STERLING ? Armed with his favored Browning over-and-under shotgun and chewing his ritual two sticks of gum, champion trapshooter Glenn Gable called for the “pull” to release a clay pigeon.

As the clay shot into the air, Gable lifted his gun and pulled the trigger.

In the 30 years since he shot the first practice round of clay pigeons, Gable’s trapshooting hobby has earned him scores of trophies, enough silver trays, bowls, tea sets and casserole holders to overflow a dining room table, 60 belt buckles and hundreds of boxes of shells – plus dozens of turkeys and hams, and cash prizes.

More than the trophies, Gable, 80, prizes the pleasure of a hobby that consistently scores him in the upper 90s out of 100 pigeons. A pile of 300,000 shot-up target sheets proves his expertise and experience.

He likes telling the story of how he started.

In the years before he started trapshooting, Gable, then a school teacher, was an avid bird hunter.

“It was the day after hunting season in 1976,” he begins. “That was the day my hunting dog Sadie died. I put my Model 12 Winchester in the closet.”

He never touched the gun again.

At that time, his son Jim managed the Salt City trapshooting range on the east side of Hutchinson, near the site of the present Alcoa Aluminum company. Knowing about the loss of Sadie, his son invited him to make the trip to Hutchinson and try trapshooting.

“He loaned me an old trap gun, and I hit 12 out of 25 shots,” Gable said.

He went to a trap shoot at Pratt the next week and hit 93 of 100.

“That got me started,” he said.

Gable started making the rounds of area trap shoots and bringing home the prizes. As his scores improved, he traveled more miles to compete. He broke the first 100 of 100 at a shoot in Missouri. Since then, he’s broken a lot of 99s.

Glenn Gable, 80, takes aim at a clay target near Sterling. Gable has shot more than 300,000 clay targets since taking up the sport 30 years ago.

“Even if you don’t have the knack, you can develop it,” he says.

While many shooters prefer a calm, windless day for competition, Gable favors the opposite.

“I love shooting on the days especially when the wind’s blowing and the weather’s bad,” he said. He added a grin to his explanation. “I pay attention better to what I’m doing, and the others don’t shoot as good.”

Gable’s trapshooter friend, Ron Watson, of Wichita, attests to Gable’s national reputation for hitting the target.

“He’s traveled extensively and known throughout the country,” Watson said.

Watson labeled Gable as “a character,” one who stays in the background and sneaks up on the competition at a good-sized shoot where a lot of prize money is involved.

“When the shoot was over everyone would wonder where the money went,” Watson said. “It walked away with Glenn.”

Gable’s brought home 11 trophies from Grand American shoots, an annual meet that attracts 3,000 to 4,000 entries. That competition calls for shooting 400 to 500 rounds a day. He’s also shot successfully at the Pacific International in Canada.