Shooting a little trap

Paul's family went camping this past weekend and as we usually do when they are camping, we joined them Saturday for dinner and fun. The area he went to this year was isolated and well pretty much deserted. We decided to take with us the 4-Wheelers, bows and the shotguns with some clay pigeons. As most of you experienced the weather this weekend was extremely windy. None of us wanted to ride the 4-Wheelers in the wind and you can't accurately shoot the bows, so we decided to try shooting a little trap. If we threw the pigeons with the wind our shots would not be bothered, but the one major drawback to this plan was the wind carried and hurried the pigeons along in their flight. Which meant, you had to be a doggone quick shot. We had a great time! I have included a few pictures of our competition.

Mom decided to try shooting a little bit. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed. I am certain it has probably been at least 20 years since I have seen my mother even pick-up a shotgun, let alone shoot it. We did have her shoot Mike's gun, which is a little shorter and has a little less recoil. When we first decided that we were going to shoot pigeons, I thought it would be fun to take my old shot-gun and do a little old-school shooting. After my first shot and my should jerking back like it had just been hit with a freight-train, I wondered what in the world I had done.
After she was done shooting, she decided to try throwing the pigeons. This was a sight!!!!! For those of you that have never thrown a clay, you have to have the right snap in your arm to get it to release and fly. Mom could bring it around, but she just had a hard time stopping her throw so the clay would release and fly. Since she was having a difficult time and she really wanted to learn, Mike decided to help her out. He was trying to show her the proper technique of the hold as well as the follow-through. When he helped her bring it back, it was a little too much and Mike hit mom on the top of the head. I thought for certain she was going down. It turned out that she was not hurt and didn't even end up with a bump on her head. Once we figured out she was not hurting, we all started laughing. Ali found it so funny she fell down and was actually, truthfully rolling on the ground laughing.
This has to be one of my favorite pictures of the day. Notice that Chase is aiming out about straight from him, maybe even a little to his right. The clay is flying off to the left. If you look close you can see the clay on the left side of the picture right above the pointed tree. To be fair, this was not Chase's fault. He was aiming in the direction that we had been shooting all day. When this clay was released it floated off to the left. (It was probably me that threw it.)
The last picture is of Paul throwing and his wife (Tracy) shooting. I have to tell you, Ali, Tracy, and Mom were all pretty good shots. I don't think they missed too many.

After shooting, we fired up the barbecue and cooked up a burger and as well as have some dutch-oven potatoes. I had even made some of my famous chocolate pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. As always they were a hit!

The day was fun. Despite the unfavorable elements we experienced, the day turned out great as we all had some fun.