I've been meaning to write a review of one of their shoots for a while as I think it may be worth the treck for some of the closer shooters to at least try and get to their 1st Sunday reg shoots.
This is one of those proper clay grounds where you park on flat dry ground with a log cabin serving hot food as well as alcohol with gun shop open even on Sundays so you can buy your shells or clothing. Situated in Canterbury which is of course a Cathedral city it means you can maybe make a day of it by a visit to the city afterwards, the river Stour runs through at several points and it's full of restaurants and a huge shopping centre
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We started on a stand that leads down towards one of their regular practice stands, a gimme going away from the left followed by a tricky R/L quartering going away through the trees at mid height, quite tricky as it was easy shooting in front of the second bird. I lost the first bird out . Next on to a very good stand with a fast Midi thrown off a short tower behind going away overhead followed by an orange R/L quartering through the brush, both needed quality timing. The stand before the Top Field has trees to the right and front, first bird out was the hardest of the day I felt, over from the blind side of trees and fast quartering/crossing/dropping a good range out to the left and very very easily missed, followed by an incoming L/R crosser over to the trees in front.
We then made our way to what's called the Top Field, it takes a few minutes walk to get there and almost feels a separate part of the ground, if you shoot well here you're going to do well. Jim's stand comprised of a very tricky rising Teal from the left which looped right and fell some 40 yards away followed by a fast Midi Teal from the right front, this seemed to disappear into a tiny dot if you didn't shoot quick.
The next stand features a steel platform but we shot from the side of it at a R/L standard going into the trees a good way out with a L/R going away quartering bird, both needed shooting. Next came a pair of black going aways together with the first trap some 20 yards in front and the other well to the right but closer in, the trick was of course to pre mount for the first and flick past the second some 45 yards away, one or two easily lost here. The last stand up top was a L/R slow lopper a good way out followed by an orange rabbit with a a 25-30 yard break point, the first missable in front.
We came back down and next tackled what's called the bank stand, there is a massive mud bank immediately in front of you so loading can be less fluid here. L/R crossing looper that died edge on some 40 yards in front over trees followed by a slow full face R/L crosser that I just couldn't connect with properly :mellow: . On to the Wood stand where a high tower incomer thrown slightly left was followed by a very fast rising crosser from the left that disappeared over very tall trees. The Valley stand had a high Midi thrown L/R almost over the stand followed by a very fast Grouse type bird off a mid height tower.
As always a good spread of birds, my only real criticism has always been that they stick to 10 birds per stand but in their defence they always have at least 2 practice stands serving newcomers every Sunday and money talks I'm afraid although Scott Collett has said he's going to try and make the Reg shoots feature more stands.
This is one of those proper clay grounds where you park on flat dry ground with a log cabin serving hot food as well as alcohol with gun shop open even on Sundays so you can buy your shells or clothing. Situated in Canterbury which is of course a Cathedral city it means you can maybe make a day of it by a visit to the city afterwards, the river Stour runs through at several points and it's full of restaurants and a huge shopping centre
.We started on a stand that leads down towards one of their regular practice stands, a gimme going away from the left followed by a tricky R/L quartering going away through the trees at mid height, quite tricky as it was easy shooting in front of the second bird. I lost the first bird out
. Next on to a very good stand with a fast Midi thrown off a short tower behind going away overhead followed by an orange R/L quartering through the brush, both needed quality timing. The stand before the Top Field has trees to the right and front, first bird out was the hardest of the day I felt, over from the blind side of trees and fast quartering/crossing/dropping a good range out to the left and very very easily missed, followed by an incoming L/R crosser over to the trees in front.We then made our way to what's called the Top Field, it takes a few minutes walk to get there and almost feels a separate part of the ground, if you shoot well here you're going to do well. Jim's stand comprised of a very tricky rising Teal from the left which looped right and fell some 40 yards away followed by a fast Midi Teal from the right front, this seemed to disappear into a tiny dot if you didn't shoot quick.
The next stand features a steel platform but we shot from the side of it at a R/L standard going into the trees a good way out with a L/R going away quartering bird, both needed shooting. Next came a pair of black going aways together with the first trap some 20 yards in front and the other well to the right but closer in, the trick was of course to pre mount for the first and flick past the second some 45 yards away, one or two easily lost here. The last stand up top was a L/R slow lopper a good way out followed by an orange rabbit with a a 25-30 yard break point, the first missable in front.
We came back down and next tackled what's called the bank stand, there is a massive mud bank immediately in front of you so loading can be less fluid here. L/R crossing looper that died edge on some 40 yards in front over trees followed by a slow full face R/L crosser that I just couldn't connect with properly :mellow: . On to the Wood stand where a high tower incomer thrown slightly left was followed by a very fast rising crosser from the left that disappeared over very tall trees. The Valley stand had a high Midi thrown L/R almost over the stand followed by a very fast Grouse type bird off a mid height tower.
As always a good spread of birds, my only real criticism has always been that they stick to 10 birds per stand but in their defence they always have at least 2 practice stands serving newcomers every Sunday and money talks I'm afraid although Scott Collett has said he's going to try and make the Reg shoots feature more stands.
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