254, Braxton Oliver 2026 World Sporting Clays Champion!

Braxton Oliver has done it! He is now the 2026 World Sporting Clays Champion! Jake Spengler co-hosts as we dive into Braxton's performance from start to finish, what he had to overcome, and what this means for him and his family.  Anyone that has ever met any of the Oliver family knows that they are genuinely great people that are passionate about the sport and the people in it! Braxton is a respectful, outstanding shooter, yet humble, and thankful.  As much as his competitors wanted to win, every one of them agree that it could not have been awarded to a better person! Photo Credit to Little Trapper

 Dead Pair Swag- https://x062jy-1z.myshopify.com.

• Kolar Arms – https://www.kolararms.com 
• Fiocchi USA – https://fiocchiusa.com
• Gun & Trophy Insurance – https://gunandtrophy.com/                                         
• Atlas Traps – https://www.atlastraps.com
• Rhino Chokes – https://rhinochokes.com
• Ranger Shooting Eyewear – https://www.reranger.com   
• Ranger 10% Discount = DEADPAIR10
• Taconic Distillery – https://www.spirits.taconicdistillery.com/  Discount -DEADPAIR10
• Long Range – https://www.longrangellc.com
• MidwayUSA Foundation - https://www.midwayusafoundation.org
• Slick Products – https://www.slickproductsusa.com/deadpair     
• ElJefe Energy – https://www.eljefe.com
•  OtoPro Technologies - https://otoprotechnologies.com
• Barepelt - https://barepelt.com
• Score Chaser – https://scorechaser.com/
• JTECH - https://jtech.digital
• NSSF Plus One – https://www.nssf.org/plusone/                                                              
• Clay Range Design Works – https://traptowers.co

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:36

Welcome back, everyone, and welcome to the show, Mr. Jake Spangler. How is South Carolina, my friend?

SPEAKER_03 0:42

James, it's good. Weather's broke or warm, kind of like you. Targets are in the air, just prepping for everything. Move through our SUISN event. Looking good, my friend.

SPEAKER_06 0:53

Well, I tell you what, it was 87 when I left here Friday. I got to Minnesota and it was 30 degrees the next morning. And I'm like, I opened the door. I'm like, nope, that's it. I want to go back home. So but no, I went to Minnesota. The Midway USA Foundation had a 400-person charity shoot. And uh I went up there and, you know, kind of worked with them on it. It was really impressive. Really was.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Yeah, that's a that's a big shoot. Yeah. That's a big shoot. One day, one day, two days.

SPEAKER_06 1:21

It was one day, but they filled up so much that they actually pushed back into Friday and ran squads on Friday because it was so full.

unknown 1:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:29

The club only had one course. Huh? Yeah. But uh raised$200,000 for youth shooting. That's that's awesome. That is awesome. So, what's been new with you, Jake? You you're playing in the sand, or uh you kind of you kind of got some dirt there.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Yeah, we got a little bit of dirt, mostly sand, but just outings, right? It's that time of year, corporate outing season. It's kind of like you're just you're witnessing. It's a little warmer than it is in Minnesota.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

You know, so season's in full swing for a couple of months till it gets too hot, which will happen somewhere around July, and then we'll pick back up mid-August and keep it rolling. You know, the big thing is figure out what we're gonna do July and August.

SPEAKER_06 2:13

There you go. There you go. Hey, real quick, everyone, for those that were wanting both flex fit hats and flatbill hats, and now have them up on our Dead Pair swag page if you want to go get a Flatbill or a Flex Fit hat. I know I was harassed about that for the longest time. Finally switched up some embroidery, so we can make that happen, but those are now available.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Like the one you got on the biscuit?

SPEAKER_06 2:35

Yeah, the one I got on my biscuit. This is a flex fit that I'm wearing right now. A couple different color options on both of them. I think black and black camo and navy blue or something like that. Pretty cool. They fit nice, comfortable. But uh, get over there, get your hoodie, get your shirt, get your hat, and just so y'all know, I priced everything, so I'm making absolutely about nothing on them. But I wanted everybody to have them. You know, people have been asking for a long time about shirts and hats and hoodies and all that kind of stuff, so and uh love getting the dead pear word out there. So get over and get you some of that. Jake, what's coming up next for you, man? I know everything's been starting to get into full swing. Do you got any big tournaments coming up?

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Nothing, nothing here, just keeping it business as usual until December, and then we'll we'll unleash the dead pear blast, and that's that'll be our first big one hopefully into the year.

SPEAKER_06 3:23

Should I tease everybody a little bit about what could be in front of the dead pear blast? Should I I don't know I don't know how much of that bomb I can drop yet, but I wouldn't do that. Okay, all right. I I just want I was kind of excited about it, man. I want to let everybody know.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Yeah, let's let it know later when we have all the data times.

SPEAKER_06 3:42

All right. Well, just know that something big's coming right in front of the dead pear blast. So and get over and get signed up for that too. Now, uh one thing I did want to bring up about that, Jake, you and I talked the other day. If somebody wants to come in and shoot all of the main in one day, currently the way it's set up in Scorechaser, they can't do that, but you have a way you can make that happen, correct?

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Yeah, when you register, you just need to tell the ladies at registration, hey, I'm shooting the main in both days. So they're shooting my early rotation.

unknown 4:08

I think our earliest rotation's nine days.

SPEAKER_03 4:12

If you want to shoot the second one in the afternoon, just say, hey, I want to shoot my second this afternoon and then get your taken care of.

SPEAKER_06 4:19

Okay. So it is possible they can shoot the main in one day. Okay, cool. Absolutely. Yeah, because I had some people that can't get off work on Friday. They want to attend, they want to shoot the main, but you know, Score Chaser wouldn't let them do it. So, but now we know there is a way to do it.

unknown 4:33

There is a way.

SPEAKER_06 4:34

Good deal. Good deal. Well, listen, we are talking to Mr. Braxton Oliver tonight. He is your 2026 world champion. Congratulations to him. We're gonna hear from him firsthand how things went because it was a little bit of a roller coaster for him. I'm I'm anxious to dive into this and see what he's got to say. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the event, which I think I've got more heat for than any other event I've never attended. But yeah, it was just the way travel's been here lately. I'm I mean, I'm gonna be gone basically 14 weeks out of this year, which is nothing compared to what these other guys do, but for you know, somebody that's not a top-level shooter, that's a lot. That's a lot of traveling. But anyway, let's get Braxton on the phone, see what he's gotta say. I'm anxious to hear about this world championship. Everyone, help me in welcoming the 2026 World Sporting Clays champion, Mr. Braxton Oliver. What's up, Braxton?

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Not a whole lot. How are you guys?

SPEAKER_06 5:34

I'm doing good. Got uh Jake Spangler joining us this evening.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

Good evening, Braxton. Congrats, my friend. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 5:44

Braxton, has it finally sunk in yet? I know we're, you know, probably about a week out from when it all went down. Is it sunk in yet that you're the world champion right now?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

I think it finally finally started sinking in a couple days ago. Still I'm still getting used to being called world champion. Everyone you talk to, you know, how's it going, world champ? And I'm still getting used to that, but but it's it's still I think it's finally sunk in a little bit at least.

SPEAKER_06 6:11

Yeah, I mean, for for those that don't know Braxton personally, like either, he's a humble individual, so I could see you like grappling with that, you know, like really everybody's calling me champ? So, well, Braxton, I want to kind of dive into a little bit. Talk about the weeks leading up to the worlds. Did you do any specific training, or was it just kind of like business as usual with you?

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Uh, it was definitely more like business as usual. I mean, really, I probably went out and shot a couple practice rounds with some friends two weeks prior to the worlds. Um, you know, I I set some good targets on our course, and we went around and each probably shot a flat, stepping out of the boxes on our course and you know, shooting from way back, trying to shoot some bigger targets, getting ready for it.

SPEAKER_05 6:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

And the week prior, I didn't shoot a clay target at all. Matter of fact, we had a USHA Halise event at our club. And the last thing I shot before I stepped into my first event of the worlds was I shot three days worth of Halise.

SPEAKER_05 7:12

Really?

SPEAKER_02 7:13

And we had a good time with that, but that that was about as far as my preparations for the world went.

SPEAKER_06 7:19

You know, it always amazes me. I I've heard this story from you know a few guys at the top of the game like you, and I say it amazes me because, you know, mere mortals like myself, you know, when we're coming up to an event, you know, we train more and you know, we we train in between and all that stuff, but you guys have such a target catalog. I've actually heard from some of you that it's counterproductive to go train before a big event. Do you feel that same way?

SPEAKER_02 7:46

I think it's counterproductive to go out and overextend yourself. Okay, practicing before an event. It works well for me, and I think it works well for many others that going out and just shooting enough to stay comfortable in the gun, just shoot enough to make sure you're still moving the gun well, is really all that most of us really need at the top level.

SPEAKER_04 8:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

And there's always different personalities, people do different things. There are some people who go out and shoot several thousand rounds the week before, and it works for them. But for myself and what I think a handful of us, the way we are, is is just try not to overextend it. We just want to stay good enough in the gun to where we stay comfortable going into the event, and then we kind of cut loose throughout the event.

SPEAKER_06 8:32

Yeah. You know, I was watching the scores come in. Of course, unfortunately, I wasn't there, which by the way, I got more heat for that than any 10 events in the last 10 years combined. Uh, but I was watching the scores come in and I was also getting reports from people at the shoot. So talking about day one of the main for you, Braxton, on the green course, I I had a call that a very well-known shooter stated that they were happy with their performance being down like five or six targets. And then you go out and straight the course. I was like, damn. I mean, so talk about that. I mean, was it just flowing for you? Were the targets right up your alley? I mean, were you just dialed, or what what was going on? What was going through your mind on day one?

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Day one coming off the side events early in the week. I went into it with low expectations. And really, I was just telling myself to to get through the first couple of stands. And we started on station nine on green, which had a a good tower burden about to troop air, not you know, the tower had a little distance on it, neither target were over the top. So I was just telling myself, okay, let's try to get through the first one. Get the first one, we can knock the the nerves out and kind of reset ourselves and and try to build a score. And that's pretty much where I stayed the entire day. I kept my head down, I was trying to read everything, make sure I was shooting everything where I could see it the best. And as we got around the course, you know, we started getting into the back stretch and and nothing really changed. I just tried to be as consistent as I could all the way through the course, you know, just run another station, run another station, run another station.

SPEAKER_05 10:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

So it didn't didn't really feel like I was going out there to try to do anything special. I just went out there to do everything the way I was supposed to. And it just so happened that by the end of that round, I I did everything right.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Nice. So Braxton, consistency in your game is always when you look at leaderboards, it shoots you a 10, right? You're gonna be up there. Clearly, this is this is the biggest wing you've ever had.

unknown 10:49

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

It's gonna be the biggest wing maybe in your lifetime. But how is it that you stay so consistent, not just through the courses around, but over the course of three days, and then a 25-target super fun.

SPEAKER_06 11:04

Oof we asked the tough questions here, Brox.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I I think consistency is one of the biggest things that I take a lot of pride in my shooting. You know, winning winning tournaments is a big deal. Winning major tournaments is an even bigger deal. If I shoot ten tournaments, I'm not gonna win all ten. What I don't want to do is win one and not even be within eyesight of the top of the leaderboard in the other nine.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

That's that's actually a big fear of mine, you know. So I I love being consistent. You know, if I win, if I shoot ten tournaments and I win one, great. The other nine, I want to stay in the top five. Right. And I I try to keep that mindset in every tournament, every event. You know, there's always there's a couple rounds where aggravation or fatigue might get to you, and you know, I'm not as consistent as I usually be, but I try my best to stay in that to that top of the top echelon. I like trying to stay in top ten, top five in every event that I can.

SPEAKER_06 12:14

Well, let's talk about that consistency. So you straight on day one, day two, you were on the orange course, and you only drop one target. I mean, uh you know, looking at it from home, I'm thinking, just given the title, it's over. You know, and I so is it just more of okay, we're continuing, we're carrying that consistency through.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Yep. The second day was a lot more relaxed than the first. Really? The second day, second day I was 100% feeding off the first day. There was a lot of uh a lot of confidence in the second day came from the first day. So when I went out on the second day, it wasn't okay, let's try to build a score. It was all right, you've got it, keep your head down, keep doing the same thing over and over.

SPEAKER_04 13:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

And and truthfully, the second day I had a ball. My girlfriend and my mom flew in Friday night after I had ran the green course. So they flew in Friday night. We got to have like a little celebration that night. They finally made it, and then going out there the second day. I shot the entire week with my dad, so he was already there with us, he was already on my squad. So the second day when we went out on the orange course, you know, dad, girlfriend, we were all there, we were all having a good time. Just, you know, the spirits were really high. And the second day he just felt like a breeze. But I just had to keep my head down and keep doing the same thing I did the first day.

SPEAKER_06 13:40

Yeah, well, then here it came, right? I I again I'm watching scores roll in and I'm thinking he's gonna be clear of everybody, and then it happened, right? Like on the yellow course, it seemed like the wheels kind of came off a little bit. You ended up dropping 13 on that course. Can you can you walk us through what happened? Was it was it just the pressure? Was it just things weren't flowing? Did something happen outside the chute?

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Tell us how that went for it was a combination of a perfect storm coming off Saturday, only dropping one. I think shooting that round initially we were all thrilled.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

But the longer I had to sit with the thought that of I'm shooting really well. I hadn't looked at the the full scores yet at the end of the second day, but I was like, I'm shooting really well. I said, This could happen. And the longer that sat in my mind as it went on through Saturday, Saturday night, I can tell you I never went to sleep. Really? I didn't sleep one second Saturday night.

SPEAKER_06 14:51

Well that explains everything.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Holy cow. Yep. The nerves started setting in, the pressure started setting in, you know, in Sunday morning. I didn't have anything to shoot. We shot the 1 p.m. flight in the main event, so I had to sit with that all morning, Sunday morning before the round. And when we started that last round, I was certainly a lot more nervous than I had been the entire week.

SPEAKER_06 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

And the targets, the yellow course by far were harder than the other two. I think all three courses were great courses. The yellow, even though it was harder, wasn't anything in particular that threw me off my game. I still felt like I could run all the stations, but the more that pressure kept setting in station after station, and I wasn't bombing the stations. You know, I started off on station nine on yellow, I dropped one. Went to station ten, missed the last target. Went to station one, I missed one on the last pair. Station two, I missed one on the last pair again. So it was kind of just not good enough in finishing those stations. And a lot of that was just the nerve and the pressure going into the last pair on each stand. After the first four, that's when everything started snowballing. That's when I started misreading targets. A couple of outside factors, you know, such as, you know, people, you know, you starting to get spectators following you around, spectators on the course, right? You know, having to be able to pretty much avoid people to try to to try to stay in the game and and not let it snowball anymore. And and at one point it it finally kind of all got to me, but still I I never I think there was only one station that I had a really bad stand, and that was the one time out of the three days that I completely threw my entire game plan out the window. So that whole part of keeping my head down and staying consistent finally got to me on one station that went out the window. I think I dropped three on one station, and then I kind of had to went back to the the cart and kind of had to calm myself back down a little bit to shoot the last two stands, and we finished out, you know, shot a 53. I dropped, you know, I shot a 186 in the main event, I dropped 13 on one course. Wow. And that's and I I think it's just a perfect example of of letting that pressure and the anxiety, you know, throw that on top of not having any sleep, dealing with outside distractions.

SPEAKER_05 17:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

So I think it was just all kind of a perfect storm going throughout that whole last round.

SPEAKER_06 17:43

Yeah, I mean, I trust me, nowhere near the pressure you were dealing with there. But I I kind of get it, right? I mean, I think a lot of people that's been in that that shoots tournaments often get to that point where you start doing everything from barrel checking, you're just not flowing, right? You're not shooting effortlessly, you're you're putting so much into every single movement, and yeah, it it can snowball on you real quick, right? Certainly. So okay. So now we go into the superfinal, which I got to watch live. So okay, Braxton, you have to walk us through this because uh I was able to have a a phone conversation the other day with David Radolovich, and he told me that your level of composure, uh, focus and calmness was just unreal in that super final. Like something switched between uh the main event course and then walking into that superfinal. He was like, man, his level of uh focus, you know, I hate the saying, but being where your feet are and just being calm. He's like, dude, he goes, it was something that I just uh haven't witnessed. So what happened, and tell us what was going through your head in that super final.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

So between the final round and the super final, I can give him a I can give him some of the credit for that.

SPEAKER_06 19:11

Oh no, don't do that. His head's gonna get bigger than it already is, Brox.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Come on, bud. Oh, it's already massive. It's already massive. I think he can handle it. I I gave him some of the credit for it. You know, him he came up and spoke to me after the final round. He gave me a little bit of advice and a lot of encouragement, and and a lot of people did, which I'm I'm very appreciative of. A lot of my fellow competitors came up to me and gave me a lot of encouragement. And it kind of, you know, once we realized that okay, I didn't screw up, you know, it it was a pretty bad round, but I didn't completely take myself out of it.

SPEAKER_04 19:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

We figured out I'm still in the super final, had a lot of nice words with other shooters, David's one of them, and it kind of put me at ease a little bit after that final round. And with a little bit a little of advice from him and a couple others, you know, we went back to the house or Airbnb, and I kind of had some time to relax and think about it. Finally, you know, we made our way back out to the range. A lot of the other shootoffs were going on. So I'm I'm finally calm back down, and and I said, Well, if I sit down, I'm gonna do just like I did last night. If I sit down and just wait for the super final, all these thoughts are gonna stick in my brain.

SPEAKER_05 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

And it's just gonna sit there and keep going over and over and over. And and I didn't want to kind of put that kind of pressure on me. So, you know, my family, they all went and found spots in the bleachers, and then I just went around, I talked to people, I kept myself busy. I you know, I kept that thought of you know being in the super final, possibly winning the worlds, or or the opposite of that, you know, completely bombing the superfinal and falling out completely. Right. So I just walked around, kept myself busy, you know. I found people, had conversations, you know, found some folks. We talked about hunting, found some folks and talked about you know, hockey. We're big hockey fans. Carolina Hurricanes are still in the playoffs. You know, so I just I kept myself busy the entire time. And and when it came time for the shootout, the super final, no nerves. It was all business.

unknown 21:22

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

You know, I I felt relaxed, I felt calm. I felt, you know, being in the superfinal, being on that stage with the other people that were there, you know, I I felt at peace with it. You know, I've I've done two really great days, one subpar day that, you know, hurt me a little bit, but I'm here. I'm in the super final. For the first time in my life at a world championship, I'm at the the the top six. This is the final stage where I can finally put it all together. And that gave me a lot of confidence going into the the super final.

SPEAKER_06 21:58

You know, and I got to give you big props there because that's a mental giant in itself. So many people, and myself included, would have been like, man, I was leading all week and I threw it away. I just, I just lost the world championship, you know, and would have had that kind of attitude instead of what you did of look, I got to find a way to reset, right? Like, I got to get not let's not sit here and dwell on this. Like, let's go try to put ourselves in a better mood and you know, think about something else for a little bit. And you you totally reset and walked in there. So I mean, that's you know, props, Brax. That's that's metal giant right there, dude, to be able to do that. So many people will just let the poor performance in the last leg of the main just eat them up, you know. So I I mean, that's incredible, man. Braxton, you and I, you know, I called you on Monday morning to congratulate you, and one of the things you said, and and I want you to really lay it out there, is you know, you said to me, you said, Jason, people don't realize how big this was for not only me, but my family. Talk about that for a minute and and w what exactly it meant for your family.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

So I guess I guess the best way it's for people to understand is I kind of have to go back to where shooting in my family all started. Um my grandfather, Larry Corbett, he started shooting trap and ski, I believe maybe the late 70s, early 80s. After a few years of that, he got into sporting plays. He shot back in the mid 80s, late 80s under the USS CA. Later on, NSCA come along in 1989, they joined that as well and shot NSCA. So he started shooting pretty early on when not quite when it first came to the US, but not long after. Over the years, my he my grandmother shot, my uncle shot, my mother got into shooting. When my dad met my mom, he worked at the farm for my grandfather, they went to high school together, he got into shooting. And over the years, of course, later on, we came along, all of us kids, me, my brother, my sister, we all shot. But throughout those years, my grandfather became multi-time state champion. He won I know he won the nationals as a veteran. I believe he won the nationals as a super vet. He also won the world sporting as a veteran, and he won the world featas as a super vet. My mother was a four-time North Carolina lady state champion. Her and my grandfather both are in the North Carolina Sporting Clays Hall of Fame. My dad, for well over 30 years, has been involved with the shooting. He's been in and out of master class. I like to pick on him. I think he's made most masterclass more than anybody in the country. I think he's been in and out of master class probably, I think, five times at this point. So our our family, and we've always ran a gun club. My grandfather ran a gun club, Rose Hill Farm. My parents now run Hunter's Point here in Little Washington, North Carolina. So we have a long history in sporting clays in North Carolina, and my grandfather loved shooting. Loved shooting. You know, he was a farmer, grew tobacco, you know, had cows, chicken houses, and ran a shooting range. So the two things he loved the most were sporting clays and our family, and our family always loved shooting, our family still loves shooting. So for him to do all the great things that he did really got all of us grandkids into shooting. And he he took me he took me everywhere. Him and my grandmother, they took me all across this country, shot every US open, national, regional, anything I wanted to shoot, they took me to every shoot I ever asked to go to. I gotta practice as much as I wanted. I gotta shoot every weekend, I gotta shoot every day. He would go pull for me, my grandmother would come pull for me, we would do everything. And we lost him back in 2020. So that was I won my first state title in 2018, which meant a lot to us. We lost him in 2020. I had just won my second state title, and I believe he passed about a week later. So since then, it's been a roller coaster of emotions because I've won some pretty good stuff since then. A lot of it, you know, I wish he was around for. He always said, You're gonna be a world champion. He never really pushed me to world champion, but he always gave me everything I wanted and needed to try to get there. So for him and my grandmother and my parents and everybody to do all that they have for me and my shooting over the years, winning this world championship was a huge honor, but it was something that I always wanted to do for him.

SPEAKER_05 27:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

To give back to him, to continue his legacy and what he's done for us and my family.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

You know, we finished we got to the game club, and you can just tell that it was a culmination of several lives worth of sacrifice, you know, three sentences, pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Yep. And so it's it's it's a big honor, and it's it's something that so that this whole shooting journey for my entire family and my started with him. And like I said, he he did a lot of great things, but one thing he was always proud of was all of us, all of his kids, all of his grandchildren, and all of us, my parents, me, my brother, my sister, my uncle, everything we do, we want to do to give back to him for all that he's done for us. So winning this world title was a very uh very big deal, very emotional deal for all of us.

SPEAKER_06 28:20

Well, Braxton, everybody here is proud of you, right? Like your family, like every one of them is proud of you, your girlfriend, everybody. But the one you made smile the most, I guarantee, is grandpa. I guarantee it. I mean, so dude, you you should be proud of what you've done, and I guarantee he's proud of you. I I think it's awesome, Braxton. I mean, I look, you and I have been talking for six, seven years now, and I've always thought, you know, you were an outstanding individual and a great shooter, and I I think this was well deserved. I really do. I mean, you've you've came close a lot to a lot of things, nationals, world championships, and you did it, man. I mean, congratulations, man, sincerely. I mean, that's thank you so awesome. Yeah, thank you. Jake, did you have something you wanted to ask Broxton?

SPEAKER_03 29:09

Uh-huh. No, just for for the listeners, you won't meet more humble, fantastic group of people outside the operation, I'm telling you right now.

SPEAKER_06 29:19

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

Just fun.

SPEAKER_06 29:22

Yeah, no, Broxton and his family are just outstanding people.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

It's wonderful that he's relatively close to me, which is which is even better, right?

SPEAKER_06 29:31

Uh and well, yeah, I mean, I don't know if I told you this, Jake, but uh Braxton told me the other day we're we're probably as long as he can pull it off, he's gonna try and make the dead pair blast in December, Dynamo. So that's awesome, man. I'm looking forward to that. Braxton, I I you know, I've interviewed a you a couple times on the show, and I'm not gonna drag you through the ringer with uh rapid fire, we've already done that. But one thing I've never got a chance to ask you, and this is the perfect podcast to ask you how do you want to be remembered in this sport?

SPEAKER_03 30:01

Another tough question, Braxton.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

It's a tough question, and uh and I have the I have the answer for it. I'm just trying to think of the best way to put it. I just want to be remembered as one of the good guys. I just want to I just want to be remembered as a good person, a good competitor, someone that was well liked. You know, if if if I go the rest of my career and this is the only major win I have, so be it. But I I want to go down in history as probably one of the most respected and likable people in the sport. You're well on your way, brother.

SPEAKER_06 30:39

Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, I Braxton, I you know, I'm gonna be honest with you, man, and you and you and I have talked about it. I hear so much crap in this industry, right? I've never ever heard one negative word about you, your family, you know, a performance, anything to do. I mean, dude, you're you're probably one of the most liked people in the sport, and and it's good it's for good reason, man. I mean, you're good people, and man, I'm super happy for you. I mean, this this this fits your character perfectly, and you deserve this. Hey, box, real quick before we let you go, and I promised I'd keep this one short and sweet with you, but are you still doing some coaching there at the club? Absolutely. Okay, if somebody's looking for a way to get a hold of you, I mean, I'm sure now your phone's really gonna blow up. But how how do people find you? Tell people where to go to find your club, website, and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

You can reach out to me personally on any of my social medias, Facebook, Messenger, you know, some of the younger kids, hit me up on Snapchat. Outside of that, our home club is Hunters Point Sporting Clays. We're in Washington, North Carolina. You can reach out to Hunters Point on Facebook or give us a call.

SPEAKER_06 31:54

Awesome. And you know, the funniest part about all this, Jake, with Braxton. Such a humble good dude, and he listens to music that makes you want to run over a train car full of little puppies.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

Absolutely loves the heavy stuff, dude. Yes, yeah. I love it. I love my love my heavy dark music.

SPEAKER_05 32:13

Yes. Do you do you listen to that before you shoot, Brox? That's I listen to that pretty much all the time. Do you really? That's so cool.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Yep. Yeah, you caught you caught him in the ranger with him, and he's just sitting between events.

SPEAKER_06 32:25

He's still just man. I know you got a lot of people you want to thank that helped get you here. The floor is yours, my friend.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

Yeah, I mean, as always, you know, my family, my mom, my dad, my grandmother, my girlfriend, my brother, my sister, who's the sheriff's deputy, you know, for not, you know, catching us for doing anything wrong. But especially my, you know, Remington, Bear Pelt, Alamo, Craig Off, all those companies have have helped me big time over the years, and I'm very appreciative of it.

SPEAKER_06 33:05

Well, they they definitely have not only a good shooter, but an outstanding individual in you. And once again, congratulations, 2026 world champion. Is it does that fit? I think that fits perfect. What do you think, John?

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Hell, yes.

SPEAKER_06 33:20

Yes, hell yes, he says. Well, Braxton, thank you very much, man. I appreciate you spending some time with us. I know we talked there last week, and I mean the phone was just blowing up, right? And rightfully so, right? But I promised I'd keep it short and sweet with you. Do appreciate you spending some time with us. Congratulations, and man, I look forward to seeing you on the next one.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

Yes, sir. Thank you guys. Looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

Be good, Brax. Tell Dad I said hi.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

I will.

SPEAKER_06 33:47

The Dad. What do you think, Jake? Braxton Oliver, is there is there an individual in this world more deserving?

SPEAKER_03 33:59

There's not a group of people more deserving than the Olivers, right? Like Braxton said it was a that's a family one.

SPEAKER_06 34:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

You'd be hard pressed to find a family that's had more involvement in the game sporting place than what Matterese come to mind. Outside of the Olivers I really I don't know if you'd find a family more involved.

SPEAKER_06 34:19

I want to give some credit to a couple other people. Gabin Miles was runner-up, Dart Mine was third place, Dylan Thompson was M1. Karen Miles. Now that's that's a husband and wife in the top five. I don't know if that's ever happened at a world championship. It's very respectable. And then Phil Gray, Eric Harvey shot really well, and Brad Sutton Jr. rounded out M5. Brandon just out of the top five for the first time in geez, three years. But yeah, I mean, what an event. I mean, I I regret not going. Unfortunately, couldn't make it happen, but that's pretty wild. Uh you know, if you think about that, that's that's history in the making right there. Husband and wife team, top five in the world championship.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

Well, I'm just a just a lady on the top five.

SPEAKER_06 35:05

Yeah. It's it's coming, dude. She's gonna one of these gals is gonna ho a a major like this soon. It's it's coming.

SPEAKER_03 35:14

I'd put my money on Karen.

SPEAKER_06 35:17

I mean, well, how can you put how would you be wrong putting your money on any of these top lady shooters? There's so many of them now that are just killing it. I mean, you know, for the longest time, Desi kind of held that throne, but now you've got Madison, Karen, Desi. I mean, the list goes on. I I don't want to miss anybody, so I'm not gonna see her name names, but there's a ton of these lady shooters that are just bringing the heat to the guys. They really are, and all of it. I think it's awesome. I think it's good for the sport.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

Karen's consistently there, though, so that's what makes leads me to believe that she'll be the one.

SPEAKER_06 35:47

Yeah, she very well might be, yeah. But hey, listen, uh speaking of people, we asked Braxton some people he's got to thank, and and we've got people we have to thank because without them, they wouldn't be able to bring us great guests like Braxton Oliver. Kohler Arms, and just so everybody knows, the Dead Prayer Raffle Gun is coming. I know it's been late to the party, but I mean, you know, here we are in May already, but uh they're working on it. I should have that hopefully listed within the next week. So thank you to Kohler Arms, Fioke USA, love me some Fioke ammo. Jake, you carry Fioke ammo down there at uh Rocky Creek.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

We carry all of Kinetics stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:30

All kinetic groups. Ranger, man, I'm telling you what, I am loving these new hyper shots, and everybody that I've talked to that that pulled the trigger on them, no pun intended. I know they come with a little bit of price tag, but everybody I've talked to, including Mr. Sean Alley himself, Mr. Largen in charge, just absolutely loves those things. They are they are awesome. Atlas Traps, there you go. There was somebody new at the worlds this year. Atlas Traps set half of half of the main was set by Atlas, and they're gonna have a course this year at Ashnelson. So congratulations to them. That's another well-deserved spot. Rhino chokes. Love me some rhino chokes, and we're talking to them. There's gonna be some big information coming from them soon, so stay tuned. Gun and trophy insurance. If you're not insured, if you have a firearm of any kind and you're not insured by gun and trophy, you are doing yourself a big disservice. So get over there, talk to Cole Cushman, he can help you out. I'm telling you, you're gonna be very glad that you did. Taconic Distilleries.

unknown 37:30

Mr.

SPEAKER_06 37:30

Jake Spangler, when the tournament's over, there's time for one more shot with Taconic Distilleries. Gonna have us a cocktail hour at The Dead Pearl Blast by Taconic.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

Yes, we are.

SPEAKER_06 37:41

Looking forward to that. That's something I am straight up a champion at right there, buddy. Some adult beverages.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

We can do that, yeah. We're good at that.

SPEAKER_06 37:48

Yes. Score chaser, thank you to the lovely Miss Casey Chase and everything that the girls over there at Score Chaser do for us. We really love partnering with them. Unfortunately, there was no tourney talk this week. Uh, we got some tournaments that are getting ready to bust loose, but they haven't quite opened up yet. So we're gonna hold off for one more meek, one more week on announcing those. Long range, Mr. Neil Chadwick. All of the traps were controlled by Long Range at the World Championship. That tells you right there just how good those things are. So thank you to Neil. Midway USA Foundation. Again, another big announcement coming soon from them. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to make that announcement. So stay tuned. Odo Pro Technologies. If you haven't seen it yet, I did a video with Dr. Grace while at Texas State. Get over to our YouTube channel. It's under the products category. Check that video out. The lovely Miss Dr. Grace sat down with me, kind of showed and explained some things. Uh we had a couple of guests on, Govin and Karen Miles. El Jefe Energy got a podcast coming out with him along with some other new products. And he kind of tells the backstory on El Jefe, and I think it's worth listening to. I really do. Bear Pelt, love me a bear pelt vest. Your world champion, your current 2026 world champion wears bear pelt. And listen, I don't care if you're short, tall, skinny, heavy, it doesn't matter. They got a vest that'll fit you. And cool thing is, you get to design it and make it look good. And slick products, I've talked a lot about slick products. Get over and check it out. Look, I know you those of you that have golf carts and buggies and campers and trucks and cars, anybody that washes their stuff themselves, unless you're rich like Jake Spangler and you pay somebody else to do it. Anybody that washes those things themselves, check it out. I'm telling you, you'll be you'll be calling me and emailing me and thanking me for telling you to check it out because it's good stuff. Use with Slick Products, RE Ranger, and Taconic Distilleries, 10% off your order. Just go to the link down in the show description at both Taconic and RE Ranger. You'll have to put in Dead Pair 10 at checkout. If you follow the link for Slick Products, it automatically takes it off your order. Jake Spangler, I appreciate you joining me, buddy. I know this was a last-minute deal, but uh I appreciate you taking some time away from the family and joining me on this podcast, man. I really appreciate it.

unknown 40:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

Anytime, man. Anytime to spread the word, my friend.

SPEAKER_06 40:10

Yes, sir. Spread the word. That's what we're here for. Man, take someone new shooting, take them to a tournament, introduce them to Braxton Oliver. I'm telling you, and if you haven't met him yet, go up and shake his hand. He is probably one of the most polite, respectful people you'll ever want to meet. And again, there are no strangers in sporting clays, only friends you haven't met. So take your neighbor, your aunt, your uncle, your boyfriend, your husband, whoever it is, take them. If they haven't been shooting sporting clays yet, take them. They'll love it. And if they have, take them to a tournament. Show them how much fun that is. But hey, listen, the message is the same each and every week. The Dead Pear Challenge is still in effect. I know we haven't talked about it in a while, but it's still in effect. One new person a month is the goal. Take somebody new. One new person a month. It's not that hard. You're gonna go shooting anyway. Take somebody new with you. Jake Spangler, thank you again, buddy. Can't wait to see you here, Stan. And we can't wait to see you all back here next week on the Dead Pear Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

We'll see you next time on the Dead Pear Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

The Dead Pear Podcast is brought to you by Color Ords, the mark of performance, and it's fueled by Fiyoki USA. The Dead Pear theme song was written, arranged, and produced by Toby Tom Blake. Special thanks to the following sponsors Atlas Trapped, Ranger Performance Eyewear, Rhino Tokes, Long Range LLC, Gun and Trophy insurance, Taconic Distillery, Sport cases, and clay range design work.