Shooting in Turn

 
I was in a shoot-off with several others. The referee called our names and I was second from the last.

I knew the person that was last but not the shooter before me.  There were two people standing next to me, and I asked the one I didn’t know if he was up. He shook his head, no.

I made the assumption that he was just a spectator and wasn’t the shooter before me, that perhaps the shooter before me decided to skip the shoot-off. This was my mistake: I should have asked the referee who was next, but instead I shot my pair.

The referee then stopped me as I was walking over toward the next station and told me that, as I had shot out of turn, I had to shoot the pair again. I knew the rule, so I shot again and missed the second shot.

According to the rule, if you shoot out of turn, the shot(s) don’t count, and you must shoot again when it’s your turn.

My mind was on why the other shooter had told me ‘no’ instead of getting up to shoot.

There are always going to be distractions, and we have to learn to ignore or at least put them out of our minds so we don’t do what I did. Your complete attention has to be on what you’re doing at the time you’re doing it, not looking at or thinking about something else.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.