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

[Doug Pinnegar]

I shot the masters Comapk at Doveridge on Sunday; really enjoyable shoot and a discipline I need to practice more. Ended on 82 which in that game, even in C class, is about 10 light 

Today is the first actually summers day (judging by the weather out of the window) for the Ian Coley summer series. Looking forward to shooting it.

 

[Will Hewland]

I did Coleys today. We started on stand 7 and after about 4 stands I really wasn’t feeling complimentary about the course. Close, fiddly, slow-hanging etc. Just didn’t feel rewarding to shoot and was hard to shoot well too. Thankfully the rest of the course was much better and felt how it should to me.

I have my usual tales of woe, the most notable being stand 1 where I had smashed the first 3 pairs then a slightly low teal put me off and I missed the pair. Then another last bird as I was frustrated. Also a bouncing rabbit which just didn’t bounce for anybody else. Grr.. Finished on 87. I would think HG should be 95 or 96.

 

[Richard59]

I did Coleys today. We started on stand 7 and after about 4 stands I really wasn’t feeling complimentary about the course. Close, fiddly, slow-hanging etc. Just didn’t feel rewarding to shoot and was hard to shoot well too. Thankfully the rest of the course was much better and felt how it should to me.

I have my usual tales of woe, the most notable being stand 1 where I had smashed the first 3 pairs then a slightly low teal put me off and I missed the pair. Then another last bird as I was frustrated. Also a bouncing rabbit which just didn’t bounce for anybody else. Grr.. Finished on 87. I would think HG should be 95 or 96.

Coleys also, sunny day and very decent chums in squad, we started on 9 as you say fiddly stuff that for me caught the sun, direct sun + prescription glasses = not pleasant, our squad was a 6, the following squad a 5, said squad soon caught up the "spare" stand and we were constantly treated to both a second set of clays in air and the sight of this squad moving around within ones broader gaze, not that our ref nor the ref on following squad really gave a fig, we were to have that sort of day, another oddity was watching squads shoot a r-l rabbit followed by a l-r incoming crosser, only to also see on same stand squads shoot it as a l-r crosser than a r-l rabbit very odd indeed. 

The heat must have got to the clays as our happy squad did mange to rack up the no-birds, everyone suffered.

Will take hat off to Joe Hale 91 & the glamorous Zea 77, as for HG that went to Grant Pendleton 94, which was 5 clays short of the prediction of one former coach.

Many had a good day, overall can't say I did, it is however my "on doorstep ground" so will return, its just days like this make it hard work to really enjoy & smile through the needless difficulties, if I lived hours away I might view it differently.

 

[GT2]

Also shot Coley’s. Ended up on 93. Good group of blokes and quite enjoyed the round. Nothing needing much of a gap but got caught by a couple of the slow dollies shooting way in front.

Got a bit of last clay syndrome missing the last bird on 4 stands!

Set off at 12pm on stand 1 so didn’t have any trouble with the sun which was helpful. Not sure what scores were or HG, imagine a 96 or thereabouts would do it. 

 

[Will Hewland]

Also shot Coley’s. Ended up on 93. Good group of blokes and quite enjoyed the round. Nothing needing much of a gap but got caught by a couple of the slow dollies shooting way in front.

Got a bit of last clay syndrome missing the last bird on 4 stands!

Set off at 12pm on stand 1 so didn’t have any trouble with the sun which was helpful. Not sure what scores were or HG, imagine a 96 or thereabouts would do it. 

I wished I’d started on stand 1. I hate shooting the fiddly edgey stuff first. 94 HG. Some good names struggled. 

 

[Westward]

 our squad was a 6, the following squad a 5, said squad soon caught up the "spare" stand and we were constantly treated to both a second set of clays in air and the sight of this squad moving around within ones broader gaze, not that our ref nor the ref on following squad really gave a fig, we were to have that sort of day, another oddity was watching squads shoot a r-l rabbit followed by a l-r incoming crosser, only to also see on same stand squads shoot it as a l-r crosser than a r-l rabbit very odd indeed.

None of which should have happened. At the morning briefing and walk round the refs were told to keep back and maintain the 2 stand gap between squads to avoid overflying clays. Your ref should have asked the following ref to keep clear until your squad had cleared the stand.

We also questioned Matt about the couple of stands had the menu order the opposite of the handset buttons and again we were clearly told to fire A then B regardless of the menu order.

I'll mention all this to Matt next time I see him.

 

[wynno]

Agree with Will, the rabbit and the white going away stand in the woods was an eye tester, sometimes the rabbit came out at speed others it just ambled out.

stand 1 we shot it as a report pair, only on walking off did we notice that it should have been a  simo pair

stand 4 we shot it as rabbit first then the l-r incoming, I missed the first rabbit,sod bounced, blew all the rest up with the exception of the last clay when I thought I’d give it about 10 feet in front.

silly little mistakes all conspire to wreck your card.

 

[Westward]

Agree with Will, the rabbit and the white going away stand in the woods was an eye tester, sometimes the rabbit came out at speed others it just ambled out.

stand 1 we shot it as a report pair, only on walking off did we notice that it should have been a  simo pair

stand 4 we shot it as rabbit first then the l-r incoming, I missed the first rabbit,sod bounced, blew all the rest up with the exception of the last clay when I thought I’d give it about 10 feet in front.

silly little mistakes all conspire to wreck your card.

I wouldn't think simo vs report mattered much on stand 1 as there was a fair delay before the high target appeared, but stand 4 was a completely different pair if shot in the wrong order.

Since I need to email Matt today about other stuff I'll include all these points.

 

[Will Hewland]

EJ Churchill yesterday in the sunshine. I thought it was a good course with nothing overly easy; then some testing but not brutal stands too. I frustrated myself yet again. Get this, I shot 90 but only straighted two stands! That means missing 1 on 10 stands. Half of those were on the first pair, so reasonable, but the others were later. I never missed on second pair on any stand. Basically my card was a psychological study.

 

[Bebo]

EJ Churchill yesterday in the sunshine. I thought it was a good course with nothing overly easy; then some testing but not brutal stands too. I frustrated myself yet again. Get this, I shot 90 but only straighted two stands! That means missing 1 on 10 stands. Half of those were on the first pair, so reasonable, but the others were later. I never missed on second pair on any stand. Basically my card was a psychological study.

My card was all over the place.  Really poor misses on stands 1 to 3, purely due to me not concentrating.  Bumped into a colleagues wife and her friend who I've never shot with before and ended up going round with them.  Meant I didn't really focus properly at the start, missed a really simple teal on 1 (and two of the close rabbits), 2 I was all over the place overleading the second bird until the last pair and kept missing the crow on 3.  Knuckled down on 4 and 5, with a couple of early missed on each, but then hitting the rest.  Then for an absolute purple patch of only one dropped on the next four stands.  Started the sim pair on 10 well, then thought I had a no bird on the 3rd pair which meant I delayed taking the first bird and ended up pair away.  Stand 11 meltdown, no issue with the orange quartering bird didn't hit one of the sloppy slow lr targets!  On 12 got all the battues, but missed the first three orange crossers slightly behind.

Finished on 74 (my current average), but felt like a missed opportunity for an 80+

 

[Sian]

I also show EJC, too hot for me in the afternoon also I have a urinary tract infection which was murder - I don't know I am falling apart.  I definitely could not concentrate to my best ability.  Nice to shoot with my pal Jane though.

 

[Westward]

  Nice to shoot with my pal Jane though.

aka Thelma and Louise.

 

[Richard59]

Longridge, early clouds burnt off and a delightful sunny day, went round with bro Bunter, it was the H&W and the Staffordshire County Championship shoot also. One had a pleasant start before wheels off and try as I could to put things right the "harder I tried the worse it got" scenario was truly evident. Felt it was a fair enough course,  just not going to be my day (again), cannot blame sun as not a clay crossed nor was it reflected in / on any clay thrown for me.

Bro Bunter a decent 79 more than took family honours today, 

Mr Matty Turk of this parish with 96 was leading when I left, there was though quite a few still out and I left at 2, entries close was 3.30 so still plenty of time.

Just looked, am in London wednesday (that's the Barbury Sportap off diary) so for me nothing on this mid-week so looks like will have to go to work every day, well until friday pm that is. 

 

[Sian]

SHot the EJC open Fitasc on Saturday which I enjoyed with a couple of Aussies here for the Worlds and another gent from UK.  Shoot 50 break shoot 50 which I like.  I also liked the format where we shot from totally different areas rather than 3 hoops on one layout.  Basically meant apart from pairs, all birds were different.  Then went to my local club AC Sporting targets and a few of us had a friendly competition on the house after hours shooting extreme targets which was great fun.   Today it was Barrow and was supposed to go to Northampton after but there were so many people at Barrow it took nearly four hours to shoot 100 clays and it was sunnier than expected so I baked and got fidgety and despite it being a good course I really lost the plot, one to forget.  Still I collected my prize money and 500 cartridges for ladies high gun at the Cheddite shoot.  

 

[Bebo]

All rounder at Dartford yesterday. Shot the ABT poorly, mediocre on the rest. Couldn't be bothered with a long drive today so did the 100 bird open at Willow Farm. For a flat ground they always put on some decent targets. Shot most of it fairly well, worst stand was a sim pair of right to lefts. Why do I insist on stopping the gun when a pair of targets cross? Finished on 81.

 

[Hamster]

Greenfields registered first thing, (mostly) good layout particularly the top field which featured testing birds on every stand, carded 84 which was 6-7 light but not helped by 5 away on the Micky Mouse stand 4 throwing two fast away edge on's with traps to the left and in front designed to test not your actual shooting ability but reactions, pretty much unstraightable. Superb 96 from Stuart Watson in B, looks like the forced layoff has done him wonders, well shot sir. 

Mate and I went on to shoot the one off 100 bird open on the now defunct Abbey ground next to the Kent County Show, wish we'd gone to Willows   three or four decent stands with the rest ranging from average to shockingly poor value for money. We're talking at least three stands throwing the same bird 10 times    , stands 9 and 10 were next to practice stands and at least one had their targets floating into your vision   and that's after we had to wait 10 minutes for the scorer to amble along and button the stand ! Quite how they can justify 40 quid for that lot is anyones guess, proper amateur set up. 

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

It seems like i'll be swimming against the tide here but I really enjoyed the round at Ian Coleys on Wednesday. Yes, I had a good day (84) which always makes you remember it more fondly but there was real variety to the targets, using ground that I've never set foot on and targets that were all hittable with concentration.

I applaud Matt's drive to satisfy peoples desire for fresh targets.

Sunday saw a trip to Longridge and the sun certainly broke through the clouds and the day soon became a scorcher. I wish I had worn shorts!

Shot with @Turkey who shot a blinding round to take joint HG on 96. Nice to see him beat me this time.

 

[Westward]

I applaud Matt's drive to satisfy peoples desire for fresh targets.

Matt does listen to constructive criticism and does want his shoots be attractive. However, there are always those in the moaner brigade who don't think close technical targets are appropriate for a reg ESP - but they also know the ground has always thrown a lot of targets that test the shooter's technique and gun management more than their ability to apply big leads. The fact is Matt's choices are limited by having so many fixed shooting positions in the woods, but he also has open areas and a couple of people remarked to me that he could use those areas a bit more.

 

[Doctor Lecter]

Wouldn’t do for me then, no dog no me!! 

We done a little  50 bird shoot in Sussex, the Sussex young farmers shoot at Piddinghoe. Targets set by Jamie Peckham and what a set of targets they were,  not one easy stand, tricky and testing and great fun and friendly too.  Will now look out for more of these little shoots to go to. 

I prefer dogs to many many humans I know , so I'm with you donna ! 

 

[Richard59]

Westfield, not been for quite a while as it usually clashes with other events where ones chums have a fondness of, today Bunter was, well me too on a bit of a clockwatch so as Westfield is on ones doorstep it became our choice for the day. Started on St11 went in reverse back to clubhouse. Not my finest hour here nor by far my worse old long seated problems with l-r haunted ones shooting and despite finding more of the distant targets than I expected too one cannot expect to put in a score of any note whilst allowing the l-rs to virtually reach next county before I pull trigger. Bunter shaded family honours just 2 targets in it today, everyone though was finding it "tricky" (Steve Lovatts own description also) and HG was sub 90 when I left (12.00).