Just got back from a sporting clays shoot

My Dad, brother, and I just got home from the Minnesota State Sporting Clays Championship. It was held at the Horse & Hunt Club near Minneapolis.

Sporting Clays is a game where you shoot at orange flying clay discs with a shotgun. Unlike Trap or Skeet, the targets on a sporting clays course can be coming from a wide variety of angles, speeds, and distances. There are numerous stations, which are like holes on a golf course, where you shoot at a different presentation for each of the stations.

The targets at this tournament were very challenging and very hittable at the same time. I didn't shoot as well as I could have in the main event, especially the final 100 birds... I had way too many stations where I missed multiple birds. I ended up shooting a 163/200 in the main event (which is lower than what I normally average, which is hitting around 90% of the targets). I still had a lot of fun at the shoot, however, and we have many friends that we see at these events.

I'm in the highest class (Master) so I pretty much need to perform flawlessly to have a shot at winning. The classes run from E (the lowest), to D, C, B, A, AA, and then Master as the highest attainable class. I started in E class many years ago, in 2000, and worked my way up the ranks and got to Master class a few years ago. It's an unfortunate class to be in for a major shoot (like the U.S. Open or the National Championship) because there are actually "pros" that I'm shooting against and have to beat out to win anything.


Here are some pics and video of the weekend, to give you a taste of what sporting clays is all about.

Video of myself shooting

- I hit 6 out of 6 targets on this station! -

Myself shooting at some targets

My brother, Chad, shooting at a "pair in the air"

My Dad shooting at a target screaming away from him

Main event squad

(from left to right: myself, our friend Jeremy, my Dad, and Chad)

Clay Target

- the thing flying through the air we're trying to hit! -

Sporting Clays Trap

- This is what launches the clay target which allows it to fly through the air -

Scenery Picture

My dad, brother, and I are going to see one of the top sporting clays instructors in the U.S. next week on Monday. My dad and I have taken lessons from him before and it's really helped my shooting, so I'm pretty excited for that.

My Dad and I only have one major shoot left on the year, and that is the largest shoot in the country... the NSCA National Sporting Clays Championship in San Antonio, Texas. So hopefully the lessons are helpful and I can at least shoot decent at the final shoot of the year.

To finish up this longer than normal post, I'd like to add that I was even able to get in a few short sessions of poker this weekend on my laptop. I broke even in the first two short sessions (received a few dirty beats), but was able to win about $500 in a few hours on the drive home today while I was a passenger in the van. My Verizon internet card proved its worth there.

I'm going to finish the month off strong and try and put in a ton more hands and see how it goes.