The sounds of gunfire echoed through the Redwood community as hunters displayed their marksmanship at Redwood Elementary’s 44th annual turkey shoot and fall festival Saturday at the school.

“It looks like we’re going to have a good turnout,” school principal Buddy Wooten said Saturday morning. “I’ve never seen so many people on the firing line so early. We sold $6,500 in tickets before today, and we’re still selling tickets. This our biggest fundraiser for our PTO.”

The winner of each round of shooters won $10.

When the shoot began in 1975, Wooten said the prize was a frozen turkey, “but turkeys became expensive, so a few years ago they started awarding $10. There’s a lot of people here who have been to each turkey shoot since it began.”

Brenda Welch, who with Tina Scates was checking the targets after each round, has missed one turkey shoot since it began.

“I was 14 when it started,” she said. “My cousins took me and dressed me in a clown suit and I sold balloons. That was back when they had the fall festival in the gym, and the spaghetti supper that night.”

Welch, who like other members in her family attended Redwood Elementary, said the turkey shoot “is a way to catch up on what’s going on. You get to see people you don’t usually get to see during the year, find out how they’re doing and their family’s doing, and hear all the gossip.”

Another turkey shoot veteran is Charles Pettway, who has been going to the shoots since he was 15.

“I’ve been every year since 2010,” he said. “I come out to support the young people and the school.”

Does he win?

“I usually do,” he said. “My gun’s just getting warm. It shoots better when it’s hot.”