Hermon Skeet & Trap Club - Hermon, Maine

Hermon Skeet and Trap Club, located in Hermon, Maine (a suburb of Bangor) gave their Annual Lobster Shoot today, Saturday, August 25, 2007.

There were 14 stations, squaded "Shotgun Start." For those who do not know, this means everyone was squaded and you can start at any station that you desire, just as long as you shoot the entire 14 stations.

A lobster or steak lunch was catered by Dave Dahl. The menu was: lobster, mussels, corn on the cob, coleslaw, rolls, blueberry pie and sodas of your choice. This year, there was an additional charge for the lobster meal because of an increase in the price of lobster. The meal was $14 extra. A bargain if eaten in a restaurant!

There was a great deal of target variations at this Shoot!! Targets thrown were: standards, midis, minis, battue, and rabbits. For those who don't know, a battue is a clay that slightly tilts while in the air.

My squad consisted of Carl Freeman (our scorer), Ray Stewart, Steve Tardy, Joan Trial, Horton Preble, and Chris Consenze.

There was a mixture of "feel-good" targets and "time-to-go-to-work" targets.

The first station of interest was Station number 4. The presentation consisted of two "report" pairs and two "simo" pair.
On calling for your targets you had a midi coming over your head on your right-hand side.
On "report" from the Trap House (approximately 30 yards in front of you) was a "standard" that was thrown from right-to-left.
The trick was to kill the midi and on "report" have your muzzle over the trap house to pick up the target going to the left.

Another interesting station was station number ten. On this station muzzle speed management had to be "spot-on!"
The presentation was a hard 30 yard right-to-left crosser on report, followed by a slower left-to-right crosser that three-quarters of its flight, became a "dropper" no more than 45 yards in front of you. You had to make a strong move for the "right-to-left" crosser, then you had to back off your speed to acquire the left-to-right crosser.
Many Shooters shot either way too far in front, or tried to measure the shot, and as a result, shot "behind" the target!

The next station I found intriguing was Station number nine. Here you had a right-to-left arcing midi, followed on report by a high, going-away standard on your right, arcing slightly to your left. This was a high bird that was thrown off their new 35 foot tower.

Approximately 67 shooters participated. The air was loaded with humidity accompanied by a heavy dew point making it a warm, very soggy day.

In summation this was a great Shoot!
A nice job done by Joan and Henry Trial and their volunteer staff! Bravo!!

The Shoot was $45 for 100 Main Event targets with a second round of 100 targets costing $30.

Now for the SlideShow!!