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Watched Army of Darkness last night with my daughters (talk about huge laughs!), and it got my 10 year old all excited about her new BOOMSTICK. Previously she'd been hunting squirrels and chukars with a single shot Chiappa double badger (just the bottom .410 barrel), but so her gun would be more like dad's over under she was wanting a gun that had 2 shotgun shots instead of just the one. How does Dad say no to that??!?! Thus a couple of weeks ago I sold the double badgers and got a Stoeger/IGA .410 coach gun that I then cut 3 inches out of the stock such that it now sports an 11 inch LOP.
The coach gun was about three quarters of a pound heavier than her previous gun, so initially as we practiced gun mount in the basement she was less than thrilled, and my heart sank as her enthusiasm waned. But then last night we watched Army of Darkness together and she was right away on me to go try out her new gun. I asked her if she wanted to go shoot some squirrels (what we have been doing), or if she would like to try for the first time aerial targets at the sporting clay range. When I told her that's where all her mother's clay shooting trophies had come from, she was on it like white on rice.
To be honest, I was a little apprehensive - while hunting I've been encouraging a squatting stance and coached her to never shoot unless she's steady and certain. Not quite the approach that was likely to have her find success on the clay range!
To hopefully help with frustration & disappointment, I told her that even if she did not hit anything the trip would be a success because she got to try out her new gun doing something she'd never done before. She pushed me for some measurement of success and I tried for "1 clay hit this morning means you're a champ!". Her response was that "oh duh, dad! 1 clay hit would be, like, something random, and everyone will just know I'm a total loser!"
Uh oh!
So we settled on the following: 5 clays hit would be a bronze medal performance, 10 clays smashed would be a silver medal performance, and 15 clays crushed would be the gold medal equivalent. Well, that cast her determination in stone, and about 95 shells later she broke her 15th clay to great cheers. I was lucky enough to catch it on my iPhone and though some here might get a kick out of it too. Now my problem is that she is not buying my position that the medals were just metaphorical...she is literally expecting her gold medal. Oops!
The big bonus to the extra weight in the new gun is that her little 60 lb frame is pushed around much less than when she was shooting her double badger - whereas previously she was ready to stop after 25 to 30 shells, she went more than 100 rounds today and the limiting factor was arm fatigue.
Anyway, hope you get half as much of a kick as I did from watching my little girl smash her first clays.
Cheers,
Brobee
Watched Army of Darkness last night with my daughters (talk about huge laughs!), and it got my 10 year old all excited about her new BOOMSTICK. Previously she'd been hunting squirrels and chukars with a single shot Chiappa double badger (just the bottom .410 barrel), but so her gun would be more like dad's over under she was wanting a gun that had 2 shotgun shots instead of just the one. How does Dad say no to that??!?! Thus a couple of weeks ago I sold the double badgers and got a Stoeger/IGA .410 coach gun that I then cut 3 inches out of the stock such that it now sports an 11 inch LOP.
The coach gun was about three quarters of a pound heavier than her previous gun, so initially as we practiced gun mount in the basement she was less than thrilled, and my heart sank as her enthusiasm waned. But then last night we watched Army of Darkness together and she was right away on me to go try out her new gun. I asked her if she wanted to go shoot some squirrels (what we have been doing), or if she would like to try for the first time aerial targets at the sporting clay range. When I told her that's where all her mother's clay shooting trophies had come from, she was on it like white on rice.
To be honest, I was a little apprehensive - while hunting I've been encouraging a squatting stance and coached her to never shoot unless she's steady and certain. Not quite the approach that was likely to have her find success on the clay range!
To hopefully help with frustration & disappointment, I told her that even if she did not hit anything the trip would be a success because she got to try out her new gun doing something she'd never done before. She pushed me for some measurement of success and I tried for "1 clay hit this morning means you're a champ!". Her response was that "oh duh, dad! 1 clay hit would be, like, something random, and everyone will just know I'm a total loser!"
Uh oh!
So we settled on the following: 5 clays hit would be a bronze medal performance, 10 clays smashed would be a silver medal performance, and 15 clays crushed would be the gold medal equivalent. Well, that cast her determination in stone, and about 95 shells later she broke her 15th clay to great cheers. I was lucky enough to catch it on my iPhone and though some here might get a kick out of it too. Now my problem is that she is not buying my position that the medals were just metaphorical...she is literally expecting her gold medal. Oops!
The big bonus to the extra weight in the new gun is that her little 60 lb frame is pushed around much less than when she was shooting her double badger - whereas previously she was ready to stop after 25 to 30 shells, she went more than 100 rounds today and the limiting factor was arm fatigue.
Anyway, hope you get half as much of a kick as I did from watching my little girl smash her first clays.
Cheers,
Brobee
