The national event was held at Wagga from Tuesday, February 7 to 11 and on the Friday the skilled marksmen took out the pointscore championship.

However, it was a close contest with the winner decided in a shoot-off.

Smith ended up scoring 223 points just one point ahead of the second place-getter.

This is the third time he has competed at the event, and this year he moved up a class to the 66 yrs to 70 yrs.

“I thought moving up a class may have been a bit easier but the older fellas are still pretty skillful,” he laughs.

In 2016 when competing in the 61-65 years section, Smith walked away with two gold medals.

The Whittingham resident has been shooting since he was 10-years-old.

He recalls going pig hunting with his father as a young boy.

But is was the lure of being part of a competition that attracted him to trap shooting.

Smith, and his wife, are about to head to North Queensland for a four month stint during which he will compete at various shoots, partake in some fishing and play plenty of golf.

Charleville will be their first stop and he is hoping to repeat the success he enjoyed on a previous trip up that way.

“We did a similar trip last year and I had a few wins,” he explains.