Reporter Aaron Scoones is shown the ropes of shooting by James Rouget. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0580905)
‘HAVE you shot before?’
‘You could say that. I’m the police’s firearms officer.’
Such went the response I got from another guest at the Guernsey Clay Target Shooting Club’s open day at its Portinfer range on Saturday. The person in question was Sergeant John Tostevin.
But how was I to know? Whenever he appears in the paper, kitted out doing some firearms exercise, his face is always blurred. Despite this faux pas, I had a tremendous time.
I have vague recollections of shooting clay pigeons on a friend’s farm when I was a kid back in Kent. But to all intents and purposes, I am a beginner. When it comes to guns, I’m more Debbie Harry than Dirty Harry.
After given the requisite eye protection and earplugs in the warmth of the range clubhouse, I stepped out into the lashing rain.
These shooters are a hardy bunch.
The club’s vice-president and press officer, James Rouget, says he has been shooting for years and has known only three meetings to be called off due to foul weather.
Gary Le Cloarec was given the task of showing me the ropes.
The 51-year-old has been shooting since the age of 16 and has been a member of the club for the last two or three years.
‘It’s a really good club and it’s got a lot of good things going,’ he said.
After showing me how to hold the gun, which was one of the club’s, I took up my position at the first station where the clay was thrown away from me.
The sport has its origins in field hunting and this replicates a driven bird like a partridge or a grouse flying away from the shooter.
I had three goes and, needless to say, I was rubbish.
I managed only to chip the last clay with a single pellet.
I was only marginally better at the next discipline, which was the skeet that has the targets flung across you from the side.
I shot one of them.
I stepped up another level on the following post where the clay was thrown towards the shooter to land about 10 metres short.
It represented a pigeon coming to land in a field in front of a hunter, presumably hidden in the trees.
No problems for me here, as I nailed two out of three.
Now it was at this point I discovered something else about me apart from the fact that I don’t know the local police constabulary – I like rabbits but I’m not so good when it comes to ducks.
I got three out of three of the ‘rabbits’ which are the targets that are rolled across the ground.
Full of confidence I went onto the last station that has a trap straight in front of you which throws clays vertically up into the air to fall back down.
These represents teal ducks which, when disturbed by hunting dogs as they are resting in the reeds, fly straight up into the air, unlike mallards which go off at more of an angle – apparently.
Anyway, I thought this was going to be breeze but, blow me down, I couldn’t hit one.
It was deceptively difficult.
I was gutted.
I had done so well on the rabbits, which looked much harder.
But maybe I should have realised that this was not the case as Press photographer Ady Miller – someone who has never held a shotgun in his life before – was also a dab hand when it came to the rabbits.
Nevertheless we agreed that we had had a great time.
This was music to the ears of Rouget, who had help organise the open day.
He explained the thinking behind the event.
‘We’re hoping to promote interest in the sport and to give people an opportunity to try something that is a bit mystifying to some people,’ he said.
‘We have a strong membership, but are always keen to welcome newcomers, including juniors and colts who are the future of any sport.’
New people undergo two inductory sessions before they can join members on their weekly shoots on a Sunday morning.
Article posted on 19th May, 2008 - 2.29pm
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