Sporting Shoots; where- and how was it? (2018)

[Steve Lovatt]

We would be happy to add you to any form of our information sources.

i arrived home at 11ish on Saturday evening with very very little snow anywhere and very little forecast over night here local to me .

i was up at 5am and on the road to the wood by 5.45 , the main roads were not too bad .

before I arrived at Oxford I had a text from one of my scorers mother to say she couldn't get out of her drive to bring three of my staff , within 10 mins jane my chef called to say she was struggling on out of cheltenham and would try her best to arrive to carry on , she is 73 years old !!! So then I decided to turn around and call it all off !!

im sure I have read posts on here and face book Hamid historically with you saying the weather is wet , windy , not nice , I'm not playing but all the grounds are open regardless 

so again I'm sorry for your inconvenience .

 

[Hamster]

We would be happy to add you to any form of our information sources.

i arrived home at 11ish on Saturday evening with very very little snow anywhere and very little forecast over night here local to me .

i was up at 5am and on the road to the wood by 5.45 , the main roads were not too bad .

before I arrived at Oxford I had a text from one of my scorers mother to say she couldn't get out of her drive to bring three of my staff , within 10 mins jane my chef called to say she was struggling on out of cheltenham and would try her best to arrive to carry on , she is 73 years old !!! So then I decided to turn around and call it all off !!

im sure I have read posts on here and face book Hamid historically with you saying the weather is wet , windy , not nice , I'm not playing but all the grounds are open regardless 

so again I'm sorry for your inconvenience .

Not your fault Steve, these things happen, I am gutted I won't be able to make the 24th. 

 

[Will Hewland]

I dragged my slumping form to Owls Lodge today. I would only have hit a very average score if it had been easy, but it wasn’t. So no false compliments for being off my best, I got battered down to 78, which I’ve done several times lately, I’ve lost the plot, temporarily I hope..

A good shoot. Maybe stand 5 was a touch too brutal, especially as there were plenty of other chances to slip up.. crikey it was colder than I had expected too.. good to see Hamid!

 

[Hamster]

I dragged my slumping form to Owls Lodge today. I would only have hit a very average score if it had been easy, but it wasn’t. So no false compliments for being off my best, I got battered down to 78, which I’ve done several times lately, I’ve lost the plot, temporarily I hope..

A good shoot. Maybe stand 5 was a touch too brutal, especially as there were plenty of other chances to slip up.. crikey it was colder than I had expected too.. good to see Hamid!

Good to see some of yoos again, yes nice round if rather brutal in one or two places, stand 5 was just the perfik example of why you shouldn't throw two tough birds on the same stand and certainly not as a simmo   I lost 5 there and two other AA/AAA's on my squad only hit a similar number. Our scorer counted us up at the end and had me as 81 but I felt like I'd shot a bit worse than that. Not entirely convinced stand 12 simmo with the black rabbit against a dark background was visible to everyone but to be fair not many seemed to be missing it ! 

Looking forward to the next one. 

 

[Will Hewland]

HG was 90 I gather.. some great shots there too..

 

[Guest]

Imagine the horror of a shoot being won on a 90/100!!! Must have been brutal...

 

[Will Hewland]

Imagine the horror of a shoot being won on a 90/100!!! Must have been brutal...

Brutal, no.. But when a big field including 34 AA and AAA can’t exceed 90, it’s notable these days. 

 

[chippy]

Brutal, no.. But when a big field including 34 AA and AAA can’t exceed 90, it’s notable these days. 

AA and AAA's are all well past their best these days. a local A class shooter got high gun and joint high gun in the last two weeks with a 99 and a 97. A class, its the future

 

[Guest]

I’ve spoken to two target setters who say they have to tone down what they would like to set and now have to set targets to give people the “feel good” factor...one says,

“if the current trend of setting soft shoots continues, the cut off for AA class in a few years will be close to 90%” 

 

[Will Hewland]

I’ve spoken to two target setters who say they have to tone down what they would like to set and now have to set targets to give people the “feel good” factor...one says,

“if the current trend of setting soft shoots continues, the cut off for AA class in a few years will be close to 90%” 

Which bit of the country David?

As the sport grows, lots of newer shooters will mean more people not wanting to feel beaten up, but as you say, perhaps the cut offs rise massively, but all talk of easy shoots everywhere is just talk. 

 

[Hamster]

I’ve spoken to two target setters who say they have to tone down what they would like to set and now have to set targets to give people the “feel good” factor...one says,

“if the current trend of setting soft shoots continues, the cut off for AA class in a few years will be close to 90%” 

I bet it won't, people keep talking about easy shoots but you almost never see a straight (which is odd seeing as we have some truly incredible shots) and apart from a few who manage to bang in mid 90's scores the rest of the AA's tend to score in the 80's. 

Targets have got harder and more technical over the years and the reasons why scores have tended not to fall away are simply to do with more volume of shooters many of whom can afford the time and expense to shoot large volumes. A few years back I poured over the cut offs figures for the preceding 10 years and found they blipped up and down within a single digit. 

Even really good shots who regularly shoot 90+ have bad days when they drop 10+ more clays than they're used to which brings their (and the cut offs) :wink:  averages down to earth. 

 

[matt s]

In my fairly limited reg shooting experience,irrespective of hard or soft shoot the same people still HG a shoot or are in the top 10.im guessing if you’re a course setter you look at previous scores at your ground and maybe tweak accordingly.i most certainly wouldn’t want to do their job as you can guarantee it will have been too easy for one person and a bit too tough for his or her mate.i frequently hear,i shot the tough stands really well but messed up the easy ones.in general i think there seems to be a pretty good balance out there. 

 

[Will Hewland]

Well, that was the last Weston then.. A nice course, not too hard, but testing enough. Stayed dry and wasn’t cold, although the mud was pretty severe as I guess it wasn’t worth putting wood shavings down etc as last event there..

I’m hopefully starting to come out of a horrible slump. I was just tatty today, rather than useless,  missing 1 or 2 on many stands. Finished on 88 but I think a huge score will win, especially as RF was there. BH was leading on 96 when I left.

Anyway, sad to see the place stop. Here’s to Steve Lovatt’s new ventures!

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

Well, that was the last Weston then.. A nice course, not too hard, but testing enough. Stayed dry and wasn’t cold, although the mud was pretty severe as I guess it wasn’t worth putting wood shavings down etc as last event there..

I’m hopefully starting to come out of a horrible slump. I was just tatty today, rather than useless,  missing 1 or 2 on many stands. Finished on 88 but I think a huge score will win, especially as RF was there. BH was leading on 96 when I left.

Anyway, sad to see the place stop. Here’s to Steve Lovatt’s new ventures!

I feel like I've missed out by not going. It's a shame as it was my closest registered ground!

Westfield tomorrow after shooting Skeet today. Polar opposites i'd imagine.

 

[Will Hewland]

I feel like I've missed out by not going. It's a shame as it was my closest registered ground!

Westfield tomorrow after shooting Skeet today. Polar opposites i'd imagine.

Today wasn’t a classic there. It had a slightly downbeat feel I think, probably because it was a Saturday and because the ground isn’t in its best state. A good shoot though.

 

[Richard59]

I feel like I've missed out by not going. It's a shame as it was my closest registered ground!

Westfield tomorrow after shooting Skeet today. Polar opposites i'd imagine.

I see your skeet went rather well, did you use the new gun or an old favourite?

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

I see your skeet went rather well, did you use the new gun or an old favourite?

New gun, of course. Nothing else in the cabinet!

 

[Richard59]

New gun, of course. Nothing else in the cabinet!

 

 

[matt s]

Weston Wood for me this morning,crap second stand,dropped 3 of the pink quartering birds,started fine then started barrel watching for some reason,also made a hash of looper stand,timing and gun hold all over the place.finished on 88 so not all bad,just not a polished enough performance to have a 9 in front of it.shame that’s it at Weston Wood I’m going to have to drive more than 30minutes to shoot.

 

[Sian]

Westonwood for us too but had to rush off afterwards unfortunately.   Love just walking around there and of course shooting there.  Only one stand got the better of me today - stand 10 which shouldn’t really have been as bad.  My glasses steamed up every time I went to shoot at the second bird and I would stop my gun.  I missed 6 on that stand and up to that point had only dropped 9.  The last two stands I dropped one more on each.  Even got all my driven and the punk teal.  Finished on 83 - apparently enough for joint 1st in ladies.