Sep 6, 2014 3 min read

Looking for a way to spend quality time with his father and young nephew, Avella’s Adam Stefkovich decided to take up trap shooting last year.

But unlike many novices, Stefkovich had trap shooting in his blood. His father, Jerry Stefkovich, was something of an accomplished trap shooter in the late 1970s and early ’80s before children and work began to take up too much of his time.

Adam Stefkovich showed just how quick of a study he was recently, winning the Grand American Handicap with a Gland Slam, which means he had a perfect score, breaking all 200 targets.

In fact, Stefkovich had to break 250 targets to win the event, which was held in Sparta, Ill. He and veteran shooter Charles Bickle of Illinois both had perfect scores and had to have two rounds of shootoffs before the tie was broken.

Bickle finally missed on the second 25-shot round, while Stefkovich completed his day perfect.

Not bad for someone considered a novice shooter.

“It was pretty stressful,” said the 32-yer-old employee of Mark West. “I knew there was one other perfect score, so I knew there would be a shootoff. We went out on adjacent fields and my trap was malfunctioning for the first round, so I had to stand there for 20 minutes. After shooting my first 25, I shot again. It’s kind of a blur now. The guy I shot against was very good too.”

But not quite good enough to beat the novice from Avella.

Then again, Stefkovich didn’t just take up trap shooting, he immersed himself in the sport. His typical week will have him shooting Monday at the Claysville Sportsmen’s Club, Wednesday at the Brooke County Sportsmen in nearby Ohio, Thursday at the Washington Sportsmen’s Club at the Washington County Fairgrounds and at any number of places on the weekend.

“I guess we’ve gotten pretty serious with it,” Stefkovich said. “I took some time off before the Grand American. But my dad had shot there last year and he had shot there when he was shooting back in the late ’70s and early ’80s, so he talked me into going.”

Little did they, or anyone else, know he would win it, becoming just the seventh Pennsylvanian to win the event.

The fact that he is a novice has caused some friction with other shooters.

“It hasn’t been all positive,” Stefkovich said. “People that I shoot with regularly have been positive about it, but some of the message boards have been tough.”

Stefkovich isn’t sure he’ll return to the Grand American for a chance to repeat his title.

The sport he took up to spent time with his father and nephew, Gabriel Lis, has taken up a lot of his time over the past year and a half.

“I haven’t given it a lot of thought, to tell you the truth,” he said. “It takes up a lot of time. I do it as more of a hobby. It was a way for us to spend time together. I’ve enjoyed that part and I’ll probably still keep shooting, but maybe not as much.”

Outdoors editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.