Why?.....

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I love sporting clays almost entirely because I'm not what you'd call 'serious' about it. My life is full of entirely too many things I have to take seriously.

But shooting clays for me is a social event, and one that I always enjoy.

My father and my sons and me in a group. We walk the stations, tell stories, tell jokes. We laugh when we shoot well, and laugh more when we shoot badly. It's a timeless connection, an interest that spans generations. It's a pat on the back, a "Good shot!" or a "Did you grab that box of blanks by accident?" It's well-worn oft-heard jokes about how hard it is to eat one of those clays, anyway. It's memories of quality time with their grandfather that my sons won't realize are priceless until they're my age. Good-natured ribbing and pencil-whipping and forgetting who is supposed to be keeping score.

For zen in my life, I have my kayak and whitewater to run with it. For competition I have my pistol and my recurve. For my connection to nature and the outdoors I have hunting season. But nothing beats my old 870 and my father and my sons and a lazy afternoon shooting clays for a social connection.
 
When I was growing up my dad wore bifocals. I don't know anything about wearing glasses, but they apparently made it pretty difficult for him to focus on the sights of pistols and rifles.

From a fairly young age I could outshoot him with handguns and rifles, but he was always better with a shotgun. He used to joke that I was a good hunting partner because he could fill my limit too. So other than the fact that it is fun and I really like walking around a field with good pointers, I do it because someday I hope to be as good as he was at it. I doubt it will ever happen, but it's good to have goals.
 
Beats the pants off golf for fun and relaxation, at least for me. More egalitarian, too, at least depending on where you shoot.

Besides, I'd rather use a shotgun than a golf club if I actually ever had to defend myself.

PGC = Prince George's County clay range (I forget the actual name)? I was there this past weekend. Nice range, very friendly people. First time there (I'm moving to the area and was scouting about). Actually, I think I also met the guy with the gold-bird Geurini, assuming we're talking about the same place. Beautiful gun; guy was early 50s maybe? Small world if true.
 
Fun
Proficiency
A test of myself to bring my mind and body into form to hit the target, group shots as close as possible and feel confident about my abilities.
 
Why? Well, because...

...when I was a kid, it was taken for granted. Shooting was no big thing, it's what anyone and everyone did as a normal part of life, like working or driving. No big thing. Us kids got introduced by elders to how-to's and why's and wherefore's, to safety and good sportsmanship by being taken along on family hunts when we were too young to shoot. We got vaccinated with the excitement first, then we got started on the training- though we didn't _know_ it was training. We got started on BB guns and went on to single shot shotguns and .22 rimfires as we learned and grew into full fledged roles in family hunts and in taking care of any other aspect of life that involved shooting something that needed to be shot. We grew up with guns at hand, if not in hand.

The only claybirds I ever shot were thrown off a spring trap in the pasture. Mostly we shot at things that were edible, if not at things that were trying to eat the stuff we wanted to eat- crows in the corn, foxes in the henhouse etc. We were lucky to be well enough off not to HAVE to hunt to eat, but game was always a luxury and not to be taken for granted. Squirrels, rabbits, doves, quail, woodcock, wild turkey and deer found their way onto our table. There was a wild duck- once. It was not a hit, and no further efforts were made in that direction.

Every house I knew growing up had at least one gun- be it single shot .22, double barreled shotgun or whatever. And you could pretty well bet that most everyone local you ran into could shoot whatever firearm their family owned with some degree of proficiency.

So different there and then from the here and now...

lpl/nc
 
Some things here touched deep places.

One of the bennies I get from shooting with the Geezer Squad is we all let out the small boys that still live in old men and have fun together.

"Card got close to it with his post about shooting with family. The Geezers aren't family, but the difference isn't that great.

Leif, more than one Guerini lurks at PGC, but you may have met the guy.

Dunno when I'll get back tp PGC, but look for a big guy with an 870 and a button that says BA/UU/R.

One things about shotgunning versa other Martial Arts. Getting better is fun as much as work.

Lee, as kids we ate darn near everything, though we drew the line at possum. Coon, muskrat and beaver are good.

Duck needs a gentle hand. A slow roast with orange marmalade on the outside and apple slices inside does it with most species.

Back on topic. I started shooting before 1st Grade.

How many here started as adults?....
 
I'll keep an eye out next time I'm there, which probably won't be until after the close of June when I move. It's not too close to where I'll be living, but it's close to where my friend with whom I was shooting and will continue to shoot lives. I'll be the 30ish guy with glasses and a Browning BPS who gets lucky and hits a bird now and then. :D

I started as a kid, sort of. I started with shotguns in middle school, an NEF 12 gauge single-shot. My father took my brother and I upland hunting occasionally, but not very regularly, and we would shoot hand-thrown clays on occasion, but again with no great frequency; most of that went away as I attended college and graduate school, not to mention moved around an awful lot for the past 10 years. I hadn't gone to a formal trap range until last year, and I hadn't done much rifle or handgun shooting until last year. Now I'm doing all three on a regular (usually weekly) basis, though I've pretty much stopped hunting altogether, while my brother turned into an avid waterfowler. So, I guess you could say my rebirth at least was as an adult.
 
How many here started as adults?.
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Bought my first gun, a .38 Taurus, one day after my 35th birthday nearly four years ago. Fired a shotgun, for real, for the first time the day that you and I spent that frozen winter day at PGC a little over 3 years ago. Look at me now.....:D
 
I shoot because it it more me than anything else I do.

It was in my father and his father.

I hunt meat that I eat and share with people that really appreciate a unique "gift" of something that didn't come form the store.

I shot in my third (in the last six weeks) ATA registered shoot this last weekend. I have run into people that are generally good. They spend time with me to teach me because we share a mutual passion for something we both want to prosper.

I take time to work with a new shooter (especially the young ones) that comes to my local club.

It is a basic instinct!

Hope this wasn't too corny.
 
I learned to shoot as a kid and did lots of shooting in my teens. Moved to the big city and didn't pull the trigger for almost 20 years. Got back into the shooting game in my mid 30's when I moved into a rural area and am most definitely making up for lost time.;)
 
Why?????

1. Because this is America, and the 2nd Amendment gives me the Right to.
2. Shooting takes my complete attention.
3. Great way to get rid of a headache. All of your attention is on shooting, not on what gave you the headache. (See #2.) Very theraputic.
4. Great way to spend time with your kids.
5. Great way to spend time with your friends.
6. I love the smell of burnt Red Dot in the morning. It has the smell of. . . .fun! :)
 
1. I like that it gets a rise out of my bedwetting associates.

2. Well, number one is really enough I suppose. :D


I shoot a lot because I CAN. I'll never be a marksman and I don't really care to be. I rarely hit a clay (in the air at least. I sure can bust them at 100 yeards with a rifle fair nuff') I shoot because so many people tell me that I shouldn't and they work so hard to make it so that I can't shoot.
 
Spot said it best. Because we can.

The folks that decry shooting and gun ownership are really saying that gun owners cannot be controlled, and that's what bothers the heck out of those people.

Everyone likes to call the shots, to be in charge. For some people, it's an obsession. They wiil sacrifice everything and everyone to get power. Lots of those people end up in government for obvious reasons.

EVERY oppressive government that ever existed has limited the power of its people to possess arms.

"Power comes from the barrel of a gun"Mao Ze Tung.

Free people are armed. Slaves are not.....
 
It's fun.

Actually, my reason is because of those afore mentioned pheasants. I have made it to every opening day with my dad and brother since I was 12. Even the years that we saw a total of one rooster. That is my main reason.

The other big one, I really enjoy functional art. The simplicity or copmlexity of the gun. The engineering envolved. The precision of it. Doesn't seem right to allow all that to just sit around.
 
Great thread!


Broadbill said
There is nothing more fun than shooting together.
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Amen brother! I just went out with my father, two brothers and their boys for an impromtu reunion and it was just so cool. None of these guys are really shooters but I must say that I cannot remember the last time we all did anything together. Of course one brother is from CA and the other now resides in VA but, man, what a great time.

I spent a couple years shooting pistol every week with my bride and, while it was fun, once we started bustin' clay together, we've rarely looked back at paper punching.

IMHO, all married folk should shoot clays with their spouses. A round of sporting clays takes a couple hours and it's all quality time, especially if you can walk the course.

I shoot mostly with guys from my church and/or a buddy from work who had never shot before I took him out for some hand-tossed. Now we hit the SC place on most Saturdays (rain or shine) and Thursday nights during the Summer for "steak-nights". Mmmmmm.

I've found no "sport" that builds better relationships. Period.

Mike
 
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