NOSA 2023 Activities or Events (New Ontario Shooters Association)

Here find details of the shooting activities and related events at NOSA, the family-friendly Thunder Bay rifle and pistol shooting club. Events or subjects are in approximate date order (usually based on the earliest date if an activity is spread out).

Photos here are by Banacek unless otherwise attributed. This page is also intended to show some of our members' 2023 photos in club and related activities in and about Thunder Bay, Ontario -- or wherever our members travel for competitions or sport. Member photo contributions are much appreciated. And please be kind.

At the end of each calendar year, a particular year's activities and photos will still be available on its own NOSA page. For other years, see the top of the current Recent Activities webpage using the link at left.

Click on any individual images here to see a larger view.

NOSA Annual General Meeting -- Sunday, 08 January 2023

Location. NOSA's Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Slovak Legion, 801 Atlantic Ave., Thunder Bay. Refreshments were provided.

This AGM's agenda included presentation of the NOSA annual budget and discussion of club business and election of club officers. The current club officers are listed on the Club Contacts webpage (link in column to left).

The importance of club volunteers was emphasized for the continued success of our club programs and events. Please seriously consider helping out the various persons listed on the Club Contacts page; even helping with just one or two activities will make a big difference.

A question was raised as to whether the four days per week during the shooting season at Nolalu were being sufficiently used. It was decided that the Nolalu daily use sign-ins would be monitored in 2023 and this issue would be discussed again at the 2024 AGM.

Persons who are not continuing their NOSA membership in 2023 are requested to return their club Nolalu key to Dana or Bob or any of the Club Contacts (Club Contacts link is in column to left).

NOSA Adult and Family Membership Renewals become due effective 01 January for 2023. More information on memberships can be seen on the About Us page (link in column to left) and if you have more questions please contact Bob or Dana directly (Club Contacts link is in column to left).

NOSA Couples Shoot -- Friday, 17 February 2023

NOSA hosted a fun shoot for interested couples from the public, with the dual intention of exposing more folks to the safe and fun sport of target shooting and possibly interesting some new members.

"Jordan would like to put a shout out to all the NOSA volunteers who came out to help her with the outdoor couples' shoot event last [Friday] night. It would not have been possible without your help and guidance. Every volunteer had a couple each and supervised their shooting. Some couples had experience but for some they were shooting a handgun for the first time. My thanks to Dana C., Neil J., Bob J. (for his amazing lesson on shooting a handgun, stance, and grip, you rocked), Chris R., and Samantha R. (who baked the scones and help me organize the event; she also helped me make the 3 baskets for which we put all participants' names in a draw to win)."

NOSA Gun Show in Thunder Bay -- Saturday and Sunday, 11 & 12 March 2023

This annual two-day NOSA Spring Gun Show featured the opportunity for the public to buy, sell, or trade: Guns, Knives, Ammunition, Collectors' Cartridges, Reloading Supplies, Optics, and Accessories. A food concession was on site.

Location: The Slovak Legion, 801 Atlantic Ave., Thunder Bay, Ontario P7C 2S7 Canada.

Show Hours for the Public:
Saturday 11 March -- 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Sunday 12 March -- 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Admission for the Public was $5.00 each day, and free for those under 12 when accompanied by an adult. We had 1237 admissions.

NOSA had an information display about our Club, and our activities promoting the shooting sports, including our Junior Shooters Program. This show provided some of the annual funding for the Juniors.

Numerous volunteers from NOSA assisted Samantha D.-R. with the many various duties necessary to make this show a success. She did a wonderful job and joins the NOSA Executive in gratefully thanking all those persons for their tremendous help preparatory to the show, and then during the full weekend. Samantha wrote: "Without you it wouldn’t have run so smoothly. THANK YOU."

And yes this show proved to be a great opportunity for our volunteers and the public to catch up with old friends and vendors and discuss our favourite sport.

Friday evening started with bare tables	but vendors and volunteers got busy	Saturday morning tables were well filled
Roy &: daughter Easton are very ready	Rick and Terry share some tables	Dave and others in final preparation
And now the public streams by displays	You might see many friends gathered here	Sunday morning before opening last minute chats
Stan is an ever regular at our shows	Last chance to share info before crowds	Our specialists compare notes and displays
John in final minutes before opening	Roy is talented in various arts & crafts	Jason with tools from Antilla's Workshop
This table had a huge variety of knives	Almost open with last bit of silence	Jenna made lovely crafts for our lady visitors
Rick is totally prepared and professional	Joe and Geoff are historical militaria experts	Dana at Jamie's fine display of her taxidermy
Dave is also an expert cartographer	Stan is joined here by son Randy	Ron is a fine machinist and expert shooter
Albert brought his son to visit us

Junior Shooters Wrap-Up Shoot -- 26 April 2023

The Junior Shooters held their spring wrap-up shoot this evening and received their prizes. [Click on Samantha's photos to view a larger version]

Congratulations to our top shooters: Center (1st) Top Marksman 2023 Alex H.; Left (2nd) Ocean O.; Right (3rd) Gus G.

And here are all the Juniors present along with their dedicated instructors.

NOSA Kakabeka Falls Gun Show -- Saturday & Sunday, 26 & 27 August 2023

This annual now two-day event was held by NOSA. A kitchen was run by Legion staff. Details follow:

Location: Kakabeka Falls Legion on Highway 11/17 a couple of minutes East of that town, or 20 minutes West of Thunder Bay.

Show Hours for the Public:
09:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, 26 August; and
09:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, 27 August.

Admission was $5.00, and free for those under 12 when accompanied by an adult. This year's summertime show attendance was about average with 500 paid visitors.

NOSA had an information display at the show about the NOSA Club, and our activities promoting the shooting sports including our Junior Shooters Program.

The gun show's team of Samantha and Chris and Jordan and Warren organized this event like a well oiled machine and the tables were set up in record time. Dana and Bob pitched in to help and the NOSA Executive sincerely appreciates and thanks its many volunteers for their tireless work and, as usual, we all had a great deal of fun renewing friendships with members and exhibitors and frequent visitors from the public. While working as volunteers, chatting and joking and socializing were a prime benefit of being there along with learning new facts and tips related to our hobby.

4 p.m. Friday and the setup has well begun	Lots of tables yet to filled by vendors	Kim & Tina & Gus here again from Sault Ste. Marie
Saturday and vendors are getting ready	Tim and Doug sharing a table here	Dana checks Jason's tools; Dave has guns
Vendors often consult goods together	Susan is a font of knowledge	Samantha takes many questions in stride
Ron takes an electronic time out	John and Joe await Gord's comments	Gord answers many questions on antique ammo
Rick has neat guns and modern ammo	Merv's perch while visitors circulate	John relaxes as friends drop by
Dave has here a large group of fine guns	We all love shiny high quality knives	Geoff is our historical goods expert
Clay and Larry staff info table for TBay F&G	Kim and Gus arranging their display	Jason and Dad from Antilla's Workshop
Wes & Eugene & Susan enjoying a chat here	Chris and Bob handling the show entrance	Dan visits at Bob's table of good stuff
Future Junior Shooter looks at our show	Warren checking and Jordan always smiles	Samantha at NOSA's table for club info
Wayne (left) and Joe (rt rear) have quiet location	Sunday p.m. near show's closing	Albert (center) comes to every show
Bob issuing last minute briefing	and our shows are now done till Spring '24

NOSA Club Appreciation Shoot and BBQ at Nolalu Range -- Sunday, 24 Sep 2023

This shoot for all NOSA club members, including Junior Shooters and young family members, began at 10:00 a.m. with shooting events, and there was a BBQ at lunch time.

Our thanks to Dana for arranging the prizes, to Samantha and Chris for handling the many targets and careful scoring, to Jordan for facilitating the Juniors' shoot, and to Bob M. for preparing his delicious BBQ delights.

Food and beverages were provided free by NOSA. This annual event is in appreciation of the volunteerism and support shown by all members, whether at special events or just in the day to day help provided to others.

Weather is always a gamble at this time of year; while it was sunny in town, at the range it was cloudy but dry and pleasant and bug free and thoroughly enjoyable.

Shooting events were free to participate and included rimfire (RF) and centerfire (CF) handguns and rifles. Black Powder (BP) firearms could also participate in appropriate centerfire events (and one actually did this year).

One event was reserved for Junior Shooters and young family members (and for this event, rifles were provided by NOSA for those Juniors who do not have their own).

Shooting Matches, with congratulations to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners:

Adults 20M CF handgun bullseye target: Tom S., Dana C., Bob J.
Adults 20M .22RF handgun bullseye target: Bob J., Tom S., Dana C.
Adults 20M .22RF handgun bingo target:Bob J., Dana C., Samantha D.R.
Adults 20M .22RF rifle bullseye target: George H., Chris R., Samantha D.R.
Adults 20M .22RF rifle bingo target: Chris R., Tom S., Bob J.
Adults 100M CF rifle for Group: Don M., Samantha D.R., Ron W.
Juniors 10M .22RF rifle bullseye target: Bella G., Gus G.

Getting targets was the first priority	Tom S. with sporterized Enfield	George H. tried out a rifle
Chris, Jordan, Samantha and Warren	Chris coaches a competent Jordan	Dana enjoying Bob's delicious cooking
as does Don who chats here with Bob	Tom is also a keen shot with a pistol	Dana demos good form with a rifle
Ron W. showing some intense concenration	Don and Wade keeping Bob company	Albert and his son come to many events
Geoff B. demos correct loading procedures	for this long black powder flintlock	that George G. successfully makes smoke
Gus G. fires at 10 metres with rimfire	Then so does his sister Bella	Tom and Albert with rimfires at 20 metres

Junior Shooters' Halloween Shoot -- 31 October 2023

Samantha reported: "All the juniors shot very well, with loot boxes handed out to all participants and winning prizes for: 1st Bella G., 2nd Sol C., 3rd Gus G."

NOSA Adults' Christmas Shoot -- Friday, 15 December 2023

For rifles, rests on the bench that help support the rifle were permitted; however there were no vise/clamp styles that hard lock the rifle from moving. NOSA also made available some acceptable rifle rests to use at the shoot.

One warm up target (non-scoring) and one scoring target were permitted per target event.

The 5 shooting events and 1st through 3rd place winners were:
50yd .22RF Rifle Tgt Scope -- 10 rds: Bob J., Mark W., Ron W.
50yd .22RF Rifle Tgt Iron Sights -- 10 rds: Mark W., Ron W., George H.
11m CF Pistol Tgt -- 5 rds: Melissa G., Chris R., Joe Z.
11m .22 RF Pistol Tgt -- 10 rds: Joe Z., Bob J., George H.
11m .22 RF Pistol Bingo -- 5 rds: Mark W., John G., George H.

NOSA Junior Shooters' Christmas Shoot -- Wednesday, 20 December 2023

NOSA Members' Adventures and Hunts -- 2023

Every year we feature some of the members' photos of their recent outdoor adventures -- sometimes from their hunts, but mostly candid photos of wildlife and scenery that they have encountered and enjoyed while just observing through a camera lens. We're looking forward to seeing some new photos.

On 22 April we were still feeding a newly arrived flock of well over 100 Juncos (some are out of the photo) that were having difficulty finding wild food under the snow.

On 29 April our first sighting of a pair of Mallard Ducks that walked around the house and found some bird seed. They then flew off, hopefully to find a suitable pond for nesting.

On 22 July a mother Whitetail Deer and her three fawns enjoy the grass and clover outside our house.

In November Dave O. took this photo of a Barred Owl while out hunting Whitetail Deer. He successfully took a nice buck shown here and wrote up his story for our website in the Member Ramblings section (link in left column).

These Juncos used our feeders and seeds underneath	This Mallard pair were our first to arrive
Whitetail Doe and her three fawns dining together	A Barred Owl kept an eye on Dave O.
Later Dave took a fine Whitetail Buck	Tom S. with two Grouse on 3 December

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New Ontario Shooters Association (NOSA)2023 Activities or Events and Pictures