Unfamiliar Venues

Shooting skeet at different venues.

 

We shoot skeet at the Tulsa Gun Club.
We almost always shoot on a particular field.
We know which tree we need to have our guns pointed at in order to ensure that we have a good hold point.
We use the distance marker on one of the adjacent fields to make sure we have a good hold point for high 2 or low 6.
We use the white box that frames the high house window to identify our hold point for high or low 8.
We use the fences adjacent to the high and low houses for our hold points on stations 1 and 7.
We try to use the trap house as a visual aid as to where we want to break the target.

Using all of these, we’re able to get some pretty good scores and feel pretty good about our shooting and then, a friend asks us to shoot at his club.

Your friend’s club has a different background and only one field. It also has no white box framing the windows. To make matters appear worse, the windows are smaller and closer to the sides of their houses. There are no fences by the houses, and as the skeet field was an overlay on an existing trap field, the trap house is off center by a good twenty feet.

Wow, no familiar markers. How will I impress my friend with my shooting skills?

The answer is to go back to basics and use the 1/3 rule for all of your hold points, the center stake for the center of your break zone and to quit using landmarks at your home field. This way you’ll be able to shoot the scores you aspire to shoot at different venues as well as at home.

Shoot often, shoot well and stay safe.

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who can help you improve your skills at American Skeet and wingshooting. To contact Barry, email him at threeat8@aol.com or give him a call at (918)803-2393.