Winter breaks from shooting?

[Bryn12]

you have to admit he's better than watching the telly :laugh:

 

[Les53]

Anyway I am probably barred from most pubs I went into when I was younger 

Find some different ones Ian......... :haha:

 

[Julesy]

From a ground perspective the winter and the spring/summer are very different prospects.

Winter can be great on a personal level - darker evenings mean earlier finishes and more time at home. On the other side bad weather means loss of revenue and the worry of 'have we done enough' to keep all the jobs secure.

During 'the shooting season' we see faces from wide and far, in the winter it tends to be locals and those chasing scores for England Selection.

So, a plea from a Shooting Ground - don't take a winter break but do support your more local grounds through the tough winter months. We really really appreciate it

 

[ips]

I intend to shoot 10 bird abt pool at my local ground might do the odd reg weather permitting.

 

[Dskize]

Christ I live in Scotland, If I don't shoot in winter Ill only shoot 3 months a year.

 

[Jim Wheeler]

3 months?  that long? 

:biggrin:

 

[Bryn12]

well we have 3 seasons here

pissing down winter September - December

bollock freezing winter January - April

take a coat off winter May - August

 

[Wonko the Sane]

When a Brit says winter Wonko think chilly gray overcast wet more gray more wet, brief chink of sunshine on a Wednesday to get your hopes up, more gray, SAD disorder followed by complete apathy and depression, to be closely followed by the notions of emigrating to warmer climates, then the realisation that your British and the upper lip stiffens and out you venture across muddy fields to complain about the weather with other shooters?. It's no wonder David Bowie and his generation liked a bit of colour. .

This really pretty much describes the summer weeks I spent in/around London - well, far north as Coventry.

 

[ExSCA]

From a ground perspective the winter and the spring/summer are very different prospects.

Winter can be great on a personal level - darker evenings mean earlier finishes and more time at home. On the other side bad weather means loss of revenue and the worry of 'have we done enough' to keep all the jobs secure.

During 'the shooting season' we see faces from wide and far, in the winter it tends to be locals and those chasing scores for England Selection.

So, a plea from a Shooting Ground - don't take a winter break but do support your more local grounds through the tough winter months. We really really appreciate it

This is a good point - and despite all the side conversations about 'winters I once had' and 'my winter is colder than yours' - it's worth some clarification about my original post. 

I'm talking about cutting down registered competitions and taking to the practice ground a bit more to build skills ready for next season. 

I'm not convinced that you get the best returns shooting FITASC wrapped up against the cold, in the wind and rain, I have supported a number of winter series over the last couple of years - and whilst I have enjoyed the days, I have gone home muddy and cold and wet, with a score that matches how grumpy I am.

My idea is to switch out some of those competitions, and build some more practice into my routines. 

Anyway - as you were. 

 

[Bryn12]

My preference, eventually, is to get the balance about 50:50 or maybe more to the practice side. at the moment everything is practice/training, even the comps where my main focus is not necessarily score although if I put things together then that is an indication I'm progressing. For me shooting nothing but comps tends to led to you attaching more importance to some than others which is not a direction I'd like to head.

 

[Will Hewland]

 For me shooting nothing but comps tends to led to you attaching more importance to some than others which is not a direction I'd like to head.

What do you mean here Bryn?

 

[chubby]

Matt as you know I am a tart and cannot see why I should pay to get cold and wet! So I only shoot 50 a week when it is not raining or snowing.

Last year I did not shoot Dec,Jan and did find it hard to get back, But did get lots of brownie points. :haha:  and I felt better for it. :nhl:

 

[Bryn12]

Will, I used to shoot a hell of a lot of target comps, what I found was that over time the likes of the National team, National opens and the Grand Prixs got me focused, club and county became an obligatory slog, when I wasn't away shooting weekenders outdoors /squad weekends I was shooting team postals indoors anything from 6-10 cards Tue&Thur then open indoor comps Sat/Sun through the winter. Through the summer I was putting in at least 480 scoring shots a week plus sighters even more when shooting 3P.

Because the nearest 50m ranges got closed down I was having to drive to either Aberdeen (10hrs round trip) or Appleton in Cheshire (6hr round trip) to shoot GPs to keep my ranking up with very little chance to actually spend a couple of hours working on things I felt could do with a bit of tweaking, there were times when I'd shot so many comps without a break I became stale.

What I'm saying is there are times when no matter how much you love something its pays to take a break, regroup, refocus and put in some time with no pressure or expectations before getting back in the competition saddle again.

 

[Will Hewland]

Will, I used to shoot a hell of a lot of target comps, what I found was that over time the likes of the National team, National opens and the Grand Prixs got me focused, club and county became an obligatory slog, when I wasn't away shooting weekenders outdoors /squad weekends I was shooting team postals indoors anything from 6-10 cards Tue&Thur then open indoor comps Sat/Sun through the winter. Through the summer I was putting in at least 480 scoring shots a week plus sighters even more when shooting 3P.

Because the nearest 50m ranges got closed down I was having to drive to either Aberdeen (10hrs round trip) or Appleton in Cheshire (6hr round trip) to shoot GPs to keep my ranking up with very little chance to actually spend a couple of hours working on things I felt could do with a bit of tweaking, there were times when I'd shot so many comps without a break I became stale.

What I'm saying is there are times when no matter how much you love something its pays to take a break, regroup, refocus and put in some time with no pressure or expectations before getting back in the competition saddle again.

Sure, makes sense to me. I just think that in clay shooting most competitions are similar status and all count toward averages. I take them all on with similar outlook. (I have some loss of focus on anything non registered.. But that's just me perhaps)

 

[ips]

I agree will. Until 3 yrs ago i very rarely shot anything not comp as i never seemed to shoot practice sessions in the same way. However the last few years i seem to have adopted a more structured training regime and now its gone the complete opposite as in now i shoot better in training than in comp.