Just Sayin’. For a Friend.
 

Soooooo true!!!

I think I have heard them all at one time or other. Probably used up more than my quota over the years. One of the best I have ever heard was when a guy proclaimed a passing airplane cast a shadow on the target that caused a miss. Shooters get pretty inventive when trying to find an excuse for their ineptitude.

I refer to it as the "book of excuses"--We all have one ready at hand the moment it's needed.

The companion to it is the "book of justifications" for why we need to buy another gun. This one is best left at home when your gun money is tight, and you go to a gun show anyway.:shock::rotf:

Hey, wait a minute now.:eek::eek:

It’s hard to be a Pro without a pocket full of excuses :rotf::rotf::rotf:

I sure am glad that signs like that aren't posted in the grouse woods, duck marshes, or quail fields!:rotf:

When I'm having a less than stellar day, and my buddy is shooting well, when he goes 3 pair in a row, I tell him, loudly, "Wow, no one has ever done 4 pair". Works every time.

My favorite is to crush them with positivity. "The way you're shooting you won't miss another bird all day!" Wheels fall off every time. :rotf::rotf:

My favorite was at a skeet shoot when the shooter missed his bird. The complaint was "Frank Vancini's dog barked" just as the shooter was calling for his bird. Frank's dog was a good hundred yards away in the parking lot!!

You and Allgood went to the same school I think :whistle:

There is a similar list people use for fly fishing the Henry’s Fork

Excuses
 

I went through most of the typical excuses pretty early in my clay shooting career. So now I have a new approach that seems to work better. I show up with a gun that has the barrels oriented in the wrong way and made around the turn of the last century. It's important to never have the same gun. People are shocked that you're shooting such a relic and they are somewhat stand offish when you get into the stand. They have NO idea what the gun is because it wasn't made in the last 6 months in some foreign country. And then pretty soon it starts; someone sees a piece come off the target that I was not within a city block of. And then the scorer starts seeing breaks as the target descends into the weeds that I was not even close to. It's a wonderful thing to be an old eccentric misguided gun collector just trying to break at least some of the targets you're shooting at; with a little help from your freinds and squad mates.:)

all the help I can get!
 

It's a wonderful thing to be an old eccentric misguided gun collector just trying to break at least some of the targets you're shooting at; with a little help from your freinds and squad mates.

Some times a lot of help! So we start a new thread category OEMGC, my guess more than a few of us here!!!:rolleyes::rotf:

When I started my clay target shall we say journey forty years ago it didn’t take to long before I understood nothing less than 100 straight wasn’t acceptable in skeet for all but the 410 and the same for 16 yard trap . And so it was as I climbed the class ladders . When you’re coming up thru the ranks you don’t realize there will be peaks and valleys you expect a steady progression and that just isn’t the case . You also need to realize once you’ve climbed the mountain you don’t win each time and unless you wanna look like an ass how to be a decent looser . I was quick on picking up the being decent part , if we were in a shoot off together win loose or draw I made sure I shook your hand and offered congratulations etc . It takes some clay target shooters a long time before they realize , other shooters don’t beat them - they BEAT themselves . But I can tell you after forty years of doing this in one form or another I can laugh about misses a hell of a lot easier than I could early in the journey . Think I’ve said once or twice before , now it isn’t as much about the winning as it is about shooting with folks I like and enjoying their company as well as whatever the feast is that day . Don’t get me wrong I still like the bling as the Crazy Polish guy would say , but if I get none that doesn’t make it a bad day .

I have been struggling to deal with the impact of plate tectonics for years :rotf:

I learned pretty quickly not to give a care. Its definitely loosened me up to make more 25's. I have a friend who takes misses hard and I see it affect the score negatively. Plus I know I am no shooting prodigy. Its just easier to try and do well but not take it seriously. People can talk while I shoot and it doesn't mess me up at all.

There comes a point when you realize:

1) Everybody misses;

2) Some days you got it, some days you don't;

3) No matter how bad you think you are shooting, it ain't over till it's over; and

4) Don't make excuses, just play the hand you're dealt.

After a disappointing day on the range one day, an old man told me: "you haven't had your worst day yet."
I live by that.

I beg to differ ! Once you shot a ZERO you’ve done your worst , there’s nothing less :rotf::rotf::rotf:

Well, at least you got to go shooting. There's that.

This is a very enlightening thread. You all had me believing it really was the wind, the sun, the clouds, the speed, angle and distance, the chokes, the barking, etc. There is a comfort in that. Now faced with the prospect that it could be me, I’m holding on to the old adage “You can’t teach an old dog a new way to think”. So if we’re ever shooting together and I happen to miss a target don’t be surprised if I tell you flat out “You’re popping your gum”!

If I start seeing these show up at the skeet field or clays...

I was practicing with the 410 a few days before the Spring Shoot at Fredricksburg VA and shot a 99 . So here I am thinking this’ll repeat itself or be one better on the following Saturday . Rolled in Saturday morning with a big head and the wind blowing like hell . Shot the 410 and ended up with a F’ing 69 to say I was livid is an understatement. That pretty much yanked my 410 skeet average for that year .

Clay targets aren't hard to hit, but they sure are easy to miss. Jerry Varn - Broxton Bridge Plantation

John, #3 is spot on!! The events I think I “struggle” in, and yes, I am my harshest critic, I am still usually in striking distance if I keep my head in the game and focus. After the “bad” event I look at the scores and know full well that if I paid attention and broke those one or two birds more that HOA was there for the taking. This is a mental game and if we just run the program we’ll be fine.

That’s quite relatable ! Again I was at Fredricksburg for the spring event and shooting the 410 on the field directly in front of the club house . A fine old gentleman that’s no longer with us and is in the VSSA HOF if I’m not mistaken Gibby Andes was sitting there watching our last two rounds with his wife as he was shooting next . I’d gone clean on the last two rounds , walked off and spoke to them . Gibby asked if I’d gone straight , I replied “no sir I had to break the last fifty just to get a 96” he replied I know the feeling !