by Anne Mulhern
This Saturday, the 28th of September, from 12 to 4, come join the Lowell Sportsmen’s Club (https://lowellsc.org) for their annual open house (https://lowellsc.org/events/event/open-house-2024/). The club will be hosting numerous free activities on its extensive grounds at 50 Swain Road in North Chelmsford.
One of my favorite activities is the chance to shoot reproduction firearms like those used during the colonial era: the black powder antiques.
All you have to do is show up and a kindly person, possibly in period costume, will instruct you in the use of an awkward, inconvenient, long, and heavy firearm from a few hundred years back. Oh, the work that went into firing just a single shot in those days! (In a sensible nod to modernity, however, you will be required to wear safety glasses and hearing protection, so you won’t get the full colonial experience, and that’s a good thing.)
You can also try your hand at trap and skeet shooting.
Kindly persons in modern costume will instruct you in this skill, or if you don’t need instruction, just set you up.
For those who don’t know how this works, various disc-like targets, more-or-less intended to imitate birds, will be ejected from a machine, and your goal is to shoot them, as it were, on the wing. Hearing protection is required for this sport as well.
For a quieter experience, try archery. 
The club has a dedicated archery range, with a variety of targets, and the range captains can supply would-be archers with bows for left or right handers, including very light bows for young children.
Of course, the range captains observe strict safety protocols, so expect to be instructed in the rules of the range, as well as the techniques of archery if you are new to the sport.
Note that if you find you like archery, you can come back for more. The club has a stock of bows to lend out during its regular open archery events (https://lowellsc.org/activities/archery/). It runs these every Thursday evening starting at 6:30, outdoors when the weather and light allows and in the club house once the fall is fully advanced.
A live raptor demonstration, put on by members of the Audubon Society, should occur around 3 PM in the club house. It is a great opportunity to view the birds that we most often see only far away, high in a tree, or circling above the river.
So come on down to the Lowell Sportsmen’s Club on the 28th of this month to try out a new sport, or practice an old one again. Bring hearing protection if you’ve got it. And if you like what you saw, consider becoming a member of the club (https://lowellsc.org/about/membership/).
For a very moderate annual fee you get regular access to the grounds, the fishing facilities, the clubhouse, and all the ranges. Additionally, the club holds regular seasonal events, like the Thanksgiving-themed “Turkey Shoot” on November 24th (https://lowellsc.org/events/event/turkey-shoot-hearty-lunch-2024/).
