bangswitch
Member
I suppose this could be considered a counterpoint to the current thread about trap snobs.
I went down to the public skeet range I usually frequent, thought I'd shoot a couple of rounds before the weather turned wet. It was pretty full when I got there; this range has a skeet range, a trap range, and a combo range, which usually gets used for skeet. I immediately picked up a round with four guys; two of them were teenage sons of one of the others. We had a good shoot, our capabilities were similar so nobody was making the others look bad. They took a break after the round, I went looking for another round. As I walked through the parking lot to get a couple more boxes of shells from the car, a crewcab pickup had pulled in; five teenage girls and an older guy (father of two of the girls it turns out) get out and start getting their gear together. I watched one girl in the truck bed, assembling her gun (autoloader), and thought to myself, "she looks like she knows what she's doing", no fumbling around, it only took her a few seconds.
I walked back to the combo range where I'd been shooting, a couple of newcomers were waiting their turn and asked if I wanted to join, so I hung out with them waiting on the group currently shooting. The teenage girls came over, with all their gear, two of them immediately stood out from the others, one of them the girl I had watched assemble her gun. We asked them to join us, so they wouldn't have to wait another whole round. Three of the girls were relatively new to skeet, but had done some sporting clays. The other two I noticed the one I had watched had a very nice buckle on the belt of her shell pouch, and commented on it. She pointed to the other girl and said, "She's got one too, but she sort of hides it."
The one I was talking to is the 2014 South Carolina USSSA Jr State Skeet Runner-Up; the one she had pointed to was the 2014 South Carolina USSSA Sub Junior (14 and under) Champion. They proceeded to run a clinic on shooting skeet when we hit the range for our round. The older girl (she was 19) was also a Level 1 skeet instructor, and was teaching the other three girls the fine points of skeet shooting. It was impressive, and a bit intimidating, watching these two girls shoot. Their Dad didn't shoot with us, but it was obvious how proud he was of them, he was the one who told us they were champion shooters.
I enjoyed that round of skeet about as much as any shooting I've done. If I were 19 again, I think I'd have been in love.
I went down to the public skeet range I usually frequent, thought I'd shoot a couple of rounds before the weather turned wet. It was pretty full when I got there; this range has a skeet range, a trap range, and a combo range, which usually gets used for skeet. I immediately picked up a round with four guys; two of them were teenage sons of one of the others. We had a good shoot, our capabilities were similar so nobody was making the others look bad. They took a break after the round, I went looking for another round. As I walked through the parking lot to get a couple more boxes of shells from the car, a crewcab pickup had pulled in; five teenage girls and an older guy (father of two of the girls it turns out) get out and start getting their gear together. I watched one girl in the truck bed, assembling her gun (autoloader), and thought to myself, "she looks like she knows what she's doing", no fumbling around, it only took her a few seconds.
I walked back to the combo range where I'd been shooting, a couple of newcomers were waiting their turn and asked if I wanted to join, so I hung out with them waiting on the group currently shooting. The teenage girls came over, with all their gear, two of them immediately stood out from the others, one of them the girl I had watched assemble her gun. We asked them to join us, so they wouldn't have to wait another whole round. Three of the girls were relatively new to skeet, but had done some sporting clays. The other two I noticed the one I had watched had a very nice buckle on the belt of her shell pouch, and commented on it. She pointed to the other girl and said, "She's got one too, but she sort of hides it."
The one I was talking to is the 2014 South Carolina USSSA Jr State Skeet Runner-Up; the one she had pointed to was the 2014 South Carolina USSSA Sub Junior (14 and under) Champion. They proceeded to run a clinic on shooting skeet when we hit the range for our round. The older girl (she was 19) was also a Level 1 skeet instructor, and was teaching the other three girls the fine points of skeet shooting. It was impressive, and a bit intimidating, watching these two girls shoot. Their Dad didn't shoot with us, but it was obvious how proud he was of them, he was the one who told us they were champion shooters.
I enjoyed that round of skeet about as much as any shooting I've done. If I were 19 again, I think I'd have been in love.
