tracking your scores

[jwpzx9r]

Hi

Being new to the game I have been keeping a Excel spreadsheet of my ATB scores in my first year. Is it a good idea to keep track of your scores and when shooting say to your self I scored a 22 high last time out try to better that or is it just better to know that 25 is the target in each round and strive for that?

On another subject and I may have mentioned this in a previous post ( one of my many) I am getting better which is nice but , and I really mean this, I don't really know why I am hitting the target!!?? When I say this what I mean is before when I was starting trap shooting I called for the target saw it followed it and then shot it when I thought the picture looked right if you know what I mean? Now I go through my setup routine call the target see it and in a flash swing my barrels up and blast it without thinking and although my scores have increased really well I don't know why I am hitting the target? This might sound daft and you may be saying WTF is he on about but my worry is when I go to another shooting ground which has a different background this technique may not work because I won't have the same reference points to base my shot taking decision on. I guess what I am saying in effect is have I become so used to my own shooting ground and trap that when I get a target I can shoot it because I know that on a certain angle and trajectory I know when the clay goes up past a tree I know that is where I shoot it kind of thing, in other words I am shooting from memory? is that even possible? I am doing well and getting a lot of encouragement but I still worry that when I go to another ground I will be lost which is surely not a good frame of mind if I want to do a few other grounds for comps next year.

 

[ips]

With the greatest respect. There you go again with your analytical approach.

Sounds to me like its fallen into place for you as what you describe is trap shooting nirvana. When you are shooting well and focused totally on seeing the target you find that you are not conscious of pulling the trigger, you call you see the target you lock onto the target and the next thing you know the target is in bits. You have no idea how it happened and the barrel didnt seem to move even though it was a fast angled target. If this is what you felt then that was were you want to be. Do not fight it, embrace the fact that your sub conscious is able to do something much better than your scientific conscious.

Do not try and read the target by reference point or your theory of struggling at different grounds will be confirmed. Trust your technique its obviously working for you, think only about seeing the target and the rest, as you have found out will happen all on its own.

 

[jwpzx9r]

Sorry Ian can't help myself    And thanks you have eased my mind I really was beginning to believe that I was just hitting them because I was shooting from memory monkey see monkey do style.

 

[ips]

No mate as i say sounds more like you were shooting instinctively which is just were you want to be.

Keep up the good work.

 

[Les53]

No mate as i say sounds more like you were shooting instinctively which is just were you want to be.

Keep up the good work.

Sounds right Ian, see it...shoot it......don't think about!

 

[jwpzx9r]

Sounds right Ian, see it...shoot it......don't think about!

Yes Les , Ian I am sure you are right!

I am visiting the shooting ground that has the OT setup on Saturday, although I don't know if they shoot that every week as I believe it takes a lot of time to set the traps up. So I might be shooting UT but anyway I hope I can apply my usual pre shot setup and block out the thinking part. Last time out I found myself not really thinking only about the seeing the clay and shooting it as I usually do. I spent too much time thinking and worrying about my new surroundings, the new discipline and the new people watching me shoot which took away my usual focus. If the OT is setup then I will only shoot that because I really thought that was great each stand is a new challenge! Strangely I found the OT more welcoming from the point of the gun hold being the same, for me any way, at each stand.

 

[Les53]

Sounds right Ian, see it...shoot it......don't think about!

Yes Les , Ian I am sure you are right!

I am visiting the shooting ground that has the OT setup on Saturday, although I don't know if they shoot that every week as I believe it takes a lot of time to set the traps up. So I might be shooting UT but anyway I hope I can apply my usual pre shot setup and block out the thinking part. Last time out I found myself not really thinking only about the seeing the clay and shooting it as I usually do. I spent too much time thinking and worrying about my new surroundings, the new discipline and the new people watching me shoot which took away my usual focus. If the OT is setup then I will only shoot that because I really thought that was great each stand is a new challenge! Strangely I found the OT more welcoming from the point of the gun hold being the same, for me any way, at each stand.

Yes, the good thing about OT is that each peg is the same, as opposed to ABT, UT, DTL where hold points are generally different on each peg. OT allows you to set up in exactly the same way on each peg, same hold point, same foot position relative to the traps etc. Everything else about OT is simply a nightmare, it can and will eat you alive, but you end up becoming addicted to it and nothing else is quite the same after that!  OT is a very cruel mistress my friend!

 

[jwpzx9r]

Oh Dear ! Well I am retired and I think I can raise the brass for the carts and clays if I cut out the vin rouge! I must say I did think when I shot it for the first time I had never seen so many second barrel shots and misses by nearly all the shooters! I have 14 to improve on, onward and upward ! Just my luck if they are shooting UT but hey that was different as well don't know what to do for gun hold there I just tried to get the jump for my bad side as it were but I will see what happens this time round.

 

[Les53]

Oh Dear ! Well I am retired and I think I can raise the brass for the carts and clays if I cut out the vin rouge! I must say I did think when I shot it for the first time I had never seen so many second barrel shots and misses by nearly all the shooters! I have 14 to improve on, onward and upward ! Just my luck if they are shooting UT but hey that was different as well don't know what to do for gun hold there I just tried to get the jump for my bad side as it were but I will see what happens this time round.

Don't skimp on shells for OT whatever you do!! You need a shell that can hit hard a long way out, because extreme left and right birds, especially the low ones, can be a good way out before you can focus on them and fire.

 

[jwpzx9r]

Yes I noticed that Les and as an aside I think I missed a lot of them because I never got the leed on them, out there you need to get outside the line quite a lot compared to the targets I normally see. I have some shall we say more expensive, Mary Arm competition, carts but not outrageously so. The problem for me is actually being able to buy well known brands like Fiocchi for example I would have to send off for them and the P&P is just daft. Going to give them a bash anyway to see if the result is right but I do know I need to get in front of them a bit more not so much the straight and shallow angles but the 45's are zippy to say the least!

 

[Les53]

Yes I noticed that Les and as an aside I think I missed a lot of them because I never got the leed on them, out there you need to get outside the line quite a lot compared to the targets I normally see. I have some shall we say more expensive, Mary Arm competition, carts but not outrageously so. The problem for me is actually being able to buy well known brands like Fiocchi for example I would have to send off for them and the P&P is just daft. Going to give them a bash anyway to see if the result is right but I do know I need to get in front of them a bit more not so much the straight and shallow angles but the 45's are zippy to say the least!

Have a word with the other guys where you shoot your OT, see what shells they use for OT and try to find out where they get them from. OT is not a place for poor quality shells!!!! Whatever you do, don't worry about how much leed you are giving, there is simply no time to think about it! Just see the target clearly, move after it and pull the trigger, gun speed will then take care of the leed. Yes it takes a lot of practice and your timing has to be spot on, but it is the only sane way to shoot OT.

 

[ips]

Spot on les

 

[** Pending Removal **]

++++1

 

[jwpzx9r]

Thanks for the replies but what about the initial question? Beat your last score ( by that I mean set that as your goal for the day) or forget everything that went before and just hit as many as possible and set the target as the magical 25 straight ?  Is it a good idea to set a goal for each time you shoot? Has anybody kept a record of all their scores since they started? I have but I only started this year but I think I will keep it going ... its the sort of daft thing scientists do record data however trivial

 

[40UP]

Hi JWP it is good to keep a record but for it to be of benefit it should be details of your misses and the type of target missed to find a pattern. You should be absorbed while shooting with the present and next target, no looking forward or back. It's detrimental to be thinking you could get a 23 or that this is the last target. If you have to count keep resetting the objective such as how many hits in a row you are on. Ian Peel says he shoots them in fives and then signs them off.

 

[jwpzx9r]

Hi JWP it is good to keep a record but for it to be of benefit it should be details of your misses and the type of target missed to find a pattern. You should be absorbed while shooting with the present and next target, no looking forward or back. It's detrimental to be thinking you could get a 23 or that this is the last target. If you have to count keep resetting the objective such as how many hits in a row you are on. Ian Peel says he shoots them in fives and then signs them off.

Interesting because on Friday I did adopt a system of trying to get back to the stand I started at without missing. ie start on four and get back there without missing I actually thought that was a great way of focusing on the overall objective managed it three times but then it went a bit off course when I missed two on the trot and stupidly the last target which as is usually the case with me it was a target that should have been favourable for me, I won't say easy because if they were then I would be hitting them all but given all the possible trajectories and angles it should have been a hit

 

[ips]

Over analysing these things IMO is dangerous, you must live in the moment and trust your ability. Easier said than done for someone of your mind set which i fully understand but you must try and get over it. Treat every target as the only one that matters.

 

[jake.keeling]

Over analysing these things IMO is dangerous, you must live in the moment and trust your ability. Easier said than done for someone of your mind set which i fully understand but you must try and get over it. Treat every target as the only one that matters.

This is absolutely true, but actually quite hard to achieve. Which is obviously why even the best don't hit them all. Olympic Disciplines will show up the tiniest wrong thought as a miss.


http://www.tirovesti.co.uk/

 

[40UP]

Snooker, darts, golf, clay shooting. Trying harder is not an option, the player must [frustratingly] keep his/her cool. Ed Ling is on a roll at the moment with 250/250 and 100 on the first day last weekend but to referee him he is currently so relaxed, he can break off for an interruption easier than anyone else on the line.