Circle W Shoot Report, September 4, 2006

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Circle W Shoot, September 4, 2006

By The Rafflemeister

In spite of lots of rain the week before, the SSC weather-luck held for this 2006 Labor Day shoot. It was sunny and dry all day and did not quite make it into the nineties in the height of the afternoon. There was also an intermittent breeze to help keep the participants comfortable and to stir the targets around a bit. Pre-shoot scuttlebutt suggested that the course would be of a higher difficulty than is usual at Circle W, but that was not ultimately reflected in the scores. There was a great deal of variety in the presentations, including some real oddballs. Station two was a case in point. This is the station that is shot from the high platform overlooking the big pond. The menu was three following pairs from two different manual traps. The first target was a quartering bird that was nearly identical to a station six skeet outgoer, except that it was coming from the shooters left. It was followed almost immediately by a chandelle rabbit with all the lift characteristics of a paint can lid tossed onto a scrap heap. The left upright post on the shooting stand prohibited the shooter from busting the first bird until it was out over the lake, but it still paid dividends to get on this bird as quickly as possible. If you broke it quickly, you could take out the chandelle while it still possessed some lateral movement and presented some of its face to the shot pattern. If you were slow getting on it, it became a fully edge-on target that was falling straight into the abyss. I must admit I did see some competitors break the rabbit consistently as it dropped straight away into the water, but this approach produced very inconsistent results for most who tried this it. Station three consisted of a long looping target from a trap stationed almost at the waters edge a good sixty yards from the shooting stand followed by an easy incomer that stalled out right in front of the gun. With the sun almost in the shooters eyes, the first target was pretty difficult to pick up in the morning. The clay was oriented so that, except for a scant sliver of orange rim, the black underside of the target was the only part of it facing the shooter throughout most of the trajectory. The position of the sun caused the wooded background on the far shore of the pond to appear almost black, thus making it doubly difficult to pick out the target. The break point for the first target was at almost forty yards, but because you were shooting at most of the underside of the bird, improved cylinder was plenty of choke to do the job. Because the breakpoint for the first bird was just after the apex of its arch, it required surprisingly little lead even at this distance. The second target was a gimme for most shooters, but you did have to decide exactly where you intended to break this target and stick to your plan. Station seven was one of the more technically difficult pairs of the day. It was a true pair combining a low, fast outgoer from just to the shooter's left with a high outgoer from a good ways off to the right. Virtually everyone opted to take the low, close target first and to then take their chances with the right hand bird as it descended into the cow pasture fifty, or more, yards away. Most shooters handled the first bird without any trouble, but that long, high one was a bear! Some shooters, who were able to dispatch the first one quickly, gave themselves the option of attempting the second one at the top of its flight before it began to drop too much. Their results were no more consistent, however, than those of the slower shooters, some of whom resorted to shooting the second bird at a ridiculous distance while it was dropping almost straight down. I saw several birds broken this way, but no one I watched could do it with any consistency. Perhaps the most difficult station of the day was station nine with its two blazing targets launched like hard-hit line drives from either side of the shooting stand. Except for an opening single, these were presented as true pairs, and it was a toss-up as to which one to shoot first. Whichever way you chose to shoot this pair, the second bird was WAY out there and getting ready to disappear into the stream bed on the other side of the wire fence by the time you could snap off a shot. Station twelve was the miniature golf version of station nine. It consisted of two close outgoers thrown, on report, from traps in front and just to the right and left of the box. Wide open chokes and the slightest gun movement was all it took to run this station. On my second go-around I tried this station as true pairs just for fun, but it wasn't really any more difficult that way. Circle W took a page from Ocmulgee's book (or should I say menu) and served big rib eye steaks for lunch. They were served with mashed potatoes and a mini salad bar. High gun for the day was distributed among two shooters from division two Tim McClarty and Matt Morgan, and one shooter from division four, James Bolt. They all registered amazing 91's! Division one was won by Barry Zuckerman with his score of 90. Ronnie Futo occupied the runner up position in that division with his 89, and, even thought he was merely a single bird behind Barry, he did not win a raffle ticket for his excellent score because there were only two shooters in division one on this day. Speaking of 89's, Mike Brickner, Percy Newton, and Joe Rinehart Jr. all posted 89's to tie for second in Division two. Larry Rainwater's 89 was good enough to win three tickets in Division three with Kenny Cole coming in second with his strong 87. Runner up in division four behind James Bolt was Johnny Darnell with yet another 89!! There were some great scores shot in Division five also. George (Foghorn Leghorn) Carwile, Dee Dervan, and Trey Gafnea all shared the number one spot with their 75's followed closely by Greg Norton with his 74. Janet Brewer and Dick Douthat, Jr. tied for first in division six with Chuck Lebo one bird down in the number two spot. And finally, everybody in Division seven shot well enough on this interesting Circle W course to win a raffle ticket.