As of June 1, it’s 92 days until dove season. Shooting a shotgun is probably the furthest thing away from your mind. Your thought processes are probably more on fishing than hunting. Hopefully, you have been visiting your local sporting clays course at least once or twice a month just to keep the rust off.
Vicki and I have been traveling all over the country teaching people to shoot better. Both hunters and clays shooters alike are beginning to realize that you get better quicker when you take shooting lessons. There’s a growing awareness that quality shooting instruction is available across this country. The unfortunate thing for us is that we never get to shoot! We spend more time at shooting facilities than any 25 people you know, but we are always teaching! The only time we get to shoot is in the few tournaments we attend. It’s still fun, even though we don’t get to practice or train before we go and we have no hope of winning. It’s fun because we love to shoot together.
One such tournament is coming up in early June in Houston, Texas. The National Sporting Clays U.S. Open will be held at the American Shooting Centers on the west side of Houston. Expected attendance is in excess of 1,000 shooters.
Why should this interest you? Aside from being able to watch some of this country’s best shooters shoot, there will be vendors selling and displaying everything from gun cases to custom-fitted earplugs. If you ever wanted to compare the feel of different sporting clays guns, this would be the place to do it. Browning, Beretta, Remington, and Keman (just to name a few) will be displaying guns for you to feel, mount, and swing. Browning will have their new Cynergy over and under on display. You will also be able to feel the Browning 525 20ga. with 32” barrels and the 525 28ga. with 30” barrels. Why so long? It’s smoother when you move and mount it!
As much as we harp on you to practice your gun mount and make it smooth and consistent, to shoot a 20ga or 28ga. with longer barrels makes it even easier. I’ve been hunting with a 20ga. with 30” barrels for years. If you’ve never tried one, you should. This August when we do our dove clinics, we will have both a 20ga with 32” barrels and a 28ga. with 30” barrels for our students to try.
Many of the products we have mentioned in this column will be on display by their manufacturers for you to touch, feel and ask questions about.
It’s hard to find shooting clothing and traveling gun cases in most local sporting goods stores. Karen Jensen from Americase will be displaying their line of gun cases. We travel 25-30 times per year by plane and use these cases exclusively because they hold up. Holland & Holland and Barbour will be showing shooting clothing, as well as hunting clothing and accessories.
Have you ever dreamed or thought about having a custom stock made for your shotgun? Bob James of Bob’s Custom Guns will be there displaying all sorts of exotic wood that he transforms into beautiful stocks. They look more like works of art than stocks for a gun.
Briley Manufacturing will be there to answer any questions you might have about all of their products as well as their services. If you have ever wanted to play with a vintage side by side, Chuck Webb at Briley tells me that they will have some there for you to play with.
The growth of sporting clays in this country has created a market for European shotshells to be imported into this country. There are more brands of shotshells available for shotgunners than there have ever been before – and there’s a range of prices. According to Dean Thompson of Royal Sporting, the exclusive importer of Gamebore shotshells, they use a single base European powder that burns slower and cleaner, creating less pressure and recoil while simultaneously creating higher and more consistent velocities. Whether you are interested in target loads, upland loads, or non-toxic loads, there will be something there for you.
Something we use every day and take for granted is ear and eye protection. We use custom-fitted earplugs by EAR, Inc. Gary Gordon of EAR and Tim Holt of Sportsman Closet will both be there with all the newest electronic hearing protection on the market. Yes, I said electronic. Our earplugs are custom-fitted to our ears and they have electronics in them, much like hearing aids. The difference is that they allow you to hear people talking, but shut out loud noises like gunshots. We find these are really beneficial when hunting. You are able to hear what is going on around you while protecting your hearing from damaging muzzle blasts. And don’t forget the glasses. DeCot Hy-Wyd Sport Glasses will be there showing their line of shooting glasses with interchangeable lenses of every imaginable color. Even prescription lenses can be ordered for you.
Most, if not all of the clay target trap manufacturers will be displaying their trap machines. Mike McGlaughlin of Laporte USA says he will have their new line of “personal” trap machines, as well as their commercial line. So if you are thinking about getting a trap machine for the backyard, the ranch, deer lease, or fishing camp, you can buy one there.
As you can see, there will be a lot to see if you are a shotgunner. In fact, my good friend Dave Nichols of Nichols Lures will be there talking fishing. Dave makes an incredible Pulsator Spinnerbait, as well as a complete line of soft plastics and jig heads.
These are just a few of the vendors who will be there eager to meet and talk to you about their products! So if you are interested in shotgunning at all, there will be something for you to see at the NSCA U.S. OPEN. Vicki and I will be there, and when we are not shooting we will be in the vendor area. We would like very much to meet and talk with you.
Hunting season is just around the corner. If you are thinking about a new gun for yourself, your wife or kids, now is the time to purchase it. This will give you time to get it fitted and practice with it before hunting season begins. This would be a great opportunity for you to comparison shop. It’s not how much it costs that makes you a good shot, it’s how well you use it.
Whether you buy a new gun or not, do yourself and the sport a favor: go take a shooting lesson and put in some practice so you will be ready for dove season.
See you at the US Open.
