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

[Will Hewland]

Most folks would give their right arm for that sort of OK.

Tbh, if I had missed one or two as I went along and hit 87, then it would have felt better.. with two stands to go it felt like a big score was coming.. then it wasn’t..

 

[chippy]

Tbh, if I had missed one or two as I went along and hit 87, then it would have felt better.. with two stands to go it felt like a big score was coming.. then it wasn’t..

Like getting the first four lottery numbers.

 

[schmokinn]

Like getting the first four lottery numbers.

Got the first 5 once....1500 quid what a let down,week before would have only been 800!

 

[P1Fanatic]

Lovely day for shooting. A fairly steady course by Four Counties standards but you still have to hit them. Managed an 87 after the mind started thinking ooh new pb possible only to drop 5 in my last two stands including two rabbits I just shot in front of.

 

[donna]

Shot Southdown Benelli super sporting this morning, annual trip with the auto!  Foggy this morning but turned out a lovely day.  Now I’m home and looked at the pic of my score card I’ve realised I’ve been scored wrong.  Stand 14 I hit all of the last 3 targets and it’s been put down as 3 zeros!  Bummer, really annoyed at myself but not much I can do now.  I normally check my card as I come out of stand but as it was squadded, the last shooter was picking up the card.  Annoyed because the Benelli Guy was videoing it too!!  Never mind, that is a lesson learnt. Good targets, and one stand you had to sit down and shoot which caught a few people out, good squad and a lovely bit of cake afterwards

 

[schmokinn]

Benelli Auto...beautiful day,tartgets ok OVER  5 HOURS TO GET ROUNDI!!!

f***ING JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a little annoyed and by the time we finished it seemed everybody had had enough  :scratchhead:

 

[donna]

Benelli Auto...beautiful day,tartgets ok OVER  5 HOURS TO GET ROUNDI!!!

f***ING JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a little annoyed and by the time we finished it seemed everybody had had enough  :scratchhead:

S**t, I think I would’ve given up!!  We had an early start, no hold ups and finished at a reasonable time.  

 

[Sian]

A long day down to Meadowcroft and Tor View in Somerset.  Beautiful scenery but loooong drive.  My second visit to Meadowcroft and my first to Tor View. Both good shoots but I struggled at Tor View.  The ground is gorgeous but totally natural and hilly so stands were not flat and I struggled finding my footing on most stands.  I was tired (still on antibiotics for my gun infection) so probably would have done better as the first shoot I think.  Dreaded driven did for me.  

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

Shot a couple rounds of skeet on Saturday and shot some very poor scores (84 and 87) so put the gun away and went to the beach on Sunday instead. Managed a 99 (from the ice cream van) so it wasn't all bad  

 

[Westward]

As an infrequent shooter with minimal expectations I don't usually post about shoots but Meadowcroft was interesting. Turned up fairly late only to be greeted by long faces and tales of woe about how tough it was, especially stands 1-6. So, coward that I am,  I started at the bottom end. It all seemed a fairly normal level up till the simo incomers (crows) which were a classic straight at them card filling stand. Not for me though... Missed the first pair, then the 2nd, then the 3rd at which point I remembered I was wearing a shooting vest for the first time in many months and that my gun mount was off.  Fixed that and mashed the last pair. There were a couple of eyesight tests using black clays against a dark background and I didn't hit any of the battues for that reason. After that things picked up and personally I thought stands 1-6 were really good testing targets that made you work for your hits. I'd like to see more targets like those and less of the boring stuff we see so much of these days. As a 'leisure shooter' I'd rather focus on trying to hit the targets rather than trying not to miss them.

Looking at the scores and considering my gun mount screw ups I wasn't disappointed to finish on 68.

 

[Sian]

As an infrequent shooter with minimal expectations I don't usually post about shoots but Meadowcroft was interesting. Turned up fairly late only to be greeted by long faces and tales of woe about how tough it was, especially stands 1-6. So, coward that I am,  I started at the bottom end. It all seemed a fairly normal level up till the simo incomers (crows) which were a classic straight at them card filling stand. Not for me though... Missed the first pair, then the 2nd, then the 3rd at which point I remembered I was wearing a shooting vest for the first time in many months and that my gun mount was off.  Fixed that and mashed the last pair. There were a couple of eyesight tests using black clays against a dark background and I didn't hit any of the battues for that reason. After that things picked up and personally I thought stands 1-6 were really good testing targets that made you work for your hits. I'd like to see more targets like those and less of the boring stuff we see so much of these days. As a 'leisure shooter' I'd rather focus on trying to hit the targets rather than trying not to miss them.

Looking at the scores and considering my gun mount screw ups I wasn't disappointed to finish on 68.

I enjoyed it, I missed an orange one all four times because I just couldn't pick it up well and poked at it - up the top end.  

 

[Westward]

I enjoyed it, I missed an orange one all four times because I just couldn't pick it up well and poked at it - up the top end.  

It sure was pretty rapid coming out. I held too far back on the 1st one and paid the price because it jumped me and got ahead of the gun. I put it down to lack of practice rather than lack of talent.

Held further out for the rest and hit them okay.

 

[Will Hewland]

Owls Lodge today. Breezy and a bit chilly, but no rain fell on me. Shot it at 10 (well, M4 disaster journey meant we were late).

I thought it was an interesting course, with only one really firm stand, but general level was respectable. Even so the scores that were in from some good names were lower than I had expected, with only 92 leading at 1pm. LOTS of good shooters still to go, a big entry, so I think a 96/97 will come in.

I hit 89 and enjoyed it, but was messy and kept dropping one or two when I had no reason too. I’ll blame it on not shooting much lately. I got 4/8 on the tough stand 3.

Good to see Hamid and many other friendly faces.

 

[Sian]

Owls for me today and the first shoot in 3 weeks with minimal pain - tooth out yesterday which took 50 minutes of giving me  13 injections to numb enough to take out!  Apparently the massive infection although on the mend was still there and that and my own adrenaline fought the anaesthetic.  but I digress.  It rained on us for the last four or five stands.  Enjoyed the shoot, managing 5 on stand 3 once I discarded my hat.  Pair of rabbits was  a shambles for most of my squad including me.  .   Finished on 77.  

 

[Will Hewland]

On to AGL. Nice varied course, good balance of stands, only one or two tough ones. Should have hit a tidy score but 88; usual story of some tatty misses, then missed first two pairs on the driven stand! Cut back, hit last two pairs. Idiotic. Just can’t get round the whole course unscathed at the moment.. 

 

[Sian]

AGL for me too.  Started well and ended well just went a bit silly in the middle.  Driven was the worst for me I missed 6 - the stupid thing was I should have taken the first bird as a crosser and at least got 4 but no I just got more frustrated and got 2. Two other stands missed 4 on each, one of them was purely down to realising it was better to shoot the first bird out of my shoulder but too late.  The stand where they had the large birds at the championship got me today as well.  Can’t be too unhappy finished on an 82 with the rest of the stands straights or one away.

 

[diver682]

AGL for me too.  Started well and ended well just went a bit silly in the middle.  Driven was the worst for me I missed 6 - the stupid thing was I should have taken the first bird as a crosser and at least got 4 but no I just got more frustrated and got 2. Two other stands missed 4 on each, one of them was purely down to realising it was better to shoot the first bird out of my shoulder but too late.  The stand where they had the large birds at the championship got me today as well.  Can’t be too unhappy finished on an 82 with the rest of the stands straights or one away.

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[schmokinn]

Bottom of your score card says 72 , hope this mistake has been picked up on or it might cost you some prize money 

Will be entry number 72  leasantry:

 

[Sian]

Will be entry number 72  leasantry:

It was entry 72

 

[Nimbusgb]

Classique at Westfield for me yesterday.

3 hour drive each way so a nice 5:15 start for a 09:30 first cage. First real competition I have shot in nearly 18 months. New gun a couple of weeks ago. Drive down from North Wales started under very low cloud and deteriorated into 150 metre fog. By the time we started it had improved very little but clays were visible so on with the game. Those are my excuses and I'm sticking to them.

Westfield looking neat and tidy with traps everywhere! 2 courses of 100 birds, Read and Blue course, we started on the Blue course to the west of the clubhouse, every squad started on stand 1 and proceeded in an orderly fashion round the course, almost 2 hour break and then on to the course you hadn't shot so time for a bite to eat, drink and a bit of a rest in the car!

My morning round was disappointing, my usual lazy style losing me lots and my card looked like the refs were sketching flying saucers ( 0 0 0 ... ). After lunch I got my head back in the game and started off only dropping 2 on the first 3 stands. The sun was starting to break through and the day brightened up as we progressed. I finished well off the pace and not nearly as well as I could have, probably 30 targets below even my poor averages lost in the morning! 

BUT , GD only managed 179 and he was 1 squad in front of me. I was only beaten on my squad by a AAA shooter ( with 30 more score ) and matched by a B shooter so actually it was probably quite a good day. As usual Steve Lovatt put on some excellent targets. Nothing that couldn't be hit, nothing really out in the distance, clever use of terrain and features to challenge the shooter. Towers, a pair of tricky rabbits, a 70mm battue that drew some people into over leading it by a mile,  a sim pair of incomers that devastated most of our squads scorecards and that we all scratched our heads about and a pair of 'simple' going away standards up a lane in trees that seemed to be fitted with some cloaking device and that dissapeared at the kill point in spite of being in full view! 

A good days shooting! The winner will well deserve it. Depending on the development of the expected thunderstorms today I believe we actually may have had the better day on Saturday but if it's clear today may provide the winner, if not D Hughes deserves the title with his 189/200