Oct 26, 2025 5 min read

“Where champions are made” is not just a slogan for the Hunting Hills Hawkeyes, it’s more of a mantra.

Making champions is not just a matter of developing great shooters but more a matter of making great citizens – making champions in life. Teaching kids to work hard toward a goal and then achieving that goal is what they are after.

I had a chance to sit down with the founders of the Hawkeyes shooting program last week, father and son duo of Roy and Ras Sisler, to talk about the program that they have helped build these past 17 years in Dilliner. It was like talking to the proud father of any young boy or girl who has done well in life with one caveat. The Sislers and the Hawkeye program have hundreds of youngsters of whom to be proud. Ras and I got into a quick conversation of what makes the difference between a shooting team and a shooting program. “These kids want to be great shooters but they are the kind of kids who can’t walk past a piece of litter laying on the ground without picking it up. They have to do the right thing,” he said. And that’s what makes the Sislers most proud.

“We work with about 50 or so kids each year.” Ras stated. Approaching the 20-year mark, these young men and women are falling into an incredibly successful pattern of accomplishment. The expectations from those who have been in the program resulted in unparalleled success. Having seen an older brother or sister or friend set the mark so high causes that bar to remain high for those that follow in their footsteps. “We have an incredible group of coaches that have donated their time to the cause,” Ras said. “Guys like John and Randy Coss, Chuck Mallory and Roy Huffman to name but a few.”

The current head coach for the Hawkeyes is Adrian Whipkey. Kids take instruction from whomever can lend a hand, often resulting in on-line help, YouTube coaching and video instruction as well as clinicians, fellow top-ranked shooters, program coaches and moms and dads. “Our parents are the backbone of our program.” the younger Sisler shared. “Kids can only go so far on their own and there is an abundance of support for these kids from within the Hawkeyes program. We count on our parents to run things and they do a great job.”

The program takes root in the Scholastic Clay Target Program facilitated by the Midway USA corporation. The disciplines of sporting clays, trap (doubles), skeet (doubles), five stand and make a break are instructed. Goals of the program are designed to teach respect: for firearms, for the second amendment and our constitution and for others. From the looks of things,they are doing a bang-up job over at Hunting Hills. Leaders are teaching responsibility, humility and the will to compete. They are fostering a pursuit of hard work and excellence, whether you win or lose, do it with class.

According to the Sislers, the most impressive facet of the shooting sports might lay just under the surface. “Hundreds of thousands of rounds are shot at the national event without incident and yet we hear nothing about these successes,” they say. “Not until something bad happens do we hear anything from the media.” Kids in similar programs, nationwide, are doing it right and who knows how far these life lessons will take them? Not just in the shooting sports but in all aspects of life as responsible Americans. Without question, unparalleled growth in the shooting sports is certainly taking place locally, if not nationally, as a result of programs like the Hawkeyes.

This repetitive process has produced a multitude of national champions, state champions by the dozens and regional champions too numerous to count. The latest successful participants include national champions Kory Taylor and Brendan Cole, Nathaniel Letourneau, A.J. Diamond and Dominic Thompson.

Additionally, shooters from the Hawkeye program are afforded the opportunity to compete collegiately in the form of scholarships to colleges and universities. Unlike many collegiate sports, these scholarships address academic excellence and may be tied to a classroom component of success. Not everyone is built for the Division I college football gridiron. Size most definitely matters in that venue, whereas a kid with good hand/eye coordination and some good reflexes as well as a strong work ethic and possessing some discipline can become a superstar on the skeet field or sporting clays course regardless of bodily stature.

Roy Sr. maybe summed it up best. “It’s about helping kids.”

And helping kids is most definitely what the Hawkeyes program does. Helping kids to become champions in the shooting sports and in life.

Dave Bates writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter. He can be reached at alphaomegashootingsolutions@gmail.com