ENID, Okla. — This past December, a group of hunters traveled from Dallas to Enid to pay their condolences to their longtime Dallas Gun Club friend, Tom Montgomery.
Montgomery, who had moved to Enid with his wife, the former Rita Lack, started competing in shooting sports 30 years ago as a member of the Dallas Gun Club. He died Dec. 26, 2024.
Montgomery shot his first rabbit with a BB-gun when he was 4 years old, moving on to hunting quail and dove with his father. After going on his first safari, his passion took him to six continents, 36 countries, 22 African safaris, and six shikaars (big game hunting) in Asia. Montgomery took 135 big game species, of which 116 are record class.
He was a member of Shikaar Safari Club, a lifetime member of Safari Club International and the Dallas Safari Club, where he served as chairman of the Outstanding Hunter Achievement Award selection committee. He earned the prestigious honor himself in 2010.
“He was an amazing shot. There was no one better, except maybe me,” said his friend Wilson Stout, with a big grin. “We had a lifelong friendship that started with the Dallas Gun Club.”
He said they built a friendship on hunting, traveling and encouraging others to hunt. Stout’s love of the outdoors led him to fund the first seed money to the Dallas Ecological Foundation and to begin the Youth Program, now called the Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation. The program teaches outdoor education helping kids to discover outdoor activities while promoting and funding wildlife worldwide.
Shooting sports
Roydon Tilley, former Chisholm Public Schools superintendent, is another outdoor and shooting enthusiast.
“This is the time of the year we start our shooting club at Chisholm,” Tilley said. “We have trap shooting for our high school and middle school kids that are interested.”
The elementary school has archery led by physical education teacher Candace Dally. In the fall, a grade school class went fishing.
“We try to get our kids interested in all kinds of activities,” Dally said.
Oklahoma Wildlife Department sponsors the state shooting championship every year. Tilley said he usually has about 40 kids come out each year.
“We take 15 kids from the high school and 15 kids from the middle school,” Tilley said. “Our shooters do really well.”
He said they always have been in the top seven since they started the program 11 years ago.
“We have gotten second in state, maybe this year we will win,” Tilley said.
They shoot traps with shotguns.
They usually shoot rounds on Sunday at the Grand National Gun Club on U.S. 81 north of Enid. He said the gun range will be open in March on Wednesdays.
“It is $7 a round for traps and $8 for skeet,” Tilley said. “Everyone is welcome.”
He said shooting helps build confidence and discipline, plus a love for the outdoors.
For Tom Montgomery it gave him lifetime friendships, adventures in 80 countries and 49 states.
“There was not a museum he ever skipped or a history he did not read,” Rita Montgomery said.