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Hartmann’s Hint #78: Visiting Various Shooting Venues

Visiting Various Shooting Venues

 

I have been lucky enough during the years that I’ve been shooting skeet to have shot at many venues. While these have all been great places to shoot, there are also some that had beautiful facilities.

Among these beautiful facilities is The Red Chute Shotgun Sports Club at Barksdale Air Force Base, Bossier City, Louisiana.  In fact, until I was able to shoot in Springfield, Missouri, at the Springfield Rod and Gun Club recently, I had considered Red Chute as the most beautiful venue that I had been to.

The Springfield Rod and Gun Club is located north of Highway 44.  It is located on 119 acres of forest with an area of what looks to me as over 20 cleared and mowed acres where the very nice club house and their skeet fields are located.  They have four fields. I shot on field 2.  The targets were outstanding and easy to see.

For several years I had heard about this club, but this was my first visit there. I only had time to shoot the 20 gauge, as I had booked four people for lessons the next day.  It was a 2 1/2-hour trip each way from the Tulsa area.

After seeing the Springfield club, I have to imagine there are many other venues that are just as beautiful that I just haven’t been able to visit yet.

The shoot was run like a well-oiled machine. Everything ran smoothly. The people were as friendly as any place I’ve shot.

I was treated as well as if  I had been a four-gun shooter. I got lost on the way to the club and called for directions.  Micah Gibbs, one of the gentlemen running the shoot, was more than helpful in getting me there.

I believe that everyone should visit all of the clubs within two or three hours of where they live. Maybe you’ll discover a hidden gem like the Springfield Rod and Gun Club. I will be going back.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.

 

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Hartmann’s Hint #75: COVID-19 and The Mental Game

COVID-19 and the Mental Game

While my wife and I have been staying home and away from people that may have COVID-19 and be contagious, we’ve fortunately been able to keep in touch with friends and family electronically. We’re able to deal with this self-imposed social distancing better than some of our friends because we enjoy each other’s company, and we have a large enough area where we can  do many things. My wife has her arts room, and I have my shop. We also have our Labrador retrievers that I spend time with. They love swimming in our pond.

The hint I have is for those skeet shooters who are in a similar quarantine situation but may not have the distractions I have.  Those of you who want to keep your competitive edge in skeet shooting can work on the mental aspects of the game.

The mental part of our game is arguably the most important part of skeet shooting. The physical aspect is important, too, but it is much easier to learn and to master than the mental part. We have to keep our focus on what we’re doing at the specific time we’re doing it; we can’t think about how we miss a certain target or how we just hit a target that has always been our nemesis. We have to concentrate on the target we’re about to shoot, and only that target.

During the period of time when most of us are unable, for one reason or another, to be physically practicing our sport, we can work on our mental game. We can visualize each move we would make and see the targets breaking in our mind. Visualization is a tool used by athletes in most sports who want to gain and keep skills they’ve already developed or are in the process of developing.

I try to visualize getting on the station, putting my feet where I want them, mounting my shotgun properly at my hold point for the shot, looking at my “look point,” and telling myself, look at and see the target. I then see the target turn to dust as I execute the shot.

I continue this exercise until I’ve gone through at least one round, sometimes several rounds. I have two other positive pre-shot thoughts that I’ll also use: I tell myself, “It’s like me to hit this target,” and also, when shooting doubles, “one target at a time.”

During this stressful period for mankind, practice mentally what you can’t do physically.

Stay healthy and Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.

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Hartmann’s Hints: Skeet Instructors

Skeet Instructors

During the last several years I’ve had the honor and privilege of being one of the NSSA Zone Instructors.

I was able to work with and learn many of the finer nuances of coaching shooters from the NSSA Chief Instructor, Ralph Aaron, as well as from the many other instructors of all levels that I met and worked with in San Antonio and in the classes I taught here in the NSSA Zone 6. I’ve lost count of how many Level 1 instructors I helped certify, but the total number is close to 75.

I recently resigned from being the Zone 6 Chief Instructor, due primarily to my age and the stress of traveling.

I spent a few days in early March on a trip to Barksdale Air Force Base’s Red Chute Shotgun Sports Club in Bossier City, Louisiana, where I trained seven new Level 1 instructors. One of these was Doug Frey, the publisher of Red Chute Gazette, a fantastic newsletter devoted to all things related to skeet shooting. Google it; I think you’ll like it.

The Red Chute club is a nice place to shoot with some really nice people shooting and running the facility. Because the club is on Barksdale Air Force Base, you have to get with the club prior to attending a shoot in order to get cleared to enter the base. Doug Frey is a good contact to use to gain access to the base.

As I’ve written before, I have really enjoyed my years as the Zone Instructor, and I’ve learned from all of the people that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and instructing.

If you think you’d like to become a instructor, go to MyNSSA.com and check out the Instructor section. You’ll learn a lot and have a little fun, too.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.

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Hartmann’s Hints: Coaching Young Shooters

Coaching Young Shooters

 

Coaching young shooters is fulfilling by itself, but then you see these kids put it all together and start winning in registered events. When this happens we, the coaches and their parents, are all proud of them.

Recently the three primary coaches for our team shot a 5 X 50 event with two of our kids.

The coaches didn’t do well, but we were more than satisfied that the two kids did shoot well. Both of them shot scores that got them in shoot-offs.

One of them was the B class HOA champ after a shoot-off with several experienced shooters.

The other one was in a shoot-off for 20-gauge gun champ, and he outlasted his much higher-class competition to take the title. He also won HOA third during another shoot-off.

Working with the youth we’ve had in our group for the last 14 or 15 years has always been fulfilling, and some of these young shooters have shown that they have the skill and desire to compete and win in our shotgun sports.

If you want to coach young shooters, take either of the NSSA or NSCA Level 1 classes and learn how to properly coach and troubleshoot new shooters. It’s a great feeling to watch the youth learn and apply what you’re teaching them.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

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Hartmann’s Hints: Shooting in Turn

Shooting in Turn

 
I was in a shoot-off with several others. The referee called our names and I was second from the last.

I knew the person that was last but not the shooter before me.  There were two people standing next to me, and I asked the one I didn’t know if he was up. He shook his head, no.

I made the assumption that he was just a spectator and wasn’t the shooter before me, that perhaps the shooter before me decided to skip the shoot-off. This was my mistake: I should have asked the referee who was next, but instead I shot my pair.

The referee then stopped me as I was walking over toward the next station and told me that, as I had shot out of turn, I had to shoot the pair again. I knew the rule, so I shot again and missed the second shot.

According to the rule, if you shoot out of turn, the shot(s) don’t count, and you must shoot again when it’s your turn.

My mind was on why the other shooter had told me ‘no’ instead of getting up to shoot.

There are always going to be distractions, and we have to learn to ignore or at least put them out of our minds so we don’t do what I did. Your complete attention has to be on what you’re doing at the time you’re doing it, not looking at or thinking about something else.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.