It could not have been a better day to begin the Opening Season of Sporting Clays @ Winchester Canyon Gun Club. The WX was excellent, cool, dry with light winds, nothing to upset the targets...except a few shooters of course!
Four months have passed since the last Sporting event at the Winchester Club and many of us marked our calenders counting the days...seems about 50 other shooters must have agreed with me because all of the usual suspects arrived early, ready to do their best. (click on any photo) And also, as usual, a few experienced trap shooters strayed in the gate and found that the Sporting Event is tougher than it looks...
Two of my good friends and neighbors who are very accomplished in many fields, as well as shooting, found 
Sporting Clays to be just too crowded, busy and frustrating. They are more practiced at a traditional standing position, blasting away at individual clays called out of a bunker. It's an excellent exercise in maintaining a high level of concentration for an extended period of time.
I proudly admit to have begun on a Trap field myself, and enjoyed it! I would actually go as far as to say that trap shooting develops good focus and concentration...and, the camaraderie among Trap shooters is also to be admired. Changing from one shooting discipline to another is very tough, but I still have hope that Steven and Pat will give me another chance to bring them into the sport.
Now speaking of focus...let's get back to Sporting. Most of us have to shoot @ other places just to keep in tune with our guns during the off season...why, you ask...because we all know Carl Westfall spends his off time dreaming up ways to set up a Sporting Course! He sets some of the most challenging targets in California. Also, if the truth be known, the other reason is because, if we didn't shoot year round, we would go NUTS anyway! But seriously guys, we are lucky to have Carl & Company.
By the way....just let me STOP right here a minute and do a quick commercial for the trappers...these guys are paid very little for the job they do. These young men come in early and work late. They sit up there in the rocks,
where it can be cold and windy or hot and humid..even foggy! Sometimes we never see them. They fire those targets on call. Some shooters complain because they have to holler repeatedly to get a target, or the trappers are too slow, or they're throwing broken targets. Hey guys...they are firing manual operated traps....all day long. A little respect OK....by the way, when was the last time you went over to one of them and said thanX? Did you know that Tony Urwick puts out a "tip can" on each Shoot to keep these guys coming back...step up to the plate fellas, it's your Shoot. OK, OK but before I leave this subject......one last word about the course.
You know guys like Carl Westfall and Dick Griffin design and check these stations all day long because they love it. They worry about each station, each machine, each trapper, every clay target and every shooter in the Event. They want you to have a good time with the least amount of frustration from the machines. They are both AA and Master class shooters and they understand what keeps shooters coming back each month. They are constantly struggling with the age old Trapper quandary...do we set the traps to challenge 
the best shooters and make the B/C/D shooters stretch to become better, or do we set the traps so everyone has a good time blowing up a lot of clay targets? Do we do THIS
in the morning and THAT in the afternoon....do we mix them up...do we listen to the shooters or just set what we know is a challenging, tough, but fair, course for everyone? How many have you have heard this, "Ya know, they forget we come here to have fun.." or "Damn..these are just too hard.."
All I can say to these guys is.... this is a once a month "competition" shoot. You win shotgun shells and bragging rights for a full month! You should be coming here to test your skills, compete against other shooters, outwit the Clubs' target setter and enjoy the fellowship of other shooters.
Winchester has always been known for excellent targets, unpredictable winds and WX. You never know who will be standing next to you, waiting to shoot. " Big Tow" Tom John, five time California State Champion, "Big Bad John" Bryan Laws or anyone of a dozen Big Guns. They all say the same thing when they drive in..." show me the best you've got Winchester, I'm here to win!" and Winchester has flushed the faces of the best of them! I have seen some of the country's top shooters fail to read Westfall's targets properly and watched as their confidence turned to mush. If you go anywhere in California, you will hear the same remarks. " Yes, I have been to Winchester...man those are tough targets..is Carl still there?" Or " Ya, I've heard of Winchester..beautiful drive up the hill, the scenery is outstanding... but if your going there to win, better sharpen you stick!"
So, if you have a complaint, come to a club meeting or talk with President Warnekros at the Shoot. 
He's the guy in the cowboy hat that takes your money and keeps the scoreboard right. Bill is a reasonable guy and I know he will listen. 
Pictured here on the left, Bill is explaining some of the rules and regs to Matt and Phil, a couple of guys who are new to the Club. We have already given Phil, the guy on the right, a nickname," Damn Safety!", because had so much trouble with his sideXside 12 gauge sliding back into the safe position after the first shot. If that wasn't bad enough, he lost a chunk of wood from the stock... it just cracked off on station #6 and fell in the dirt. He had the 4 of us crawling around on our hands and knees, like children, looking for a tiny sliver of dark wood no larger than a piece of bat guano! Phil has promised not to bring his grandfathers' antique firearm to the next shoot. In fairness, I must add, Phil handles a sideXside right up there with the best of them. But anyway, I think all those guys wheeling a sideXside once
rode shotgun on a stagecoach in a past life. No hard feeling Phil, remember me during lobster season...lol..lol..
Now, I did not shoot with young Matt Gunner, but I have never seen a guy who just appreciated being at the Shoot more than Matt. What a nice guy, he will be a real credit to the Club. With a name like "Gunner" he will not need a nickname but you best watch him, he's an up and comer as they say. He has the drive and the speed to be a winner. He did mention he was going to school in Santa Barbara, so
I am sure we will all enjoy his unguarded friendliness in future Shoots. I look forward to shooting with him. I hope you will introduce yourselves to Matt. Maybe the Club should consider doing a "Shooter Profile" on new members in it's newsletter??? Heck they ought to do it on all the members. Do any of you know who Paul Melancon is....Google that name!
Back to why were are here...there were only 6 stations, but they were more difficult than some 12 stations I've shot...but very shootable if you were on your game. The opening station #1, called for 5 double pairs, required good focus and concentration to put together a 10 score. By the time you hiked up the hill and back down you had shot 100 rounds before lunch. There was not a "give away" target to be had on any station...
even the easy ones were a challenge. How many of us walked up to a station, watched the first pair fly, grinned and said to ourselves, "no problem I'll ace this station.." ..lol..lol..how about #4 with the rabbit and a bird zooming by on the right, that's a lot of gun movement...lol..lol.. as you worked your way up the hill you saw the faces of the guys returning, smiling shaking their heads saying, " You're gunna love what's waiting for you up here!"
Station #5, just stand in the hula hoop boys. If heights scare you... your scoring a 00 buck here for sure! Those two birds zipping out of the rocks below your feet from left to right AND sinking into the valley, very shootable but keep the gun moving downward! Then finally up to #6, two birds fired from the Santa Barbara Airport over your head from the right, then peeling back and downward, showing a good dome...but only for a few seconds. It gave a 
few of us a chance at a Club Double, if you read it right (paid a buck on our squad, but my squad was cheap!)...most of us watched in horror as they swept past and below the ridge line in a blink of an eye. How many of you laughed, as 
your fellow squad member came up on his tip toes at the last minute, like as ballerina, to hit the second bird before it slid out of sight?..lol..lol...
Well, that's Mr. "Club Double" David Williams in the photo on the right in his lucky hat and that Krieghoff he loves so much, he counted his money in dollar bills as he drove back to Santa Maria. David, and his shooting partner Bruce Gordon, drive down every month to show these Santa Barbara people "what's what" from the North county ..laughing all the way home!
Well, I don't know WHO got the last laugh, but it was not my ego! I began stumbling on the first station and stood watching some guys pull double ZEROS. By lunch, I was frustrated with my scores, could not eat. Went back out and shot. Even with that, I was fighting to keep 8 out of 10, or at least half of each station's birds, on the score sheet in the afternoon. I did shoot better, but not better enough to win the class.
I watched as the wheels came off for a lot of very good shooters during the afternoon shoot. I was lucky to finally ace one station (#3) and I just began to consider the probabilities of wining as I started up the hill. I had been silently competing against Dick Griffin on the B leader board. I passed him several times at different stations and tried to bluff him off his game. But I failed to read the targets on # 5. They flew by the gun as I tried in desperation to catch them. Griffin was standing right behind me, he had seen this happen before. He quietly walked up to the hoop and cracked all but one bird. The voodoo I was using on Dick had just back-fired, I was out of the race. But loosing to a guy like Dick, means at least, I was close to a guy who is one of the best. Next time Dick...next time!..lol..lol..
I did have the pleasure to follow a squad
that had a couple of young guys. They were right on top of their game. They reminded the rest of us, who were stewing with frustration by the last station, that it can be done. Westfall sets them tough but not impossible if you have a game plan. That clay can be turned to smoke if you just read the bird, get on it and...BOOM! Oh well... if it was too easy, we would take up golf...ahh maybe not!
Anyway, HOA was won by a young shooter (86). I caught up with him as he was just leaving at the end of the day making trips back and forth to the club house picking up the boxes of shells he had won. Congrats were in order and he was feeling pretty good by this time. He'll be back!
But I can't complain, it was good to see all the guys again. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the rumbling was minimal as our President posted the final scores. Remember to just click on a photo to enlarge them. Winchester's next Shoot will be April 1st...probably Westfall's idea of a joke, to bring all the "Fools" back for another chance! You can definately look forward to another tough day up the hill...c-ya
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