Pumpkin chunkers blast gourds with air cannons

If you live anywhere near Hobart and you re wondering what happened to all the mid-size pumpkins look no further than Trapper Heglin who was up early this morning getting the good ones for he and his crazy friends We re looking for something that has a pretty good shape like a basketball he says looking over the selection at the local United Grocers in Hobart It s all about having fun using what we have laying around the old farm field

Pulled up to a field beside the high school track a small but very powerful collection of machines gathers for a test run If they look like artillery pieces then that s a pretty good guess Todd Duff and his team the P Shooters are practicing the art and science of shooting pumpkins for distance and accuracy We shot a bowling ball three-quarters of a mile he boasts Compressed air and pull the trigger

It s been several years since Trapper saw some other country boys flinging pumpkins on TV He has a team now too Our team name is Cocked and Ready LLC he laughs That s Limited Liability Chunkers He helped organize the 2nd Annual Pumpkin Palooza These guns form the weekend s activities

Todd and the P-Shooters won last year s Palooza with the P-1000 but they topped themselves with another gun It ain t that you got spare time says Duff You got to make time to have fun like this So if you re really wondering where you can find all the medium size pumpkins this weekend in Hobart chances are good they re out in this field somewhere Just don t go looking too close