Feb 18 2008
A-Shootin’ We Went!
Last Saturday (Feb. 16 ’08), we finally went out to the Charlotte Rifle and Pistol Club located near Waxhaw, NC to shoot some 5 stand clays. It’s basically what everyone thinks of as “skeet” or “trap” except its much more dynamic and simulates hunting much more realistically. There are 5 different “stands” or booths to shoot from. Every shooter takes a total of 5 shots from each location adding up to 25 shots per round. The clays are thrown from 8 different locations: from the sides, way up high and heading away, from afar coming back at you, and bouncing across the ground like a rabbit; much different than the traditional trap or skeet shoot which presents clays from only one or a few locations.
Maria and I met up with some friends Chad, the Pluegers (funny side note: spell checker wants to rename the Pluegers to the “Plungers!”), and Dave. After watching some other shooters finish a round, we jumped in and tried our best to look like we knew what we were doing! We didn’t keep score since it was all for fun, but most of us broke maybe half of the clays per round. It was great just to get outdoors and shoot at some targets at such a nice place. Only $5 bought a round (25 clays), plus the cost of your shells. They even had a loaner shotgun for Jeff to use for free! There’s not many cheaper forms of recreation out there!
The highlight of the day was Maria stepping up and firing her first shots from a shotgun…12 gauge and all! After watching me go at it for three rounds, she decided to give it a “shot,” then another, then a “lemme try just a few targets” which turned into “that’s all the targets?!?!” In all, she broke 1 out of 25 targets on what’s called the “Long Bird” range…not quite as busy as the 5 Stand range, but still a challenge. She seemed to like it and hasn’t griped much about the sore shoulder!
And NO…Susan didn’t really shoot! In fact, by the end of the day, she ended up about 100 yards away watching.
