Shoot Report Ocmulgee 6-4-2006 - Social Shooting Club

Shoot Report - Ocmulgee June 4, 2006

The weather conditions on June 4, 2006 were perfect for sporting clays as the Social Shooting Club gathered at Ocmulgee River Gun Club to test their skills against some well-set and technically challenging presentations. A good mixture of speeds and some longish targets produced a near perfect score spread among the membership, the only anomaly being that the Division Three winner shot a score that was two birds higher than the top gun in Division Two. This is getting to be a pretty common occurrence, and I think it is explained by the fact that the main difference between Division Two and Three is consistency. There are a lot of really good shooters in Division Three, but when they have a bad day, they tend to have a worse day than the average Division Two shooter. Couple that with the fact that there are a lot MORE shooters in Division Three, and I think you will find that it is statistically very likely that someone in Division Three will have an exceptionally good day at any given event.

Some of the testier stations included station three with its steep, right-to-left, looping chandelle coupled with a target that floated in from the hillside on the left. The chandelle was nearly forty yards away at its break point and was not visible until it had almost reached the top of its arch. Because of this, you simply could not shoot the target on the way up, so you had to take it either just at the top of its arch (if you were quick) or more commonly, on the way down. In any event, you could not afford to wait too long, because you had to leave time to pick the other target out of the background foliage and break it before it hit the ground just in front of the shooting stand. There are some shooters who possess a knack for breaking those long dropping targets, sometimes just before they hit the ground, and these are the shooters who excelled at this station. The rest of us shot the chandelle very inconsistently, and occasionally became rattled enough to miss one or two of the floaters as well. I often vow to myself that one day I am going to shoot up a whole flat of shells on nothing but long dropping targets, but I never quite seem to get around to it.

There were several true pairs on this Ocmulgee set-up where breaking the first target quickly was the key to success. Station one featured a rising, trap-type target from in front and to the right of the shooter coupled with a higher, quartering bird thrown from a trap perched on the edge of the cart path behind the stand on the left. If you were quick and shot the trap shot while it was rising, it was possible to nail the other target as it seemingly hung motionless in the air about thirty-five yards in front of the stand. You merely had to place the bead on the right edge of the clay and pull the trigger. If, however, you were slow and waited until the first bird peaked, the second bird was much farther away and was not only dropping but also curling off to the right, making it a much trickier shot. The same principal was in place on stations four, six and eleven. On station four, both traps were placed to the shooter's right about twenty yards away. The traps were tilted slightly toward each other and the targets were fast. If you got the first one quick, you could break the second one just after it peaked and began to bank like a battue. If you waited and took the first shot farther out, that second target had turned almost vertically and was slicing downward like and executioner's blade, making it a much longer and more difficult shot. Station six started with a lazy incomer from off in the clearing to the shooters left mated with a strange quartering teal from closer in and also from the left. If you killed the incomer virtually as soon as it left the trap arm, you could shoot at the underside of the teal right at the peak of its arch. If you were slow on the first bird, you were stuck with a more difficult edge-on dropper on the second shot. And finally, station eleven grouped a straight going-away bird with an arching crosser from far to the right. Once again, breaking the first one quickly gave the shooter a simpler, and of course, closer shot on the second bird. The funny thing about this station was that I saw a lot of shooters miss the straight-away bird. It looked to me like they were trying to do too much with it. It did originate from slightly to the shooter's right, but once it was out in front of you, all you had to do was to shoot right at it. Unless you were using ultra-mega-super full choke, your pattern would take care of the rest.

Three shooters in Division One won a total of nine tickets as Kevin DeMichiel, Vince McGreggor and Gary Pyron all tied for HOA with scores of 94. The only other ninety of the day was registered by Gale Davis, and it didn't earn him even a single raffle ticket. Leonard Corlee won Division Two with an 87 followed by Jeff Arneson's 82. Mike Brickner led the Division Three crowd, his 89 nosing out David Padgett. Jr by two targets. Division Four was won by Chris Foskey with a respectable 76 with Tim Carter in the number two spot. Garret Parker's 69 put him two targets ahead of Jim Potter and Eli Sumner in Division Five. Lacy Royal and Joan Smith shared top honors in Division Six, both with 59's.

Technically Challenging Ocmulgee Course Produces a Near Perfect Score Spread