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

[Jonny English]

Grimsthorpe for us today for practise, was a day of highs and lows.

The highs: the new high tower arena is excellent with 4 very good birds on it, and i shot with good consistency, breaking over 90% for the first time on the esp course.

The lows:  Finding out grimsthorpe are having a year off from any registered shoots after the fitasc series has finished, the cafe was closed and the round was 13 stands of very average targets. They have taken the decision to cater for the hobby shooter that wants to smash as many clays as possible and walk away from competitions. Seems like such a waste of an excellent ground.

 

[chippy]

Grimsthorpe for us today for practise, was a day of highs and lows.

The highs: the new high tower arena is excellent with 4 very good birds on it, and i shot with good consistency, breaking over 90% for the first time on the esp course.

The lows:  Finding out grimsthorpe are having a year off from any registered shoots after the fitasc series has finished, the cafe was closed and the round was 13 stands of very average targets. They have taken the decision to cater for the hobby shooter that wants to smash as many clays as possible and walk away from competitions. Seems like such a waste of an excellent ground.

What not even the Linc's sporting?

 

[Jonny English]

What not even the Linc's sporting?

No, no lincs sporting, no lincs fitasc. Only shoot they're doing is the Lincs police shoot. Apparently the registered shoots aren't financially viable any more, Mark was only putting them on for the love of the sport, so when people started to winge, he decided to pack it in, for this year at least anyway.

 

[Will Hewland]

No, no lincs sporting, no lincs fitasc. Only shoot they're doing is the Lincs police shoot. Apparently the registered shoots aren't financially viable any more, Mark was only putting them on for the love of the sport, so when people started to winge, he decided to pack it in, for this year at least anyway.

Is this to do with the course? Or the number of shooters available? A decent reg shoot down south has problems such as not enough car parking space or daylight. 

 

[chippy]

Their used to get big entries so how do the other grounds make it pay?  Such a shame it's one of the best grounds in the country

 

[Jonny English]

Is this to do with the course? Or the number of shooters available? A decent reg shoot down south has problems such as not enough car parking space or daylight. 

No the course is big enough for 2 rounds. The volume of entries just isn't big enough to make it pay, not sure now many they want as they usually get around 200 at an esp. Think the hassle involved of setting up getting scorers and shooters moaning is playing a big part in it. Problem is they can make more money on pay and play with next to no staff.

 

[Will Hewland]

Normally, the grounds that don’t rate the £5-7k turnover from a good reg shoot have the alternative of highly priced instruction (from game shooters and the grander set). Surprised if pay and play wins the battle..

 

[Jonny English]

Normally, the grounds that don’t rate the £5-7k turnover from a good reg shoot have the alternative of highly priced instruction (from game shooters and the grander set). Surprised if pay and play wins the battle..

I think one if the problems is they also have the farm to run, so the shooting ground is a side shoot of the farming activities on several hundred if not thousands of acres. So the clay ground doesn't need to make a huge profit necessarily.

 

[schmokinn]

Grimsthorpe for us today for practise, was a day of highs and lows.

The highs: the new high tower arena is excellent with 4 very good birds on it, and i shot with good consistency, breaking over 90% for the first time on the esp course.

The lows:  Finding out grimsthorpe are having a year off from any registered shoots after the fitasc series has finished, the cafe was closed and the round was 13 stands of very average targets. They have taken the decision to cater for the hobby shooter that wants to smash as many clays as possible and walk away from competitions. Seems like such a waste of an excellent ground.

Unfortunately a ground near me took this decision years ago as it requires virtually no effort,turn up on a Saturday and there can be literally hundreds in goups up to 8 that have 1 of them who owns a gun and thinks they know what they are doing....SCARY.

Thing is they make as much without doing anything but filling traps so why support the competitive element of our sport?

Very sad as it is massive and has some wonderful topography for sporting.

 

[Hamster]

I've always said ignore the bread and butter shooter at your peril, tis they who pays the bills. 

 

[Richard59]

Owls today, been working local all week, its been, like everywhere else flipping cold this week so was expecting arctic conditions (have been very cold at Owls before) however it was, by this weeks weather rather pleasant, chilly yes but not uncomfortably cold, shot at 2pm with four fellows Id never seen before, nice chaps all told. We started on st1 which meat a single route round, one did feel for the chaps starting on the high numbered stands as you end up walking the course twice or longer it feels. One did have a good start, a too too many l-r still eluded my shot string ( a common theme for me & today no different) felt I shot 8/12 stand quite well 1 a bit iffy and three I crashed, these in order being st6 a l-r rabbit, well more a hare running before the hounds, I just never got near it, its report a l-r edgy crosser I only found once, then st9 a fair l-r orange looper one hit just the twice after being confident enough to put the right lead on a target which I simply lost vision wise, that was with a r-l crosser I also couldn't find, and the other was st11 a r-l & l-r edgy low crossers again just not finding them until the end. Our ref did point out to me afterwards Id missed 8 (eight) first targets out of 12 stands, thats quite consistent in a poor way.

That all said I did enjoy my day out with chaps I might never meet again, they all looked to have enjoyed themselves, well we all did to be fair, had to dart off so did not see any scores, only a quick peek at C where a 76 was winning at the time, from that Im taking it that maybe it was little tougher than I appreciated at the time. 

 

[P1Fanatic]

Managed to get a few hours off work this morning so headed up to AGL. Skipped stands 1 & 2 as queues and did them last so managed to get around in 1hr. Very mild indeed - so much so that I was too warm half way around and my glasses steamed up a little. Should have removed a layer. Anyway nice course - nothing horrendous. Been struggling to get in the 80’s recently so was happy to finish on 88 but as always looks back at the silly ones you dropped.

 

[Jeremy Baker]

AGL today 

Awful sun in the face stands pretty straightforward else where.

Dropped 8 for 92

 

[Will Hewland]

Managed to get a few hours off work this morning so headed up to AGL. Skipped stands 1 & 2 as queues and did them last so managed to get around in 1hr. Very mild indeed - so much so that I was too warm half way around and my glasses steamed up a little. Should have removed a layer. Anyway nice course - nothing horrendous. Been struggling to get in the 80’s recently so was happy to finish on 88 but as always looks back at the silly ones you dropped.

You had a good day. That only felt steady because you’re on form. 88 should be in the money in A. Well shot. 

 

[P1Fanatic]

You had a good day. That only felt steady because you’re on form. 88 should be in the money in A. Well shot. 

It definetly won’t be in the money for me as went birds only

 

[Will Hewland]

It definetly won’t be in the money for me as went birds only

You were one clay short. Good call!

 

[Turkey]

A freezing Westfields with Doug & Colin...snow, hail & a token hurricane 

Shot well, but missed 8 on 3 stands  after killing the first pair (in a row my 4th/5th & 6th stands)

105/120

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

Westfields. Cold. Hail. Snow.

Managed 88/120. Nothing to write home about! Oh well, day on the longtails tomorrow will make up for it.

 

[Bebo]

Went to Dartford for their first Reg of the year.  Forgot that if it's windy elsewhere it's double there!  The biting cold wind made it pretty unpleasant, with some very wind affected targets.  Finished on a below par 60, but think I probably would have been mid 70's in less extreme conditions.

 

[Will Hewland]

Having shot twice in the week, I looked at the cold and wind today and ducked it.. no regrets.