I enjoyed competitive shooting of some sort ever since I was introduced to .22 rifle competition at Boy Scout camp as a 12 yr. old. Having grown up tramping the woods with a .410 and a .22 it was a natural extension of the boy. But, the competitive aspect got ahold of me. I was never satisfied in any type of competitive shooting unless I was getting better. I was introduced to clay target shooting at that B.S. camp as well. Believe it or not the first clays I ever shot were MoSkeet targets with a smoothbore .22 and rat shot cartridges. But, I was hooked. I went on as an adult to compete in IHMSA pistol shooting, NMLRA rifle competition up to the national level, then found sporting clays and my world had a paradigm shift. I pushed myself hard to improve at it and found myself in 2010 as a AA class shooter eager to go to a national shoot. The 2010 US Open was to be held in Tunica, MS at The Willows. But, the Big Muddy flooded that spring and The Willows venue was flooded out. The owners found a piece of undeveloped ground nearby that they owned, bush hogged it down, and set up great courses for the event, in the nick of time. A buddy and myself decided to go. I had just gotten a 30" barreled B-SS and was shooting it good and entered the S X S event there. Shooting M and F chokes in it I won AA class, and also Veterans concurrent. Although I didn't shoot well enough in the Main Event, with my MX-8, to get any punches I earned enough punches in the S X S event to punch into Master (Donor
) class. I have shot enough live birds (pigeons) to realize there was an addiction, with possible accompanying financial ruin, waiting for me if I succumbed to what my heart wanted. I have, thus far, been able to limit myself to an occasional box bird shoot for fun but ........... I haven't tried Columbaire ............yet.
Because of my competitive background I have always loved reading about Annie Oakley and the other competitive shooters of the early days. Thanks Drew, and others, who post this great stuff about them.