Three of the board members from Duluth Double Gun, Inc. just returned from Friendsville, PA where we participated in the Great Northeastern Side by Side Championship at Haussmans's Hidden Hollow. The weather was pefect. The course,set by Ernie and his family, was about as nice as a sporting clays course I have ever shot. Ernie took advantage of the hilly terrain and wooded areas to present very challenging, yet hittable targets. Ernie always shoots the courses he sets with a .410 just to show that all the targets can be broken. This is the only sporting clays course I have shot the presents only targets that mimic true bird shooting situations. Don't get me wrong, I like springing teal targets it is just that I have never seen a game bird fly that way! The main event featured no singles and many true pair. Since all of our side by sides have two barrels, true pairs just seem natural.
A quick look at the top scores in all the small bores as well as the 16,12 and 10 gauge and the main event revealed that it took 80% to win the event. This is a testimony to an excellently set course. Everybody wants to break targets but some of us are growing weary of courses set so soft that it requires a score in the 90's to win.
Thank you to Ernie, his sons Carl and Ernest, his daughter Emily and his wife Helen for welcoming us to this fine event
Mike, I agree completely with your description of the course - they all simulated true game shots, more like ruffed grouse flushes and flight paths than I have seen anywhere else. Ernie and his crew did a wonderful job on the entire event.
I really expected a lot more shooters. We never bunched up at stations and that in itself was a better experience.
