What a shot!

I always thought I’d be able to use a shotgun but had never put it to the test. It’s never too late to learn. Sue treated me to a beginner’s session with Bob at the Bob Valentine Shooting School outside Llanbedrog.

After a thorough safety briefing I marched out onto one of the fields where, poking out of the far hedgerow, was a clay pigeon trap. Bob took out what looked a bit like a simple TV remote, pressed the eject button and up went the clay. Another button altered the direction and another altered the steepness of the flight.

Three times we went through the motion of aiming at a clay flying towards me, following it to the point where it slows and starts to veer away, and firing without a cartridge. Then it was ear defenders on with live ammo. Missed the first. And the second. Maybe hit the third. Then a purple patch.

We then switched to a clay flying left to right so the shot needed to be some way ahead of the target. Three different techniques were practised with mixed success.

Finally, for a confidence boosting finale, we went to shoot some clays that emulated a teal flying steeply off a pond. They accelerate quickly to a point where energy and aerodynamics are overtaken by the forces of gravity and they become sitting ducks so to speak, 20 metres in the sky. 6 exploding clays in a row. What a shot!

If you’ve not tried it before and would like to have a go I can thoroughly recommend Bob Valentine. Full details on his website. Thanks Sue and thanks Bob.