Saltillo is high desert country, the kind of landscape that makes a sporting course look honest. By the time the 2024 Copa Aguila opened on September 27, more than 350 shooters had made the trip to Coahuila for what has quietly become one of the premier shooting tournaments in Mexico. The disciplines on offer ran the full Aguila spread: sporting clays, five-stand, rifle silhouette.

Jonathan Prince took the overall grand prize on the strength of a tournament-long run that left little doubt by the close. The field behind him stretched from first-timers through seasoned All-Americans, and the prize pool, north of fifty thousand US, gave even the side events real weight. Joey Zoubi, Aguila Ammunition's marketing director, called it the best turnout the event has seen since returning from the pandemic hiatus.

What gets lost in a score report is the texture of three days in Saltillo. Two host clubs, Safari Saltillo and Club Escopeteros del Norte, traded shooters between facilities that each have their own character. Families came along. So did the food, the music, and the unhurried Mexican hospitality that puts this event on a different plane from a typical US-circuit shoot.


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