Sporting shoots. Where - and how did it go?

[Karl86]

Barrow Heath today. First time there and I have to say I was very impressed with the ground. Very well organised no real waiting time. Me and a mate got round 12 stands in 2 hrs and it was far from empty, just seemed to flow. 

The course was good, first six stands easier than the last 6 but I shot them equally as bad after a promising start straighting the first 2stands. 

A big battue simo pair caused most a few issues but other than that they were there to be missed. Which I did well ? 

shot 62 about 10 away from where I should have been and 20 away from where I'd like to be.  Good day out with the gun though. I'll definitely be going more often. 

 

[Jeremy Baker]

Shot Grange with Ed today. 

Good tougher layout today. 

Scored 83 ballsed up two stands apart from that happy. 

Then on to Northampton, steady layout 

Scored 87 should have been just over 90 if I had cleaned the round up a little. Again happy enough. 

 

[Simonix]

Shot Grimsthorpe today and finished with a 74. Happy with that (above my cpsa average) although I could have got 80 if it wasn't for those silly ones I let get away (as always!). 

Lovely weather, and great targets as always there. 

 

[Doctor Lecter]

I also shot grimsthorpe  100 esp practice  love the setting  and good  targets finished on 81   cant hit driven for love or money  and missed all 4 battues  on stand 5 

 

[Sian]

The weather was lovely today.  Started off at Four Counties sportrap with Matt and Gavin on the same squad.  Enjoyed it, hit some missed some, got two stonkingly good Simo pairs even if I say so myself.  Then onto Westonwood which is always lovely to walk around in this kind of weather.  Really enjoyed the shoot, a good mix of targets, some I was extremely happy to get and finally got a score with a 7 at the beginning at Westonwood.  Okay it was 70/100 but it was a personal achievement.  Lovely to see Ally there after being so unwell.

 

[Hamster]

Not having a glowing amount to say about one of the shoots I went to I wasn't gonna post but then thought why the hell not:

Greenfields first with a nice mid to hard round scored 89 which owing to lack of "names" was joint lead when I left.

I had stopped doing Keston mainly because of the boring nature of several single on repot stands  :???:  but having seen a positive endorsement by GD on FB recently I thought it worth a peep which involved a 3 hour return drive. 

Four memorable stands, long, high tricky incomer followed by tricky, distant quartering away orange from trap well to the left - long arcing battue followed by rapid away bird - long R/L quartering crosser midi followed by close L/R std - very tricky, surprisingly fast descending pair of edge on high L/R cleverly set up to make trees provide a blindside pick up point.   Another stand with a quartering away std followed by a rapid mini away high could just be called a decent stand.

The remaining five stands were forgettable to say the least, three of which featured mind numbing away on reports  :mellow:  another two comprising of straw baler pairs.  

If shoots that can't throw 2 birds off each stand because of trap shortages were to cut down to 80 birds, wouldn't it potentially attract more people in the first place PLUS have more people inclined to have a second go ? 

 

[HardFocus]

The weather was lovely today.  Started off at Four Counties sportrap with Matt and Gavin on the same squad.  Enjoyed it, hit some missed some, got two stonkingly good Simo pairs even if I say so myself.  Then onto Westonwood which is always lovely to walk around in this kind of weather.  Really enjoyed the shoot, a good mix of targets, some I was extremely happy to get and finally got a score with a 7 at the beginning at Westonwood.  Okay it was 70/100 but it was a personal achievement.  Lovely to see Ally there after being so unwell.

Well done Sian - I enjoyed  Westonwood as well and "SNAP" I came away with 70/100 as well

I thought I got 69 but it was 70 and I agree with you that it feels better to have the score start with a 7 rather than a 6.

 

[Sian]

Well done Sian - I enjoyed  Westonwood as well and "SNAP" I came away with 70/100 as well

I thought I got 69 but it was 70 and I agree with you that it feels better to have the score start with a 7 rather than a 6.

Mine would have been 71 had I actually queried the last bird on a stand before walking away which I definitely got.

 

[CharlesP]

"Mine would have been 71 had I actually queried the last bird on a stand before walking away which I definitely got."

Sian - I feel your pain.

 

[bisondan]

I shot the last Premier League shoot at Owls on Saturday and had a nightmare score of 69 on what I thought wasn't a hard course, I put it down to tiredness. 

Had nearly 12 hours sleep Saturday night and made up for it at my first ever trip to Gunsite with an 82, my joint 2nd highest registered score.

The positive I take out of the weekend is that a) the 69 is my best ever score at Owls and that when I first started shooting registered around April my scores were low 60s with low 70s being the best, a few months on more scores in the 80s are happening and a 70 is a low for me.

 

[philmoss]

Barrow Heath today. First time there and I have to say I was very impressed with the ground. Very well organised no real waiting time. Me and a mate got round 12 stands in 2 hrs and it was far from empty, just seemed to flow. 

The course was good, first six stands easier than the last 6 but I shot them equally as bad after a promising start straighting the first 2stands. 

A big battue simo pair caused most a few issues but other than that they were there to be missed. Which I did well ? 

shot 62 about 10 away from where I should have been and 20 away from where I'd like to be.  Good day out with the gun though. I'll definitely be going more often. 

Thanks for the report & glad you enjoyed your 1st visit........

The BIG battue simo pair was actually a simo pair of chondels (a standard & a midi), the sequence board on each stand tells you what the targets are & i also put a clay of each type being thrown on that particular stand to assist !!!

Hope to see you at our next English sporting event on 11th October

 

[bisondan]

Shot the monthly club shoot at Bisley today with Rosso in the decent weather.

Did ok with 79 which is above my average and it was nice to try some different things like trying killing targets in different places.

Didnt read some of it particularly well, think it was more a case though of not paying too much attention.  Made a change to shoot some good targets in a non-registered event which suited me as I had a 15-hour day at a wedding on Saturday in Somerset.

 

[chippy]

Shot sporting targets today started badly dropping 9 on the first 4or5 stands but finished better and possibly crept into the money.

 

[Will Hewland]

Atkin Grant and Lang today in the sunshine. A little firmer than last time, which it needed to be, but still not a tough shoot. Some good interesting and fiddly stands though. Enjoyable. I missed the ones where I deserved to, but avoided any silly slip ups, so hoping that nobody has a good day and knocks me off the top spot..

update.. Somebody had a good day, so shared HG. Grrr..

 

[Nimbusgb]

My local club is Northall and I try to do the Saturday shoots there every two weeks as I've been climbing the rankings slowly. Last Saturday I met two blokes visiting Northall who usually shot at Headly. It's on the week that Northall is not on so ideal for a sneaky Saturday while the better half is at work.

Although I try to get around the SouthEast a bit I'd not heard if this club but a bit of delving and I found their website and directions and I dropped in there this morning for a look see.

first of all it's pretty well hidden so it takes a bit of satnaving! Next up the 1/2 mile of access path is not suitable for a low slung sports car. Take a gun slip and walk up to the club if the weather is anything but perfect, leaving the car at the village shop parking area. In winter it's probably only suitable for a 4*4.

The club is 'rustic', set amongst a small forest and generally shooting into a large cleared patch of low scrub. Cages or enclosures and railings are built of tree branches and ply. 9 or 10 stands with 3 or 4 pairs to make up a 60 shoot. They also have a compact and a DTL layout. Very unusual is the limitless free tea and coffee. A tented area and lots of benches and tables. Get there early, around 9 and I am told there are free bacon butties. At around 12:30 there was a free barbecue! 60 sporting cost me £22 ( reasonable ) and compact was £12 which is pretty steep! They do accept cards and shells are on sale, motly Rios I think for a fiver a box.

Not the most testing targets. I managed to hit 88% of the couple of rounds of compact that I shot. A couple of silly mistakes robbed me of a 24/25 on one go.

the sporting 60 had more than a few sim pairs, nothing far out but tricky with intelligent use of trees and the brush to make it satisfying to straight a stand. Only one trap gave us trouble until we started pressing the button really hard. 2 stands had manually fired traps, one of which was a rabbit. No scorers but it was easy to form a squad with other blokes.

lots of the guys seem to only shoot there and had not shot anywhere else at all.

All in all a cracking mornings shooting in a true club atmosphere. I'll definately visit again.

 

[bisondan]

Shot the registered at Owls Lodge this morning, great course once again nicely thought out by Mr Faulds.

Ended up on 75 which is my highest score there by several targets and I shall keep going back until I crack it.  I shot the long stuff really well, and it was nice to have a couple of County shooters say well shot when I was coming off a stand. 

It's just the closer quick stuff which I'm making a hash of, still it's something for me to work on with Ed when I see him at the end of October.

Off to Southdown in the morning with me good mate Rosso.

 

[Will Hewland]

Honesberie for me. Thought I would go there, instead of the nearer Horne, to get some testing targets. Mission accomplished! Found it very firm on half the stands and tricky on the easier ones. I feel they could have backed off two of the tougher stands. Had a shocker on the sim quartering in and very high teal, hitting 2/10! (Mind you, there was a huge queue and my brain was fried before I shot it). So, one to forget for me today..

 

[Hamster]

Shot an 86 at Greenfields which was defo a toughie (GD 95), every stand had at least one demanding bird some had two   really enjoyed it.

Then went to Abbey for their rare 100 birders and that too was excellent, a few close ones in the wood but a lot of edge on distant birds and tricky pairs that even experienced shots were tackling the wrong way round. A couple of distant loopers and crossers and a very good simmo pair of rabbits quartering/crosser. I missed 4 on a fast and rangey simmo pair of aways launched from the right which was a tad unfair as the black clays meant you simply could not see the first clay anywhere near the sweet spot. Kevin Howlands 97 was almost insane, I did very well to be honest hardly missing anything I should have hit for a 92 and 2nd place, 2 more AA's on 90 despite a very big entry so I feel quite chuffed. Excellent layout Abbey. 

 

[evoracer]

Shot an 86 at Greenfields which was defo a toughie (GD 95), every stand had at least one demanding bird some had two   really enjoyed it.

Then went to Abbey for their rare 100 birders and that too was excellent, a few close ones in the wood but a lot of edge on distant birds and tricky pairs that even experienced shots were tackling the wrong way round. A couple of distant loopers and crossers and a very good simmo pair of rabbits quartering/crosser. I missed 4 on a fast and rangey simmo pair of aways launched from the right which was a tad unfair as the black clays meant you simply could not see the first clay anywhere near the sweet spot. Kevin Howlands 97 was almost insane, I did very well to be honest hardly missing anything I should have hit for a 92 and 2nd place, 2 more AA's on 90 despite a very big entry so I feel quite chuffed. Excellent layout Abbey. 

I shot Abbey today very stiff compared to normally which in my opinion is a bloody good thing! some "proper birds". As you say I see all sorts of birds shot the wrong way. the queues got to me a bit and I ended up a tad frustrated. 

But i agree they are the best targets i have ever seen on there!

 

[bisondan]

Shot a reasonable 73 at Southdown in the glorious weather today, definitely the toughest it's been in the few visits I've had there.

Good weekend of shooting over two testing courses. Shot above my average on both, happy with my distance shooting but need to slow down my routine a bit as at times I'm rushing and it's costing me a few targets.