Half Way Point in the Trap League

I was happy with my shooting this week.  I had a 19 on the first round.  The clay targets I missed I know I missed because I was thinking of other things. This is very bad. I shook myself out of that for the second round.  Much better with a 23.  Let's keep that up.  Sight down the barrel, see just the bead, think about the target and following the target then shoot.  Sounds simple but it is not.
My team is in 9th place over all, but this weeks shoot we came in tied for 3rd place.  This means that next week I and my team members have to step back from the target 1 yard for the normal shooting position of 16 yards. I've been told that when you move back on the range that the angles change and of course the distance to the target is greater.  Should be interesting!
One of my team members shot a 25 in the first round. That's a perfect score and he earned us an extra point for our totals.  Great going.

Till next time,
Good Hunting and good shooting.
M.

The elusive doe is still out there

Oh well!  My cross bow hunting is still turning up a big zero on getting a shot at an average size doe, or bigger.  I had decided two days ago when I went hunting that I wanted to take a doe that was at least 1 1/2 years old or older.  No fawns.

As my husband and I were setting up my camo blind in the woods, he noticed about 100 yards away was a doe feeding in the woods!  We quietly stopped setting the the blind to watch and see if the doe was old enough.  It did not take to long for the deer to meander it's way towards us.  She never noticed us, which is good.  But, it turned out the doe was a fawn.  We quietly watched it walk within 30 yards.  She then turned to the right and walked into the thicket.  I thought to myself that if there was a fawn mama may not be far behind.

We quickly set up my blind, and my husband left me to go to his hunting spot.  I'd say about an hour later I had a doe and two fawns come out of the thicket at about 50 yards.  By the time they walked through all the thick low underbrush, they were about 60 yards away.  To far for me to shoot.

About a half an hour later I had a small spike buck come out of the same thicket as the does.  Bucks are not in season.  I was having a good time watching it feed around my blind.  He got as close as 20 yards, and it took him several minutes before making me out.  He trotted away from me, but he seemed unconcerned.
Hope he stays that way, but then again, when I start buck hunting I think I want to take a deer with at least 6 points, we see.

Another day of watching and waiting.  I'll be out there again next week.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Third Week of the Trap League, better than last week!

Hi everyone!!

My trap shooting in week three of the league went better than last week.  The weather was cool and no wind.

The league starts shooting around 7pm, which right now it is just starting to get dark at that time.  The field in front of the trap houses is about 500 yards of open grass, then the woods.  A few minutes before we began, several deer came out of the woods to feed on the grass.  There were over 8 deer, does and bucks, just browsing.  Not a concern in the world.  We began firing our rounds, and they still did not have a concern  in the world.  They were out there feeding for most of the time we were shooting.  Fascinating! All the team members were having a good evening watching the deer, wishing it were deer season too.

My scores were a 20 out of 25 and a 19 out of 25.  This is my average.  I am hoping to up that score in the next week or two.  I've come to realize that I must make sure when I bring the shotgun up that I sight down the barrel where I only see the bead.  If I see any of the barrel or rib on top of the barrel I miss.  Which probably means I am shooting high over the clay bird.  Concentration. I am going to work on this. Let you all know next week if it helped me get a better score.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting,
M.

A watching game for Friday's hunt

Well, deer hunting was just a watching game Friday afternoon.  My husband and I with our Parker crossbows hunted a friends farm.  It was a nice afternoon but the deer were not moving where I had set up.  I only saw one doe, and she was around 90 yards away. She ran from the lower edge of the field I was watching, ran into the woods and started slowly walking away from me. Then about 2 minutes later, she turns around and runs out of the woods, back to where she came from!  Not sure what spooked her.
My husband had a show to watch.  He had a fawn come by, just jumping and prancing around then it walked off into the dark of the woods.  A bit later two fawns came down the path from the woods headed towards the field.  They were running around in circles, prancing, racing up and down the path.  He said they were there for about 10 minutes before going back into the woods.  About a half an hour before sunset, a doe and two fawns came to within 20 yards of him.  They too were having fun running around, browsing and totally unconcerned or unaware of my husbands presence.  He decided the doe was a small one.  He did not shoot.  The doe when it got to about 20 yards, realized something was out of place.  She looked at the blind he was behind, stomped her hoof, snorted, twirled around and took off.
That was the show for the day.

Take care, good hunting, good shooting,
M.

Second week of the Trap League

Hi everyone.
Well, I cannot come up with a definitive reason for my second round last night being so dismal :(
My team started shooting at 7pm EST, the sun was still out and would not begin to set until just about the time we were finished with our two rounds, so I cannot blame the setting sun.  There was no wind to speak of, too bad that's always a good excuse. I think it was just me, and not shooting ahead of the target.
Now to the scores.  My first round was 20 out of 25.  In Trap there are 5 stations, and at each station you shoot 5 times.  The clay birds come out of the house at different angles, so you never know which way (left, right or straight) it will come out. Watching the bird, swinging the shotgun and shooting takes some practice, which I am working on.  I was pretty happy with my first round.
The second round started out really bad.  On the first station I missed 5, on the second station I missed 4.  My team mates were giving me advice and we were all wondering if my shells had shot in them.  The other team members thought I was shooting behind the target, meaning I needed to swing my gun faster and get it pointed ahead on the clay target before pulling the trigger.  I had to concentrate more, and began to pick up the targets.  But, because of the dismal start, I could only eek out a score of 11.

I was given two boxes on a number 8 shot by one of my team mates.  He thought I might do better using a slightly lighter load. I can practice with those boxes before next week shoot.

I'll keep you posted on how next weeks shoot turns out.
Good news, I get to go cross bow deer hunting tomorrow afternoon.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting.
M.

First night of my first ever Trap League shoot

I am glad to say that I did not embarrass myself at the first night of the Trap league.

There are 12 teams, my team in #10.  Each team has five people.  We shot two rounds of 25, which went surprisingly quick, maybe 30 minutes.  The league started at 7 pm with my team shooting at the 7:30 pm time slot.  At this time of year dusk is just starting as I was shooting. Even with the overhead lights it was sometimes hard to pick out the clay bird.

I shot 20 out of 25 the first round, and 19 out of 25 on the second round.  I was happy with that, knowing I can improve over the next 7 weeks.  My husband shot 24 and 24!! Good Going! My team ended up the night in 6th place.  In reviewing the scores I am pretty much in the high middle grouping of scores.  My husband is in the middle of the high range of scores.  One of the guy actually shot two perfect rounds of 25 each.  Maybe someday ...

As we continue through the next 7 weeks, the sun will set earlier and earlier.  I expect in about 3 weeks we'll be shooting totally after sunset.  I wonder how the shooting will be with the overhead lights.  I have always shot during the day light hours.  Hope it is not to hard to do, but I guess that is just another challenge I can overcome.

Take care, good shooting and good hunting.
M.

Update on the bow hunt

To bad!  I did not see any deer until we were driving home.  My husband did see several does but with all the leaves still on the trees there were never any chances to shoot.

Boy was it hot and humid.  I think that along with the full moon kept the deer from moving much.  We will try again another day.

Take care, good hunting, good shooting.
M.