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Scott Robertson thrills crowds with his handiwork with a gun

By Les Winkeler, The Southern

Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:51 PM CDT

SPARTA � Scott Robertson stood at a skeet house at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex.

He called for a clay bird and fired. Each time he broke the bird he took several steps forward. Robertson broke the last bird from a distance of about 30 feet, drawing a rousing ovation from the roughly 2,000 spectators jammed into the WSRC grandstand.

However, the same crowd cheered deliriously several minutes earlier when Robertson lobbed a fresh pineapple into the air and turned it into fruit salad with his Beretta Extema 2.

"Shooting the fruit and some of the vegetables, it's the easiest thing but the crowd likes it the most," Robertson said. "They like to see things blow up. You can shoot 12 shots over your head and it's not that big of a deal, but you throw up a cabbage and blow it up and they think it's great.

"It's just the old thing. People just like to see things blow up, from fireworks to fruit. It's just a fun thing we do."

Robertson travels the country doing shooting exhibitions for Beretta. And, although the crowd loves it when the 36-year-old turns various fruits and vegetables into airborne smoothies, he is hardly a novelty act.

He has represented the United States on 14 shooting teams. Robertson is an 18-time All-American and has eight National Sporting Clays Championships under his belt.

"There are some other people that do this type of thing without any credentials," Robertson said. "I think it gives you some credibility. If you watch an expert, you want to watch an expert who's won a lot of stuff and proven that he knows how to do it, not just this, but for real, which is what they're trying to do."

And, what Robertson tries to do with his exhibitions is show that shooting can be safe, fun and when a Beretta is in his hands, spectacular.

"The main thing I try portray in the show is that guns are fun and it can be done safely, it can be done in a good environment and it is enjoyable," Robertson said. "The biggest thing is that we can do things that are fun with guns. They are just tools that we use to play our game."

While shooting a cabbage and an aerosol can of shaving cream draws squeals from the crowd, some of the things Robertson does with a shotgun almost defy belief.

At one point during the show, he held the gun over his head and broke target after target while walking across the trap field.

"The walking is difficult because you're off balance and it's hard to control the gun when you're walking," he said. "After a while you kind of get used to it. You're off balance, you take a step and the bird comes out and you're going one way and it's going another. With a little practice, that is not too bad."

Robertson said he is a throwback to an earlier day in the shotgun and ammunition business.

"It's definitely a niche," he said. "Exhibition shooting has been around since the early 20s, back from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The Grand American is actually the longest running event that I know of that has had exhibition shooters. In fact, in the 40s and 50s, it used to be the spectacle of the Grand, the exhibition shooters."

Throwback or not, Robertson takes the job seriously.

"That's one thing we don't have in shooting is heroes," he said. "It's not a professional sport, so there aren't a lot of professional people for them to look up to. Hopefully, if I do that for a few of the kids, it's great."

Judging by the reaction of the kids in the audience, Robertson was a rousing success.

He spent more than 30 minutes autographing everything from spent shells to t-shirts following the exhibition.

Robertson did draw the line at signing a chunk of a cucumber he'd shot earlier.

"I don't think your mother would appreciate that in about three days," he said.

les.winkeler@thesouthern.com/351-5088