Shooting star gets perfect score
Joe Pestarino shot 100 birds in a row, earning him a shot in his cap, and a coin at a tournament in Washington over the weekend, And immediately after shot 99 more in a handicap.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Pestarino
COEUR d'ALENE — Perfection comes rarely, and in many different ways.
This time it came through the barrels of a shotgun as Coeur d’Alene Skeet and Trap club member Joe Pestarino, 18, broke all 100 skeet targets at a tournament in Washington over the weekend.
“I wasn't expecting to get a perfect score,” Pestarino said, in a phone interview. “I’ve shot a lot of 98s and a couple of 99s, but I just didn’t expect it.
"But I always knew I had it in me.”
Not only did he shoot his first 100, he followed it up with a 99 in the handicap, missing 200 by just one bird.
Pestarino has also placed second in trap, and his team placed second at an Idaho State shooting competition in Burley last month, chalking up wins for the Panhandle club.
“I started doing it in high school and people said, ‘you're pretty good, you should keep doing it.’ So I said, 'all right,'” Pestarino said.
He’s the first in a family of shooters with a perfect card. His father, mother, grandfather and sister are all hunters or shooters. It wasn’t until the kids joined Coeur d’Alene High School's Trap and Skeet Club that the whole family entered tournaments.
“The kids whoop us pretty hard everywhere,” Matt Pestarino, Joe's father, said.
The skeet and trap club is thrilled to support the youngest member of its team with that kind of shooting skill, said club manager Kory Wagner. Other shooters with comparable skill are over 50, at the youngest, and often in their 60s or 70s.
“They’ve been striving for this their whole life,” Wagner said.
The Pestarinos spend most of their time either at the range or working at the ammo press in their garage, dedicating a lot of time, energy and money to the sport.
“They’re a great family and deeply involved with the club,” club President Ed Wagner said. “And that’s the value of the club.”
The skeet and trap club brings people together in the community to compete and collaborate as a team.
“It’s definitely a good community,” Matt Pestarino said. “I don’t think we’ve had a bad experience at any place we’ve shot at. I can’t say enough about the shooting community.”
The Pestarinos always tried to stick to local ranges when shooting, but they’ve made the Coeur d’Alene Skeet and Trap their home club. It was a natural fit when the kids started shooting there with their school.
Kory Wagner said Joe Pestarino stands out in a crowd.
“He’s a gentle, kind guy. A good kid. Very good, very kind — and he loves the club," Kory Wagner said. "He’ll come out here before we open and load clay targets, just because he wants to. He’ll bring his friends. Because this is his club and this is what he represents.”
The time that Joe Pestarino has put into developing his shooting skills comes from an underlying passion for the sport.
“It’s all for fun but at the same time, North Idaho doesn’t get looked at very often for these competitions,” Kory Wagner said. “But we’re one of very few clubs left in the area. Joe is one of these underdog kids that doesn’t have a claim to fame. But he’s doing really great things.”
Kory Wagner doesn’t know what Pestarino will win next, but he’s enthusiastic about the young sharpshooter's potential.
Joe just humbly accepts the accolades and focuses on the targets.
“Even if I don’t shoot for a college, I’ll still continue to shoot,” he said.