First Comp

So I took the plunge at the weekend and entered my first competition.  50 bird sporting.  I shot absolutely rubbish and was getting a bit frustrated but on my second last stand I was speaking to the button pusher and he said the course was particularly hard this year, the best shot over the weekend only got 8/10 on his stand (I got 4).  I walked to the last stand and hit 4/10 again so I got speaking to the ref and button pusher who told me they had plenty of people on that stand who couldn't hit a single clay. Of course they could both have been telling me that to be kind but I did watch a couple of guys who were going around just ahead of me and their scores where much the same as mine!

So despite my crap score I'm pretty chuffed to have done my first comp, next time I'll have to pick one with easier clays!

Maca said:

So despite my crap score I'm pretty chuffed to have done my first comp, next time I'll have to pick one with easier clays!

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Why? You'll not improve that way.

What? Keep shooting hard targets and hit nothing? How is that going to help him learn? More likely make him give up.

Enjoy, don’t be hard on yourself and keep going. 

Look, this sport of ours is a hobby. Nothing more nothing less. We all want to perform to the best of our abilities, of course we do, its the way of things. But don't get tied up with all the crap about averages, hard shoots, easy shoots, good shoots, bad shoots. Go and shoot and have some fun with a group of like-minded people and come away having enjoyed the experience and look forward with great anticipation to the next time you can go and do it again. All but 0.5% of us will be truly excellent at this sport of ours and we can only dream of being able to emulate the success of Digweed, Faulds etc. etc. But it doesn't stop you enjoying the sport and the camaraderie that goes with it, don't turn it into hard work - weekends are for pleasure and for charging batteries so you can go shooting again next weekend!

I thoroughly enjoyed the shoot and the refs and button pushers were friendly and encouraging.  However, at one stand I was told there were quite a few people who couldn't hit a single clay and were getting a bit disillusioned which did make me think they could maybe have put on one or two easier stands.  Even the top shots of the weekend failed to get higher than 8/10 on one stand...at least at the time I went on. 

Anyway, it was a fundraiser and just a bit of fun.  One thing it did show me was that at this shoot I was missing some clays which were very similar to clays I can hit 9/10 times at my regular shooting ground.  So my objective this year is to try some different shoots so I don't fall into the trap of only being able to shoot what I'm used to.  Trouble is, up here in the North East of Scotland there isn't a lot of choice and I don't have the luxury of time to travel very far. 

And I might as well tell you all, at my local grounds I've shot 46/50 in the past (not a comp).  At this shoot my score card was 20/50! I've no doubt it was a combination of a new layout I'd never shot before and I was a bit nervous with it being my first competition with people other than my shooting buddy watching me....as well as some of the stands being really hard.

We all had to start somewhere, don't worry about it just enjoy, on any good shoot there will be targets for every ability easy, moderate, and hard. 

wylye said:

Look, this sport of ours is a hobby. Nothing more nothing less. We all want to perform to the best of our abilities, of course we do, its the way of things. But don't get tied up with all the crap about averages, hard shoots, easy shoots, good shoots, bad shoots. Go and shoot and have some fun with a group of like-minded people and come away having enjoyed the experience and look forward with great anticipation to the next time you can go and do it again. All but 0.5% of us will be truly excellent at this sport of ours and we can only dream of being able to emulate the success of Digweed, Faulds etc. etc. But it doesn't stop you enjoying the sport and the camaraderie that goes with it, don't turn it into hard work - weekends are for pleasure and for charging batteries so you can go shooting again next weekend!

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Best forum post in months! 

Whatever shoot/comp you go to will always have stands that you aren’t good at as we all like/hate different targets.  You need to relax, enjoy the shoot then at the end of the day try to work out which targets you need to practice on.  But as said above, don’t be too hard on yourself.  I shot the Cheddite comp on Sunday and on stand 14, I only hit 1/8.  Felt down until ref showed me the master score card and at that time only 2 people had hit 6 or 7 but majority were 1, 2 or 3s.  Above all, don’t be afraid to ask for help, most shooters are quite approachable 

I been shooting a lot of competitions per year for 12 years. 19 times out of 20, I feel I’ve shot badly and it’s as frustrating as hell. About once every 20 shoots, I reach my “normal” standard. This is how our brains work.

donna said:

Whatever shoot/comp you go to will always have stands that you aren’t good at as we all like/hate different targets.  You need to relax, enjoy the shoot then at the end of the day try to work out which targets you need to practice on.  But as said above, don’t be too hard on yourself.  I shot the Cheddite comp on Sunday and on stand 14, I only hit 1/8.  Felt down until ref showed me the master score card and at that time only 2 people had hit 6 or 7 but majority were 1, 2 or 3s.  Above all, don’t be afraid to ask for help, most shooters are quite approachable 

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Good shoot that was on lovely ground.