Relax! Shooting is too expensive not to enjoy...
I was at a small informal shoot recently. I’ve only taken my over/under in the past, but fancying a change I casual slid my Fabarm Lion H368 into the gun rack as we were registering. The first stand was a pair of right to left on report. The average score was probably 6-7 ex 10 and I was keen to put in a good show with a different gun. The first 3 pairs broke easily, which came as a huge confidence boost. The last two pairs gave me a feeling that I couldn’t miss, and the pellets met their mark again to give me a perfect 10 ex 10. The pressure was on now, I’d proved I could shoot straight…
The next stand looked fairly straight forward, with a going away target almost identical to a skeet low house. Rest it on the bead and let the pattern do the rest. Except I’d let the pressure of straighting the first stand get to me. I missed the first 4 targets and managed 4 of the next six. I’d gone from best to joint worst and my confidence was gone. The final stand was something of a nemesis, with fast dropping targets and it went completely to pot. I was just wasting cartridges by that point. So why am I telling you this tail of woe?!
Something you are going to have to get used to quickly in clay shooting is performing badly in front of your fellow shooters. Most shooters will congratulate someone who has shot a stand particularly well, and if you become a regular on a smaller shoot you can expect some tongue in cheek comments if you shoot badly. As a new shooter you will also be offered a lot of ‘advice’ which is perhaps a subject for another day.
No matter what comments and suggestion you get at the shooting ground, there is one critic you must learn to deal with quickly and that is yourself. Missing two doubles in a row is a sure fire way to make the doubt set in, but the important thing is to never write a stand off until the last cartridge is fired. When I first started shooting it was mainly skeet, a discipline which is all about scores. However I very quickly found that obsessing over the numbers did nothing to help with my scores, and so very early on I stopped keeping track. Some would argue this defeats the entire object of the game, but I enjoyed myself much more if I stopped worrying about the numbers and focused on each individual target. It’s also fair to say my scores (probably) improved as a result.
The next stand looked fairly straight forward, with a going away target almost identical to a skeet low house. Rest it on the bead and let the pattern do the rest. Except I’d let the pressure of straighting the first stand get to me. I missed the first 4 targets and managed 4 of the next six. I’d gone from best to joint worst and my confidence was gone. The final stand was something of a nemesis, with fast dropping targets and it went completely to pot. I was just wasting cartridges by that point. So why am I telling you this tail of woe?!
Something you are going to have to get used to quickly in clay shooting is performing badly in front of your fellow shooters. Most shooters will congratulate someone who has shot a stand particularly well, and if you become a regular on a smaller shoot you can expect some tongue in cheek comments if you shoot badly. As a new shooter you will also be offered a lot of ‘advice’ which is perhaps a subject for another day.
No matter what comments and suggestion you get at the shooting ground, there is one critic you must learn to deal with quickly and that is yourself. Missing two doubles in a row is a sure fire way to make the doubt set in, but the important thing is to never write a stand off until the last cartridge is fired. When I first started shooting it was mainly skeet, a discipline which is all about scores. However I very quickly found that obsessing over the numbers did nothing to help with my scores, and so very early on I stopped keeping track. Some would argue this defeats the entire object of the game, but I enjoyed myself much more if I stopped worrying about the numbers and focused on each individual target. It’s also fair to say my scores (probably) improved as a result.
Whether it's a club competition or some informal plinking in the back garden, relax and enjoy yourself!
So next time you’re shooting relax! In my example I let the pressure of a good stand spoil the rest of my shoot, which with hindsight was daft. Instead I should have taken 5 seconds to think about the last shot and what may have gone wrong. Replay the shot in your head, and if you can’t work it out then enjoy learning by trial and error. I tend to push shotguns in a straight line, so on a dropping or quartering clay with a pronounced parabolic trajectory it’s easy to shoot under or over. Also bear in mind that you’re not shooting a laser, but a pattern. The clay doesn’t need to be in the centre to be broken, so don’t be afraid of shooting a little further ahead of the target. Finally keep your head down on the stock. It’s all too tempting to raise your head to see if you hit the target which will make you shoot high on the second target.
If you go with the mind-set that you have ‘failed’ by shooting anything less than X% then you’ll sap the enjoyment out of it for yourself. Yes it’s true you will enjoy shooting 40 ex 50 more than 20 ex 50, so if you want to improve then book some lessons with a professional instructor. But above all remember, unless you’re a professional athlete you’re there for fun! When you miss the easy bird or the referee doesn't see the clay get chipped, take a deep breath and relax.
If you go with the mind-set that you have ‘failed’ by shooting anything less than X% then you’ll sap the enjoyment out of it for yourself. Yes it’s true you will enjoy shooting 40 ex 50 more than 20 ex 50, so if you want to improve then book some lessons with a professional instructor. But above all remember, unless you’re a professional athlete you’re there for fun! When you miss the easy bird or the referee doesn't see the clay get chipped, take a deep breath and relax.
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