Thread: NZDA prize shoot

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings again,
I dug through my records to find that there were 90 shooting the 4P 100 and 200 metre match in 1987. There were also 60 shooting the 60 shot prone match. I also shot the centre fire running boar but do not have numbers for that. At about the same time we would regularly get 15 to 20 shooters to our club shoots and the Wilkinson even more. What has changed? We used to shoot with pretty basic kit as that was what we had. The top National shooters had much better kit and their results reflected both that and the may hours of practise they put in. Today we are told, by the manufacturers, that if we buy all the flash kit this will make us better shooters both on the range and in the field. This is bullshit of course as the endless practise needed is not mentioned. With shooting from a rest it is easier to shoot reasonably well at the closer ranges but as the ranges get longer it is more difficult. And then there is the wind.
GPM.

People want everything given to them and don't want to work for it, and most are embarrassed if they don't shoot as good as others say they do.
With the high animal numbers now you don't have to be a good shot to get an animal, if you miss this one there is another just around the corner.

Personally, I don't think enough emphasis is put on being a competent skilled shooter to make clean kills on game.
Talking to someone recently that runs a 100, 200 & 300 event as the distance increases the scores decrease and quite typically for some to such an extent, they would miss an animal or wound it.
Usually, those people don't come back to shoot another match.

I don't think shooting has to evolve from the basics, there needs to be variety to keep people interested and engaged, but I also think there needs to be some "coaching" and some importance put on the skill of shooting.