SHOOTING CLAYS IN THE WIND

In the process of packing up the house for a move, quite a few long-lost possessions surface.  A few of the more entertaining pieces included a box of 135 biodegradable sporting clays and a mechanical launcher, last used sometime in the previous decade.

Photo by Matt Reilly

So in the name of a little last minute fun, I gave friend Chris Swanson a call, and picked a venue to "dispose" of the orange birds.

The morning began windy, with gusts pushing 20 MPH.  Something about the way I slept in the night gave me a tight cramp under my right shoulder blade, and day three of my recently-developed cold was much worse than the last.  Thankfully, by the afternoon the wind had softened to intermittent gusts, an hour or so of stretching restored my muscles to normal, and a bit of moving about cleared my head to a comfortable level.

We arrived at a local farm property around 1:30 PM, and I aimed the launcher over the sparkling, medium-sized farm pond.  Taking our time, we broke almost all of the 135 targets before 4:00, emptying roughly five boxes of 7 1/2 shot shells.

Photo by Matt Reilly

Photo by Matt Reilly

The occasional gust of wind across the venue resulted in some interesting shooting.  With a shift of the wind, the clay would hop, drop, and skip through the air.  Sometimes back-to-back launches would fly in totally different directions.

But birds don't fly straight!  A good time was had for sure.  Can't wait to do it again!  Check out the video below put together by Chris, then check out his website HERE.□