Sunday Skeet

This afternoon my eldest grandchild told me he'd like to shoot some skeet so we put the shotguns in the truck and drove out to the Woodworth range.

They've got a nice shotgun set-up, open to the public. It's what is commonly called 5-stand, which in this case means there are 6 traps throwing targets. Shooters fire five shots each from five different stations, for a total of 12 shots per game. The cost is a piddling five bucks. The course is middling rigorous, which means that when I hit half the birds thrown, I feel like I'm doing okay.

Years ago, I shot competition skeet, which is an entirely different game. Skeet will always be my first love as a shotgun game, but 5-stand has a lot to recommend it.

At any rate, the boy and I went out this afternoon to shoot a couple of rounds. He's improving on his wing shooting, getting better a little bit at a time. Wing shooting is something that takes practice. I'm a lot more rusty than I used to be, and the peculiarities of the layout at our local range make some of the targets hard to see. It's part of the game.

We're both having trouble with the high incoming shots. And the low going-away. For that matter, the crossing left and crossing right shots are iffy.

Still, I got out and shot a couple of boxes of shells this afternoon. Took my grandson. His shoulder is pleasantly sore this afternoon.

I hope that soreness doesn't cause a flinch.