Hunting skeet

Hunting skeet

by Bill Osler May 20, 2006 4:57AM PDT

We had an outing with our church's senior high boys this weekend. One of the activities was shooting skeet. Before the trip we joked about having to kill skeet and cook them for supper, but I think all of the boys knew it was a joke. I'm still not sure in one case.

I haven't used a firearm since one year at boy scout camp (maybe 38 years ago?) and I never did manage to hit one of the 'birds' back then. This time was different, mostly because the person who hosted the event is such a wonderful teacher. He's also a pretty good shot. He isn't quite good enough to be a professional competitor with shotguns but he does sometimes compete against the pros in tournaments and when he competes against other amateurs he frequently wins. We had 2 people with considerable experience supervising the activity, including one of the coaches from the local high school hunter safety competition team. (Hunter safety competition? That's a new one for me.)

We shot skeet from his back porch from about 9 PM to about 1 AM. That should give you an idea how enthusiastic he is about shotguns and how much the boys enjoyed it. The host has traps set up in his back yard, huge pole mounted lights that illuminate the area, and all of the other equipment necessary except we did borrow some of the hearing protection equipment from the high school hunter safety team. The place is in a rural area and the neighbors are far enough away that shooting in the middle of the night does not generate complaints. He said most of his neighbors can't even tell when he's shooting.

The 12 gauge shotgun didn't 'kick' as hard as I expected, and aiming was easier than I expected. I had trouble hitting the 'birds' thrown from the right side of the field, but I did OK overall. The fun part came when he started throwing 2 at a time from different directions. Most of us ended up hitting those targets at least some of the time, and one of the boys who had never fired a shotgun before appeared to have quite a bit of natural talent.

It was a different sort of youth group activity, but I think everybody had a good time.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -

sounds like a blast

by Mark5019 May 20, 2006 4:59AM PDT

glad was fun

- Collapse -

Don't care much for skeet,

by duckman May 20, 2006 5:31AM PDT

not very much meat left after hitting it

- Collapse -

And that little bit is really tough ...

by Bill Osler May 20, 2006 9:15AM PDT

Even after boiling for hours the meat doesn't get soft!

Actually, we ate pretty well. Last night we made chili outdoors. We had bought groceries for a simple breakfast, but our host and his wife surprised us with eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy. Definitely a step up from the menu we planned!

We camped out by a pond on the host's property and enjoyed a splendid view. The only flaw in the expedition was rain, but even the rain didn't come until after everybody was bedded down. The boys were supposed to take turns at 'guard duty'/fire watch through the night so they could chase off animals and tend the fire but we let them skip that once the rain started up.

Despite my Eagle Scout background, I'm not much of a camper. Even so, I have to admit it was a fun expedition.

- Collapse -

(NT) (NT) Good breakfast !!

by duckman May 20, 2006 10:23AM PDT

- Collapse -

Ah, seems like a great outing

by John Robie May 20, 2006 5:42AM PDT

for you and the youngsters. Like you, it has been over 35 years since I've shot skeet, but used to belong to a military skeet club where no one was actually that good, no pros, but we all had fun. There was also a trap range. We used to reload our own shells to keep the cost down. I imagine the cost is now quite expensive as a complete round of skeet uses up a box.

Have always been a 12ga and rifle hunter since a kid, but the first time I ever shot trap was aboard a luxury ship. Trap is where the clay target is projected away from you instead of sideways in skeet. Back in the early 60's the AF would let you apply for passsage of a few available spaces on a luxury liner when rotating back to the states. I shot trap every day aboard ship and was simply awful. Each person had a personal stewart who would load the 12ga and hand it to you, standing there to watch and give pointers if necessary. I had the same stewart each day, an old and ruff around the edges Englishman, who new I was the only GI shooting with all what he called the rich xxxxxxx. Poor old guy, he was very nice to me and tried his best to give me pointers, but it seemed I was still the worst of the lot. Well, on the last night at sea there was a big ball gathering with party hats, dancing, band, etc.. and trophys given out for all the sports on the ship. In those days after 6PM all men had to wear a coat & tie. Well, after the shuffle board awards came the skeet awards, 4 trophys. For the 2nd place my names was called, and I liked to fell out of my chair, and just couldn't belive it. That old farX of an Englishman, who didn't like the show off rich shooters, must have fudged (definately cheated) on keeping my score.

Glad you all had a good time.

- Collapse -

I guess we did both skeet and trap ...

by Bill Osler May 20, 2006 9:30AM PDT

I have no idea what it cost. I'd guess we went through 1000-1500 'birds' and a similar number of shells, but the leader had found somebody to donate the ammunition and our host provided the skeet. We didn't have to charge the boys more than a few dollars for food.

Our host had 4 throwers set up. One from each side, one going away from us and one coming toward us. His controller let him choose any combination of 2 throwers at a time when the boys were ready to try that.

I thought the throws going away from us were the easiest, but that was partly because we were standing directly above the thrower. After a bit of practice it was easy to see where the 'bird' would reach its peak and shoot it there because we didn't have to aim ahead of the target or do anything fancy like that. If it had been a little bit to the side but throwing the 'bird' away from us it would have been harder.

Once the boys got the hang of it our host showed off a bit. He had somebody else operate the controller, and he stood off to the side with his competition shotgun. If the person who was supposed to hit the 'bird' missed, our host would wait until it was just a few feet above the ground and then shoot it. Sometimes if the first shooter hit the 'bird' but there were large pieces still intact, our host would shoot one or more of the large pieces. He almost never missed. It was a really impressive demonstration.

CNET Forums

Other Forums

Forum Info