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Outdoors

The young gun

Teenage newcomer with quick reflexes and impressive accuracy is rapidly capturing attention in area trap shooting.

By STEVE WATERS
Published February 5, 2005

ODESSA - Dressed in baggy jeans with a hat backward atop his head, Maverick Perich stands in position on the trap field at Silver Dollar Gun Club.

He hasn't shot in more than a month but calmly focuses on the empty field in front of him. "Pull!" Perich yells.

Within minutes, 23 of the 25 discs lay shattered on the grass. He lowers the gun, opens the chamber, then turns around with a wide, confident grin. Not bad for a 13-year-old.

When Perich was 12, his family took him shooting for the first time, and he hit 15 traps. Soon, he was consistently shooting 21 out of 25.

So how does he do it?

His grandfather, Pete, said Perich has had quick reflexes all of his life. As a baby, he could throw and catch with some considerable precision with both hands.

"I thought to myself, "Imagine a basketball player trying to guard him, being able to use both hands like that,' " Pete said.

Perich is an avid player of video games, which must help his hand-eye coordination. But he said the only way he can improve his shooting is by practicing. And with school and plenty of homework to do, he shoots whenever he can.

The teenager also fires pistols and rifles with his father, Larry, but Perich's first love is trap shooting.

"With the shooting, you get the adrenaline rush," Perich said.

"With trap, it's oscillating all of the time, so you don't know which way it's going to come out," he said. "When you're shooting a pistol or rifle, it's just shooting at one target that's sitting still."

Perich enjoys the challenge, but he's ready to test his skills against other shooters. And, of course, his family thinks he's going to be the Tiger Woods of trap.

Though he hasn't found the time to compete, Perich is getting some training from two experienced shooters. Jack Titus, a former Grand American Handicap champion, and his wife, Bonnie, have been shooting since the late 1970s. Perich's shotgun used to belong to Bonnie, who won it in a Grand American tournament after hitting 50 straight traps.

Jack and Bonnie were amazed when they first saw Perich shoot. They agreed to help him, offering advice on how to improve his natural skills.

Perich is aware of what the sport teaches him. He knows that the concentration, coordination and discipline can help with whatever he decides to do in life.

"He respects his elders," Pete Perich said. "He's the best grandson you could ever have."

Maverick Perich's patience and attentiveness to fundamentals are remarkable. Titus said the boy's reflexes, compared to other young people he's taught, are unnaturally fast.

"I just don't want to rush it," Perich said. "I don't want to pull the trigger too fast. I make sure I have my stock right with my shoulder. I just make sure everything is set right. I don't want to get off balance."

Titus said Perich is a natural.

"I think he's going to be one of the top shooters when he gets everything together," Titus said. "He's a good student, he's interested, and he listens."

Perich enjoys working with one of the best.

"It's good to learn from someone who has won so much," he said. "When I first went to their house, I saw all of the trophies. I thought, "This is cool. I can do this.' "

Titus said trap shooting needs more kids like Perich, so that the knowledge and competition can be passed on from one generation to the next.

"You look at most of the people around here. There's not that many young kids coming up," Titus said.

"At a shoot last week, they had one junior (shooter). He was winning all the trophies because he was the only one there," Titus said.

There is a stigma about children using guns, so parents should get involved and stress safety, he said.

Trap shooting is not just people with guns. There is structure, supervision and plenty of rules. "People don't realize that a kid can be just as dangerous with a golf club if he wanted to hurt somebody," Titus said.

"My mom doesn't like it when I shoot pistols," Perich said, "but she doesn't mind when I shoot trap." The age difference in the sport doesn't bother Perich.

"I don't mind being one of the only young shooters here," he said. "I think it would be nice if we had more young people.

"With my (first) name," Perich said, laughing, "sometimes I feel that I have to shoot." Plus, Maverick means non-conformist, he said. "I like to do things differently."

[Last modified February 5, 2005, 00:56:15]