<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' version='2.0'><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:57:58 +0000</lastBuildDate><title>This Sporting Life!</title><description>A Blog about my travels in the Shotgun World of Sporting Clays and the people I have met. 
Large or small, all Clubs are important and help us hone our skills.
"Remember; we all started small."</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>9</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689.post-5207490979474093322</guid><pubDate>Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:34:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-07-08T19:28:11.985-04:00</atom:updated><title>Maine State Shoot - June 26th through 28th, 2009</title><description>&lt;span style="color:#33ff33;"&gt;Denise Murchison hosted the Maine State Shoot at her Silverton Sporting Ranch location for the 3rd consecutive year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Shoot was held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was an unexpected sunny day out of weeks of rain and a good thing too because Harry Vanderweide, host of the Northeast Journal television show and editor of the Maine Sportsman Magazine visited and shot a segment to be shown in the future. He and his co-host Mike not only interviewed shooters but spent time shooting the course. As to when the segment will be aired, you will have to check their website at this link:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.northeastjournal.tv/"&gt;http://www.northeastjournal.tv/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ff33;"&gt;I shot the Main Event Sunday and the weather did not cooperate with us.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Denise and Staff set 14 stations of thought-provoking targets. The use of the existing terrain was extraordinary. There were shots in wooded areas, over ponds and from towers. "JT" the Target Setter challenged shooters with angles and target speed. He took many shooters our of their comfort zones. You found yourself doubting your "plan of attack" for that station. These were great&lt;em&gt; 'technical targets.'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I shot with David Grody, Matt Stevens and Mark Herbert and planned to try my hand at FITASC but opted out due to the increasing downpour of rain Mother Nature heaped on us. All in all approximately 58 shooters participated this year. Some came from Nova Scotia, Montreal, Texas, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.   Denise; always trying to improve your 'shooting experience' provided participants with online registration and golf cart rental via &lt;strong&gt;IClays&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saturday night a buffet was served featuring spiral ham, baked beans, lasagna, salads, strawberry shortcake and chocolate cake. On Sunday a chicken barbeque was available.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Detailed results of this Shoot can be found on IClays.com. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.iclays.com/"&gt;http://www.iclays.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ff33;"&gt;For those who are not aware, &lt;strong&gt;IClays&lt;/strong&gt; is a website that far surpasses any other when it comes to providing information about Sport Shooting scores. What is very unique is your ability to view what a shooter scored &lt;em&gt;at each station&lt;/em&gt;. There are a variety of options available too involved to go into here. So click on the link above, take your time and look around for a much fuller experience.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The sports men and women in Maine are really blessed to have such a unique facility in their state. "This Sporting Life" blogger raises his glass to Denise Murchison and her Silverton Sporting Ranch!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Click below to visit the Silverton Sporting Ranch website and see the many additional options available year-round other than Sporting Clays:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/"&gt;http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffcccc;"&gt;Click below to see photos of the Silverton Lodge:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://silvertonranch.blogspot.com/"&gt;http://silvertonranch.blogspot.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffcccc;"&gt;Here is a slideshow of the few photos I was able to capture. I hope you enjoy!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;amp;captions=1&amp;amp;noautoplay=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;feat=flashalbum&amp;amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;amp;feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fbenelli49%2Falbumid%2F5356220552726586385%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26authkey%3DGv1sRgCKPS74bZ3rTdrwE%26hl%3Den_US"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5699817053310355689-5207490979474093322?l=flurrieclays.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/2009/07/maine-state-shoot-june-26th-through.html</link><author>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689.post-1822265699142171673</guid><pubDate>Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-07-13T00:30:17.511-04:00</atom:updated><title>Maine State Sporting Clays Championship</title><description>&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;color:#33ff33;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ff99;"&gt;The Maine State Sporting Clays Championship was held June 27th thru 29th for the second consecutive year at Silverton Sporting Ranch in Canaan, Maine.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ninety (90) shooters registered representing seven States: Maine, New York, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Canada was also represented. I personally did not complete the shoot. I attended the Main Event but due to unforeseen circumstances did not fully participate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ff99;"&gt;There was a storm delay at the beginning of the day because of thunder, lightening, and sheets of rain. Participants had to seek shelter indoors for about an hour and ended up eating lunch way before time. Good thing Denise Murchison's Lodge has plenty of room.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In addition to the Main Event, there were two 100 Target Prelims, a 50 Target Sub-Gauge, Five Stand, and FITASC. Results of the Shoot can be found here:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/shoot%20results.htm"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;color:#ff99ff;"&gt;http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/shoot%20results.htm&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffcc33;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff99ff;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ff99;"&gt;In speaking with some participants they commented that the target presentations were challenging. Master Class shooter Mark Brannon told me the targets were tournament quality with a mixture of speed and angles. Targets were set by Silverton's "JD" and his crew. They skillfully created challenging presentations for all levels of shooting ability.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What was different at this Shoot was participation of Youth Shooters during the Main Event. Dan Worcester transported a group of children (6) from the Salem area of Maine. It was the first time any of these children shot Sporting Clays and was a great opportunity for them. Dan heads and introduces young people to Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays at the Salem Rod &amp;amp; Gun Club. When he contacted Denise and told her of his plans to bring the kids for their first Shoot, Denise, realizing the importance of exposing young Shooters to our sport offered a 25% discount to each child. She also made arrangements for each child to receive a Browning Gun Case (donated by the "Kids &amp;amp; Clays" Program) a hat, a Shooting Towel, lunch, and if each child brought a box of shells, she would provide the rest!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The kids had a great time! There was a raffle held at the Shoot and with the monies raised, Ms Murchison plans to hold another Shoot in the near future for an even larger group of children at the Ranch. In addition to Dan Worcester's children, Denise hopes to have 8 youths from the Maine Youth Fish and Game Association and another group from the Boy Scout Venturers for approximately a total of 20. They will be classified under the Youth Hunter Class in the Sporting Clays division. Denise says the only thing they will have to bring is 2 boxes of shells. She will provide one box and everything else including lunch. She plans to provide them with a round of Five-Stand and 50 Sporting targets.&lt;br /&gt;Dan plans to take his youths to the Maine Trapshooting Tournament in Scarborough, Maine July 13th.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Perhaps there is something you can do for the children in your area. Dan would like to thank his chaperones for the Shoot: Alan Wyman, Steven Boyd, Charlie Tappan, and Jack Davis.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;More information about Silverton can be found at the following links:&lt;br /&gt;Main Website Portal:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ff33;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ff99;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/shooting%20sports.htm"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;http://www.silvertonsportingranch.com/shooting%20sports.htm&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ff99;"&gt;Here is a link to the Kids And Clays website. It is associated with the Ronald McDonald House and their spokesperson is Olympic Gold Medalists, Kim Rhode&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.kidsandclays.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;http://www.kidsandclays.com/&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;Here is a slideshow.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;amp;noautoplay=1&amp;amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;amp;feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fbenelli49%2Falbumid%2F5222336202530891089%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3DwMHK2JGn9ww"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5699817053310355689-1822265699142171673?l=flurrieclays.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/2008/07/maine-state-sporting-clays-championship.html</link><author>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689.post-5733631611789104406</guid><pubDate>Fri, 09 May 2008 04:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-05-09T01:33:50.478-04:00</atom:updated><title>The Ruger Shoot At Addieville East, Smithfield, RI</title><description>&lt;span style="color:#33ffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Well! &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffcc99;"&gt;Where do I begin??&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffcc99;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#99ffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Addieville East has long had the reputation of running the most professional, challenging and interesting Sporting and Fitasc Shoots in the northeast, and they did it again this past May 2nd through 4th.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;The weather was a challenge "in and of itself."  It was cold, windy and raining Friday and Saturday. Sunday started out drizzly, but much milder temperature-wise. The Clubhouse had a fire in the fireplace all 3 days and shooters took advantage of it by warming their hands.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;The Fitasc Competition was held Friday (100 birds), Saturday and Sunday (50 birds each). What made these targets so thought-provoking was: depending upon your technique and "hold point" you could take these targets in two different "kill points." There was no "second guessing." If you did not have a "plan" you were "done" before you began.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;The Fitasc Judges were excellent: Phil Turnor, Doug Robare, Mary Rabauno, Ed Fallon, Ron Adams and son were courteous and proficient in their knowledge of fitasc rules.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Saturday began the first day of the Ruger "All Around Championship" with a 100 bird Prelim Event. You could also shoot Small Gauge events of 410, 28 and 20 with Side Events using a Side by Side and Pump. Five-Stand was available as well.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Sunday was the Sporting Clays Main Event with 100 targets. Also, for your shooting pleasure was a "Make-A-Break," Five-Stand and Games. Lunch was "available" on Saturday and Sunday.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;I have been shooting in the neighborhood of 19 years. I started out Shooting as something to do to wick off my 'angst' of working two full time jobs during the week and only having Saturday and Sunday to "relax" before getting back to the old grind. During this Shoot I learned I need to know &lt;em&gt;"when to hold them, and when to fold them."&lt;/em&gt; Let me elaborate....&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;The Prelim Event was held Saturday in a cold, breezy, steady misty rain. The targets were pretty straight forward and gave you a feeling of comfort as you progressed through the Course. At first you felt these were targets that had been "seen before;" and though very challenging, they were &lt;strong&gt;NOTHING&lt;/strong&gt; in comparison to the presentations during the Main Event.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Being a "perennial" E-Class shooter, I am always trying to find the "sweet spot" on targets. Jack O'Brien is a wonderful guy, but he is one of the meanest (and I say this in a good way), most skilled Target Presenters in the Sport. He creates angles and speed variations up the "ying-yang." He takes you out of your comfort zone.  He has the skill to take away the aquisition of your "sweet spot" and does so quite often unless you are at the top of your game.  During the Main Event I was able to take the first pair of many Stations with a level of comfort, but could not duplicate anything after the first presentation. Every target thereafter found me guessing and floundering right to the end of this well-set course.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Approximately 309 Shooters registered to shoot the Ruger. I had the pleasure of shooting with Mark Brannon, Jerald Copp, and Troy Pellitier who gave me much needed "moral support." &lt;em&gt;I shot like hell ....&lt;/em&gt; the worst score of my shooting history, but in a strange way, I enjoyed myself!&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#99ffff;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;It's humbling to know you can be challenged!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;I would really like to thank all of the wonderful folks who made this tournament such a challenging good experience. Another special thanks to the Judges who greeted you with a smile while freezing their Butts off &lt;em&gt;(yes, it was that cold)!&lt;/em&gt; Without them, there would not have been a Shoot!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;As usual Addieville had amenities such as places to sit near each station, Del's cold frosty Lemonade at various locations &lt;em&gt;(but during this Shoot, nice hot coffee would have been greatly appreciated),&lt;/em&gt; and portable toilets available throughout the Course. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#99ffff;"&gt;Here is a slide show. Hope you enjoy!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;amp;noautoplay=1&amp;amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;amp;feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fbenelli49%2Falbumid%2F5198110934724922705%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3D2LSYJIPru7Q"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5699817053310355689-5733631611789104406?l=flurrieclays.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/2008/05/ruger-shoot-at-addieville-east.html</link><author>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689.post-7558599808340513666</guid><pubDate>Mon, 15 Oct 2007 04:05:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-10-15T01:36:30.807-04:00</atom:updated><title>Turkey Shoot at Arnold Trail Gun Club, Sidney, Maine</title><description>&lt;span style="color:#66ff99;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Today (Sunday) was a great day to be out and about in west-central Maine! The foliage is peaked with color and hunters wearing orange are continuing to dot the woods and fields of Maine in search of prey; and some of us chose to try our luck at the annual Turkey Shoot at Arnold's Trail and Gun Club! Arnold Trail and Gun, located in Sidney, Maine is the oldest active club in the great state of Maine. Sidney is approximately a 20 minute ride north of Augusta.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The real name for this Shoot should have been&lt;em&gt; "See how many turkeys you can win to donate to area food pantries' Shoot."&lt;/em&gt; I was made aware of this by everyone I spoke to throughout the hours I spent at Arnolds' today. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The Shoot was very well attended and everyone enjoyed him or herself as far as I could tell. Arnold offered 5-Stand, Two-Man Flurrys, Double-Skeet, and Trap.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The 5-Stand&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The five-stand program was all about two-shot singles. Each shooter shot two rounds at each station for a total of ten shots. The highest score out of ten won a turkey.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Two-Man Flurry&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ff99;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;This game was played at Skeet Field number one. Shooters were positioned on stations three and six on the Skeet field. Twenty targets were thrown for each two-man team. The team with the highest score out of twenty won, with each team member receiving a turkey.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Double Skeet&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ff99;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The Shooter has doubles on stations two, three, four, five and six. The high scorer won a turkey.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trap&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ff99;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;With the trap machine set at "full wobble" each shooter shot two targets per station for a total of ten targets. The high man or woman on the squad received a turkey.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The Arnold club members added something to their Turkey Shoot that I personally haven't seen before. In each game presentation were what they termed "poison birds" &lt;em&gt;(green clay targets)&lt;/em&gt; intermingled with the standard orange ones. If you were lucky enough to kill one of the "poison birds" you automatically won two lobsters packed in ice, ready for your cooler! Wow.....!!! This was definitely lots of fun, and kudos to Arnold Trail and Gun Club! Your hearts and spirits are really in the right place. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;I would also like to commend them for adding benches on their Skeet and Trap Fields!! I know members and guests appreciate having them available if needed. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The fee for the Turkey Shoot was $5 for each event. Lunch could be purchased for $5 and you had a choice of hamburger, or hotdog, soda and chips.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Now some photos...........&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;amp;captions=1&amp;amp;noautoplay=1&amp;amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;amp;feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fbenelli49%2Falbumid%2F5121352735331692625%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3DbRCohkQ6aNA"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5699817053310355689-7558599808340513666?l=flurrieclays.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/2007/10/turkey-shoot-at-arnold-trail-gun-club.html</link><author>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689.post-3234472109707294638</guid><pubDate>Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-05-09T01:11:31.083-04:00</atom:updated><title>LL Bean's Five-Stand</title><description>&lt;span style="color:#ffff33;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;I have heard of LL Bean's 5-Stand but never took the time to visit until this past Sunday. Located on Fogg Farm in Freeport, Maine is a spacious area where instructions are given for a multitude of outdoor sports. I was surprised to find not only 5-Stand, but a course to teach Sporting Clays to beginners if anyone has a need or desire. They also teach Fly Fishing techniques (including Spey Casting) and Kayaking. Though I can find no mention of it on their website, we did see an instructor in the Archery Field.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;LL Beans' 5-Stand is presented as "an opportunity to hone your shooting skills. I found the targets to be very "user-shooter-friendly."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The folks at Beans &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;want&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Shooters to be able to hit targets! I found the people nice; it was a friendly environment, and the targets were well-thought-out.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;It is a good 'tune-up' for hunting! I had a good time, and I am looking forward to visiting next season.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Their 5-Stand Public Shoots are held in Spring, Summer, and until the end of September.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Fees are $7 per round if using your own equipment and ammo; and $20 per round if using their guns and ammo. A round is 25 targets. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;They also offer a half-day Shotgun Sports Essential with an introduction to safety and shooting seven times a year. You are introduced to various types of shotguns and their functions. You are also introduced to the games of 5-Stand and Flurry. This course is offered for men and women in separate classes for a fee of $95.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;There is also a One-Day Introductory Course to Wingshooting seven times a year for $245. Click on the link for more details: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.llbean.com/outdoorsOnline/odp/courses/shooting/wingshooting-essentials-maine.html"&gt;http://www.llbean.com/outdoorsOnline/odp/courses/shooting/wingshooting-essentials-maine.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffff33;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;For more information on the Half-Day Shotgun Sports Essential course, click on the link:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.llbean.com/outdoorsOnline/odp/courses/shooting/essentials-halfday-maine.html"&gt;http://www.llbean.com/outdoorsOnline/odp/courses/shooting/essentials-halfday-maine.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Blogger has been having trouble hosting slideshows created with their Picasa Online Album and on more than one occasion the slideshows have been unavailable, so I am trying out a new slideshow creator. With this one, you must manually change the photos by clicking on the arrows. Hope this solution works, although I did like the "automatic play" feature that comes with Picasa.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;color:#ffcc66;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffff33;"&gt;Now for some pictures.......&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;noautoplay=1&amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fbenelli49%2Falbumid%2F5112359624430654321%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3DWhZv7S6MdJU" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5699817053310355689-3234472109707294638?l=flurrieclays.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/2007/09/ll-beans-five-stand.html</link><author>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689.post-5515907171113999530</guid><pubDate>Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-09-03T18:15:27.124-04:00</atom:updated><title>Partridge Tune Up Shoot at Scarborough Fish &amp; Game</title><description>&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;On Sunday, September 2nd I attended the Partridge Tune Up Shoot at Scarborough Fish and Game in Scarborough, Maine. The Club re-opened Sporting Clay Shooting in May of this year. Approximately 35 Shooters attended.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The Shoot was opened to the public with 100 targets shot over 16 Stations for $50. It was organized with a Shotgun Start, four shooters per squad with flight times at 9AM and Noon. The cost for this Shoot included the NSCA target fee and lunch. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;A "Big tipping of my cap" to George Pelletier and his crew! For those who weren't there, you missed a truly well-run, organized Fun Shoot! The program had 8 stations with two shooting positions at each station (red and blue), making it a less strenuous trek for more "mature" shooters.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;There was a nice ebb and flow to this Shoot. Stations 1, 2, and 3 were set on the Skeet Field with a variation of left to right crossers, followed on report by a screaming overhead standard target that appeared on your right and going away from you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Changing positions from red to blue changed the presentation at each station.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Shooters enjoyed the physical layout of the course. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#ffffff;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The fine points were:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;This was an easy course to walk with wide paths for walking and carts; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Rest stations (benches) were available at almost all stations!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;I had the pleasure of shooting with Steve Rice, Ken Baessler and Bill Wiesehahn.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;If there had been a suggestion box I would have suggested that the Registration Process be more finely-tuned. Also a "Warm-up" area should be available. Another suggestion would be water made available to Shooters on the course.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;I would like to give a special thank you to Earl Glidden and his son, Steve who not only competed, but helped deliver and fill traps on the course.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;I look forward to more&lt;span style="color:#666666;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;exciting&lt;/span&gt; targets from George Pellitier. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Scarborough has a very informative website. One of the best I have seen. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;They not only have Sporting Clay Shooting available, but Archery, Pistol, 5-Stand, Rifle, Trap, Wobble Trap, Home Firearm Safety, and Hunter Safety. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The link to their website is:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.scarfg.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome"&gt;http://www.scarfg.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#66ffff;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now for some photos!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/RtyBM0vlS4I/AAAAAAAAAfI/rL9DVM6cuwo/s1600-h/DSCN2762.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5106098134847933314" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/RtyBM0vlS4I/AAAAAAAAAfI/rL9DVM6cuwo/s320/DSCN2762.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;color:#33ffff;"&gt;George Pellitier, Associate Vice President of Scarborough Fish &amp; Games&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Slide Show.....&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;amp;captions=1&amp;noautoplay=1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;amp;feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fbenelli49%2Falbumid%2F5106076256284526833%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3Do_F-18WulD8"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5699817053310355689-5515907171113999530?l=flurrieclays.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/2007/09/partridge-tune-up-shoot-at-scarborough.html</link><author>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/RtyBM0vlS4I/AAAAAAAAAfI/rL9DVM6cuwo/s72-c/DSCN2762.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689.post-5927308222885345488</guid><pubDate>Mon, 27 Aug 2007 06:28:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-08-29T21:35:54.161-04:00</atom:updated><title>Rocky Mountain Elk Shoot At Varneys' Clay Sports</title><description>&lt;span style="color:#33ff33;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;The Maine Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation held a Hunter's Tune-Up at Varney's Clay Sports in Richmond, Maine today. Varney's Clay Sports is owned and operated by Brad Varney. It was a good turnout of hunters and non-hunters. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The targets were set by the &lt;em&gt;"Wizard of the Woods"&lt;/em&gt; himself, Brad Varney! I gave Brad this moniker today after viewing the first Station on his course. Station One was 2 following pair (midis) followed by a simo pair (midi and 90mm targets). &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The thing with Brad's targets is he makes you take the shot before you really want to. If you wait too long, the targets become more difficult to locate and shoot!! &lt;em&gt;That's the wizardry of Brad Varney!!&lt;/em&gt; He takes you out of your comfort zone!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The format for this Shoot was: 50 main targets from 9am to 12:30pm, break for lunch from 11:30 to 1:30, and shoot the second 50 targets from 1-4pm.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;This was a well run organized Shoot by the Maine Elk Foundation.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Question:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;When was the last time you went to a Shoot where not only did you feel good about supporting our hunting heritage but felt everyone left feeling like a winner?!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;This was my first Shoot with the Rocky Mountain Foundation, but it won't be my last. The men and women of this organization were friendly and sincere in their greeting to us. The raffle tables were full of products we know and use in our outdoor adventures and were provided by LL Bean; Coles Gunsmithing, Browning, Bob Allen and others. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The champion and runner-ups in each class received shells manufactured by Rios, Estates and Fiochie. &lt;em&gt;I understand some folks have already signed up for next years shoot!! &lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Has anyone seen my pen??!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;My Squad team members were: Sarah and Jeff St. Pierre, and Mark Brannon.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Lunch was your choice of cheeseburgers, or hotdogs, bags of chips, devil dogs and twinkies, and a variety of sodas. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;There was a 100 target Main Event, NSCA sanctioned and Hunter Class. The entry fee of $75 included the Main Event, lunch and raffle tickets with a $50 re-entry fee for a second round of 100 targets and raffle tickets. There was also a Duck Blind Flurry: two shooters - 20 targets for $10. At the end of the shoot, awards and raffle drawings took place and it was requirement that you must be present to receive your winnings.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My squad happened to be very lucky!&lt;/strong&gt; Three of us won merchandise! Sarah won 4 boxes of Estate Shells and a hat. Mark won a case of Fiochi and Rio shells. I won 4 boxes of Estate shells, a hat, a zippered Camo Gun case, a book, a Benelli Catalog on CD, and a leather Trap Pouch! &lt;strong&gt;Whew!!&lt;/strong&gt; Haven't been that lucky in quite a while.....&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The weather was beautiful! None of the humid, soggy atmosphere like we had yesterday at Hermons'. The sun was shining strongly, but Brad's woods is full of shady trees and provided great protection from the heat. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ccffff;"&gt;One complaint I hear more and more lately is a lack of seating at the stations at virtually all Shooting Clubs.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;Club owners must begin to realize and understand that a fair percentage of their patrons are, or are approaching their senior years. Some have joint or other medical problems that makes it stressful for them to shoot the course.&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt; There are some who want to shoot, but can't&lt;/span&gt; because there is no place for them to sit once they reach a Station, and visiting 12-14 stations is tiring and uncomfortable. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;Seating at each station would be very, very much welcomed by everyone, both young and older!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Brad Varney also gives shooting instructions. &lt;em&gt;He is very accommodating and loves to make sure you 'want to come back' to his Club.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Brad has a website.&lt;/strong&gt; His telephone number is: 207.737.4993. The link to his website is: &lt;a href="http://www.varneysclaysports.com/"&gt;http://www.varneysclaysports.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now for some pictures.......&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Here is a photo of Brad and his delightful companion, Alyse &lt;em&gt;(I hope I spelled her name correctly...it's too late to call them and ask; so if I made a mistake I hope I will be forgiven).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/RtJ52UvlSOI/AAAAAAAAAY8/PIJ84LOu7Lg/s1600-h/DSCN2583.JPG"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ff33;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5103275301952375010" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/RtJ52UvlSOI/AAAAAAAAAY8/PIJ84LOu7Lg/s320/DSCN2583.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ff33;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And here is a Slideshow!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;noautoplay=1&amp;amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;amp;feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fbenelli49%2Falbumid%2F5103182225716102097%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3D6JLdpubwvOA"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5699817053310355689-5927308222885345488?l=flurrieclays.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/2007/08/rocky-mountain-elk-shoot-at-varneys.html</link><author>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/RtJ52UvlSOI/AAAAAAAAAY8/PIJ84LOu7Lg/s72-c/DSCN2583.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689.post-8878550221642735892</guid><pubDate>Sun, 26 Aug 2007 02:57:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-08-25T23:56:02.489-04:00</atom:updated><title>Hermon Skeet &amp; Trap Club - Hermon, Maine</title><description>&lt;span style="color:#66ffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Hermon Skeet and Trap Club, located in Hermon, Maine (a suburb of Bangor) gave their Annual Lobster Shoot today, Saturday, August 25, 2007.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;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. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;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. &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A bargain if eaten in a restaurant!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;There was a great deal of target variations at this Shoot!! Targets thrown were: &lt;em&gt;standards, midis, minis, battue, and rabbits. For those who don't know, a battue is a clay that slightly tilts while in the air.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;My squad consisted of Carl Freeman (our scorer), Ray Stewart, Steve Tardy, Joan Trial, Horton Preble, and Chris Consenze.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;There was a mixture of "feel-good" targets and "time-to-go-to-work" targets.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The first station of interest was Station number 4.&lt;/strong&gt; The presentation consisted of two "report" pairs and two "simo" pair.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;On calling for your targets you had a midi coming over your head on your right-hand side. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;On "report" from the Trap House (approximately 30 yards in front of you) was a "standard" that was thrown from right-to-left.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;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.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another interesting station was station number ten.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt; On this station muzzle speed management had to be "spot-on!"&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;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. &lt;em&gt;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.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Many Shooters shot either way too far in front, or tried to measure the shot, and as a result, shot "behind" the target!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The next station I found intriguing was Station number nine.&lt;/strong&gt; 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. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Approximately 67 shooters participated. The air was loaded with humidity accompanied by a heavy dew point making it a warm, very soggy day.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;In summation this was a great Shoot!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;A nice job done by Joan and Henry Trial and their volunteer staff!&lt;strong&gt; Bravo!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;The Shoot was $45 for 100 Main Event targets with a second round of 100 targets costing $30. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#66ffff;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;Now for the SlideShow!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;captions=1&amp;noautoplay=1&amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fbenelli49%2Falbumid%2F5102829888073974017%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3DYSLX6eLf7TA" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5699817053310355689-8878550221642735892?l=flurrieclays.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/2007/08/hermon-skeet-trap-club-hermon-maine.html</link><author>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699817053310355689.post-667629371175015836</guid><pubDate>Tue, 21 Aug 2007 08:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-08-21T13:06:31.118-04:00</atom:updated><title>"Summer's End Sporting Clays Shoot" at Silverton Sporting Ranch</title><description>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/RsrLakvlQPI/AAAAAAAAAGg/6EovHKtEiUw/s1600-h/John+in+SUV+8-07.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Welcome to everyone checking out my Blog! I created it because I love shooting Sporting Clays and have been involved in it one way or another for over 15 years. I have patronized quite a few clubs in the East. Some well known, and some not. Not enough information is reported about Shooting Clubs and what information is reported in various publications, is usually focused upon the larger ones leaving smaller local clubs without much exposure at all unless it is by word of mouth. I am hoping to change that with this Blog. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Smaller Clubs need to be talked about; pictures need to be seen. In today's economy, out of necessity, people are cutting back on travelling long distances like they used to for Shoots, and the local more accessible Clubs will be seeing more and more shooters.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;As I shoot locally, at the smaller Clubs, or at the larger more famous ones, I will share my experiences with you in this Blog.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now for the first Post.......&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;This past Saturday and Sunday; August 18-19th there was a "Summers' End Sporting Clays Shoot at Silverton Sporting Ranch in Canaan, Maine. Silverton is owned and operated by Denise Murchison. More can be read about Silverton here: &lt;a href="http://silvertonranch.blogspot.com/"&gt;http://silvertonranch.blogspot.com/&lt;/a&gt; including a link to Silverton's website.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;On Saturday there was a 100 Target NSCA registered shoot and a 48 Target Triples shoot. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;It was a &lt;strong&gt;"fun shoot,"&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;but it was fun shoot that had tournament quality targets!&lt;/em&gt; The first four stations presented challenging, thought provoking presentations.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;For example;&lt;/em&gt; Station number one had a "right-to-left" quartering "away" target. On "report" (approximately 50 yards) was an incoming target that fell to the left!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;There was a mixture of "in-your-face" targets: a mixture of speed, distance, and close targets! This was a &lt;em&gt;thinking man's and woman's course!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;One of the more unique stations was Station number ten: a combination of shooting station set to the right of the Trap House, and the target presentation was a single rabbit, followed by a trap target; and on "report" a rabbit and a trap target; and finally, two "simo pair" of a rabbit and a trap target! &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A slow gun wasn't going to find any of these targets at all!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;The wind wreaked havoc with presentations in the open field areas. I had a good squad headed up by Mark Brannon, his friend Tom; Jeff and Sarah St. Pierre. Jeff and Sarah St Pierre run the 5-Stand at the Arnold Trail Club in Sidney, Maine. The fee for the Main Event was $45 with $20 for re-entry; and $25 for the Triples Shoot.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Sunday at Silverton was the Maine State 5-Stand Championship, the Flushing Flurry, and the Long Bird competition. It was a sunny bright day, with no winds at Silverton. The turnout was low, but the action was high, and lots of fun at this competition.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;An added touch that I have &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffff66;"&gt;never&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;seen in other 5-Stand Competitions was the addition of comfortable wooden lawn chairs provided for the competitors' comfort while waiting their turn to shoot the 5-Stand. Denise Murchison makes you feel welcomed, and at-home while at Silverton. &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ffff;"&gt;Silverton, in my opinion, is truly the "Addieville" of northern New England!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;The presentations were challenging on this Level 3 competition; consisting of 2-shot singles, reports and simo pairs. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;The Long Bird was shot from two positions. The first hoop was set as a 45 yard crosser. The second shooting position was set at a 60 yard crosser. A shoot-off was necessary and won by Micah Parker of New Hampshire. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;The two-man Flurry was won by Mark from Maine, and "yours truly." &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;I think the most effective way to shoot a flurry is to concentrate only on the targets presented by the machine in front of you. I didn't chase targets thrown by the other machine. I let my team mate handle those. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;It was a great 2 day Shoot!! A job well done by Denise; her Field Manager J.D. McLellan and her staff......!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;Denise also served food for participants: burgers, hotdogs, salad, chilli with cornbread and sodas, at no additional charge! That's a wonderful and welcomed touch. The 5-Stand Championship fee was $25 (on both days fees included NSCA registration).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#66ffff;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And now for some photos:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/Rsq7a0vlPkI/AAAAAAAAAAM/DDMhXw3IbVw/s1600-h/DSCN2204.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101095597459717698" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/Rsq7a0vlPkI/AAAAAAAAAAM/DDMhXw3IbVw/s320/DSCN2204.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Here is "Yours Truly" with J.D. McLellan, Field Manager of Silverton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/Rsq7bEvlPmI/AAAAAAAAAAc/x_Gv4jrPcnk/s1600-h/DSCN2393.JPG"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101095601754685026" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/Rsq7bEvlPmI/AAAAAAAAAAc/x_Gv4jrPcnk/s320/DSCN2393.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;A better photo of J.D.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/Rsq7bEvlPlI/AAAAAAAAAAU/Nld201cdKVs/s1600-h/DSCN2256.JPG"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101095601754685010" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/Rsq7bEvlPlI/AAAAAAAAAAU/Nld201cdKVs/s320/DSCN2256.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Silverton's owner, Denise Murchison speaking with JD &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#99ff99;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Here is a Slideshow Presentation........&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&amp;noautoplay=1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;RGB=0x000000&amp;amp;feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fbenelli49%2Falbumid%2F5101101369895763569%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3DK-ZVoUN7f1M"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5699817053310355689-667629371175015836?l=flurrieclays.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://flurrieclays.blogspot.com/2007/08/summers-end-sporting-clays-shoot-at.html</link><author>jwalter84@comcast.net (John W ("Slowgun") Mills)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UBQZG_qrumw/Rsq7a0vlPkI/AAAAAAAAAAM/DDMhXw3IbVw/s72-c/DSCN2204.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>4</thr:total></item></channel></rss>