Only my second sporting qualifier this year due to the skeet, but I must say it was an enjoyable day with good friends.

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

Some pics of the winners today, I’ll add names etc, later when I get a chance.

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:

A very long 41/2 hour  journey down South for the Gwynedd Shooters for the 2011 counties skeet final at SW2000. It must be around 8 years since our last visit, and the ground was looking rather tired in places (in need of painting). Traps worked well and we only had one no bird in the 4 rounds we shot.

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

Click on pics to enlarge, Could be scary for small children.

A cold showery day greeted the Gwynedd Hopefuls to Mid Wales, to shoot our 2nd skeet and sporting qualifiers.

Skeet:
Squad one consisting of Yours Truly, W.G., Gwyn, Elfyn and Sera had to shoot the first round in torrential rain and strong winds which made it very difficult to get a good score in.
Despite this, W.G. managed a fantastic straight whilst the rest of us struggled with the awful conditions.
The low bird dropped half way between the high house and the middle peg which meant it was very easy to over lead, whilst the high bird dived to the ground next to the low house at what seemed like a 100 mph. (if you could see it).
Scores, W.G. 25, Ken 23, Gwyn 21, Elfyn 21, Sera 10.

Squad 2, consisting of Sue, Keith, Barry, Dave and Rhys had the Gods on they’re side. Glorious sunshine and the winds died down just as they were shooting they’re first round.
Scores, Sue 21, Keith 24, Barry 17, Dave 21, and Rhys 19.

Squad one second round, started badly for yours truly, missing high one on the pairs followed by the repeat bird (daft bugger). Half way round the rain came down again along with the strong gusts of wind, ensuring that no one could get near the perfect score.
Scores, Ken 22, Glyn 22, Gwyn 21, Elfyn 18, and Sera 5.

Squad 2 round 2, guess what? Yes the sun comes out again, the jammy buggers.
Keith carries on his good work by posting the 2nd straight of the day finishing on a fantastic 49.
Scores, Keith 25, Sue, Dave and Rhys 21, and last but not least Barry on 16.

Final score out of 50, Keith 49, Glyn 47, Ken 45, Gwyn, Sue and Dave 42, Elfyn 39, Barry 33, and Sera 10.

Sporting:

The Bala lads, Dennis, Sion and Elgan joined us for the sporting in the afternoon.

A testing layout with totally different targets to the first qualifier, combined with a strong cold wind really tested the shooters stamina.
Split into two squads the suspense could be cut with a knife, with each squad not knowing how the other was doing. One elderly shooter had forgotten his choke key and had to shoot 40 yard birds with skeet and cylinder chokes (how daft can you get)

Elgan Pugh showed us the way with a truly fantastic 43/50 followed by his fellow Bala shooter Dennis Evans on 41. Both juniors shot well, with Rhys shooting a 38 and Sion on 37.

Final scores:
Elgan 43, Dennis 41, Gwyn and Rhys 38, Sion 37, Keith 36, Sue 34, Ken 33, W.G. 32, Dave and Elfyn 30, Barry 29, Bob 27, Christine 21, and Sera 17.

The last qualifier will be in 2 weeks time at Fauxdegla Shooting Ground.

An overcast, dry and cold day greeted us to Mid Wales on Sunday 23rd of January.

Plans were to start shooting skeet at 10.00 a.m. but due to the most important part of the day, a Mid Wales breakfast, we were running around half an hour late.

Not the best turnout at only 11 shooters, but to be expected after numbers have fallen dramatically over the past few years.

For the first time in ages we had two ladies, with our newest shooter young Sera joining our skeet loving  Sue for the day.

Conditions were good with the birds flying high and true, and the traps worked superbly with very few no birds.

On the first squad there was Ken Griffiths (me), Sion Evans our junior, Dennis (Sion’s dad and bank), Gwyn Richards, and Glyn Jones (W.G.).

Second squad consisted of Sue Gauton, Keith Hill, Dave Jones, Barry Hughes, Sera Roberts, and Elfyn Richards (Slim).

High gun of the day was Gwyn Richards on a respectable 47/50, followed by Dennis Evans on 46/50, and Ken Griffiths on 45/50 (dropped 4 on station 4 ).

Our newest member Sera shooting her first ever rounds of skeet, shot an 11 and and an 8, not bad considering it was her first time ever on the skeet range.

Skeet scores on the day:

Gwyn Richards 47, Dennis Evans 46, Ken Griffiths, 45, Keith Hill 42, Sue Gauton 40, Glyn Jones 40, Dave Jones 37, Elfyn Richards 37, Sion Evans 35, Barry Hughes 19, Sera 18.

In the Afternoon we had another two shooters join us for the sporting, Wil Hughes, and John Harri Bach (everyone knows him at Mid Wales as a top veteran DTL shooter).

Birds were testing and worthy of an International qualifier, and the newly installed traps worked well.

High gun of the day was our Co-ordinator Keith Hill with an excellent 40/50, followed close on his heels by our junior Sion Evans on 39/50 using his 32″ Trap gun, and Ken Griffiths and Dennis Evans on 37/50.

Sporting Scores on the day:

Keith Hill 40, Sion Evans 39, Ken Griffiths 37, Dennis Evans 37, Glyn Jones (veteran) 35, Wil Hughes 35, Dave Jones 33, Barry Hughes 30, Gwyn Richards 30, Sue Gauton 26, John Harri 26, Elfyn Richards 25, and  Sera on 23.

Interestingly, when you combine the scores together it was very close between the top 6 as is usual in our team.

Dennis 83/100, Keith 82/100, Ken 82/100, Gwyn 77/100, Glyn 75/100, Sion 74/100, Dave 70/100, Sue 66/100, Elfyn 62/100, Barry 49/100, and Sera on 41/100.

The scores might not look all that good compared to other counties, but we have no Internationals whatsoever,  and we have many relatively new shooters who are ready and willing to have a go.

Well done to all, and see you all next month once again at our favourite ground.

One last thing to add, on the way home we were thrown out of a pub for being too noisy, clearly we know how to enjoy ourselves

Pictures from the day below:

With great sadness I have to inform members of the sad death of Derek Mead of Porthmadog at the relatively young age of 67.

Derek a great supporter of shooting in Gwynedd, died peacefully at home on January the 11th after a long illness.

A few years ago Derek shot skeet for Wales, something he was extremely proud of, and he made many good friends from all over the country.

He shot in the Gwynedd Skeet, Sporting, and All-Round teams for many years, and was an exceptional shot who loved the sport.

He was also a very keen fly fisherman, and he used to travel the lakes of North wales on a regular basis in the pursuit of his passion.

He will be sorely missed by all who knew him, God bless his soul.

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone whose taken part or just looked in on my friendly little blog.

It’s been an up and down first year, with people coming and going, some friendly banter, a bit of piss-taking, and some going over the top (won’t mention who, but you know who you are ).

Thank you one and all, have a great Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year at shoots all-over Wales..

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda,

Ken.

What a great day out at Llanbedrog Shooting School last Saturday.

A cloudy overcast day welcomed us to Llanbedrog Shooting School for the annual Gwyndegla outing.

Keith had asked Bob to set up a fairly hard shoot to test these amateur local shooters, and by heck this he did.

A shoot equal to a Welsh qualifier in target difficulty,  left a few people with seriously long faces and moaning wildly.

We were split into 3 squads under the Captaincy of  Sue Gaunton, Gwyn Richards, and Christine Carter.

In Sue’s team were Keith Hill, Glyn Jones, Elfyn ‘Slim’ Richards, and Rhys ‘Gay Boy’ Davies.

In Gwyn’s team, Me, Robin Jones, J.R., and Jono (no idea of their full names )..

In Christine’s Team, her hubby Bob Carter, Dave Jones, and Barry Hughes.

Top 3 scores were to count for the coveted Team Trophy.

High gun of the day was Keith Hill (yes him again ) on a 70, followed by Robin Jones and myself on a 63 (always the bridesmaid )..

The rest of the scores were so bad I shall not embarrass the rest of the  competitors by publishing their pitiful scores

In the team event, Sue’s team and Gwyn’s team were tied on 182/300, which made me feel terrible as I had only hit one bird on my last stand

What they don’t know is that I did this on purpose to stop Robin from crying and making a fool of himself

Gwyn ‘Gwyndegla’ Richards shot 4 ten’s and still only managed a 56, and has decided to use his gun as a fence post from now on as it will probably be a lot more useful in this way.

Our thanks to Bob Valentine for a great day out, and the hot mince pies made by himself (or so he says).

Thanks to Sue and Christine for providing the Champagne and the cake (Tesco’s Finest) for little Rhys’s 17th birthday.

Our meal following the shoot was at the Twnti Inn at Rhydyclafdy, and the food was outstanding.

Robin tried to equal Slim drink for drink and failed miserably, being so pissed he could barely stand up

He told everybody about some ladies in Anglesey he sometimes visits for some lessons (not sure in what ) at £65 a go!!!

Dave Jones had terrible hiccups and Barry was drinking tonic water all-night, what more excitement could anybody want

All in all a fantastic day out,  and great time was had by all.

Should Counties be allowed to field as many internationals as they want?

Should County Finals be central or moved about year on year?

Do we need to have 3 qualifiers for most of the disciplines?

What’s the cost of becoming an International, uniforms, traveling, board and lodgings, etc?

Should the Internationals get financial support from the WCTSA?

Where should International Qualifiers be held, and should the rank and file have a say?

It was good to see 85 shooters from 6 counties turn up for the All Round County Final at Mid Wales Shooting Centre, 9 of those being Juniors/Colts.

Brilliant sunshine and no wind made for perfect targets and Dai Watkins from West Glamorgan made good use of that by posting the first 25 of the day on the skeet. Other shooters stepped up to the challenge in particular a squad from Gwent who being led by their captain, John Kendall, saw 4 out of 5 of them all posting straights in one round of the skeet.

Gwent, this year, were fielding some very experienced shooters in the hope of taking the county shield back with them and with the scores coming in, it looked like they may be challenging Powys for that shield.
Last years Senior High Gun, Dorian Evans from Powys, could ill-afford to shoot a 19 on the ABT if he wanted to retain his title especially when John Kendall from Gwent had put a 24 in.
One Gwent shooter though will be kicking himself during the ABT. Tony King (our tk) was shooting particularly well when he had a misfire. Unfortunately for Tony, after the gun was inspected by the Ref, it was found Tony had only put one shell into his gun and that one was in the wrong barrel!! THE NUMPTY !! Tony still finished the round with a fabulous 24 and a red face!

How can I ever live this down, I'm doomed you know???

Arwel Jones from Clwyd was putting in some terrific, steady scores and even managed a respectable 23 on the sporting where most people were coming unstuck with some very tricky targets especially the rabbit even with full use of the gun! Arwel was obviously pleased enough with his score of 91 and posted a suitable comment on Facebook that night of ‘High Gun in Clwyd, won class, trophy and money….living the dream!’
Nice one Arwel but unfortunately though for him, John Kendall just piped him to overall Senior High Gun with a tremendous 95 , well shot John who also took the Captains cup with that score.

A superb 95 from High Gun John Kendall.

Nicky Evans returned in fine form from the Sporting International where she had won overall Ladies High Gun and just managed to retain her Ladies High Gun trophy in the All Round Final but she only just nudged Carol Francis into 2nd place by one clay. A solid 82 was enough though for her, with Carol on 81.

Lady High Gun Nicky Evans.

Young Sion Evans from Gwynedd just kept hold of his Colts trophy again this year but he had a good challenge from Dyfeds ‘new cap’ Adam Watts who was only 4 clays behind Sion so well done to you both.

Colt High Gun Sion Evans

Powys Veteran, John Hughes, put in a fine score of 86 to take the Veterans High Gun trophy finishing with a 25 straight on the skeet and with his brother Roy, they jointly took the Veteran Team trophy from Gwent who were eager to retain it.

There must be something about a brotherly partnership that works as Luke and Ben Llewellin from Dyfed joined forces to win the Junior Team shield. Luke had put in Junior individual score of 90 that most Seniors would have been proud of and it was enough for him to have the Junior High Gun trophy for his first time.

Nothing changed when it came to the Ladies Team shield. Again it was the partnership of Carol Francis and Rose Owen from Dyfed that took it back to share for another year. It was nice to see two other Ladies teams competing this year, one from Powys and the other one from Gwent. Well done Ladies!

Carol Francis and Rose Owen from Dyfed, Winning Ladies Team.

With the last squad rotations starting, some County shooters were trying to work out the formulations of the scores needed to take the County shield. Brains were going into overtime, adding up scores!!
But as usual, it was the ladies in the office who had their fingers on the right buttons and close it was! Powys had done it again but with a much reduced lead over Dyfed in 2nd place and Gwent were right up there nipping at Dyfeds heels for 3rd.
Presentations commenced and all that was left was to publicly thank Arthur and Rita Williams and their very hard working staff for making this such a fine and enjoyable County Final.

One note worth mentioning is how this particular Final has grown over the last couple of years when in 2006 only 4 Counties were taking part. This is a really great day out to test the shooters abilities and without the Co-ordinators hard work, it wouldn’t have grown to what it is now.

Winning County Powys 740
Runners Up Dyfed 726
3rd Place Gwent 718
4th Place Clwyd 686
5th Place Gwynedd (hooray) 647
6th Place West Glamorgan 614

Senior High Gun John Kendall 95 Gwent

Veterans High Gun John Hughes 86 Powys

Ladies High Gun Nicky Evans 82 Gwent

Junior High Gun Luke Llewellin 90 Dyfed

Colts High Gun Sion Evans (or is that Sian ) 71 Gwynedd

Captains Cup John Kendall 95 Gwent

Winning Veterans Team John Hughes & Roy Hughes Powys
Winning Ladies Team Carol Franci & Rose Owen Dyfed
winning Junior Team Luke Llewellin & Ben Llewellin Dyfed

My thanks to Angie for the great info

The Rabbit Master at Work

Yes, we had our final practise all-round (125 birds) at Mid Wales today, on the same day as Powys’s all-round qualifier.

What a disaster with some of the worst score we’ve ever had especially on ABT and Single Barrel. Just hope we do a lot better in 2 weeks time.

We started on the DTL where the top score was a poorly 21, shot by the man who says he can’t hit going away targets, our Keith Hill

Scores were, Keith 21, Gwyn 20, Glyn 20, Ken 18, Dave 16, Robin 16, Barry 11.

We moved onto the ABT where the top score was a 20, shot by Gwyn Richards the Mighty Atom.

Scores were, Gwyn 20, Keith 18, Elfyn (Gwyn’s brother) 16, Ken 16, Robin 15, Glyn 14, Dave 10, Barry 5.

Then came the skeet, where the scores were a great deal more respectable.

Again the Top gun again was Gwyn with a 24, followed by me and Robin on 23.

Scores were, Gwyn 24, Ken 23, Robin 23, Keith 22, Glyn 18, Dave 18, Elfyn 18, Barry 14.

So with only the Sporting to go, it was close between Gwyn 64/75 and Keith on 61/75.

The rest lagged way behind, Ken 57/75, Glyn 52/75, Elfyn 54/75, Robin 49/75, Dave 44/75, and Barry 30/75.

The sporting layout was very tricky as it was set up for the Powys Qualifier, and really sorted the men from the boys

High gun was Ken Griffiths on a respectable 20.
Rest of the scores were as follows, Keith 16, Gwyn 14, Glyn 14, Robin 10, Dave 9, Elfyn 8, Barry 7.

So at the end of the 100 birds, Gwyn was very lucky to hold on to his lead after a disappointing round on the sporting layout.

Scores at the end were as follows, Gwyn 78, Ken 77, Keith 77, Glyn 66, Elfyn 62, Robin 59, Dave 53, and Barry on 37.

As it was so close at the end, Gwyn insisted we shoot another round of skeet so he could redeem himself after the sporting. This turned out to be a big mistake as he dropped down to 3rd place overall One born every minute LOL..

Scores were, Keith 25, Ken 24, Glyn 24, Dave 21, Gwyn 20, Elfyn 17, Barry 15, and Robin 15.

Which gave a final score of, Keith 102/125, Ken 101/125, Gwyn 98/125, Glyn 90/125, Elfyn 79/125, Robin74/125, Dave 74/125, and last but not least Barry on 52/125.

Hard luck Gwyn, I bet you regret insisting on having those extra 25 birds..

Great day out, and a fantastic breakfast cooked by Yvonne and Rita.

We ended up having a pint on the way home where I again bought a round, it was such a pity that Gwyn wasn’t there at the time to witness it

I just hope that things improve in 2 weeks time (scores wise), otherwise we might end up last, but at least we’ll have fun.

No idea what happened with the Powys lads, perhaps someone will enlighten us.
I know that Trevor Morgan reads the blog, so could you give us a little report on your day out Trevor?

I started shooting clays back in 1993 when I was eerrmmmm 34, after months spent at home following a major operation. Went to a local shoot just to have a go and ended up well and truly hooked.
I’ve never really been able to afford it, but having a very understanding family has enabled me to average around 2000 targets a year.
So the kids went without food on the table and having to wear hand-me-downs, and the wife had to make her own make up out of weeds growing in the garden, and get her clothes from the local tip!!
SO WHAT, it was all worth it just to see those clays turn into dust on a regular basis (well some at least).

What made you start shooting and when did it happen??

Anyone with any comments or complaint about my blog are welcome to contact me at any time.

Either comment on the blog or send me an email to contact@clayshooting.com

We are a happy band of bloggers who can take it on the chin should anyone be unhappy with any comment made.

This blog was created so like minded people from Wales with a passion for Clay Shooting could have their say be it good or bad.

I would never allow defamation or insults,  but genuine criticism (within reason) or praise is welcome.