Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

      I'm in.
    
    Jeff Amberson

    I'll give it a go. I've shot some regular trap (quite a while ago)
    but never the Sporting rounds. Should be fun! What do you mean
    "embarrasing", Bob, you plan on missing any ???   :) :)
    
    
    		Steve

    
    >What do you mean
    >"embarrasing", Bob, you plan on missing any ???   :) :)
    
    Don't think anyone here has seen me shoot, but yes I do plan on
    missing an occasional little clay frisbee :-)
    
    --Bob
    

    
    Well, it's been two weeks and only two takers? Plus one via email,
    accepting for her husband. That makes 4 including me, I can come up
    with another 3-5 non-Digital people.
    
    Is the slow response due to:
    
    1) vacation
    2) downsizing
    3) People aren't reading hunting notes due to other activities
    4) People can't find any guns
    5) Only non-New England folks left in Digital :-)
    
    
    so, what's up? Should we cancel it, or wait around for more, or pick
    a date in Sept and see who shows up?
    
    I know there are more shooters out there, come on folks, lets have some
    fun before bird season starts!!!!
    
    By the way, I went to SKaT last Thursday for a bachelor party (love
    when them Northern Maine folks get together :-) ). Had a blast. What
    a great place and alot of fun. No need to worry if you've never done
    it. Only two out of 7 had done it before, all had fun, all did well.
    I think the lowest score was 15/50, high going to 31/50 (nope, neither
    was mine).
    
    So come one, lets have some fun!
    
    --Bob
    

    Bob, if you plan your trip to SKaT on a Saturday afternoon I will make
    every attempt to join you (and would look forward to it too !)
    
     Don

    
    
    Gentlemen,
    
    		I have always participated in such events in the past.
    This would not be our first. I will consider it again this year
    depending on dates and scheduling.
    
    Bear

    If my schedule permits, count me in as well.

    
    Ok, now we're talking, in talking it over with the committee (ie
    me and anyone who cares) we have decided to propose a couple
    of dates and see what happens.
    
    so...
    
    Hows about:
    
    Saturday afternoon, September 18th
    
    Exact time would be determined later, but would be afternoon time,
    probably 2-3 is or so. All times/dates are up to the agreement of
    all those who wish to have fun, everything is flexible, so speak
    now.
    
    anybody have a problem with that one?
    
    --Bob
    

    Saturday the 18th in the pm is fine with me.

    
    9/18 in the P.M. sounds good to me also. I'll see if I can pull a
    couple of others into joining me/us.
    
    
                                                        Guy
    

    9/18 sound good to me too.  I'll be there.
    
    
    
    /Tony

    
    
    
    Ok, here's what we have so far:
    
    Ok'd the date:
    --------------
    
    me
    Doug Fyfe
    Rod Hicks (ex-DECcie)
    Debbie Morris (ex-DECcie)
    Don Mazerolle
    Tony Dacosta
    Guy Papalardo (and a couple friends)
    Anne Hall's husband (she'd love to go, but future baby prevents it)
    
    Will go, but haven't confirmed date:
    -----------------------------------
    
    Jeff Amberson
    Steve Bendel
    Bear Gath (odds on favorite :-) )
    
    That makes about 11 plus a couple friends/hunting partners that some
    have said they will drag along.  If anyone is in contact with other
    ex-DECies who would be interested, let them know about it, the more
    the merrier, basically anyone can come that can follow a few simple
    rules:
    
    1) Don't shoot me
    2) Don't shoot yourself
    3) Don't shoot anyone else
    4) Have fun!
    
    Hope you all can make it, should be fun!
    
    --Bob
    

    I can't make the 18th.  I'll be in Canada bear hunting.
    Have fun and be safe.
    
    Jeff
    

    
    re .13
    
    Sorry to hear that, good luck up there though...
    
    --Bob
    

    Bob, it has been so long since I've been to SKaT that I could use
    directions. I live in Westford, Ma.  Can you help me out ?
    
    Don

    
    Ok, here it comes, from memory (I was there about 2 weeks ago), these
    are the only ones I know, if your starting point doesn't allow
    it, oh well :-) ( I will call for other starting points if needed
    before the outing.).
    
    Rt 3N to exit 8, rt 101AW (right turn off exit 8) to 101W.
    
    101W to Rt 45 (left exit off 101)
    
    a couple of miles brings you to the center of Temple, (don't
    blink). Rt 45 bears left, there is a 90 deg right, the one you
    want goes up the middle, it is called Hadley Highway.  
    
    Go up this road for a few miles, SKaT is
    on the left.  Thought I was seeing things when we pulled in, you
    drive past some 3D archery set ups, wasn't paying a lot of attention
    until I saw that big buck out of the corner of my eye :-)
    
    If you get lost, call them: 878-1257.
    
    Travelling time from Nashua: about 45 minutes.
    
    If you can swing it, I recommend a Thursday evening, $25 will get you
    a round of sporting clays and a steak dinner (good steak to). Though
    this is getting tough quick with sunrise coming in sooner and sooner.
    
    Good luck...
    
    --Bob
    

    
    I have been playing phone tag with Tony from SKat for two days now,
    hopefully we will connect soon.
    
    Anyway, it looks to be ok for the 18th. I left a message saying
    I had between 12-15 people interested for the 18th roughly 
    around 3. He reply'd that they had something going that day, but
    it wouldn't be a problem.
    
    So, here's what we have as of now:
    
    Me (plus 2 hunting partners)
    Doug Fyfe
    Rod Hicks (ex-DEC)
    Steve Bendel
    Don Mazerolle
    Tony Dacosta
    Guy Papalardo (friends??)
    
    Haven't got a definite yes/no from:
    
    Bear Gath
    Debbie Morris (and husband)
    Anne Hall's husband (contacted me via mail, baby due around then, he
    		may just show up/not show up depending on the timing)
    
    Anyone else? Looks like 11 (plus a possible friend or two), should be
    alot of fun. With only 8 days to go, any other takers?
    
    I will put more in when I actually talk to Tony and not his 
    answering machine :-)
    
    --Bob

    
    I just got off the phone with Tony, here is the deal.
    
    The 18th they are hosting a New England shoot. This will not really 
    effect us he says. We do not have to join the tournament and the cost
    for us is the same ($20/50 targets). However there will be a couple
    of differences:
    
    1) Course is pre-set for the tournament, which means there will not
       be a trap boy escorting you around the course. All else is
       the same, you simply walk your own way around the course, he says
       it will be clearly marked.
    
    2) There may be more shooters there than normal. No effect on us, but
       he mentioned it.
    
    He says that if the tournament is over by the time we are ready to 
    go, then we will get a trap boy and will be brought around, just like
    a "normal" day going there.
    
    He wanted to mention it simply incase someone is not comfortable 
    shooting while a tournament is going on.  He stressed (and I made
    sure of) that we will NOT be interfering in the tournament, the only
    major difference to us is the course is pre-set. Everything else 
    works the same.  
    
    Should be fun.
    
    One other thing he mentioned, eye-glasses are REQUIRED for ALL shooters
    at all times on the course. This is due to some of the targets are 
    angling towards you and depending on the timing of the shot, little
    clay target pieces will be falling on and/or near the shooting 
    pad.  Regular eye glasses are fine, you simply need something to 
    cover your eyes. 
    
    hearing protection, while not required is STRONGLY recommended.
    
    Other things to mention:
    
    ALWAYS THINK GUN SAFETY!!!!!!
    
    Guns are always unloaded and actions open unless you are the one
    on the shooting pad and ready to shoot.
    
    First shooter at each pad rotates, ie, I go first on number 1, then
    second on number 2 etc. Evens out the disadvantage of going first.
    
    At each station the first shooter will be shown the targets once
    before actually taking his first shot.
    
    Targets are either:
    
    	- singles
    	- doubles (two at a time)
    	- report doubles (shoot one, when you shoot, the second is tossed)
    
    Targets are different speeds from station to station
    
    For a 50 shot round, you may want to bring a few extra shells incase
    a bird of a pair breaks, you get the pair over. For example, the second
    of a report double breaks as it leaves the thrower, you get the pair
    over again.  From what he said the tournament is 100 shots, we are
    welcome to do 100 as well (not sure of the cost).
    
    May want to bring something to carry shells in. There is a good amount
    of walking from station to station, a shell bag of some sort is
    helpfull.
    
    There is a bucket/barrell at each station for empty hulls, try to use
    it as much as you can. You are free to take your emptys to reload, but
    if not, try to put them in the bucket. Auto-loaders and pumps may
    have trouble getting both in the barrel, but doubles shouldn't. What
    we don't clean up, Tony and crew has to.
    
    Well that is about it. If anyone needs anything else, just yell, or 
    send me mail.
    
    --Bob
    

    
    Oh ya, one other restriction he mentioned.
    
    Shot size is restricted to 7 1/2, 8 or 9. Nothing bigger.  This is 
    due to the distance the larger shots can travel.  The way I look at
    it, the more little pellets I can get in teh air, the better chance
    I have of actually hitting one of them things :-)
    
    --Bob
    

    
    Well, we seem to be all set for Saturday, a couple of people have 
    cancelled, but if the rest of the folks who were gonna come, show up,
    we will have a good time.
    
    Directions from rt 3 are posted earlier in this notes line, there are
    also directions posted in the other sporting clays get together note.
    
    As of now, we have 10 people that said they could make it. Should
    be fun.
    
    I will be getting there around 2:45, with an attempt at getting the
    shooting going at 3.  If you want something to look for, my truck is
    easy to identify, just look for the Bronco II that is, lets see, how
    does my wife put it, oh ya " Sissy boy powder blue", but what the heck,
    the price was right and it gets me where I want to get.
    
    See ya Saturday. If there is anyone who has not given a yes they will
    be there answer, either just show up, or speak up now. If you speak
    up now we will know to look for you and will wait around a few minutes
    if you don't show on time.
    
    --Bob
    

    
    Well, on Saturday, 7 folks made it up to SKaT, and from what I could
    tell had a great time.  Tony, the owner, never ceases to impress me
    with his attitude (more later).
    
    The course was pre-set for the New England Championship, which resulted
    in targets that were higher, further out and faster (some ALOT faster).
    Some of the stations were, oh shall we say, a "challenge".
    
    For the tournament, they had 10 stations setup, actually more,
    depending on what type of gun you had, you got different setups at
    some stations. Each station was 10 shots, all doubles of one sort or
    another. We shot the first 5 stations, here's what they were:
    
    1: Report pair. First bird coming left to right, about 30 yards
       out, fairly high up. Second (launched at the shot at the first),
       came directly at you, about 30 feet up. Made for an interesting
       combination!
    
    2: Follow double (birds launched one at a time, but fairly close
       to each other). You stand in the shootind pad, surrounded by trees
       there is an opening straight up. Bird come from the right out of
       a 90 foot tower, birds were moving VERY fast. Tough shots!
    
    3: Simultaneous double, left to right at about 15 yards, curving
       out over the pond.
    
    4: Report pair, coming from the right, fairly high up and angling
       away at about 30 degrees. Also moving right along.
    
    5: Simultaneous double, coming from left, pretty slow and they
       dropped fast if you didn't get them quick enough. Actually were 
       going almost straight away at the end, but if you waited that long
       you were screened by bushes. Though I was nice enough to prune
       down one bush for the folks that followed me :-)
    
    Here's how we all did:
    
                               10 possible                  50 possible
    Name:          Station 1	2	3	4	5    Total
    
    Don Mazzerole:         6    3       5       3       9     26
    Bob Huston:            6    3       4       3       7     23
    Steve Bendle           1	5	5	0	4     15
    Doug Fyfe              1    5       3       2       3     14
    Rod Hicks              2    0       2       4       2     10
    Debbie Morris          0    1       2   	2	3      8
    Carl Fisher    	   0	4	1	0	1      6
    
    After we were done, and walking back to the cars, Tony yelled for us
    to grab all our shells and come back up, he has a surprise for us.
    What we did was a blast. He setup a thing called a flurry. At first
    he split us into a team of 3 (me, Doug, and Don vs the rest). 
    The team got into shooting pads, each person with 10 shells. You could
    only load 2 at a time (most of us had pumps). Then, 20 clay 
    pigeons were thrown, one after the other, quickly. The idea was
    to work as a team and get them all. To show how bad we did, Tony said
    "real" shooters (thanks tony ;-) ), would routinely get all 20. We 
    got 12.  Then the other 4 got up, I am not sure what they got, because
    I went back to get more shells again (at Tony's request). Next he lined
    all 7 of us up and the trapper threw 30 pigeons. This time only
    two hit the ground. It was fun, there were usually 3 targets in the air
    at a time. With no time to think, just reload and shoot, people were
    hitting better, I know I was.
    
    Then in the parking lot, Tony gave a quickie lesson on technique,
    brought on by one of us asking about lessons. 
    
    Overall, a great way to spend an afternoon, thanks to all those who
    showed up, hopefully next time we can get more to come, seems like
    one of those things that the more you people the more fun it will be.
    
    --Bob
    

    
    For anyone who is interested, there is an open to anyone shoot at
    SKaT on Sunday Oct 3. It is the Boston Area Ducks Unlimited shoot
    (3rd annual I believe).
    
    Cost is:
    
    50 sporting targets in the morning, lunch, 50 more:   $55
    morning instruction, lunch, 50 sporting targets:      $30
    
    There is also, I believe, an auction and raffle. 
    
    The morning shoot is from 9:30 - 11:30 (?)
    The afternoon shoot is from 1:30 - 3:00 (?)
    
    Not sure of the exact times, but those are very close.  There was no 
    sign up sheet on the flyer, so I assume you just walk on.
    
    If you want more info, feel free to call SKaT: (603) 878-1257.
    
    --Bob