Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Blue Grass 100
I broke free this past weekend to go to the Bluegrass 100 field target match. This is the first big match I have been able to get to this year since the Cajun Classic in April. I am really glad I went, especially since I won't be able to go to the Nationals this year.
The BG100 is held just outside Lexington at the Blue Grass Sportsman's League. The venue is great. The firing line is covered for the most part but there is also an open area for practicing. They also setup five practice FT lanes next to the practice range. I really enjoyed shooting on the practice lanes before the match. It helped me to get focused prior to hitting the course.
I didn't arrive until late Friday afternoon so I didn't get to practice before match day but I did get to check out the course. The Blue Grass guys have a great area to shoot in. They made good use of the terrain and trees to setup a challenging and interesting course. The two courses averaged around 34 difficulty but the range of difficulties varied greatly with many full size kills at close distances and many 3/4" and 1" kills at longer distances. It was really challenging to keep focused on the easy targets and then bear down on the really hard targets. There were two course of 13 lanes with two targets per lane on all but one lane which had one target.
I started the Saturday match a bit rough. I didn't have a lot of time to practice before the match and it showed on my first 5-6 lanes. I dropped most of my shots on those lanes, scoring 2s and 3s for most of them. Then I settled down and got back into my grove and cleaned the majority of lanes after that. I even felt really good on the 40 yard standing lane but managed to jerk my trigger on my second shot to score a miss. I ended up with a 40 on Saturday which I counted as good considering how unsteady I was starting the day.
Sunday was a whole different creature. I started the day feeling great. My rifle was right on at the practice range and I was shooting tight little groups in practice. I got out on the course and was in the zone. I started on lane five and was smoking right along until I hit lane 12. It was around lunch time and hadn't been drinking or snacking enough and my whole physiological state plummeted. I couldn’t hold still or focus. I ended up hitting only two shots on lanes 12 and 13. After climbing the hill up to lane one, I had a good snack and drank a whole bottle of water and some Gatoraide after that. I started to feel better and got my focus back. I only dropped on standing shot and one sitting shot after that. I ended up with a 37 on Sunday. I made the mistake of not paying attention to my physical needs during the match and it cost me plenty.
My total match score was 77 which netted me a third place in the rankings for piston gun. My HW97 was shooting fine and was rock steady over the course of the weekend. I just wish I could have piloted it a bit better. No matter, after both matches we had some excellent food and it made the days blunders a bit more palatable. With only one match each day, there is time on Saturday afternoon to chat and shoot. I really enjoy that time since we all shoot each others guns and have a chance to catch up and talk about the issues of the day.
I always enjoy the time spent at matches like this. The BG guys did a great job hosting the match and made the weekend very enjoyable. I am looking forward to shooting there again next year and maybe even shooting a Nationals there one day!
The BG100 is held just outside Lexington at the Blue Grass Sportsman's League. The venue is great. The firing line is covered for the most part but there is also an open area for practicing. They also setup five practice FT lanes next to the practice range. I really enjoyed shooting on the practice lanes before the match. It helped me to get focused prior to hitting the course.
I didn't arrive until late Friday afternoon so I didn't get to practice before match day but I did get to check out the course. The Blue Grass guys have a great area to shoot in. They made good use of the terrain and trees to setup a challenging and interesting course. The two courses averaged around 34 difficulty but the range of difficulties varied greatly with many full size kills at close distances and many 3/4" and 1" kills at longer distances. It was really challenging to keep focused on the easy targets and then bear down on the really hard targets. There were two course of 13 lanes with two targets per lane on all but one lane which had one target.
I started the Saturday match a bit rough. I didn't have a lot of time to practice before the match and it showed on my first 5-6 lanes. I dropped most of my shots on those lanes, scoring 2s and 3s for most of them. Then I settled down and got back into my grove and cleaned the majority of lanes after that. I even felt really good on the 40 yard standing lane but managed to jerk my trigger on my second shot to score a miss. I ended up with a 40 on Saturday which I counted as good considering how unsteady I was starting the day.
Sunday was a whole different creature. I started the day feeling great. My rifle was right on at the practice range and I was shooting tight little groups in practice. I got out on the course and was in the zone. I started on lane five and was smoking right along until I hit lane 12. It was around lunch time and hadn't been drinking or snacking enough and my whole physiological state plummeted. I couldn’t hold still or focus. I ended up hitting only two shots on lanes 12 and 13. After climbing the hill up to lane one, I had a good snack and drank a whole bottle of water and some Gatoraide after that. I started to feel better and got my focus back. I only dropped on standing shot and one sitting shot after that. I ended up with a 37 on Sunday. I made the mistake of not paying attention to my physical needs during the match and it cost me plenty.
My total match score was 77 which netted me a third place in the rankings for piston gun. My HW97 was shooting fine and was rock steady over the course of the weekend. I just wish I could have piloted it a bit better. No matter, after both matches we had some excellent food and it made the days blunders a bit more palatable. With only one match each day, there is time on Saturday afternoon to chat and shoot. I really enjoy that time since we all shoot each others guns and have a chance to catch up and talk about the issues of the day.
I always enjoy the time spent at matches like this. The BG guys did a great job hosting the match and made the weekend very enjoyable. I am looking forward to shooting there again next year and maybe even shooting a Nationals there one day!
