26/9/20 World skeet masters.
Eriswell lodge for the World Skeet Masters was on the cards for this weekend…. Although the weather was probably enough to send most shooters home.
Set out over 200 targets being 100 English skeet and 100 doubles, squads were sent out at predetermined intervals throughout the day. I noticed quite a few withdrawn scores coming up on the results even though good first scores were being entered. Shooters were leaving before finishing due to the bad weather and having to wait around pretty much all day for their squad times.
Although the new clubhouse at Eriswell is absolutely amazing, top class with lovely food and drinks, with the covid stuff going on etc made for a very expensive wait between squad times.
Saturday weather was predicted bad so we called in en route at Dartford pre rain, and headed up to Suffolk in the afternoon, didn’t bother on the sporting either due to the rain.
Saturday night was spent eating and drinking with the Sunday squad shooters at the hotel, and very pleasant it was….which is more than I can say for the ensuing nights sleep.
Couldn’t face breakfast or shooting in the drizzle so decided to support our local Kingsferry skeet shooters. Most did well, and Darren won 2nd in A class, after shooting a 99 in the singles….I was gutted he missed low 6 on his last round, it would have been the only 100 straight.
Here he is completing his 100 English singles on a 99.
Top score after the shootoffs was 197 inc 25 straight on 26 straight on doubles.
Bloody good going considering it was shot on the wettest and windiest Friday.
I will shoot this comp next year hopefully, if I’m not totally hacked off with skeet…
14/8/20 Trip to Cornwall
Well, it looked like we were in for a good spell of weather earlier in the week but things were to change quite dramatically. Not only that, but the traffic was horrendous too, we left a little later and paid the price.
Seven hours later, what should have been just over four hours, we arrived at High View Shoot Launceton. Bill and Donna, who run the shoot made us very welcome with a lovely meal, which we shared with some of their local friends.
Setting up the shoot.
After a good nights sleep, (it’s so peaceful in the middle of the Cornish countryside) I set off with Bill in the Polaris to start setting up the forthcoming Sunday shoot. The grounds extend to about 46 acres, and Bill seems intent to use every last bit of space available!
From start to finish the walk is about 3/4 of a mile through fields and woodland.
I really had no idea about how much work goes into this. Even with all the traps already positioned in the fields and woods they had to be loaded up with clays, the freshly charged batteries installed and connected, remote control receivers connected or hard wired leads run down to the shooting stands.
Some of the stands needed to be moved to better positions too…each shoot has a different layout.
By lunchtime Steve Trout one of Cornwall’s top shooters had arrived to set the targets and
finalise the trap settings, a few minor problems sorted, so after lunch me and Loux went for a few rounds at North Cornwall Shooting ground. Conveniently about ten minutes up the road. Simon and Albert made us very welcome, we shot some compac DTL and ABT. Albert was very helpful with some top tips on trap shooting, all a bit new to me, so was quite encouraging.
Shoot day
Another early rise, and out in the Polaris to finalise the targets, liven up the traps and check that all the remotes are functioning correctly. Extra boxes of clays left by the traps to replenish the carousels as the expected bookings were for about 70 odd shooters.
Hand sanitisers put out on each stand, and a double check from the stand for the target trajectories, this was a club practice shoot, so a couple of stands were softened up a bit…more on that later.
Meanwhile Donna and the cooking crew are preparing the breakfasts in Twiggys Diner.
The best shooters breakfasts you’ll ever find. Even a choice of fresh ducks or chickens eggs! All locally produced. Donna’s cakes are legendary if you’ve a sweet tooth.
The shooters are booked in as squads of 6, as per the Covid regulations. Things never quite go to plan I guess, some folk turning up late, others turning up having not booked, others just not turning up after booking.
We ended up shooting our round at midday, joined by Pete. I had a bad start, only hit 4 on stand one, and was duly chastised by my girlfriend who hit 5, and Pete who took a fantastic 9, turning out to be one of the best scores overall on stand 1.
Onwards and upwards, stand 2 was a pair of magpies incoming, no problem. 3 was an on report driven pair, missed a couple of those…a few crossers and loopers and then we hit stand 7, a teal and a long..ish crossing target, we previously made this a whole lot easier by bringing the teal closer and making it vertical rather than shifting left. The long crosser was also straightened up to bring it in a bit and make it easier. I had no issues with this stand but when I checked the scorecards I was surprised how many smileys and 1 and 2’s there were, and this was after making the birds easier!
This practice shoot just highlights how target setters need to cater for all abilities, as I mentioned to bill, set a hard target but pair it up with an easier one to prevent the smiley factor, after all its not a competition shoot, last thing you want to do is loose your shooters if they find it too difficult.
I calculated the average score for this shoot at 62/100 with high gun being 92.
Overall everyone enjoyed their time at the shoot, and will be back for the next one.
Still more work to be done after everyone has left, the traps need to be disarmed, remotes and receivers collected, cables wound up, batteries removed for charging, and the traps covered up. Theres a massive amount of work that goes into running a shoot on such a large layout, not to mention the maintenance of the grounds and equipment between event.
On our way back home we stopped off at Owls Lodge in Hampshire for a round of sporting, I was very impressed with the very tidy manicured grounds. The staff were very accomodating and despite the torrential downpour half way round, (and a good excuse for a bacon sarnie) I found the targets of excellent quality. Loux shot well especially the rabbit that ran down the bank…fabulous ground if you get the chance to visit.