SSAA NSW

14 Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. 2018 Junior Target Shooting Camp With such a full day of shooting you would think that this was enough and it was, time to turn in and rest for the next day's activities, but it just wasn't to be. We boarded the bus and headed back to the Griffith range to freshen up before heading into town where we attended the local Family Funland for dinner and some extracurricular activities which included laser tag, a 7D amusement ride, rock climbing and arcades. What a long day!!!! Day 3 – Juniors were split into two groups. Each group spent half a day competing in a 5-Stand shotgun match and a trying both cowboy lever and scoped metallic silhouette events. At the 5-Stand, coaches from the Griffith Branch were all on hand to help choose the best fitting shotguns for each junior to give them the best chance of hitting targets which adds to the overall enjoyment of the activity and stimulates that competitive nature that is within us all. Competition was fierce in the first round between Kyle Chapman and Cameron Smith who, by the time they were at the third stand, were both neck and neck smashing 13 consecutive targets each until one managed to pick up the pair whilst the other lost one. The concentration and quality of shooting was astounding, we knew it was going to be close. The end of the first round finished with Kyle managing to break 24 out of 25 clays. No mean feat! We think perhaps nervousness of achieving such a good result in the first round may have led to performance anxiety. Over on the rimfire range it was one of our junior ladies that streaked ahead in the rimfire Metallic Silhouette scoped rifle competition. The Cowboy Lever Action Silhouette proved to be the equaliser with all competitors on an even keel, but no one was able to catch Eileen Birrell who managed 17 out of 40 targets with the nearest competitor just two points behind. For some that may have been enough shooting for one day, but as the sun set over the horizon and the floodlights took effect in illuminating the shotgun range, the competition was about to take on a completely different atmosphere with conditions that were unfamiliar to all of us. The floodlights made the clays almost fluorescent as they streaked across an almost pitch-black sky and appeared like fireworks as the shot smashed them to pieces. This competition was modified to just ten clays each and, given the circumstances, you could be forgiven for thinking that this was going to be a difficult task to master. The competition was halted numerous times as an adult tawny frogmouth swooped in, perhaps looking for a free feed, but that wasn't enough to deter several runaway performers including Douglas Thistleton, who managed to hit all ten targets. Wow!!! Whilst most of the juniors had enough of shooting for the day, at the close of the competition there were a handful of young gents that just couldn't get enough and wanted to continue shooting, the coaches were only too happy to oblige. in the end if they they hadn't have called a halt, they would have shot all night. Day 4 – After packing up our sleeping quarters and tidying the clubhouse, it was time for sporting clays, often referred to as "golf with a shotgun". The natural landscape and bush surrounding the clubhouse makes for the perfect environment for this type of shooting, designed to replicate real life hunting scenarios. Six stations were set up around the clubhouse, at the top of the old railway stairs shooting down over the tree canopy at crossing targets, downhill at two different speed rolling clays (rabbits), downhill birds coming towards you, twin high flying and crossing birds, a vertical lob and finally on the rocky ridge with clays coming from behind, flying over head and down into the valley below.

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