A crack shot sets his sights on national shotgun competition

SAINT JO, Jul 12, 2009 (Fort Worth Star-Telegram - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- DKTH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- With a rapid two-shot crack still resounding across a country pasture, Dakotah Richardson pulls the shotgun up again, leans forward and waits for the next target.

Over and over, he moves from one station to the next, trying to blow 70-mph bright orange targets out of the air.

This is not weekend skeet shooting. It's an Olympic sport called international trap, and Dakotah, who lives in Godley, has his sights set on a strong showing at this week's 2009 Shotgun National Championships in Colorado Springs.

The 16-year-old's challenge got a bit tougher when someone stole his prized, and very expensive, Italian-made shotgun this month in Fort Worth.

"It's a blow, absolutely," said his coach, Bret Erickson, a four-time Olympian. "But he's a strong kid, and we're going to fight through it and try to do good anyway."

Dakotah, a soon-to-be senior at Southwest Christian School in Fort Worth, has been shooting competitively for only a year and has already distinguished himself. He shot 112 out of 125 targets in College Station in May to qualify for nationals and the Junior Olympics.

Before picking up a cheap semiautomatic shotgun last spring, he had only gone deer hunting with his dad.

Introduction to the sport

Dakotah showed up for his first competitive shoot expecting skeet. Instead, the judges told him it was international trap. Puzzled, he and his parents looked up the term on YouTube, which served unofficially as his first coach.

A few hours later, he had a silver medal.

"I really enjoyed it," he said.

As his shooting improved and his parents verified his dedication to the sport, they bought him a used over-and-under Browning and started taking him three times a week to Erickson's Willawalla Creek Shooting Center outside Saint Jo, in rural Montague County.

"After he started shooting, we saw a change in Dakotah," said his mother, Sherri Richardson. "He started talking about goals, about going to university, about competing for the Olympics."

Erickson, 48, is a retired member of the Army's marksmanship unit and a competitor in the Barcelona, Atlanta, Athens and Beijing Olympics.

He works with students from all over the nation and said Dakotah is doing well, considering his inexperience and age. The junior category includes up to 20-year-olds.

Prized shotgun stolen

About three months ago, Dakotah's parents sacrificed to buy him a truly competitive shotgun -- a 12-gauge Perazzi, considered perhaps the world's finest shotgun.

He didn't get to keep it long, though. On July 2, his father, John, a subcontractor for the electric utility, stopped to eat lunch at a north-side restaurant. Someone bashed out the driver's side window of his pickup, stole the navigation system and discovered a gun case on the back floorboard.

(His father had the shotgun because he was going to Saint Jo with Dakotah that afternoon.)

His father, in tears, had to call Dakotah.

"I just said, 'How can my gun be gone?'" Dakotah said.

The police lifted fingerprints and found the thief's blood in the truck, and the Richardsons provided the serial number to police and pawnshops. So far, they've heard nothing.

"I'm hoping that they have a heart and return the gun," Sherri Richardson said. "We're offering more of a reward than they could probably get for it on the street."

Dakotah, to the degree he can, has had to move on. He has been training every day for a week with a shotgun that Erickson is loaning him.

"I'm pretty mentally tired," he said late last week. "I've been shooting since Saturday."

One might assume he would take a few days off. "No, sir, I've got a shoot this weekend in Dallas," he said.

How you can help The stolen shotgun was a Perazzi MX8 over-and-under with a 30-inch barrel. Perazzi is engraved above the trigger on the side of the gun. The sight has been removed. The wood piece (forearm) that attaches to the barrel has checkering cut into it. The wood is a reddish-brown walnut with an oil finish. The gun has a gold trigger, and the trigger guard is black matte finish. The receiver for the shells is rusty. The stock has a high rib, and the grip is extra-wide. The butt pad is a Kick Ez. The Richardsons are offering a $1,000 reward for its return. If you have information about its whereabouts, call Fort Worth Detective Stephen Kleckner at 817-392-4610.

CHRIS VAUGHN, 817-390-7547

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