CEDAR FALLS -- Harry Hegge is tough, but he's not a fool.

You can see in 78-year-old retired patrolman's steely eyes that he would love nothing better than to be out on the range, shooting every event at the Iowa State Trapshoot. It's just that a recent shoulder replacement surgery is going to limit his participation.

"I'm only planning to shoot Saturday," said Hegge, of Cedar Falls. "It does bother me a little bit to be sitting, but I know what the doctor said, and he told me, 'Take it easy. You don't want to tear it apart and have to do it again.'

"As much pain and stuff as I went through, I don't want him to have to do it again, either."

The surgery took place nine weeks ago on Hegge's left shoulder. His right shoulder probably could have used work, too, but that's his shooting shoulder.

"He said the recoil would take it out -- it wouldn't hold," Hegge said. "I said, 'I'll see you when my eyes fail and my reflexes go bad and I've got a lot of pain, then I'll get it done.' Until then, there's cortisone and therapy and aspirin and Bufferin -- whatever it's gonna take."

Hegge has been doing whatever it takes for trapshooting since his father introduced him to the sport at age six.

It's probably no coincidence that the Carroll, Iowa, native moved to Cedar Falls in 1951, the year that the Cedar Falls Gun Club began permanently hosting the state shoot.

"Harry has been a real rock for our organization," said CFGC president Jane Griffith. "He's dependable, he's knowledgeable, and he's just a fountain of information.

"He's also a great teaser. Harry's pretty crusty, but that's part of what makes him so endearing."

Hegge's reputation for dishing it out on the firing line is well known in Iowa shooting circles, but has been known to catch some others by surprise.

"I had a couple of friends who are deceased now, and - get at each other pretty good, and a lot of these people are from out of state who don't know you that well," Hegge said. "We'd get out there and harangue each other a little bit, saying, 'I don't want to shoot with you, you never were any good,' and stuff like that. You'd do that in front of the trap official, and they'd just shake their heads and say, 'Oh, this is gonna be bad.'"

Hegge has been known to dish up some sweetness, too. As the longtime proprietor of the Cedar Falls Dairy Queen, he has operated a DQ concession on the state shoot grounds for a number of years, providing a cool oasis during an event that seems to annually take place during the hottest week of summer.

"If people are betting on who's going to buy the Blizzards for the week, you know that Harry's involved," said longtime friend Dennis Bigelow of Cedar Falls.

"And then he's sponsored Dairy Queen shooting teams here and at the Clarksville club -- not just AA shooters, but Class B and Class C and everybody."

As one of the first lifetime members of the CFGC, Hegge has served several terms as club president. He is the current vice president, but prefers to limit his duties to the promotional end.

"The people involved in shooting are what keep you going," Hegge said. "I'm a people person. I still like to go around and talk shooting and visit. The rest of them can do the work, I'll take care of the PR-type stuff."

Hegge shot his first Iowa State Shoot in 1945, at age 15. He hasn't made every shoot since then, but he has shot and traded with the legends of the sport, like Bob Allen and CFGC charter member Harry Bruhn.

"One time old Harry's gun went off and he shot into the ground, right in front of him," Hegge said. "He just stopped and looked at the hole and said (holding his fingers a dime's-width apart), 'No wonder I can't hit anything -- my pattern's only about that big.'"

Hegge's primary shooting partner now is his 16-year-old grandson, Blake Albrecht, keeping alive a long family tradition.

"My first gun was a Model 12 Winchester that dad bought out of a store in 1916," Hegge recalled. "I shot that at every shoot up until about 20 years ago, but I still take it duck hunting and goose hunting with me, so I get at least one round out of it every year."

Unlike a lot of veteran shooters, though, Hegge has little nostalgia for the methods and equipment of the past.

"I think the changes have been for the better," Hegge stated. "When you've got automatic setters and automatic voice calls, it makes it more reliable. And I'm sure the birds compared to the ones 50 years ago are more uniform and more accurate, too."

The birds of today don't come much ornerier than Hegge, though.

"Harry's wonderful, if you can stand the ribbing and don't take it too seriously," Bigelow said. "He's a great guy, and we've all valued his friendship and leadership for a lot of years."

Contact Brian Pals at brianpals@wcfcourier.com