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by Curt Kuester
Summer is here; time to prepare gear for fall
It never fails. We all look forward to summer's arrival. Then, before we know it, summer is over.
While all of us make grand plans for our summer activities, fishing more and different spots, scouting out the elk, or even landscaping the homestead, most of the time, life just gets in the way of what we want to accomplish.
There is one more item that you will want to add to your list of things to do before autumn arrives. Get the shotgun out and get in some target practice. I always seem to get caught up in getting everything done during this season and forget just what lies around the corner.
The arrival of the new school year signals the start of bird hunting in Colorado. As I am reminded by my two sons, that event is just over 80 days away and, in the great scope of things, dove season is not that far away.
When most people think of practicing up for bird hunting, they think of trap-shooting. Whether it is done with your own thrower or at a local trap range, it is pretty much the same drill.
The clay pigeons, or birds as they are called, are thrown at distances from 5 to 25 yards from the shooter. While the distances will vary, the angles are pretty much the same. Trap-shooting is a game of going away shots.
This type of shooting is an excellent way for those of us who religiously hunt pheasants, quail or grouse to practice. When it comes to dove and waterfowl, most of the situations you will encounter in the field will not present themselves on a trap range.
One of my favorite shooting sports is skeet; and it is one of the best ways to get ready for dove hunting. Skeet is the counterpart to trap. The birds on the skeet range come at you from all angles. It is a fast and close-in game. The skeet range consists of two houses, one on the left and one on the right. All of the shooting takes place roughly between the two houses.
The one known as the high house throws the higher of the two birds. The targets from this house will be 20 or so feet off the ground. When a bird is thrown from the low house, it leaves at about chest level, leaving the shooter with a shot just over one's head.
It is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to prepare yourself for a day in the fields chasing doves.
The newest shotgun sport to hit America is becoming the most popular with the everyday hunter.
Sporting clays is an import from Great Britain, and closely recreates bird-hunting situations. Once upon a time, it was difficult to find a sporting clays course in this part of the country. Now, you can find several excellent courses close by in the Vail Valley, Colorado Springs and the San Luis Valley.
This is a bird hunters' game. Sporting clays takes place on meandering courses, and has been called golf with a shotgun. Every angle and condition has been covered. Most courses have trees and bushes that have to be shot around, through or over.
While a round of this sport is a little more expensive than trap and skeet, it is a fun time. The stations here are not numbered, as in the other sports. They have names, such as the springing teal, driven pheasant and the quail covey.
In any of the situations, the birds are thrown from out of the shooter's view and, at times, at very odd angles. With the surrounding shrubbery, certain stations can offer only a split-second window of opportunity in which to hit the target.
Whether you choose trap or skeet or sporting clays to get ready for the upcoming season, this is the time to start. A little practice now will pay large dividends later in the year.
