Whether taking the first steps into competitive shooting or refining skills, we offer the support needed to compete at local, state, regional, and national levels and in preparation for collegiate - NCAA or international settings. In May 2023, Western Montana Fish and Game Association at Deer Creek started building a multi-use facility, Liberty Center, that is now the home for many youth shooting
sports in the Missoula area. Many of these groups were struggling to find practice and competition space for their air rifle, air pistol, and archery activities. Undeterred by these challenges, many of these young shooters are competing, placing, and winning at regional, national, and international-levels. At the invitation of the WMF&GA, the junior shooting team moved and Ten Ring Junior Shooting Team was formed. Our beginning sporter program starts in September and ends in April. Our advanced precision travel team competes into the summer months. The program has been dedicated to teaching young men and women basic and advanced marksmanship in the disciplines of rifle and pistol, and most importantly, gun and range safety. We start young shooters as early as nine (9) years of age through high school. It is and has been geared toward the competitive agendas of three-position air rifle as well as the Olympic (International) Style of 60 shots standing, three- and four-position smallbore (.22), and Olympic Style of 60 shots standing air pistol. Our coaches meet the athletes where they are, whether taking the first steps into competitive shooting or refining skills, we offer the support needed to compete at local, state, regional, and national levels and in preparation for collegiate - NCAA or international settings. From its early beginnings, this program has produced several state, regional, and national champions. Our junior shooting athletes have been recruited and have competed for the Air Force Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, the United States Military Academy (West Point), the Ohio State University, University of Nebraska, University of Tennessee Martin, and the University of Texas El Paso. Our current program is under the direction of Head Coach Jason Herndon with Wes Hale assisting. Coach Jason has successfully competed in air rifle, smallbore rifle, air pistol, and sport pistol at the local, regional, state, national, and international arenas for over 30 years in addition to coaching these disciplines. He serves as a consultant for the shooting sports in a variety of capacities and is a board member for WMF&GA. Coach Jason is an NRA instructor as well as a Level 3 pistol coach. Along with his father, he manages and owns Double Front Cafe in Missoula. Coach Jason has been married to Kerry for almost 30 years. They share three beautiful daughters who dance competitively as well as compete for Ten Ring. He began training in precision rifle 20 years ago at the Hellgate Civilian Shooters Association. He competed in and won numerous state championships as a junior and has also qualified for and won several competitions in rifle at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. In 2013, he received a bachelor's in microbiology from the University of Montana and briefly left shooting sports to co-found the biomedical research and development company Wintermute Biomedical. Coach Wes is an entrepreneur consultant and has assisted several startup businesses with patents, policies, and funding. Upon his return to shooting sports in 2018, he began coaching. He officially started coaching our youth in 2020 and has since expanded to coaching adults who are interested in improving their rifle skills for biathlon at Ten Ring Biathlon Academy.
