Hi Folks!
I was super-lucky this year when my two girls came up and asked if maybe, just maybe, I might like to go to the clay range, both for a YouTube-episode-making-session and some duck-hunting practice. Hmmm...I'm gonna have to think about that for a bit....NOT! So out came the .410 and the .20 gauge and off to the local clay range we went for a GREAT day that I'll remember for a long long time:
The two girls are disturbingly competitive with each other and my youngest has a deep fear of "looking stupid" by comparison to the relatively higher skill and experience of her older sister. My approach to this was multi-pronged...I worked hard to fan their imaginations in the duck hunting department, I set up their course to favour closer curling type birds, and I sandbagged my oldest daughter by secretly putting in her full choke.
I think I was somewhat lucky with respect to the outcome - my oldest was at first surprised then somewhat frustrated with her "lacklustre performance", but in the end bore down pretty good and brought herself up a notch. My youngest was buoyed up a bit by watching her sister struggle more than normal, and as a result put in a much stronger and more positive effort than she has in the past. Have to say I was pretty proud that, shooting her little .410, she was holding her own against her sister with that cannon-esque 20ga!
I tried to coach as little as possible, and only helped out when they asked for it (which was a couple of times...YAY! I am still useful). The outcome was fantastic - they were within a bird or two of each other and left with lots of excited & supportive trash talk.
Best days of my life.
Thanks for watching,
Jason
I was super-lucky this year when my two girls came up and asked if maybe, just maybe, I might like to go to the clay range, both for a YouTube-episode-making-session and some duck-hunting practice. Hmmm...I'm gonna have to think about that for a bit....NOT! So out came the .410 and the .20 gauge and off to the local clay range we went for a GREAT day that I'll remember for a long long time:
The two girls are disturbingly competitive with each other and my youngest has a deep fear of "looking stupid" by comparison to the relatively higher skill and experience of her older sister. My approach to this was multi-pronged...I worked hard to fan their imaginations in the duck hunting department, I set up their course to favour closer curling type birds, and I sandbagged my oldest daughter by secretly putting in her full choke.
I think I was somewhat lucky with respect to the outcome - my oldest was at first surprised then somewhat frustrated with her "lacklustre performance", but in the end bore down pretty good and brought herself up a notch. My youngest was buoyed up a bit by watching her sister struggle more than normal, and as a result put in a much stronger and more positive effort than she has in the past. Have to say I was pretty proud that, shooting her little .410, she was holding her own against her sister with that cannon-esque 20ga!
I tried to coach as little as possible, and only helped out when they asked for it (which was a couple of times...YAY! I am still useful). The outcome was fantastic - they were within a bird or two of each other and left with lots of excited & supportive trash talk.
Best days of my life.
Thanks for watching,
Jason
