I have been blessed to be close to my sister and her kids. I have taken her oldest kid hunting with me since she was 3 and I didn't have any of my own at that time. I still hunt and fish with her as much as we can.

This year was the first year that she tried Dove hunting with any real effort. I took her to an area away from everyone else and was able to work with her and put her on some birds. She was able to connect with 7 on her last evening hunt and it was awesome to watch her excitement, and sometimes shock, each time she connected.

So, needless to say, I was excited when she called about a month ago and wanted to know if I could teach her to shoot skeet.

I will readily admit, I am not an avid shotgunner. The only clay pigeons I have shot were almost 20 years ago and in more recent years, only at charity events like the New Hope Event that is coming up and those are all sporting clays, not Trap. I am good enough to place a respectable position, but that's about it.

So, as excited as I was, I was also a little lost because I was well aware I do not shoot a shotgun "correctly". I made a few calls to some friends that I knew shot in some competitions and three in particular have helped me greatly. I also started reading and watching youtube whenever I got the chance and went out and shot trap on my own to see what I could learn and relate back to her.

Before I say much more about her, I have to say thanks to Bobo and Barneywho on here. Some great people on the THF and they have both been great in helping me. Barneywho found her a gun that fit her and took time out of his weekend to take us shooting and teach us what he knew.

So back to my niece...she has been working hard, listens well and watching her improvement over the last month has been amazing. When we started on the manual throwers, she was hitting 4-8 out of 30 and 30 was about the max that she could shoot before her arm was getting tired. She has worked up her strength and stamina and the last outing, she shot 100 shells and still had some left in her to keep going. She is now shooting around 60-70% out of the manual throwers.

We finally moved her over to shoot Trap again to see how she would do. She shot against a boy that is on her team and her Step father, so she got to move around the station and watch the others. She shot 48% and I was dang proud of her. When she missed, she knew what she had done wrong and knew if she shot behind it or under it.

Needless to say, I am proud of her!

Awesome sounds like you have every reason to be proud of her Uncle David
Does she call you uncle or does she have a nickname for you?

Sounds like she found something she enjoys. Maybe she can even teach you a thing or two about shooting in the next year or so.... ....from what I here you are not much better % wise than that right now with a rifle on mule deer...

Just Uncle David

I taught her how to shoot a rifle, so she is screwed in that arena too

Did I tell you how many shots it took for my audoud

Yes, eventually you put enough lead in the air the animal will run into a stray or miss to commit suicide. Also, I just bought 5,000 shares of that ammo company stock.

Outstanding sir!! If she wants to shoot clays April 21st at the New Hope event, tell her I'll make a spot available for her and an adult at no charge! She won't even have to buy shells since Big Fitz is covering ammo for our youth shooters.

And next year I expect her to be Captaining the "All-Top Roofing" team.

That's awesome Dave. I might send her and my sister up if they are open that weekend!! They would love it. And awesome offer from Big Fitz, some great folks on here.

And yes, she will be our captain next year!

Glad you finally understand my philosophy!!

Killed em both running with a neck shot

I need to apply for sponsorship with them