"You're a Natural!"

I have to say, May's new and different was such a success, I may have to make it a permanent fixture in my life. I love trapshooting!

Below: My dad showing me how it's REALLY done

Below: My dad teaching me how

Below: My dad still helping me with little tips to hit the clay just right

Below: I hit that sucker and it exploded! Yeah!

Below: Laura making my Dad and I laugh

Below: Don't ask. I'm retarded. :)

My dad and stepmother are both avid trap shooters and serve on the board of our local trapshooting club. He has been trying to get me to shoot guns with him for as long as I can remember. And, for a girly girl who was (in the past) a bit of a high maintenance gal, the thought of using a gun was both terrifying and to be honest, a bit redneck. I adamantly refused. Until now...

When my sister and I arrived at the club that afternoon, I was a little nervous, but I was mostly excited. The last time I'd shot a gun was well over 2 years prior to that and it was for a very short time. That time, I had been shooting a 22 rifle and only shot a couple rounds with some friends. I had done fairly well, but that was the only other time in my whole life I'd had anything to do with guns.

We started with Singles, shooting the clays out in a straight away and I did fairly well from the 16 yard line. That is fairly average and the easiest you can do. I only missed a few and I wanted a bit more of a challenge. So, we turned the clay machine on so that it rotated. This meant that when I shouted "Pull" the clay would release, and go in whatever direction the machine was pointed and, as the shooter, you have no clue where that is. Still, I seemed to do well. I wanted to see how difficult I could go, so I stepped back to the 27 yard line. This is the hardest you can go in the singles. And guess, what? Yea, I hit the second clay I tried. I did a pretty good job here too. So, of course, I wanted a bit more of a challenge.

We were then told that my dad's Doubles round was starting in a few minutes, so Laura and I were invited to watch. Suddenly, the idea came to me: "I want to try it!" Sure enough, as soon as my dad's round was over, he taught me what to do.

Doubles is when you have a double barrel on your shotgun, two bullets.... and TWO clays you have to shoot in the same amount of time that you would shoot a single. The trick is to figure out exactly where the clay is going to crest the trap house and shoot it as soon as it clears the house, then forget it and go for the second clay. Doubles doesn't have a rotating option, thank goodness, so the first part was pretty easy. The hardest part was trying to swing the gun around to hit that second shot without over swinging the gun. I found that it was nearly impossible to get control of the gun in just enough time to shoot that second clay.

Guess what? I still did a good job! In my dad's words, I'm "a natural".

It was so much fun and I loved every second of it. I can't wait to do it again. And since I've got the connections (Dad and Des) that shouldn't be too hard. I guess I don't have to be too afraid of guns after all. Huh... go figure!