when in rome...
(Or Jamestown as the case might be.)
So I meant to make this post this a last week, but you'll have to deal with the fact that it's not extra fresh news (nor is it all that exciting, really). In any case, yes, I've found myself transferred back to Jamestown, ND. I'm not particularly thrilled, but it is a change from NY, which is possibly a good thing.
I've been staying with one of my co-workers, the one that I hung out with so much when I was here before, (Well, not really 'here' since I'm actually in Minnesota at the moment, but that's neither here nor there.) and last weekend he invited me to a employee association event. The event was a trap shoot and picnic.
Sure, why not? says, I. After all, this is Jamestown, what else might I have planned? That I don't own a shotgun and have only pulled the trigger on one once in my life, not to mention that have never shot at a moving target really didn't enter into the decision making process. Fortunately, guns are plentiful in a place like this, and borrowing one was not a problem.
Going into it, I was thinking that if I hit something all day, that might be a good goal. But about midway through the first round of 10 pigeons, I realized that I might be selling myself short. Each round had 5 people taking turns shooting at the discs. On that round I hit 5 out of 10. "Not bad," I thought to myself.
Round 2: 8 out of 10 pigeons. That was the best in that group. In addition, they were paying for shooting the white pigeons (which were randomly inserted into the mix, as opposed to the normal blaze-orange ones). I hit 4 white ones.
Round 3: Random Buddy round, in which one guy takes a shot at the pigeon, and if he misses, then the partner takes a shot at it while it is still in the air. 6 out 10. But of those, 4 more white ones.
Round 4: Selected Buddy round. 9* out of 10. This one gets an asterisk because I had my safety stuck on for the tenth pull, spoiling our perfect round. Oops. It was still good for a tie of the best in that group. In the shoot off, we hit two more (All told, I believe I hit 8 of the 11), while the other group hit only one more. Of these 4 were the white ones.
The upshot is that some people in Jamestown don't believe me when I say I'd never shot at a moving target before. Those that did believe me made many comments to the effect of, "I'd go to war with you," or "You need to get yourself drafted." And I walked away with more money than I came in with.
But in truth, I can't say with any certainty that I will ever shoot a gun again, much less a shotgun. It was an interesting experience, and it is nice to know that if the situation ever became necessary, I'd have a decent chance of hitting my target. Plus, I now know, more or less what to expect when shooting such a gun. I was thinking that the recoil would be a lot worse than it actually was.
So I meant to make this post this a last week, but you'll have to deal with the fact that it's not extra fresh news (nor is it all that exciting, really). In any case, yes, I've found myself transferred back to Jamestown, ND. I'm not particularly thrilled, but it is a change from NY, which is possibly a good thing.
I've been staying with one of my co-workers, the one that I hung out with so much when I was here before, (Well, not really 'here' since I'm actually in Minnesota at the moment, but that's neither here nor there.) and last weekend he invited me to a employee association event. The event was a trap shoot and picnic.
Sure, why not? says, I. After all, this is Jamestown, what else might I have planned? That I don't own a shotgun and have only pulled the trigger on one once in my life, not to mention that have never shot at a moving target really didn't enter into the decision making process. Fortunately, guns are plentiful in a place like this, and borrowing one was not a problem.
Going into it, I was thinking that if I hit something all day, that might be a good goal. But about midway through the first round of 10 pigeons, I realized that I might be selling myself short. Each round had 5 people taking turns shooting at the discs. On that round I hit 5 out of 10. "Not bad," I thought to myself.
Round 2: 8 out of 10 pigeons. That was the best in that group. In addition, they were paying for shooting the white pigeons (which were randomly inserted into the mix, as opposed to the normal blaze-orange ones). I hit 4 white ones.
Round 3: Random Buddy round, in which one guy takes a shot at the pigeon, and if he misses, then the partner takes a shot at it while it is still in the air. 6 out 10. But of those, 4 more white ones.
Round 4: Selected Buddy round. 9* out of 10. This one gets an asterisk because I had my safety stuck on for the tenth pull, spoiling our perfect round. Oops. It was still good for a tie of the best in that group. In the shoot off, we hit two more (All told, I believe I hit 8 of the 11), while the other group hit only one more. Of these 4 were the white ones.
The upshot is that some people in Jamestown don't believe me when I say I'd never shot at a moving target before. Those that did believe me made many comments to the effect of, "I'd go to war with you," or "You need to get yourself drafted." And I walked away with more money than I came in with.
But in truth, I can't say with any certainty that I will ever shoot a gun again, much less a shotgun. It was an interesting experience, and it is nice to know that if the situation ever became necessary, I'd have a decent chance of hitting my target. Plus, I now know, more or less what to expect when shooting such a gun. I was thinking that the recoil would be a lot worse than it actually was.