BlastingBakke

I was introduced to the sport of shooting sporting clays on Monday, and enjoyed it. I thought going into it that I'd be terrible, the noise would be excessive, and that my shoulder would hurt the next day.

In fact I didn't do as poorly as I expected, the noise isn't a factor really with earplugs in, and the recoil wasn't bad.

I was a 50/50 shooter, but like any average, it's misleading. I'd shoot either 3/6, 4/6 or 5/6 on the different stations, but on two I came up with a big fat zero. Somehow my mind either got the kinetics of a given shot, or it didn't. It's all about a feel for the motion - how much are you leading the clay's path when you pull the trigger (shoot where it's going, not where it is). Like any other sport, the most helpful thing seemed to be to bend your knees, as pivoting your body to follow the clay is much easier that way.

Blamo!