18 Guns Entered
10 Open Guns - Class won by:
1) Jay Schoonmaker with a score of 48
2) Hal Hansen with a score of 47
3) we have a tie for third place between Darren Foreman and Ken Bagley Sr. with scores of 44
8 Limited Guns - Class won by:
1) Loren DeShon with a score of 44
2) Jim Skedd with a score of 43
3) Torsten Arnold with a score of 39
Today is the day before November leaves for this year. It was typical November weather, just a bit warmer. Temperatures hovered at 55degrees, skies were heavily overcast, it wasn't raining or snowing, and not as cold as it has been. The weather could have been worse, and probably will become so as the winter progresses. Still, all the heaters were on today, and they felt very good indeed.
Our Arrays Impressario, Chuck Treat brought us target array series I today. It was varied, colorful, and challenging. The challenges varied between large black and green clays, tiny orange micros, target arrays in different shapes, different numbers of clays, but always, always, after crossing the Event Horizon, one began searching for the tiny, black, micro clay in the middle. After about 4:00 oclock pm it is pitch black outside, and with the ambient light drastically diminished, the black micro in the middle sometimes becomes a matter of guesswork. Sometimes, depending on the reflected light, it just disappears.
Round 1 saw 4 standard and 4 micro clays. The 4 standard clays were black, forming a diamond, and the micros were orange, forming a square. The innermost black standard clays pointed to the black micro in the middle. A very colorful array that allowed the shooter to pick big black clays to engage pretty quickly prior to moving inward to engage the tiny centermost micro. It was an excellent array to start the match, giving the shooters all a false sense of power and invincebility.
Round 2 featured 3 standard clays, 2 Green, and one Black. These 3 standard clays were interspersed with 5 orange micros, and in the middle, in increasing darkness, lay the ubiquitous black micro in the middle.
Round 3 had but 2 standard clays, 1 Green, and 1 Black. By now it is full dark, all the range lights are on of course, but the black micro in the middle is really getting hard to see. sigh.....
Round 4 saw only orange micros, formed in a circle with 5 clays on each side of the really hared to see, black??? micro in the middle.
Round 5 featured 4 orange micros, formed into squares, and both squares surrounding the black?? micro in the middle.
Even lowering one's handgun before engaging the center black micro, confirming it was still there, and re-engaging it was no guarantee of success. Take heart Clays Shooters, spring and summer are coming back, albeit in about 4 - 5 months, By then, seeing the targets will be easier, faster, and all one will have to contend with are the other shooters who will also be able to see the clays faster and better. Chucks, Treat and Nicodemus, if you are going to retain the black micros in the middle during winter months, how about putting *strobe lights* on them?
At the end of regulation play, Jay Schoonmaker led the Open Class contenders with a score of 48. Loren DeShon, with his Airline Pilot eyes, led the Limited Class with a score of 44. It would appear from the target arrays catalog that we'll start back with target array series "A" next week. Many thanks to Chuck Treat for bringing us sometimes invisible targets, Thanks to Chuck Nicodemus for hosting our Sunday Clays Match, and thanks to Doug McLean for running the microphone and scoresheet.
We'll see everyone right here next Sunday at 4PM when we take the Clays Challenge again, and we'll see if our Arrays Impressario, Chuck Treat, will allow us to actually see all the targets in the winter months to come. Maybe we can return to handgun matches that are between the shooters, and not between the shooters and the course designers. I live in hope.
Hal
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