When we’re not organising incredible clay pigeon shooting experiences for our customers we love to find time to take on the clays ourselves, and the latest member of the team to escape the office for a spot of clay pigeon shooting was Dom, one of our crack team of copywriters.
Here’s what he thought of his first clay pigeon shooting experience:
“The closest thing to clay pigeon shooting that I’ve tried in the past is probably air rifle shooting, but hitting a couple of simple stationary targets with an air rifle by no means makes me a shooting expert! Because I’d tried something similar though I wasn’t too nervous about my clay pigeon shooting experience, and the nerves only really kicked in when I was handed the shotgun for the first time.
When I arrived at our Otley clay shooting venue I was greeted by Phil, our instructor and he made us feel really welcome straight away. One of the first things he did was take us into the office to pick up our ear defenders, safety glasses and score cards, which meant there was no hanging about and it was straight down to action. We did have to complete a full safety briefing though, but thankfully Phil made sure it clear and concise and covered all the essentials. His biggest priority was making sure the entire day was fun though.
After the briefing it was time to face the clays, and with four of us taking part there was definitely added pressure on every shot. I think we all secretly wanted to win so we were desperate to smash as many clays as possible, and as we worked our way round the traps things got seriously competitive.
The experience was really good fun though, and even though clay pigeon shooting looks hard it’s surprising how quickly you pick it up. Phil was very quick to reassure us that everybody misses clays too, so when we inevitably had a bad run we knew there was nothing too serious to worry about. One particular trap managed to catch us all out, but it was one of the best we faced purely because of how hard it was. The trap launched the clay straight into the air like a rocket, which gave us a split second to nail it before it disappeared, and even after five attempts each we still couldn’t hit it!
The best thing about the experience was the competitive nature of clay pigeon shooting, and I was actually a lot better at it than I thought. Even though I missed my fair share too, it was really good fun and I can really understand why people find smashing clays so addictive.”
Dom visited our Otley clay pigeon shooting venue and took part in a 25 clay shoot. To find your local clay pigeon shooting venue simply scroll to the top of the page and enter your location in the search bar.