Another great ground in Wiltshire - and despite fairly steady rain, another great day on the clays with a crowd from ShootClay. Met just past 10 with Jem, Ian & Mrs Maney, Robo and Ken for a run round ten stands of ten in the woods at Urchfont.
Also saw Radrac, Tiptop and Sleepy Hollow on the way round.
First time at Urchfont for me - ground is up a single track road on the side of a hill, covered in woods but the stands well appointed and picked out in amongst the trees. Clubhouse is a low ceilinged hut with a long table running most of the length, decent wood burner and a short queue to book on. You need to be sharpish here, they close up fairly early - but I got booked on quickly and we started on Stand 3.
First up was a straight away teal with a high left to right looper, then we did stands 4 and 5, a platform with an overhead followed by an edge on r-l crosser, then an OR driven pair off the tower. We had a fairly lengthy breakdown here - rain getting into remotes - but efficiently sorted by one of the very good refs. Stand 6 was a lovely right/left crosser curling on the breeze with a slightly angled teal. Stand 7 was a quick flat overhead followed by a floppy left/right crosser.
Stand 8 was another from a platform a rabbit below your feet and another floaty left/right crosser. Stand 9 was a high right/left looper followed by an overhead g/a from a tower (manual trap). Then we headed up the hill, over the road, and through a barbed wire fence (yes, really) for a pair of high, long crossers from the left which needed a bunch of leeed to catch.
We headed back into the ground for the final two stands, behind the club house. Stand 1 was a high left/right crosser o/r with an incoming crow which was very random, sometimes appearing over the left side of the clearing, sometimes over the right - which made for some snap shooting. The final stand for us was a sim pair of teal thrown from a manual trap, one a midi, one a standard which needed shooting very quickly.
All-in-all a fun shoot, good targets and much fun with the ShootClay crowd despite getting dripped on all the way round. I continued my recent form with my third card of 66ex100 in a row. 70 odd won c-class, but I was about 4th or 5th down, so not unhappy.
Definitely a ground I'll go back to - would be marvellous without the rain!
Also saw Radrac, Tiptop and Sleepy Hollow on the way round.
First time at Urchfont for me - ground is up a single track road on the side of a hill, covered in woods but the stands well appointed and picked out in amongst the trees. Clubhouse is a low ceilinged hut with a long table running most of the length, decent wood burner and a short queue to book on. You need to be sharpish here, they close up fairly early - but I got booked on quickly and we started on Stand 3.
First up was a straight away teal with a high left to right looper, then we did stands 4 and 5, a platform with an overhead followed by an edge on r-l crosser, then an OR driven pair off the tower. We had a fairly lengthy breakdown here - rain getting into remotes - but efficiently sorted by one of the very good refs. Stand 6 was a lovely right/left crosser curling on the breeze with a slightly angled teal. Stand 7 was a quick flat overhead followed by a floppy left/right crosser.
Stand 8 was another from a platform a rabbit below your feet and another floaty left/right crosser. Stand 9 was a high right/left looper followed by an overhead g/a from a tower (manual trap). Then we headed up the hill, over the road, and through a barbed wire fence (yes, really) for a pair of high, long crossers from the left which needed a bunch of leeed to catch.
We headed back into the ground for the final two stands, behind the club house. Stand 1 was a high left/right crosser o/r with an incoming crow which was very random, sometimes appearing over the left side of the clearing, sometimes over the right - which made for some snap shooting. The final stand for us was a sim pair of teal thrown from a manual trap, one a midi, one a standard which needed shooting very quickly.
All-in-all a fun shoot, good targets and much fun with the ShootClay crowd despite getting dripped on all the way round. I continued my recent form with my third card of 66ex100 in a row. 70 odd won c-class, but I was about 4th or 5th down, so not unhappy.
Definitely a ground I'll go back to - would be marvellous without the rain!
was it busy ? and how did the other shootclay guys get on ? normally good tough ground with realistic targets and Chas is a top bloke. any winnings there safe for keeps, personally have received prize money a year after winning it 
