Mary McLaughlin

September 2026 Issue

by Tamela Maxim
Photography by Lindsay Gifford

 

When Mary McLaughlin first picked up a shotgun during the early days of COVID, she wasn’t seeking a new sport or imagining a future on an international team. She was simply curious.

Years earlier, she had fired a 20-gauge shotgun on her family’s farm in North Georgia but never considered herself particularly skilled. That changed when she attended a women’s beginner clinic in the SC Lowcountry. She went with a friend, expecting a casual afternoon outdoors. “I could actually hit something,” she recalled. That small victory opened a door she never planned to walk through but now can’t imagine closing.

Sporting Clays
Sporting clays emerged in England in the early 20th century as a way to simulate live bird hunting. Unlike trap or skeet, which follow predictable patterns, sporting clays courses are designed to mimic the unpredictable flight paths of game birds. By the 1980s, sporting clays had become one of the fastest growing shooting sports in the United States.

Mary discovered her love of sporting clays was rooted in the learning process, the camaraderie, and the excitement each improvement brought. But soon, another discipline caught her attention: Helice, a sport with a history as fascinating as its mechanics.

Helice
Helice, sometimes called “ZZ bird shooting,” was developed in Europe as a humane alternative to live pigeon competitions. The sport uses orange plastic propellers with white caps, called “witness caps,” that spin, swoop and dart unpredictably when launched. The goal is to separate the witness cap from the propeller and land it within a designated field. The movement is erratic, mimicking the flight of a startled bird.

Mary discovered Helice at Broxton Bridge Plantation, a historic family-owned property in Ehrhardt, South Carolina. The Varn family welcomed her warmly and encouraged her to explore the sport. Helice required a new level of discipline. The unpredictability of each shot from different machines, shifting wind, and varying speeds forces competitors to maintain an especially acute mental sharpness.

“It’s a fast reflex sport with a short window to make a shot happen,” she explained.

Team USA Ladies - Helice
Mary’s training sessions are long and intensely focused. She shoots between 30 and 90 targets, often spending two to three hours refining her technique. She varies machine speeds to simulate competition conditions and frequently trains with others to share feedback and experience. Helice competitions typically involve 20 to 70 shooters, with a standard format of 30 “birds”—each a chance to earn or lose a point. Her skill and dedication earned her a place on Team USA Ladies, Helice Division.

Portugal
Mary’s competition in Braga, Portugal this month represents the highest level of Helice shooting. It will be her first time competing internationally, which means she will face a much larger field of competitors, many with decades of experience. The “birds” will be launched from machines calibrated differently than those in the U.S.; and the fields will be large, with extremely strict boundaries.

The Lowcountry Annie Oakleys
Mary is a member of The Lowcountry Annie Oakleys (LAO), a women’s shooting organization that blends skill building with friendship and community service, supporting local causes through fundraising and outreach. The group meets monthly at Forest City Gun Club in Savannah, offering instruction for newcomers and a welcoming environment for women of all ages and backgrounds. Mary tells women who think they’d like to give it a try: “Be bold!”

Mindset, Mentors, and Mastery
Mary’s growth as a shooter has been shaped by several instructors. Her first coach emphasized fun. A more technical instructor helped her refine her precision and consistency. One mentor gave her a mantra she repeats before every shot: “A smooth move to the bird.”

Mary practices meditation to quiet her mind, stay present, and reset quickly after mistakes. In Helice, where each shot is unpredictable and the next bird arrives within seconds, the ability to let go is crucial.

“You don’t have time to dwell,” she explained. “The next one is 90 seconds away.”

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Fun Facts:

• Mary once traveled the world playing professional tennis tournaments.

• Her friends tease her because during Helice practice she always says, “Just one more!”

• She loves long distance challenge shots—
sometimes 70 to 100 yards away.

• Mary likes to spend time enjoying the natural beauty of Hilton Head Island, either along the shoreline or among the trees. “Sharing the island with its abundance of wildlife is amazing to me.
God gave us the most beautiful place to live.”