Sporting shoots 2023. How was it?

[Will Hewland]

Hangmanstones for me yesterday. A very full shoot. Cars parked in the field. A limit of 160 supposedly but a ref told me over 200. Took us 3 hours to get round, with a queue of 25 on our last stand. A good course though with several proper long targets and the 98 HG was very impressive.

I had a day of moaning to myself about 4 stupid/ unlucky losses. An impossible bounce rabbit, a bloody eyelash sticking at the wrong moment, (seriously). Then a bit of an off-course going away, so I got frustrated and missed two on the easiest stand. Finished on frustrating 89 for third shoot in a row.

Bit of slight comedy / karma on last stand we shot. (Stand 1). My shooting buddy is terrible for wanting to see me miss and occasionally he beats me. (Yeah I know, I should find another mate, but he’s my neighbour and we share travel ). He was 1 target ahead of me going on to last stand. He was rubbing his hands because there was a pretty good teal featured, which he tends to like while I do not. His schadenfreude smug grin was very evident as he told me what the targets were. So I had a bloody good study of the target then powdered them all while he only hit 1. Frosty journey home.

 

[Charliedog]

Barrow today in glorious weather, the round felt softer than normal and the average stats at 78% backs that up, dropped 5 on stand 1 (it was very straightable) but shot the rest pretty well and finished well above both mine and the course average, lots of good conversations with shooting pals and a dollop of cake and a cold drink to finish.

 

[wynno]

Shot coleys monthly sporting today, it was HOT, in the shade of the trees a perfect summer day, in the open, like a furnace.
A good testing course with a few stands to catch you out.
dropped to many single birds to really make a difference
nice to see westward ( John ) wielding a gun again

 

[Richard59]

Another at Coleys, bit too hot in the open, thankfully the exposed refs had some shade. Shot 9/12 stands well enough, imploding on just three, didn’t seem to be as busy as previous shoots.
Hgun Andy Moon 98 and he was chased to the end by a good many.

 

[donna]

Thought about doing Coleys but I’m there on Saturday for the ladies day and we are staying over and shooting Westfields on Sunday. Looking forward to Saturday, not done a ladies day before.

 

[Westward]

nice to see westward ( John ) wielding a gun again

Nice to see you again Wynn - and your gang too. As you noticed I was struggling with the change in temperature between the shaded and open areas. I'm okay in the open in these temps and okay in the shade or indoors but my regulation is buggered by the hormone treatment.

Should have stayed at home but it's good to get out and meet people even if "wielding" is about all I can mange with a shotgun these days.

 

[Bebo]

Been in the doldrums a bit of late, but things might have started to turn a corner.

Churchills Thursday, had two poor stands in the middle, but the rest it was no more than two away. Managed to dig in and stop the little voice on my shoulder that tells me to be careful not to miss (and makes me miss) from taking over and was straight on the last three stands. Put in an 82, my best score for quite a while.

Saturday did the Ladies Comp at Coleys. Really good squad, all having a laugh, not taking it too seriously and encouraging each other to shoot well. Missed a couple of silly ones early on, but then a series of straights not even thinking about how I was doing. Shot stand 10, dropping 1, and suddenly realised that I was only 5 away. Squeaky bum time started a bit, but mostly mastered it - managed to drop a silly one with a trigger freeze and had an unlucky bounce on a rabbit on the last stand, but got a new competition PB of 93.

Sunday local ground open comp and shot an 85 for a ladies win, again could have been better as I let that little voice make me start measuring and slowing up on a crosser on the last stand costing me three I shouldn't have dropped, but still better than I've been doing of late.

Amazing what a return of confidence can do. One reasonably decent performance and all the issues with measuring and slowing the gun etc seemed to melt away for the next two.

 

[donna]

Well done Jenny, you shot well on Saturday. I may have done a bit better if it hadn’t have taken us over 4 hours to get there due to motorways being closed etc and arriving with 10 mins to spare! Enjoyable day and lovely gift bags etc and pleasant atmosphere all round.
We stayed over and shot Westfield on Sunday, we both felt a but “off” and not with it, not sure if we had a touch of sunstroke as it was 33 on Saturday and although I had factor 50 on I kept wiping my face! Westfields was another good course but very muggy and the rain was most welcome as we finished.

 

[Bebo]

Well done Jenny, you shot well on Saturday. I may have done a bit better if it hadn’t have taken us over 4 hours to get there due to motorways being closed etc and arriving with 10 mins to spare! Enjoyable day and lovely gift bags etc and pleasant atmosphere all round.
We stayed over and shot Westfield on Sunday, we both felt a but “off” and not with it, not sure if we had a touch of sunstroke as it was 33 on Saturday and although I had factor 50 on I kept wiping my face! Westfields was another good course but very muggy and the rain was most welcome as we finished.

We had a similar issue, left home before 8am, satnav was saying less than 3 hrs. A40 closure and we got there just after 12, with a 12.15 squad start time. Maybe not having time to worry about it helped! Long day, ended up home at about 7.30pm - must admit I was knackered with the heat and all the driving. Enjoyed it, but not sure I'll do it again next year.

 

[Charliedog]

Barrow again yesterday, again a very enjoyable round, many variations but nothing that could not be hit, shoot average again suggests on the softer side at 78%. Felt I shot it pretty well and only really disappointed with what felt the easier bird of the pair missing the first bird 3 times on one stand (The A bird on stand 7). I managed to comfortably pass the average which seems to be my barometer for progress these days.

 

[chesterse]

Sporting Targets on Sunday and what an excellent shoot that was! All geared up with my cyl chokes and 9s going on former trips there but could not have been more wrong. Great mixture of long and mid range targets with a few close ones thrown in.
It had been the Home International there the day before and suspect the difficulty level had been left on.
Personally I shot badly, the worst for some time 59 but really enjoyed it all the same.

 

[donna]

We shot the super sporting at Barbury on Weds. Left super early after problems last weekend and got there almost 2 hours early . Saw Josh who told me they had put pallets around the grouse butt areas for us shorties which I thanked him profusely for but everyone was using them. Only one sim pair I couldn’t see but I’ll take that. Had a really nice squad, shot with people never met before and I really enjoyed it. Fair bit of close stuff but getting to grips with that a bit more now so not all bad, just felt timing was spot on and only dropped one last pair but that was the sim pair stand 4 and the second target (l-r) just disappeared behind the mound so didn’t get a shot off. Very hot and muggy and saw some ladies from Coleys Ladies day.
Looking forward to Westfields this Saturday.