By James DrakeIn London, state of California native Kim Rhode became the only United States Olympic athlete in history, man or woman, to collect an individual sport medal in five consecutive Olympic Games.

She did it in the women’s Olympic skeet competition by hitting 99 out of 100 clay targets in the finals on Sunday.

On one of the NBC sports stations Saturday morning, I watched Rhode being interviewed a day before her competition.

After introducing her, the TV host immediately told everyone in the audience exactly what was at stake if she could only get one more medal. When he was finished, Rhode just smiled and said, “No pressure, right?”

She then went on to explain how she almost didn’t get to London as her original flight was canceled and then she had another problem for her dog, a poodle named Norman, chewed up and shredded her ticket.

“Do you feel extra pressure?,” she was asked. Her answer: “Definitely.”

Then, she explained her current attitude as planning on just taking it one target at a time.

“Your father calls you the Tiger Woods of your sport,” she was told.

Rhode laughed and answered, “I hope he wasn’t talking about Tiger’s personal life.”

Talking about her confidence, Rhode said that any good shooter “has to know they can hit the target,” and that, basically, is how she feels every time on the range.

As for the actual Olympic competition, Rhode said she thought it would come down to the last shot in sudden-death. She was wrong about that, for during the finals on Sunday morning, Rhode dominated the competition.

Just before the finals, Rhode said, “I’m feeling real good. It’s going to be rainy in that final round, but that’s to be expected [in London], and we practice for it and we’re ready for it.”

During the preliminary final rounds, Rhode broke 74 of 75 targets in three series of 25 shots each. That shattered the Olympic record of 72 set by Chiara Canero of Italy in 2008.

After those rounds, Rhode said, “I’m going through a lot of emotion right now, but the honor to be representing my country is what it’s really all about.”

Then, in the final round, she hit 25 of 25 and 99 of 100 overall during the competition finals to set an Olympic record and tie the world record.

The silver and bronze medalists were several shots behind Rhode, it wasn’t even close.

Rhode now holds five Olympic medals in women’s shotgun shooting. They include a bronze from Sydney in 2000, a silver from Beijing in 2008 and three golds from Atlanta in 1996, Athens in 2004 and now London in 2012.

After this latest Olympic victory, Rhode’s father ran over to her and gave his daughter a great, big hug. Both of them were crying.

Rhode plans to shoot again in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Big businessI recently received a press release from The Outdoor Wire explaining how Cabela’s reported increased second quarter earnings in 2012.

Cabela’s, headquartered in Sidney, Neb., sells hunting, fishing, camping and other related outdoor merchandise.

The press release explained how their retail store revenue increased 16.9 percent to $384.7 million. Besides that, Cabela’s also has a strong catalog business along with its own credit card venture that has to bring in many millions more.

We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars here, and this is just income from only three months of the year.

I find that amazing, and especially so when you consider Cabela’s has serious competition in the industry from Bass Pro Shops and Gander Mountain.

Can you imagine how much money all three of these giants bring in during a full year?

It’s probably almost as much as our two presidential contenders are spending to blast each other on their TV commercials for a whole month.

Black bear lotteryMaryland’s Department of Natural Resources is now accepting applications for this year’s lottery for black bear hunting permits for a season scheduled to run Oct. 22 to 27.

It’s basically the same lottery as in previous years with one big exception. In 2012, residents of Garrett and Allegany counties will receive 25 percent of the available permits. However, DNR is going to increase the overall number of bear permits so the number of residents from other Maryland counties will be about the same as in previous years.

For 2012, a total of 340 permits will be issued with a bear quota this year of between 80 and 110 black bears.

An estimated 700 adult and sub-adult bears are now living in Garrett and Allegany counties and the species is thought to have an annual growth rate of about 12 percent a year.

To apply for the hunt, you may submit an online application until 11:59 p.m. Aug. 31 at blackbear.dnr.state.md.us. Phone applications will be accepted at 888-579-6768 between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Aug. 20 to 24 only.

A $15 nonrefundable application fee must be submitted via credit card, check or money order with your application payable to MDDNR Black Bear and mailed to MDDNR Black Bear, P.O. Box 360, Frostburg, MD 21532.

Only one application per person will be accepted and should you happen to send in a duplicate, the result will be disqualification and forfeiture of all fees.

The lottery drawing will be held Sept. 4 and successful applicants will receive a winners’ packet in the mail soon after. If you can’t wait, you'll also be able to check if your application was successful through your application ID number at blackbear.dnr.state.md.us beginning Sept. 5.

Donald Trump Jr.When you think of Donald Trump, I’d be guessing something like hair, arrogance, hotels, gambling or just plain big money would come to most people’s mind.

OK, but what about the name Donald Trump Jr.?

Well, if you pick up the September issue of Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine, you'd find “love of the outdoors” fits junior quite nicely.

This adult son of Donald Trump directs new project acquisition and development for the Trump Organization throughout the world, but any downtime from work is usually spent at his cabin in upstate New York for bow hunting or fishing.

Trump Jr. is also a competitive shooter and owner of several compound bows.

The September issue of Deer & Deer Hunting hits the newsstands beginning Aug. 7.

zbasser@aol.com