Cirlce W Shoot Report, September 3rd, 2007

Back to SSC Home Page

Circle W Throws Everything Including the Kitchen Sink....SSC Smashes a Lot of Porcelain.

By The Rafflemeister

Beautiful late summer weather greeted the SSC as they paid a visit to Helfin, Alabama on this Labor Day, 2007. The temperature did get up to about 90 by the end of the afternoon flight, but even that felt cool compared to what we have been experiencing. As usual, Circle W threw everything including the kitchen sink into the clear Alabama sky, but judging from the score spread and the par of 92, the SSC membership rose admirably to the challenge. Station one consisted of two right-to-left crossers thrown at very different speeds and trajectories. The first target was a floater thrown against a dark, shaded woods making it a little difficult to see in the back-lighted morning conditions. At least one of our squad members let a couple of these hit the ground without firing a shot because he simply could not pick the bird out of the background. The other bird was a low, fast, quartering bird that that was perfectly visible and required a smooth swing and very little lead. Station two was thrown from a single manual trap positioned beneath the platform overlooking the lake. Even though the two standard targets were thrown from the same trap, they bore not a passing resemblance to one another. One target was basically just a straight away bird much like a regular trap target thrown for a shooter who was standing right on top of the trap house. The other one was one of Circle W's patented presentations that I call "Danny's Dribblers". Somehow he angles the second trap arm to make the clay target tumble like a horseshoe. This target is only in the air for a couple of seconds, and no matter what you do to prepare for it, it always manages to surprise you on every pair. I found the best way to break this target consistently was to hold the gun a little low and wait for the tumbling bird to drop onto my hold point. I like that approach better than trying to chase it down on every pair. If you caught the dribbler quickly enough, you could shoot right at the trap bird and break it before it started to drop much. The morning light worked to our advantage on this fleeing target. The orange dome of the target was in full sun against the nearly black woods on the opposite shore of the lake, so the bird stood out like a brake light in a tunnel. Station six was one of those "not as easy as they look" stations. It was a rather unlikely pair consisting of a floater that cruised in from high above the maple to the shooter's left, banked a little bit, and peeled off to the right...eventually knifing into the grass twenty yards in front of the shooting stand. The other bird came from the right and well behind the shooter. In fact, this target was just about spent by the time it finally reached its logical break point. On the first target, you really needed to decide where you wanted to break the bird and stick to your plan because the necessary lead changed constantly throughout the target's flight. The second bird didn't spend much time in the kill zone at all. It was one of those presentations where you had enough time break the target, but JUST enough. I saw a number of shooters rush their shot and kind of poke at this bird, the result being that they didn't allow for the fact that the clay was dropping and missed over the top. Station seven was Squad One's Waterloo. It was another one of those presentations that we all thought should have been easy, but which greedily devoured our collective lunches. It was just a mini and a standard that were thrown fairly swiftly from the left and headed out toward the hedge row at the edge of the cow pasture. It seemed to me that you should have pretty much been able to shoot at the right edge of both targets and grind them to dust. I would love to be able to impart some wisdom as to the best way to handle this pair, but frankly, I haven't got a clue. Fortunately for me, the trapper blessed me with a set of Siamese twins on the last pair, and I was able to break them both with my second shot. That allowed me to walk away with a triumphant three on my scorecard. Another station that rendered spotty results among our intrepid band was station nine. This station was set up on the edge of the wooded stream bed and offered a pair of authentic game shots. The first one cruised in from the left like a mallard coming in to land in a flooded cypress stand. It was a little hard to pick-up in the mottled lighting, but was certainly a fair presentation. The other bird came from the left and dove for the brush like a quail or a grouse. This one was really hard to see until it had started to dive into the greenery, and most of us had mixed results snap-shooting it at the last second. Well, one of our shooters noticed that, on this report pair, you actually had time to look back and see this second bird come off the trap arm. Once you did that and established its line of flight, you could follow the target easily from the time it passed the tree on the edge of the gully. Sadly enough, our last shooter was in the cage and it wasn't until he was on his last pair that somebody figured this out and mentioned it to him. Sure enough, he was able to follow the bird off the trap and break it right out in front of him like a simple skeet target. Oh, well. Station eleven was a bunny-bird combo that would not have been out of place in a tournament set up. Both were quartering from the right, and the bird, besides being a pretty long shot, was dropping just enough to make it tricky. The rabbit wouldn't behave either. Sometimes it would bound into the air and fairly beg the shooter to crush it in mid-flight, while other times, it seemed to plow into the tall grass like it was trying to escape down its hole. This was a fun station that required really good concentration and technique. The Scores Barry Zuckerman achieved a rare distinction at this shoot that probably will never be bested. I believe he shot the highest score ever posted at an SSC fun shoot that did NOT win a raffle ticket! How would you like to write 98 next to your name on the SSC score board and go home empty handed? Well, if you want to know how it feels, just ask Barry. This statistical fluke occurred because the only other Division One shooter to show up on this Labor Day was Paul Ashley, and he shot a 99! The top spot in Division Two was shared by The Shootmeister, Budweiser and Jeff Arneson, each posting a score of 90 with Barry Jackson coming in third with a fine 89. Division Three was three-deep in nineties with Johnny Darnell leading the pack with his 92 followed by Kenny Cole and Andy Harvill who shared the runner-up spot with nineties. David Smith was top gun in Division Four with his admirable 86. Al Keller won the number two spot with his 84, a single target ahead of The Webmeister, Charlie Deling who posted a strong 83. An 80 was posted by Phil Lewis to win three tickets in Division Five. Tammie Ashley put in a strong showing to win second place in this division with her 76. Janet Brewer posted a phenomenal 75 to secure the top gun honors in Division Six beating out Gary Riese by two targets. And finally, both Division Seven shooters shot well enough to take home raffle tickets. The Meal Boy, was I impressed when I was working my way through the lunch line and was asked whether I wanted a rib eye or a New York strip. Oh, my! Next thing you know, they will be asking us whether we would prefer the Cabernet Sauvignon or the Petit Shiraz........One can always hope.