Great fun with clay pigeon shooting

Marksman’s Nest is gearing up to welcome small groups to its fun activity of clay pigeon shooting this summer. Why not have a birthday celebration with a difference? Or maybe buy someone a Christmas voucher for a clay pigeon shooting session? Clay pigeon shooting, also known as clay target shooting, is a shooting sport involving shooting a firearm at special flying targets known as clay pigeons, or clay targets. The term ‘clay pigeon shooting’ relates to a time long ago when, horror of horrors, live pigeon competitions were held. Fortunately, such competitions were declared illegal in the UK in 1921. But today a target may still be called a ‘bird’, a hit is a ‘kill’, a missed target is referred to as ‘bird away’; and the projectile machine is called a ‘trap’. Popular throughout the world, clay pigeon shooting allows you to improve your accuracy and display your marksmanship skills. So, here you’ll learn about safety, equipment, shotguns and how to hit a few clays along the way. Unlike rifle shooting which is aiming a static gun at a static target, shotgun shooting requires movement and therefore the gun should point to the target. Simply compare this to tennis for instance. Not for one second would you take your eye off the ball, because as soon as you take your eye off the ball, your brain can no longer calculate its speed and line of travel. These are key elements to sending the correct signals to your body to connect with the ball. In tennis, you keep your eye on the ball and hit it without looking down at the racket subconsciously. This should also prevail when you’re shooting a clay target with a shotgun. Don’t look at your gun’s rib or bead at all. Lock your eyes onto only the clay from the moment you pick it up to the moment it breaks into tiny pieces. Always the target, never the gun. Then of course you have to ensure that your gun is pointing where your eyes are looking. It’s also important to use your dominant eye to aim. And the next thing is gun fit. Marksman’s Nest chief ranger Geoffrey Coetzee will brief you on this and ensure that your gun is the correct fit. Finally, there’s gun mount. Consistency is key because you must mount the gun in the same place every time and that requires muscle memory. To acquire that muscle memory, you must practise your mount. Again, Geoffrey will guide you through this exercise. And now, all that’s necessary is for you to book your clay pigeon shooting session by sending a WhatsApp message to 082 7172197. See you on the range!