We’re getting less and less shooters every year, and some present members are already talking about giving up altogether, due to the expense.

Used to be a laugh with 3 or 4 (sometimes 5) people travelling together all over Wales, nowadays there’s rarely more than one or two per car.

Sad I know, but that’s the way it goes.

We need  North wales shooters to come out in they’re droves to support this newly established club.

We all complain that most shoots are held down South for the benefit of South Walian shooters (as seen in next years County Finals),  well this is our chance to have regular skeet shooting up here.

Everyone who takes part has a chance of winning something whatever class their in.

I hope that the weather is kind, and that there will be at least 4 or more squads for what could end up as a monthly event,  shared between Fauxdegla and Mid Wales Shooting Ground.

This is proper competition shooting, but in a friendly environment, at a very reasonable cost.

As usually having to referee puts a lot of people off, the skeet club provides refs so no shooter has to.

So come on (weather permitting) lets get skeet shooting and support Huw Evans the North’s organiser.

The Beckham boot as it's called in the medical profession..

This is what I have to wear for the next month.

Doubt it’ll do much for my shooting though

It’s real name is is an Equalizer Walker, but they call it the Beckham boot because he was the first to wear one (apparently).

It’s like a torture implement and very uncomfortable to walk in, and I certainly can’t drive with it on.

Attracting young people to clay shooting, and incentives and ideas for doing so.

Bring up clay shooting in a conversation with a good number of young people and chances are that you’ll be given a funny look and the topic will disappear quite quickly. There is a potential issue with the image of clay shooting with young people. In this age of video games, iPhones and music videos, the idea of shooting clay pigeons in a field for a hobby seems rather alien , why bother going someplace to shoot when you can simply load up Modern Warfare 3 on your Xbox 360 and shoot targets from the comfort of your bedroom ?

I have found that a good way of introducing the excitement and enjoyment of clay shooting is using a company that offers laser shooting, which combines modern technology that young people are familiar with along with the skills and attributes required with real shooting. I have been to a number of events where a laser shoot has been set up and the level of interest and enthusiasm that this facility generated with the youngsters, is a positive that can be harnessed and used to introduce them to real clay shooting.

The experienced shooting enthusiasts that run these events generally portray the sport in a very positive light and show youngsters how to handle the guns as well as shoot at targets. As with a lot of sports and pursuits, if you engage your audience at an early age, you potentially have a life long fan of clay shooting, which can only be a positive step for the future of the sport.

The 2012 London Olympics should also help clay shooting’s image. Next year, over 400 competitors will participate in 15 shooting events at the Royal Artillery Barracks. One of England’s hopes for a gold medal is 20-year-old James Huckle. He has already enjoyed success in the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in India, winning three gold medals. He collected three silvers and two bronze in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. His passion and success should encourage young people to have a go at the sport. Huckle says that shooting has a potential image problem: “In Britain, we’ve got this stereotyped view of people with guns as villains, as a nasty person,” he says. “That you can only possibly want to own a gun to hurt someone. But that’s not the case.”

Incentives such as National Shooting Week encourage young people to try clay shooting and find out if it’s for them. Created by the British Shooting Sports Council, it aims to dispel myths about shooting and get more kids onto the ranges.

A guest post by Ray Agate from Wish.co.uk – for more details on their clay shooting experience days click here.

Wales    6    8    8    6    8    6    8    6    6    6    6    6    6    6    8    100
Senior Team:-    S1    S2    S3    S4    S5    S6    S7    S8    S9    S10    S11    S12    S13    S14    S15    Total
1    Julian Morris    3    7    5    4    6    6    8    4    5    6    5    5    6    6    4                                    80.

2    Nigel Hart ( C )    5    4    5    5    6    2    6    6    6    6    6    4    3    6    7                                 77.

3    Dorian Evans    4    5    7    2    7    4    7    5    5    5    5    5    3    6    5                                   75.

4    Jerry Preece    3    4    6    6    6    2    8    4    6    6    4    5    5    5    5                                     75.

5    Paul Griffiths    5    5    8    5    2    4    5    3    4    5    5    5    5    6    7                                    74.

6    Gareth Griffiths    6    7    6    4    5    3    5    4    4    5    3    5    4    5    6                               72.

7    Andrew White    3    6    4    5    2    4    8    4    4    3    5    6    5    5    7                                 71.

8    Ray Webb    5    4    5    4    7    3    7    3    6    3    4    6    4    5    5                                         71.

9    Mike Harding    6    5    7    3    5    4    7    3    3    6    3    4    5    4    3                                   68.

10    Peter Humphries    6    5    5    2    7    5    6    3    3    5    5    5    3    5    3                          68.

11    John Kendall    6    3    7    4    5    4    7    2    4    5    3    4    4    5    4                                  67.

12    Daniel Morgan    2    4    7    3    7    0    5    5    4    6    5    6    3    6    3                               66.

13    Tony King    4    6    6    1    3    3    5    3    1    6    5    5    5    4    6                                         63.

14    Richard Hughes    3    3    4    3    5    2    7    4    5    6    2    5    5    6    1                              61.

15    Bleddyn Lewis    2    2    6    3    4    1    7    4    2    5    5    6    3    2    1                                 53.

Junior Team:-    S1    S2    S3    S4    S5    S6    S7    S8    S9    S10    S11    S12    S13    S14    S15    Total
1    David Kidner    4    7    7    4    7    4    5    3    5    6    2    4    5    4    4                                     71.

2    Luke Lewellen    3    6    5    3    7    2    6    3    3    4    5    6    3    2    4                                   62.

3    John Preece    3    5    2    1    1    3    6    4    4    6    5    4    6    6    3                                        59.
Ladies Team:-    S1    S2    S3    S4    S5    S6    S7    S8    S9    S10    S11    S12    S13    S14    S15    Total
1    Janine Preece    3    6    5    5    6    5    6    3    5    6    5    5    5    6    6                                   77.

2    Nikky Evans    4    3    6    5    5    1    5    2    3    6    3    5    5    4    5                                       62.

3    Lucy Pitt    2    4    6    2    4    3    5    4    4    4    2    4    3    5    6                                             58.
Veteran Team:-    S1    S2    S3    S4    S5    S6    S7    S8    S9    S10    S11    S12    S13    S14    S15    Total

1    Richard James    1    6    4    3    5    3    8    4    4    6    4    5    5    3    4                                    65.

2    Roy Hughes    4    4    8    2    4    1    5    1    4    3    5    6    3    5    3                                          58.

3    Norman Jones    3    2    6    1    5    4    6    1    4    6    3    5    2    5    3                                     56.

Manager:-
Julie Hart

My thanks to tk for the pictures.

Weather was diabolical, and although 15 to 20 shooters were expected, only 8 hardy souls turned up to brave the wind and rain.

High and low birds had a mind of they’re own,  bopping about all over the place,  which made for very interesting scores.

50 birds in the morning an enormous lunch followed by 50 birds in the afternoon was the schedule of the day.

At the 50 stage it was very close at the top with Gwyn, Keith, Dave, and I within one or two birds.

Then lunch, a fantastic eat as much as you want Chicken Curry, ‘Lobscows’, strawberry trifle, and apple pie and cream.  With 8 people eating enough food for 20,  you can imagine how we were on the final 50

Our thanks to Gwyn, Elfyn, and especially their hard working mum,  for giving us this superb feast.

On the third round, the weather was worse than ever,  and the leading shots struggled,  with Keith hitting 16, me 18, Gwyn a 19,  and Dave to his credit a superb 22.

Going to the last round, Dave and I were on 61/75,  and Gwyn and Keith on 59/75.

So it was all to shoot for, with a lovely trophy for the winner and bottles of wine to be awarded to the first three.

Keith and Gwyn went first,  and ended the round on 76/100 and 81/100 respectively.

To beat Gwyn, Dave and I needed a 21/25,  no easy feat considering the terrible weather.

We reached stand 7 with Dave  having missed 4 birds, and me missing 2, and I was shooting first.

Bl****y h**l, I just couldn’t believe it as low 7 single flew away untouched, and I was so glad to see the last 3 birds turn into dust.

Dave went on to clear the stand to get the 21 he needed,  but it just wasn’t enough as my 22 meant I was high gun.

Although the scores were poor overall,  and taking into consideration the atrocious conditions,  no one were too disappointed with the way it finished.

Score at the end were as follows:

Elfyn 52/100, J.R. 54/100,   Hefin 61/100, Robin 65/100, Keith 76/100, Gwyn 81/100, Dave 82/100, and myself on  83/100.

Well done to Dave, and at this rate it won’t be long before your winning competitions in your own right.

Gwyn being the gentleman he is,  gave away his 3rd place bottle of wine to 4th placed Keith.

Our thanks to everyone at Gwyndegla,  for a wonderful days shooting and feast..

Click on pics for full size.

I’ve never hidden my feelings about Mid Wales Shooting Ground as I absolutely love the place,  but today proved to many why I feel the way I do.

A truly excellent shoot that ran perfectly from start to finish with no breakdowns that I know of (someone might correct me on this)..

All the shooters and staff were in a charitable mood, and although numbers were fairly low, everyone I spoke to were enjoying the shooting and the friendly banter.

We (Gwynedd) held our County Qualifier at the same time, and although there was only 8 of us, it didn’t dampen our spirits.

Some fantastic shooting in difficult conditions

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The Gwynedd scores were as follows:

Scores            Sporting            Skeet                  DTL               ABT

Keith Hill              20                        24                    24                20                      88

Gwyn Richards    18                         23                    23                20                      84

Ken Griffiths         15                        24                    25                18                      82

Dennis Evans       15                        21                    24                 19                     79

Sion Evans            12                        20                    24                19                     75

W.G. Jones            12                        21                    20                15                    68

David Jones           8                         19                     21                13                     61

Elfyn Richards       4                         15                    14                 13                    46

Congratulations to Keith for being high gun in the qualifier on an excellent 88.

As to the charity shoot, there were some exceptional scores recorded, with a total of  6  people in the nineties.

Mick Harding on a 98, only dropping two birds on the skeet layout, what a masterful display of shooting.

Martin Myers in second place on a 97, only dropping two on the difficult sporting layout and one on ABT.

Then Richard Arthur Hughes on 94,  Ian Jones 92, Dorian Evans 92, and Roy Gudrat 91.

Well done to all, and all the shooters just behind in the eighties, just too many to mention.

Our own TK and Dan Morgan finished on 83 and 87 respectively.

Our grateful thanks to the dedicated people who ran this charity event, and to Mid Wales Shooting Ground for being so generous, in respect of the Welsh Air Ambulance.

A very successful raffle and auction was held at the end, all prizes gratefully donated to this most worthy of causes.

Some more pics below:

Whilst none of our crowd (Gwynedd) shot all that well today,  we all had a fantastic time at what is our home ground (two hours away).

I was in a squad with Henry Bales, Gwynedd’s Keith Hill, eventual joint high gun Alan Parkin, and Chris Ingram.

As I’d shot with them all at previous qualifiers, and everyone knew each other,  it was a good squad to be in.

Alan was on top form and shot a wonderful (his first I think) 99, to end up on joint high gun with Nigel Hodson and Pete Collins from  Scotland.  Close on his heels was Chris, with a (disappointing for him) 94.

Keith started better than me, and after the first 50 was in front of me by a few birds, but I managed to catch up and pass him on the final 50 by shooting a 49/50.

I needed a good kick up the backside for dropping high 6, which deprived me of a 50 straight.

I was quite surprised not to see a 100 straight  as the conditions were good, as were the birds, but a shoot off was needed to decide the overall high Gun.

After 25, Alan and Nigel were straight, and the Pete Collins had dropped out,  so it needed a shoot off on stand 4 to decide the 2011 champion.  Nigel shot first and smashed all 4 birds, whilst Alan missed the low bird on his second pair, leaving him runner up with Pete Collins in third place

So Nigel a well deserved winner took the trophy home for another year.

I must admit I was rooting for Alan to win, as we’d shot all four rounds together, and he’s truly a gentleman who won the respect of the rest of the squad with his superb shooting. Glad to see him getting runner up and veterans high gun.

I believe 4th place was taken by Huw Evans on 97.

Our lot’s scores at the end, Gwyn 84/100, Glyn (2nd in C class) 89/100, Keith 91/100, and myself 92/100.  Not all that great, but for a bunch of sporting shooters not all that bad.

Ladies high gun was taken by Helena Stewart from Scotland, with Natalie Davies as ladies runner up and top junior,  well shot ladies.

Glad to say I was in good company on 92/100, as Angie and Rob English finished on the same score.  Angie just missed out on a ladies placing by a single bird, which was a real pity as she shot really well.

3 shot five rounds of skeet (Me, Dave, and Barry) and three shot 3 rounds of skeet and 50 sporting (Keith, Gwyn, and Elfyn).

Also there were Huw Evans and Alun Evans to show us how it’s done.  .

Conditions were testing with a blustery wind and showers, but as always the birds were first rate with no breakdowns.

As to the scores, I only have the scores of Dave, Barry, and myself, but I do know that Keith shot the only straight of the day, and Gwyn shot two 24′s. No idea what they’re other scores were.

Barry shot, 14, 14, 18, 19, 20.

Dave shot 20, 20, 21, 23, 23, best he’s ever done, so well done indeed.

And Myself, a crappy 21, 22, 23, 23, 24.

Birds seemed faster than usual, and low bird seemed to get a jump on everybody.

Traps worked faultlessly, and staff were helpful and cheery, especially Ernie

Next weekend should be fun, and  lets hope the weather’s kind for a change.

Pity we’re self refereeing again at what is the most important skeet shoot of the year.

My thanks to Dave for the photo’s taken on his iPhone..

A very tricky course that caught out quite a few top shots.

Jonathan and the staff at M.W. have this knack of putting on birds that first look fairly easy, but are a subtle use of angles and speeds, that catch out even the best.

A fairly poor turnout didn’t dampen the day, and things ran vary smoothly throughout the day.

Only 2 small complaints,  some poor refereeing on two stands (although Keith won’t agree ), and too many stands with long left to right crossers/loopers.

Scores from our lot were as follows, TK 84, Dan Morgan 74, Keith 74 (which should have been a 71) , W.G. 69, Me 67, Gwyn 65, Dennis 63, Barry 50, Dave 48, and Elfyn 23.

Katie Cowell the junior was there, and after giving skeet a rest for the day,  shot an excellent 74 to end up on the same score as Keith.

So well done TK on a very decent score, as the top score when we left was only 88, but with a few top shots still out on the course.

But this ‘Flinching’ excuse for missing is getting a bit much now

One of the best finals ever, and probably the best winning score ever seen, a 98 by Alistair Evans.

I’ve been shooting for my county team for 17 years (skeet, Sporting, DTL, and AR),  and I can honestly say, this was one of the best county finals ever held.  Fantastic mixture of targets set perfectly for club shooters and pro’s alike.

So many people shot 70+, and the smiling faces around the ground  said it all.

The weather was perfect, and the service at MW was superb, with very few breakdowns and broken clays.

The only downside was the bench and table collapsing under our team Gwyn and Elfyn, Sue, Sera, and myself were sent sprawling as it slowly collapsed.

Click on the pics to enlarge:

Having never shot skeet at SW2000 before, we found the targets to be extremely challenging compared to the one’s at  Mid Wales and Fauxdegla .  Saturday practise was a nightmare with some of us struggling to get in the twenties.  High bird was diving to the ground and the low bird bopping about all over the place.  Father and daughter Mark and Natalie Davies were also struggling with the unpredictable targets.

Sunday’s targets were slightly better, but still a real challenge to those of us not used to the grounds characteristics (very windy place).  Although the ground doesn’t have a tanoy system (no idea why not), everything ran fairly smoothly throughout the day.

Natalie Davies (top lady) and Dorian Evans (Hotshot) showed us the way, by posting two excellent 96s.  Top veteran John Hughes posted a brilliant 95 to take the veterans trophy. Top junior was Ben Llewellyn from Dyfed on 91, and top Colt was George Ingram.

Overall team winners were Powys, and they seem to be untouchable these last few years.

The Gwynedd shooters although having no chance of winning, shot their hearts out, with five of the nine hitting 89 or more.  Barry Hughes averaged 16, which was a great score considering he was shooting 7/25 on Saturday and nearly gave up shooting altogether.

Our veteran W.G. and senior Dennis Evans shot a great 89/100, with Keith Hill and Gwyn Richards shooting a fantastic 92/100. I myself finished  on 94/100, two targets short of Dorian’s excellent score.

We need to thank our borrowed shooters as they all shot well (considering they had to shoot with us ).  Daf and Dafter our veterans,  finished on 168/200, quite a few behind the winners but not too bad overall.

Tk didn’t shoot his best, but says he’s already looking forward to next years competition

He’s even considering giving up sporting (along with his mate Dan), to concentrate on his skeet.

The one thing that disappointed me on Sunday was the late giving out of the class winnings. I myself was given joint second place in B class on 94, whilst Keith was given first place in B class on a 92   They took ages to work out the scores yet they couldn’t get the order right!!

Being a gentleman, Keith swapped envelopes with me, but it makes me wonder if anyone else ended up with the wrong prize money!

All in all a great weekend, my thanks to everyone who made us Gogs feel most welcome in a foreign land . Hope to see you all at the sporting final at Mid Wales, where Powys will again win the team comp.

Today we had our yearly day out at Hodnet, thanks to Keith Hill and his Game Shooting Syndicate.
150 birds over 16 stands, with a great variety of easy and hard stands.

As the team comprised mostly of game shooters, well over half the stands were of the driven variety (the bird I hate the most)..

Breakfast bap followed by 88 birds in the morning, lunch, 62 mostly driven in the afternoon, then a beef dinner (followed by fantastic cheesecake), made for a great day.

High gun of the day was……. yes that man again Keith Hill on a fantastic 127/150, superb shooting, well done that man

Our 6 man squad, comprising of Me, Gwyn, Elfyn, Barry, Dave, and W.G. were neck and neck throughout the day. Our scores at the end were Gwyn 110/150, Dave 110/150, W.G. 108/150, Me 107/150, Elfyn 105/150, and bringing up the rear, Barry on a credible 80/150.

I needed one more stand to catch up, but it wasn’t to be because of my poor performance in the morning. My 9/10 on the highest high bird in the Country the famous ‘Vertigo’ more than made up for my lackluster performance.

A special congratulations to Dave Jones with his best ever score, and beating me whilst doing it.
Well done fellow