A New Years Resolution: Do More Trap Shooting

We had a little get together with the Sandberg family on New Years Day. Mostly we ate and visited. My brother-in-law Dorian mentioned that they were going to go shoot some clay pigeons the next day and invited me along. I know another brother-in-law, John, likes to shoot so I called and invited him. He invited his son (my nephew) Shon so we ended up with a pretty good group.

We went down to the Cedar Shooting Club range east of the airport. It was kind of cold and windy but we considered that a minor annoyance. It was way too cold to work outside, but not too cold to play. In addition to John, Shon and myself, Dorian brought his wife Joyce, their daughter Kari and her husband Dusty, their son Trevor and his wife Jill, and another son Tyler and his wife Hailey.

I spent quite a bit of time messing with my thrower but couldn't keep it from breaking the clays. It insisted on throwing them out there in pieces too small to shoot at. We ended up using hand throwers and that worked out fine. We practiced for a while, then played 'Annie Oakley'. We had enough guns for six shooters at a time. With this game the first person in the line calls for the throw and gets the first shot. If he misses, the next person in line shoots. If this person hits the bird it puts out the one that missed. If the second shooter misses the third has the chance to put the first two out, and so on. The first chance to shoot rotates through the line until there is only one shooter left and he, or she as was the case several times, is the winner.

Photos are courtesy of John Spevak

John and Shon eagerly awaiting for their chance to put me out

We played several rounds and I got put out early every time. It was a big blow to my ego to have Kari (who up until then was my favorite niece) put me out. AT first I couldn't hit a thing, but after a while I got a little better and stayed in longer and finally won a round. After everyone else left John, Shon and I continued to shoot until our arms were sore. I think I shot close to 200 rounds and I finally felt like I was doing better.

Looks like shooting more bull than clay pigeons

All in all, we had a lot of fun, and resolved that we need to do it more often.