If anyone thought that the “celebs” were just going to come out, joke around, sign autographs, and go half-ass through the competition, just ask Chris Reed how serious most of them were. While Chris didn’t have on his game face and was playing nice, he didn’t wear the crown of champion at the end of the day. When I saw Lucas Hoge show at 9:30 a.m. for a 12:00 start, I knew he wanted to win.

Lucas was so fun to watch; he’s not one with the tag of “outdoors celebrity” as well as country artist, and he wasn’t supposed to be a contender. With a win in Air Rifle, a second in Archery, and a fourth in Skills…well, maybe the Outdoor Channel may want to get Lucas to move over from his show on Animal Planet.

Ty Brown was an artist I didn’t know that much about before Friday, but now I’m a big fan. He’s incredibly nice, humble, and a hoot. He showed his Mississippi raisin’ with a win in Archery to propel him to a second place overall finish.

Chris Reed finished third, but to his defense, he shot my bow on the Archery course. He joked on the Air Rifle course, and cruised through Skills. He blended in with the artists and I heard more “Hey, that’s the Top Shot guy!” than any other comment from the crowd.

Personally, I think of Chris as that “Total Outdoorsman guy”, but we’ll let the fans choose.

Mark Wills and Craig Morgan rounded out the top five. Wills has done this thing four times and been in the top four every time. He’s really good with a rifle and coming along on this archery thing.

I have no idea how these ladies and gentlemen can compete to any level of competence while running between events, gigs, and fans all over them, but they do. And they do it smiling the whole time. Hell, I get squirrely when more than two people try to talk to me and I have to be in more than one place in a day.

Do yourself a favor and check out the music by some of the artist who haven’t quite “hit it big’” yet. I always try to know background on the competitors and heard some great stuff from some of the lessor known in this group.