Shooting Under Par

Last Saturday I went to my first organized trap shoot. It was kind of like a putt-putt tournament played with .12 gauges. You go around to different stations and have to shoot clays that are released from different directions. One station releases them straight up, another rolls them across ground, another launches them from over your head and so on. It was for a good cause too. The proceeds from the tickets were for a 4-H chapter. Included in the ticket price was a tasty hog roast. It really doesn't get much more red state than guns and spit-roasted pork.

Participants were put into "squads" of 4 to 9 shooters. Our foursome consisted of Mike, Jeff, Joe and myself. This was fortunate for a couple of reasons, not the least of which was the fact Mike owned a Mule. For you non-ATV'ers out there a Mule looks like the result of a drunken liason between a Hummer and a golf cart. So instead of having to walk to each station, Joe and I got to ride. Which brings me to another thing--the sophistication of some of the equipment these guys were using.

Sure there was a lot of camouflage and orange hats, but many of these guys, including our shooting companions looked like they'd be right at home on an English hunt. They had fancy vests, nice shooting glasses and some of the most beautiful guns I've ever seen. And I mean aesthetically beautiful, not just beautiful to a gun enthusiast. A couple of guys even had hand carts like you'd use for golf bags only they were equipped with weatherproof gun cases.

There were 12 stations on this particular shoot. At each station you shot 8 to 10 clays. I mostly shot at mine. The clays were released in pairs so you had to take down two at a time. After about two stations it was crystal clear why pro trap shooters use over-under and semi-automatic shotguns. I think there was only one station where I was actually able to take down two clays at once. I'm not blaming it on the fact I was using a pump-action, but it did make acquiring the 2nd clay a little tougher. Still, even at that I was able to shoot 37 out of 100 which was way better than I expected to do. Ironically, Joe had the exact same score, but unfortunately it was not nearly as good as he expected to do. Having seen him shoot before, I know how good he can be.

What really got me though was the number of kids that were participating. I'm just glad none of them were in my group. Not because I was worried about safety, either. It's bad enough to shoot worse than any adult, but getting shown up by a junior Wyatt Earp would be too much to bear. Now I realize the idea of giving a kid a shotgun makes many people blanche, but there are few things on earth that engender self-confidence and discipline like learning to do something inherently dangerous in a safe and professional manner. Honestly. I would feel safer shooting side-by-side with a 12 year old who has been properly trained on how to handle a shotgun than riding shotgun with many adults I know.

More later . . .