a whole lot of lessons yourself. Yes, I'd say I've taken between 10 and 15 lessons total in my entire shooting career. I did not take a lesson in doing a master class.

[00:20:24] I've taken quite a few lessons from Tom Seed. He's the guy I consider to be my coach and mentor. I've looked up to him for a long time. He won the first two shoots I've been at. We talk on the phone quite often.

[00:20:37] We're actually getting ready to shoot together in October for the Nationals. I've also taken a lesson or two from Wendell as well. He's helped me a good bit. What made you choose Tom as your coach? He's closer to me. We hit it off better. Our personalities alike.

[00:20:57] We've just had a great friendship. He seems like he's always had my very best interest in me. I've always enjoyed hanging out with him. From what I can remember a few years back, you went into a phase where you started shooting bad for you. I'm talking about bad.

[00:21:18] What was that dip? When was that and what was that dip? That dip was in 2020. It wasn't too bad of a dip. It was just a dip that was very aggravating for me as a shooter. I was shooting very good.

[00:21:33] I ended up having my head become 2-3 inches off the stock. When I passed it, it was only about half an inch or less. I was close enough to the barrel.

[00:21:49] Even though my head was not on the stock, I was keeping my head in a consistent enough spot to the barrel. My eye had learned the barrel-bird relationship. As long as I looked at the bird good, I could shoot at a very high level that way.

[00:22:05] Then my head ended up becoming 2-3 inches off the stock. If I turned my head off to the side, my chin would actually over the comb of my gun. I ended up losing that muzzle-to-barrel-to-bird relationship that I had because I did not have my head on the stock.

[00:22:35] That happened around April or May of 2020. I ended up causing a lot of flinches. Flinching bad enough to where I would not want to stop shooting. I had numerous rounds where I would be on a winning score, down one or two birds. I had a few stage things.

[00:22:55] The pressure kicks in a little bit. It gets a little bit tight and I end up flinching because I lost my connection. I was searching. I was trying to look at too many things at once.

[00:23:07] I ended up causing my eye to move too fast to be in front of the bird. I ended up putting so much lead on the bird that I had to stop my gun. Which would be the flinch of my brain subconsciously telling myself not to pull the trigger.

[00:23:20] But because my eye would move so fast and I was in front of the bird, it was saying, you see it so clear, pull the trigger. When your brain was going, the lead's not right, don't pull the trigger.

[00:23:31] It felt like your safety was on and you couldn't pull the trigger until the bird was about to hit the ground. Then October, a couple weeks before Nationals, is when the Gamal Cup got pushed back.

[00:23:42] That year due to COVID, I was actually, Tom Feezy came over and helped me out. He was helping me out with CCC and things. I was always struggling and it was very aggravating. He saw right away what the issue was. I lost the connection.

[00:24:01] So we kind of discussed, okay, it's time to get the head on the stock. That was something I always thought about. When you're shot so well, head off the stock, you don't really want to change anything. Sometimes you got to make that change for the long term better.

[00:24:16] Tom and I ended up putting four gauze pads and blue paint on the tape of my stock. I shot the Nationals that year and finished fifth overall at the Nationals. That was three weeks later after the lesson with Tom. It was a tremendous help.

[00:24:33] Before you had that lesson with Tom, what were your scores like? What did they dip down to? I shot a score after the incident happened. I shot a 67 at the Tennessee State fifth half. I was averaging low 80s, which 80 is not a bad score.

[00:24:51] When you've been averaging 95 to 97 previously, then all of a sudden you're 15 buds below your average. You have been opposed to a score that's gotten you back up close to where your consistent average is. It was pretty aggressive. Wow, that's crazy. How are you shooting now?

[00:25:17] I still say your head isn't on the stock, but you say it is. I guess your head's on the stock now. How I would say my head is on the stock enough. It's not fully mounted.

[00:25:29] If you look at Anthony or George Diggory, you can't see my teeth go up on the stock. That is something I'm working on. I would like to have a little more cheek pressure, but granted, I'm also shooting good enough right now. I'm not fearful of changing anything.

[00:25:44] For me, as long as I have a point of contact, as long as I know I can feel a connection between my face and the gun through the stock and have that point of connection, that's really the only thing that matters is you have that point of connection.

[00:26:00] It's when you have no point of connection or had a point of connection and lost it due to inconsistent point of connection, which would be your head off the stock. That's when the issue starts to set in.

[00:26:13] I'm very glad I was able to get my head on the stock with Tom's help. It definitely wouldn't be the shooter I am today without it. Let's talk about some tournaments this year. You know I haven't been to many. I've been to two or three.

[00:26:28] I haven't been able to keep up with what you and everybody else is doing without looking at ScoreChaser. How have you been doing on the championship tour this year? This year, I've had a very good year.

[00:26:41] Definitely been my highest average in consistency finishes I've had in any of my years shooting. Started first tour stop this year was ES Open. I was fortunate to be one bird off the ES Open. Tied with Corey Kusil third, lost the shoot off, shot fantastic in it.

[00:27:00] That put me one bird off the ES Open and fourth overall there. Next tour stop was the Northeast Regional in Anthony Madruz's place. Joe Fenezi and I actually shot the same squad. Him and I were neck and neck going to the last two stands.

[00:27:19] We were on the step in the last stand, first shoot up, missed two birds there. Joe steps up, shoots fabulous on the stand and ends up beating me by one bird. It was pretty cool to see the number one, number two shooter on the same squad.

[00:27:34] Joe Fenezi won the regional and that was a second place finish for me. That was the Northeast. Then I go to the Southeast Regional. Had a fantastic shoot there. Ended up shooting 100 straight in the Super Sporting. Tied for one up in the five stand, I believe.

[00:27:52] I was top five in the fifth task and won the main event. Then had North Central Regional. Shot well there. Shot well in everything but the main event. Still can't complain about that. Whenever you win a trophy it says H-O-A.

[00:28:11] Shot in the shoot off, make sure it was Thomas Jacobs. He beat me in the shoot off. I was one up in the five stand there. Won the Super Sporting at the regional and had a good finish in fifth task.

[00:28:25] I think I was top five or top ten in that. I don't remember the exact finish. Then I was North Central. Then come over, come back and have the South Central Regional which was the last full stop of the year for Nationals.

[00:28:42] So I had a very good shot on there. Shot my first event. Prelim shot 99 in the prelim there. Was fortunate to win that. Shot the five stand the same day. Shot 96 there. Managed to win that by one bird. Then shot very well in the main event.

[00:29:00] Had a very good last day on Sunday. High winds on some tough targets. Was able to win that by four birds. It's been a good year so far. I believe it puts me in a very good standing to win the championship.

[00:29:14] Hopefully I'll be able to finish strong at Nationals and do that. I think I might even have, depending on what age category I'll be in next year. If I'm in the open category, I believe I'll actually be the captain of the open team

[00:29:30] due to how the points line up for this year. If I'm on the open team, I'm not sure if I am or not. It's been a fantastic year. Can't complain about anything. I heard you talk just a second ago about shooting with Joe.

[00:29:44] Tell me how you feel about the Super Squad. I like the Super Squad a lot. Joe Farnese and I shot together the Super Squad of US Open as well. I think the Super Squad is 100% needed for the sport. There's no hearsay. You're there. You saw everything.

[00:30:03] It takes a lot of elements out. You have no variables of wind and weather conditions that can affect a course. It makes one course easier for the other shooter. It's an even more level playing field. I do think it's definitely needed.

[00:30:21] In my opinion, it's the only way I think our sport, if we're going to film it, it's not possible to film somebody on three different courses, on three different rotations, on three different days while trying to film 40 other competitors. That's not feasible in my opinion.

[00:30:42] Convincing it down to one course where other top shooters, score-wise, going that last day on the same squad, it makes it a spectator sport. I think it's very good for the sport. It adds an extra level of competitiveness to the shooters

[00:30:58] because you know everybody standing beside you is in it to win it. They're trying to beat you and you're trying to beat them. It adds another element to it. I figured you would say that. Most people do say that.

[00:31:10] It would be interesting to know if eventually all of the regionals, US Open and Nationals are going to stay on SuperSquad or if some are going to do it and some aren't. I would personally like to see all the regionals go through.

[00:31:30] If you look at the National Championship last year's SuperSquad, how many people do you think were on that last year? My guess was probably around 250-300 people. How many would you say were out there watching it? I don't know. I told somebody this the other day.

[00:31:45] It's definitely the most amount of people that I've seen at a rotation for sure. It was like there was an energy there at Nationals. I don't know how it would be anywhere else, but at Nationals it was like there was an energy.

[00:31:57] Everybody was like, I can't wait to see who wins this. That's what I think was cool about it. I think for the shooters it's probably fun. For the spectators, people watching, it's more fun. You know what I'm saying? It's one thing to ride out there.

[00:32:17] We're going to ride out on a rotation. Oh look, it's Todd shooting over here with whoever you're shooting with that day. Okay, we'll watch him shoot a couple pairs and we'll leave. But when it's a SuperSquad, it's not like that.

[00:32:27] It's like here's Todd and here's Zach and here's Joe and whoever. All shooting together. Let's sit here and watch this whole squad shoot. That is actually kind of goes to what I mentioned earlier as far as it's hard to watch people

[00:32:42] when they're spread out on different courses and rotations. I think another thing that would be very cool for the SuperSquad would be on that final day have all the targets be flash targets, which I think that would be cool.

[00:32:54] The only thing that might potentially affect that, because I believe flash targets are just a touch heavier because the powder in them and they might fly just a touch differently. That would be something you'd have to test out. I think that would be very cool.

[00:33:09] Even if you didn't do it the entire course, but that last station have a flash target in there for that championship photo of the winner. That's going to be the headline of a magazine picture or cover photo. That's a cool idea.

[00:33:23] I know targets are more expensive when they're flash targets. I don't know how much more expensive they are, but even if that one course, there's flash targets for everybody. Yes.

[00:33:36] They're more expensive, but that way you can have flash targets when it comes to the final day of the SuperSquad. That'd be a good idea, especially because everybody likes getting a good picture of them shooting. Not everybody gets the opportunity to shoot flash targets.

[00:33:54] I haven't shot one for a long time, so if I give them some of the opportunity, it's very cool to watch the breaks. That's what you saw on the PSA and the YouTube videos that I used to watch all the time.

[00:34:05] That'd be a given option to have a photographer on the course. That way everybody at the event gets their picture taken. That gives more social media and marketing. If we get a cool picture, somebody's going to post it.

[00:34:21] That's just more word of mouth spread at a very cheap price. I'll tell you this too. I chip a lot of targets. I could steal it like I was smashing them. You just chip one. I can knock that front edge off.

[00:34:38] What if that thing gets to blowing up? There you go. Make you look like a master class shooter. That's right.

[00:34:46] Last year on the Super Squad, didn't you have a guy on your squad that was like the only shoot he'd ever been to was a charity shoot and he ended up on the Super Squad with you? Yeah. He was a super nice guy.

[00:34:58] We were trying to help him out as we went, but he jumped in a little deep. It was his first time ever shooting an NCAA registered event. I believe he said he had shot a charity shoot before. A super nice guy. I had to shoot behind him.

[00:35:14] Nothing wrong with me shooting behind him at all, but my expectation was a little off just because I was thinking the Super Squad shooting with Jack Vesiant and all that. That would be the only thing I would like to see.

[00:35:28] It's not that I have an issue with him being on it, but having the expectation of knowing who's going to be on the squad. That way, something like that. It's not that it didn't affect my shooting, but it wasn't something that I was expecting.

[00:35:46] It was just something that surprised you maybe? Yeah. If I was on my game, I would have shot as good as I could with or without. I could have had an entire squad of people who came in and wouldn't have mattered.

[00:36:01] As you said, it just caught me off guard and surprised me a little bit. Yeah. I think they're doing that again this year. That's good for the sport though because those people are still donating their money for that spot, which goes to Team USA.

[00:36:16] It's still good to have those people out there. Those kind of people like to shoot with the good guys. There's that fine line there where you've got people willing to donate some money and they want to shoot out there with them good guys.

[00:36:34] I think it's good, Todd. Just close your eyes next time. I think it's very good. The only thing I'm going to do differently is if you're ever shooting in my squad this year, I'm going to look up your name.

[00:36:46] I've shot some amazing rounds and people that's been the first shoot. I remember I shot a 99 at the Georgia State one year. The person in front of me, I believe, shot a 27. It doesn't affect my shooting, but it just caught me off guard with that.

[00:37:04] Maybe it affects you a little mentally, just not your shooting. It doesn't affect me as much as if I'm shooting behind you though. Never watch where I'm shooting. I promise you. There's no telling when I'm going to pull the trigger.

[00:37:19] Did I see here recently, I want to say I saw you with some old fancy clothes on somewhere. It looked like you were in England or something. Yes. I was back in England two and a half, three weeks ago.

[00:37:34] I've had a new brand ambassadorship with a company called Hadley. They're based out of Highland Park in Dallas, Texas, Palm Beach, Florida, and New York. It's a company. It's an American brand and makes all the products are handmade in Italy. This is essentially the design.

[00:37:57] If anybody's looking at upland hunting, going on to fall your hunts, they do a lot of bespoke products and they've given me a lot of ideas. They do a lot of bespoke products and they've given me the opportunity to work with them and represent their brand.

[00:38:15] I'm very thankful for them. Their clothes are, I will say, are the best clothes I've ever tried on. They've got a shirt that's called the performance shirt. I was telling Jess before the podcast, it literally feels like you're wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

[00:38:29] It feels like you're standing in the refrigerator. I'd definitely recommend checking out. I've got a big passion. One of my bucket lists is to go over and do a driven pheasant or driven postage hunt in England and have the full experience.

[00:38:44] I'm very happy to be partnered with this company and hopefully I'll get the opportunity to do that. Tell me about the hat. I'm kind of interested in this hat that you had on. Is this a hat you're going to start wearing places? Yes.

[00:38:56] I won't wear it if I'm shooting in clay just because I've got other hats that are a little bit better suited for clay shooting. I guess unless I'm shooting clay in England, then I'll wear it. I've had a lot of times on the hats.

[00:39:09] Maybe you and I need to get one so we'll match. You need to get one so we'll match. Who are your sponsors right now? My sponsor right now, I've got Remington Ammunition, Phomatic Traps, Compton Choke, JD Watch Repel. It's a watch company. The guy's name is Jamie Dollar.

[00:39:31] He's based out of Ohio and he does all the watches on eBay. I have Castellani USA and Hadley's Field Shop. I've actually got two big sponsors that may be announced at Nationals.

[00:39:47] I can't say anything about now but people will just have to stay tuned and find those out. Wow, there's some big announcements coming up. Yes, so it should be good. I'm very excited about it.

[00:39:59] If anybody wants to keep up with me, just follow me on Instagram or add me on Facebook. That'd be the best way to keep up with it and see the announcements.

[00:40:08] Now that you're good status now, whatever you want to call it, you're a good shooter is what I mean. It seems like you're always coming up now in the rumor mill. Yes. You rarely eat sugar, right? Yes. They say you're starting to drink every night, is that right?

[00:40:30] No, I believe that was an incorrect rumor that got started. I'm not a drinker. I'm not 21. I just wanted to clear it. I was a little annoyed when I heard that rumor.

[00:40:42] To be honest with you, it kind of aggravated my touch especially because I heard that the whole fit test. I was a little disappointed about that one going around. People really think you drink every night. That's what I was told. It kind of shocked me.

[00:40:57] I couldn't tell if the guy was joking or not, but then I think he saw the expression on my face and found out that was not true at all. All right. Tell me what he said to you exactly. We were standing at the World's Kitask in between parkour.

[00:41:13] He came up to me and he just introduced me just like you'd meet him at WAPS. He was like, hi Todd, it's nice to meet you. I've heard you've been going out and drinking every night and telling up the town. I was like, really?

[00:41:30] Who was telling you that? He was like so-and-so. I'm not sure if that was the most true statement. I've never drank a beer in my life because I'm not old enough to do so. Well, he might have been talking about apple juice out of a juice box.

[00:41:44] No, that's not true. He might have been talking about apple juice out of a juice box. That could be believable. All right, so your story, guy. Give me some stories. I know you've got something funny that's happened this year that you can tell me about.

[00:41:59] The one that pops in my head just right away would be me pulling pranks on my buddies. Sorry, Hoss, if you know what's about to be coming. You'd probably be smiling a little bit right now. Last night I flew to California to see the police nationals.

[00:42:21] Hoss was a little stressed out just with the travel and the winter cold and stuff like that. He typically dries really well. I was like, I'm going to help him out a little bit. I'm going to give him some melatonin gummies.

[00:42:34] I went and got a water bottle and bought a pack of those. I told him they were for me, but I decided not to eat them so he can have the rest of them. I dumped them all in my hand and gave them to him.

[00:42:45] He looks at the bag and he sees that melatonin. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up. What does it say? The serving size is on those gummies. I looked on the bag real quick and it says serving size, two gummies. I've given Hoss about 15.

[00:43:04] I go, Hoss, you said the whole bag, you're good. He eats the entire bag of melatonin gummies. If anybody doesn't know what melatonin is, it's designed to make you fall asleep on the flight. We flew back on Rhode Island. I completely forgot about it the next morning.

[00:43:25] We're walking to the airport. I'm like, man, Hoss is taking him a long time to read these signs. He's just kind of dragging his feet along. Then I realized what I did. I was like, Hoss, by the way, those gummies I gave you, those were melatonin gummies.

[00:43:41] He's like, what? Then long story short, I end up flying back. I go check in, fly back home. He drives back to the house. He gets home about two o'clock. Then he shoots me a text message about 8.40 p.m. that evening.

[00:44:02] He says, thanks for the whole strength of the lives. I believe they're just worn off. Just woke up from a four and a half hour nap. I got Hoss to catch up on his sleep. He was a good chip. He thought it was pretty funny after the fact.

[00:44:19] It didn't affect him, no, but I got hurt too much. Hoss just got a good night's rest. He surprised me with a first class ticket for my birthday. He's from Desi-No-Hoss. You'll be able to see him around the next few shoots.

[00:44:31] He's the guy that makes me look short. I post pictures of him. Hoss Fugitt from Maryland. Have you heard the story, we're talking about Hoss now for a second. Have you heard the story about him and the golf cart when he wrecked the golf cart at the shoot?

[00:44:48] Yeah, I was actually at a dinner restaurant texting him one night. I was wondering where he was at when he had the golf cart incident. Hoss actually has probably more stories than I do. Don't tell the story. It's just about what Hoss has done. Don't tell the story.

[00:45:09] I want everybody to go find Hoss. He's the biggest guy. He looks like seven foot tall. You can't miss him. Imagine me with a red hair, what, six or nine. That's the guy. Then I'll even add another story. I don't know what it was about.

[00:45:25] Then you can, uh, you can tell him that we'll have a, maybe we'll have to do a podcast called stories with Hoss Fugitt and Todd Hitch. Now, eventually the, uh, the mayor may not have been a, uh, a chip called

[00:45:37] the one chip challenge that he had at a, at a certain set sheet. And, uh, I think he ended up not shooting the next day after eight, which that's his story to be told, not mine, but that's, that's probably better than any story I could tell. All right.

[00:45:53] So go find Hoss and tell him you want to hear about the, when he wrecked the golf cart and the chip challenge. There's two stories. And talk, uh, ask about the golf call and potential alligators. Yes.

[00:46:08] Then ask about the, uh, the one chip challenge and, uh, around the fifth pass the next day. All right. You got anything else? Anybody will, uh, attention lessons. Just let me know sooner or later, just because I'm booking up. I'm in south Florida for this upcoming year 2024.

[00:46:25] Uh, if anybody would like a message lesson or has any questions, lessons and locations, uh, shoot me, shoot me a text message or email, email and phone numbers on my Instagram page, my emails and my bio and my phone

[00:46:41] number is on my flyers on my, on my story and on my posts. Uh, so just get in touch with me sooner than later on that. Thanks man. Appreciate you coming on. Thank you very much, Justin. Thanks for having me on. All right, man. Thanks for listening.

[00:47:01] Remember to visit us online at shotgun sports, USA.com. Check out the products that our sponsors have to offer and we'll see you on the next one.