Barbara Garney knows her way around a handgun.

The founder of Lady Clay Shooters, a recreational sporting club for women, men and couples in the Greater Houston area, said she grew up hunting. But Garney had no clue how to operate the shotgun that her husband gave her as a wedding present in the early 1990s, she said.
The recreational shooting club teaches its members about gun safety and focuses on skills to shoot better in competitions. Courtesy Lady Clay Shooters)
The recreational shooting club teaches its members about gun safety and focuses on skills to shoot better in competitions. Courtesy Lady Clay Shooters)
The backstory

To get accustomed to handling her new firearm, Garney signed up for shotgun lessons at a women’s outdoors weekend event sponsored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, she said.

While there, she said she made friends with a woman instructor who encouraged her to keep coming back to the range.

“I got committed to shooting at ladies events,” Garney said. “I wanted to learn to do it better. That’s when I decided I was going to be very active and I was going to compete. It’s just something I really fell in love with.”


Garney officially founded Lady Clay Shooters as a nonprofit group in February 2012 as a way to build relationships with other women who shoot.
Lady Clay Shooters hosts clinics throughout the year and some competitions at their many shooting ranges and sports club throughout the Houston-area. (Courtesy Lady Clay Shooters)
Lady Clay Shooters hosts clinics throughout the year and some competitions at their many shooting ranges and sports club throughout the Houston-area. (Courtesy Lady Clay Shooters)
The free-to-join, membership-based club raises money for Be An Angel charity, which works to improve the quality of life for children with multiple disabilities or profound deafness through programming, adaptive equipment and select services.

What they offer

The nonprofit group is dedicated to teaching its members, who began as majority women, about gun safety and the sport of clay shooting.

Throughout the year, Lady Clay Shooters hosts charity events and educational clinics at one of the seven Houston-area shooting ranges the group has access to, which include:


Their clinics focus on topics such as gun cleanin, chokes and load techniques. They’re meant to provide beginner to advanced instruction on handling and shooting shotguns, president Sharon Propes said.
Board president Sharon Propes enjoys the friendliness among members and the opportunity to improve her shot. (Courtesy Lady Clay Shooters)
Board president Sharon Propes enjoys the friendliness among members and the opportunity to improve her shot. (Courtesy Lady Clay Shooters)
Propes has been a member since 2012. She said she enjoys the camaraderie of the group and the self-improvement aspect of the sport.

“I like being able to go out there and just meet new people, and I like to challenge myself,” Propes said. “Because when you're going out there, you're really just shooting against yourself.”

Lady Clay Shooters' main charity shooting competition is held yearly at Westside Sporting Club in Katy. The next Be An Angel shooting competition will take place in June .