The booming sound of shotguns pierced the cold, thin air Saturday morning during the AmVets Post 460 weekly fall Turkey Shoot.

The bright sunshine reaching over the treetops and a fire in a rusty oil drum provided some warmth for the half-dozen people who braved the low temperatures, which were in the mid-30s, to support the American Veterans organization.

No turkeys were shot. Instead, each shooter pays $3 or $4 a round to fire one shot at a target. Whoever is closest to the center of their target wins the round.

Occasionally a measurement is needed to determine the winner.

Winners receives a piece of meat — like ham or sausage — or a percentage of the total cash pot for the round. The rest of the money goes to fund Post 460.

This year, Turkey Shoots have been held each Saturday at Post 460, located at 285 Lakeside Dr. off Goodman Lake Road, since the end of August. They run through Thanksgiving.

Michael Johnson, of Salisbury, said his father brought him to the Turkey Shoots when he was a teenager. Before this year, he said, it’d been 30 years since his last Turkey Shoot.

Post Commander Jim Bean, who served in the Marine Corps from 1959 to 1965, said he grew up down the road from Post 460.

Bean said he was based on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya in October 1962 when the Cuban Missile Crisis developed. His ship sailed for Cuba and then back to the Mediterranean after the crisis was abated. Later, Bean and the rest of the ship’s crew went through the Suez Canal on their way to the South Pacific.

Bean, who was assigned to a helicopter outfit, ended up in Vietnam as a military adviser. He’s been the commander at Post 460 for two years.

Post 460 will have a chili cook-off today at 1 p.m.

Contact reporter David Purtell at 704-797-4264