February 8th 2007-----
Opening Day! For those of us who live on the West Coast, this will be our first serious competition of the new year. Some ranges along the coast closed down, and many ranges have closed, as one travels East. But for a true shot gunner, there is always someplace you can go, if weather permits, to practice. (just click on the photos to enlarge them).
This event, known as the Oasis Continental, is held in Mesquite, Nevada, just about an hour north of Vegas and about 30 minutes to, the Utah border town of, St. George. This is a very, very large recreational area, perhaps 1000 acres or more, that also houses Motor Cross Events, Golf and Rodeo... ALL in their own separate area. To some, it is called, "the town Black built"...Randy Black. He owns three of the three hotels and gambling casinos in town, as well as the Sporting Clay range. He is well liked. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to see him or his son while I was there.
He and his crew have significantly changed the range since my first visit several years ago. Today, there are 18 stands, that we shot in the tourney, and several stands open to the public, which we did not shoot. There were also three 5-stands and a "flurry" stand. Plenty of electric carts to rent, drinking water and bathrooms placed strategically along the course. But, enough about the range. ThanX Randy!
To prepare for this opening season Shoot, I developed a program which took me to my favorite range, Moore & Moore in San Fernando Valley, every other day. The drive takes me about an hour and twenty minutes, when the LA crowd remembers how to drive safely. My program was to shoot all the A stations in the morning, break for a 30/45 minute lunch, and go back and shoot the B stations in the afternoon. Pat and Cory Moore, utilizing the terrain, set as good a presentation as anywhere I have ever shot. The course is difficult, and the birds are tough. They do have a couple of easy stations for beginning shooters and one good 5-stand. I would say, on an average shooting day, I will shoot a flat of shells or 250 rounds. I have watched my scores jump into the eighties, and for a guy just starting out in this sport, I felt pretty good about going up against men and women who have been shooting for years...some many years. I figured with a little luck and good concentration, I could easily end up with a high score or winning my class (E).
After firing up my Freightliner Sports Chassis, throwing some basic shooting clothes in a suitcase and loading my buddy in his crate, I programed the GPS for Mesquite, Nevada. The reading said it was 433 miles. About 6 and one-half hours later, we rolled into the Oasis Hotel. The next morning, not sleeping well anyway, I was up before dawn, taking "Benga" for a walk around the area. Soon after, we were on our way to the range.
I decided to get there early, get in a little practice, after all,I had not been here for several years. I wanted to familiarize myself with the stations and break a few birds, get my ears ringing as my instructor Dan Reese says, before the shoot begins. Besides, proper mental attitude is an important feature on a competitive shoot...right? Think good thoughts as Lenny Basham says on his tapes.
Well, I managed to ruin that quickly enough. I missed the turn off and tried to do a quick 180 U-turn....number 1, when in a Freightliner there is no such thing as a quick 180, especially when both sides of the road are SAND! It's a DESERT! Ya, you guessed it. It took me a good thirty minutes to stop screaming and yelling at myself, before recovering. Benga peeked over at me a couple of times as I was expressing myself, waving my hands around. I think he thought I was blaming him, so he kept his head low so we could not see one another. There goes the proper mental attitude.
Finally, after several deep breaths I called AAA. I lied about the size of my truck and they said they would dispatch a wrecker to pull me out. Meanwhile, an officer from the Sheriff's Department drove up and stopped to see how I was... which, actually helped to calm me down and I became a responsible adult again. Thank you, Officer Baily. He promised to return to check on me and drove over the hill. I apologized to Benga. Then, a truck driver, pulling two tankers of oil, slowed to a halt and pulled over. He asked if I wanted him to pull me out. I said, "I'll give you $100.00 if you get me out of here,so I can get to my shoot.
" I think he was sure he had found a sucker from California. He just smiled confidently, and jammed his Peterbuilt in forward gear and, guess what, he tried to...you got it. He tried to pull a U-turn and buried the tractor in the sand! Now both of us are stuck, PLUS he has completely shut down the road to traffic in both directions. I could only shake my head.
But, things got better soon when AAA appeared at the top of the hill. He pulled me out easily, and I waved at the tanker driver as I went on my way to the shoot.
The parking lot was filling quickly. My guess is that a head count would produce around 200 shooters and spectators. I needed a place to park the big rig so Benga's barking did not scare everyone, if they strayed too close to the truck. I parked on the end. The check-in went pretty fast and I completed my paperwork.
It was time to "get the ears ringing", feeling smart and intelligent having passed the check-in quiries, I went to the ammo truck and picked up the Winchester shells that came with the entry fee. On the way, I watched the 5 stand shooters, even saw a few familiar faces from California. I then walked passed a guy I had shot with several times, Bryan Laws. He's one of the best shots I know and a heck of a nice guy, to boot. He introduced me to his Mother and girlfriend, Mary, and said his father was shooting with him. 
He seemed a bit off as we spoke, so I did not press the issue. He did say "99 will not win...there is a 100 out there". By that comment, I deduced he had not shot the 100 and furthermore he was not happy with himself. I knew immediately that if Bryan said it took 100 to win...the best I could hope for was to get in the top 10 in my class. Well, Bryan did win in the Sub Gauge class, which he did not mention. His comment pertained to the Main Event.
I did OK in the practice, hitting 20 out of 25 and getting better as I went along. Tic Toc, Tic Toc.....it was time to get to the beginning station and meet my Squad. My attitude was light and friendly. Later I was to conclude, it was Too Light and Too Friendly.
I introduced myself to the squad, Jerry, Mike, Larry and Rob. Jerry brought his wife for support and Mike's wife, Linda, was elected Captain of the Squad. It was time to begin. I aced the first station! I felt good.. no one else had, I was on a roll. Next station I dropped 2.
As we all know, in this game, it is all about consistency. Those who rise to the top have found the secret to consistency, and guard it with words like, " just stand up there and shoot'em" and " oh hell, just blow 'em up when you can see them".....someday, I'll be able to use those expressions, but not today. My shooting was erratic. I just could not seem to get on them, consistently. Some people say it's the Tournament Effect that throws you off. New surroundings, new people, new course, new everything mixed in with just a bit of anticipation or apprehension or anxiety. Whatever it is, I had it...there is no cure, except to shoot in more Tournaments and get over the feeling. Anyway, the first day was bad, and produced horrible scores at every station. The second day was worse! The last day I was able to pull off a few aced stations and made some shots that im
pressed everyone who could not make them.
Now, NOT in the form of an excuse for my poor shooting... add to the mix, that some of the pellets were carried over to the Motor Cross Event due to high winds and blowing sand, prompting an invasion of electric carts besieging the Sporting Clays area, with officials waving their hands as if signaling an NFL foul, and demanding a halt to the shooting. I am not going to insert here my personal feelings on this over-reaction...I would like to, but won't! Being good neighbors and responsible sportsmen, the Oasis administration handled it diplomatically by closing some of the possible offending stations and giving everyone a full score for each of the stations they closed. So whether you had shot well on it or not, everyone received the same score. This, of course, led to a "re-figuring nightmare" of ALL the scores! So, at the end of the day, no one knew where they stood in their class. Now you've got guys with weapons, who are not very happy. But, being the professionals that they are, the Oasis people did what they could do to explain the situation and informed everyone that the final scores would be posted on-line in a few days.
Surprisingly, no one seemed too upset over it, because they realized the problem was not Oasis. I was impressed how well the news was accepted by the Shooters....as they quickly turned their attention back to the Casino!
Some shooters had come from a long distance. On my squad alone, Jerry was from Cody, Wyoming and Dr. Rob Krakovitz had driven..hell bent for leather, using a Passport Radar Detector, from Aspen, Colorado, no doubt, setting some kind of land speed record. These guys had been preparing for this Event in snow up to the holes in their breeches! I was sorry they had to wait for the results.
What did I learn? I need to develop a "tude", as in "attitude". I was toooo relaxed and in an attempt to stay loose, I fell apart in the box. Heck, I had a better "tude" when I was at home, shooting at Moore & Moore, with my buddy Pete! Could not stay focused on winning. It is a mental game, we all know that. I bet if I went back today, and shot alone, I would do better. So, in conclusion, developing a "tude" and staying focused on winning, are the two lessons I learned. Good news is, it is only the FIRST tourney of the year. All I can do is get better!..c-ya
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