Sporting shoots 2023. How was it?

[wynno]

Fairly sure I was out on the same squad as you Wynn at 11:00. The wind made conditions fairly tricky with a lot of targets swirling about the place, incomers not incoming, loopers not looping etc.. The wind also had a cruel chill to it which took some of the enjoyment away.

I shot fairly well at 78/100 which had I gone competition entry would have placed me 1st in B class by a good margin.

Rather disappointingly I was 1 away on (I think, I didn't capture an image of my card) 4 different stands which should really have been straights. 2 stands I had a miss on one target of the last pair which is doubly frustrating. I must remember to stay out of my own head and concentrate on the shooting. I also lost my way on the first of the multi target stands we shot in the woods with a 4/8.

Had I been able to remain consistent and straight the 1 away stands then I would have left with an 82/100 and placed in the top 10.

Rhys Powell shooting really well at the moment with a HG 88/100 and 24/25 on the pool.

Yes you were, I took a picture of the score card if you want to send me a message I can send it on to you

 

[Cuffers]

National Clay Shooting Center yesterday to try my hand at DTL for the first time. Fantastic facilities, a great group of people and I was very fortunate to have a great squad around me, helping me through the etiquette. I learned a lot in a very short space of time… Didn't implement enough of it but wasn't totally disappointed with my final score. I'll definitely be going back to try DTL and back the the NCSC to try some of their other disciplines.

 

[Cuffers]

Owls Lodge yesterday for Super Sporting.. and to say I made an arse of it is an understatement! Just couldn't put a score together. Very blustery winds didn't help. I have never seen a clay leave a trap, stop mid flight and carry on again! The Real and I just looked at one another and laughed!

High Gun was taken by Charlie Faulds… A fabulous shot but several comments were made!

 

[jonz]

High Gun was taken by Charlie Faulds… A fabulous shot but several comments were made!
I also note that one of the Lovatt lads won Westfields… from a sportsmans viewpoint I don’t think family members or ground staff should be allowed to enter the competition let them go birds only by all means but it will only leave it open to criticism if they take high gun..
Just wish my father owned a shooting ground, I might have won more often

 

[Charliedog]

Owls Lodge yesterday for Super Sporting.. and to say I made an arse of it is an understatement! Just couldn't put a score together. Very blustery winds didn't help. I have never seen a clay leave a trap, stop mid flight and carry on again! The Real and I just looked at one another and laughed!

High Gun was taken by Charlie Faulds… A fabulous shot but several comments were made!

No idea what the comments were but he is still a young lad trying his best under his fathers shadow, whilst there may be some perks I doubt its as easy for him as some may think.

 

[Richard59]

I doubt very much that the two grounds have fallen foul of any “rule” nor is it s recent thing as at both family have shot at the “home ground” for as long as I can remember, nor are they alone in doing so. Crumbs even scorers at a lot of grounds shoot the “comp” and oft pick up in class, curtail the former and will that include the latter? Difficult one.
As for grounds not instantly displaying scores online, some grounds (premier & the like) are well equipped to do so, others, thinking the once a month type may not have the onsite capability / connectivity, if they should is another point.

 

[Richard59]

Hangmanstone today, got there just before noon, bit chiiler than of late but no wind & no wet stuff, not been for quite a while it is though a very friendly place and did see & natter to a fair few shooting chums, most not seen for far too long. Skipped first 6 stands as all looked 10+ deep. In hindsight maybe I should have picked a different place to start as St7 8 & 9 were not the “steady” stuff I needed to start on so any misplaced confidence truly shot down. My day way a tale of downs and frowns not too many wins & grins, I did though enjoy my couple hours out and do have a few things to work on.
Did notice entry had masses of AAA AA and As, Bs well short and C class looked to be less than a dozen, is this the same everywhere?
Richard Keen 98 high gun when I left, say left this only thanks to a push from three of the staff as my little VW Golf had no traction in the mud, most of the firm parking spaces taken by the 4x4s that rarely seem to get any mud on tyre.

 

[jasper]

Had a shocker at hangmans today popped an farted to a decidedly average score.
Anyone can make it a to A or AA these days Rich . The averages are in such a mess.
. Also lots of non reg idiots about today . Really need to learn some sort of shooting etiquette these folk. But then again reg shoots are for cpsa members??????
Seriously considering not rejoining . I don't need membership to shoot the good targets. So maybe I'll not bother.

 

[Richard59]

Had a shocker at hangmans today popped an farted to a decidedly average score.
Anyone can make it a to A or AA these days Rich . The averages are in such a mess.
. Also lots of non reg idiots about today . Really need to learn some sort of shooting etiquette these folk. But then again reg shoots are for cpsa members??????
Seriously considering not rejoining . I don't need membership to shoot the good targets. So maybe I'll not bother.

Also came across a fair few non reg, they seem to be everywhere Ive gone too, its cash in till although how it works if ground restricts entry & sell out do they refuse entry to a member yet still have non members shoot it??

 

[Westward]

its cash in till although how it works if ground restricts entry & sell out do they refuse entry to a member yet still have non members shoot it??

As I suspect you already know there's no easy answer to that Rich. Money talks, plain and simple.

In all the years I was out there reffing it was a rare shoot that didn't have at least a few non reg shooters, and for sure some have piss poor muzzle discipline. It's not funny when you get a closed gun pointed straight at your chest from 6 feet away and when you ask them them not to do it all you get is: "It's not loaded" snarled at you. It's also not amusing when 5 lads turn up, all sharing a single gun , often a semi auto, and hold up 10 registered competitors while they try to coach each other. At one of the Clay Shooting Classics I had someone, now deceased, turn up with 6 women, all complete novices, and start teaching them how to shoot, while a squad including at least 2 potential shoot winners stood around waiting.

 

[jasper]

Agreed they are everywhere. I realise it money in the till but the experience for members is somewhat diminished. Well yep. It was "full" today.
About time the cpsa got hold of this.

They seem hell bent on a dress code rule. So how will they enforce this when the shoot is full of non members.

Honestly. We're paying a premium price for a so called premium product and it's falling short on a lot of things lately. Ground owners have become complacent after covid . It seems like they think we will accept any old crap because we're happy to be alive.
Cpsa as usual takes money from all angles but doesn't seem bothered about the actual shooting or the rules. Our county committee is somewhat of a joke.
Also a very high number of grounds where practice is shot , then use a good proportion of practice targets on their next reg shoot. Unacceptable.
The reasons not to rejoin are building.

Just as an aside. My local hospital has sold the land where its helipad is to aldi. They are now fund raising to build another helipad on roof of said hospital. Honestly. You couldn't make this crap up.

 

[perazman]

Agreed they are everywhere. I realise it money in the till but the experience for members is somewhat diminished. Well yep. It was "full" today.
About time the cpsa got hold of this.

They seem hell bent on a dress code rule. So how will they enforce this when the shoot is full of non members.

Honestly. We're paying a premium price for a so called premium product and it's falling short on a lot of things lately. Ground owners have become complacent after covid . It seems like they think we will accept any old crap because we're happy to be alive.
Cpsa as usual takes money from all angles but doesn't seem bothered about the actual shooting or the rules. Our county committee is somewhat of a joke.
Also a very high number of grounds where practice is shot , then use a good proportion of practice targets on their next reg shoot. Unacceptable.
The reasons not to rejoin are building.

Just as an aside. My local hospital has sold the land where its helipad is to aldi. They are now fund raising to build another helipad on roof of said hospital. Honestly. You couldn't make this crap up.

Sums up how I'm feeling at the minute. A row of crap weather effected scores probably hasn't helped either but when you scratch the surface of our sport it really is an eye opener.

Why are some shooters allowed to routinely bin their cards? Why are some shooters bad scores miraculously 11% under their average each time? Why, when going to a ground on a wednesday for cartridges are there thursday competition shooters going around shooting the course?!!

All of us know there's some real "gimme" competition grounds out there. I'm currently A class but I know if I cherry picked my comps I could easily be AA. Hell, if I lived halfway between Cheshire and Derbyshire I'd be AAA!

PM.

 

[Richard59]

Agreed they are everywhere. I realise it money in the till but the experience for members is somewhat diminished. Well yep. It was "full" today.
About time the cpsa got hold of this.

They seem hell bent on a dress code rule. So how will they enforce this when the shoot is full of non members.

Honestly. We're paying a premium price for a so called premium product and it's falling short on a lot of things lately. Ground owners have become complacent after covid . It seems like they think we will accept any old crap because we're happy to be alive.
Cpsa as usual takes money from all angles but doesn't seem bothered about the actual shooting or the rules. Our county committee is somewhat of a joke.
Also a very high number of grounds where practice is shot , then use a good proportion of practice targets on their next reg shoot. Unacceptable.
The reasons not to rejoin are building.

Just as an aside. My local hospital has sold the land where its helipad is to aldi. They are now fund raising to build another helipad on roof of said hospital. Honestly. You couldn't make this crap up.

Re county committee, be thankful you have one, Avon folded recently, Wiltshires has resigned en masse and my own county Gloucestershire is also struggling to fill places, its not a cheery outlook that volunteering lark.

 

[Will Hewland]

Hangmanstone Boxing Day; 45 people on 90 or more. Happy Xmas course setting it seems. I’m sure was still a decent shoot.

 

[Richard59]

Hangmanstone Boxing Day; 45 people on 90 or more. Happy Xmas course setting it seems. I’m sure was still a decent shoot.

There were 47 of you AAA AA boys there, you chaps do need to bang in 90s to get & stay at the top of the tree, now in saying that Im probably not ( really Im not ) the best to gauge this events difficulty against other shoots locally or otherwise.

 

[Will Hewland]

There were 47 of you AAA AA boys there, you chaps do need to bang in 90s to get & stay at the top of the tree, now in saying that Im probably not ( really Im not ) the best to gauge this events difficulty against other shoots locally or otherwise.

For sure a big heap of AAA/AA can make it look easier than it is. But an average of 83 is still high. I’m guessing it needed two stands made more firm. But I’m sure everyone enjoyed it and the tougher shoots will even things up.

 

[jasper]

Re county committee, be thankful you have one, Avon folded recently, Wiltshires has resigned en masse and my own county Gloucestershire is also struggling to fill places, its not a cheery outlook that volunteering lark.

I'd rather we didn't have one tbh.

 

[Stiggers]

Not an organised shoot, just my weekly trip to Doveridge, but felt the need to offer them credit for the addition of a sporting trap section in place of the original trap 2. Under cover with 8 launches.

I spent my last 60 cartridges in there all by myself and loved it - well done Doveridge

 

[Freddypip]

That was being constructed when I was there 3 weeks ago. It's a welcome addition. I recall a few years back they had an 8 trap layout on one of the skeet layouts - that was a lot of fun but was not a permanent feature. Is the sportrap layout still on at the bottom (near the old driven) ?

 

[chesterse]

A long trip over to Hodnet (West Midlands SG) yesterday for their Christmas shoot. Well worth the effort as it was an excellent shoot comprising of a great variety of targets over 15 stands for 100 birds.
There was only one target I couldn’t find - a very high and fast r -l quartering crosser. Only a couple hit on our squad. Dropped too many odd targets and when it’s only three pairs one is too many.
Love that place though, must be my favourite ground!