Soon she could smoothly follow the targets as they sailed away.
“Okay, let’s get your shell bag, glasses and hearing protection set and we’ll see how good of a teacher I am. This is a competition gun so it has no safety. It is to be broken open at all times unless you’re on station and ready to call for a bird. Step back to the station and stand as before. Mount your gun and point it just like you did your finger on the flight line of the target. No shell this time, just follow the bird with the gun barrel.”
They followed this procedure for several targets, with her opening the gun each time, then closing it in preparation for the next target.
“Get into the habit of opening the gun after each shot or for any delay that might come up. Always break the gun open when changing stations. Safety is the first priority.”
“Now load up and let’s get serious. Ready when you are.”
She loaded the gun, shouldered it, and tried to visualize where the bird was going. “Pull!” The bird zipped out, a bit to the right of her barrel. She jerked toward the target, pulled the trigger and watched the target fly away untouched. This discouraging sequence was repeated four times.
“OK, let’s back up a bit. Just point your finger at this one.”
The bird appeared and she tracked it smoothly with her finger.
“That is all you have to do with the gun barrel, track the target smoothly and pull the trigger. Try another one”
This time, some dust flew off the target.
“Dusted that one, you’re getting close.
The next shot was a clean miss. A chip flew off the next bird.
“Clean hit, broken bird, one hit.”
Dust and small chips rewarded her next few shots. The first time she held right, the clay pigeon disappeared in a puff of dust. “Say, I like that!”
“You smoked that one. Do you remember what your hold looked like? Work on developing a mental picture of each perfect shot. As that mental picture develops, your brain and muscles form an automatic relationship to function as a unit for breaking targets. Equally important, don’t dwell on missed shots, because the same type mental picture can form, leading to automatic misses—not the desired outcome.”
After that first solid shot, she proceeded to smoke the rest of her twenty five targets.
“You did well for a beginner, eleven isn’t bad.”
Isn’t bad—I want to smoke them all! “Let’s shoot some more, I want to see them break!”
* * * *
“Just takes practice and the desire to do it. You know where to practice.” Thought she might like the game since she is on the competitive side. May have created a monster here, but what a cute monster.
Jenny developed a practice routine where she shot four rounds three times a week. If she was having trouble with a certain shot, John would lock the machine for that shot and she would practice until it was automatic. She is relentless and intelligent in her pursuit of perfection. I’ve never seen anyone diagram a problem shot and video it to see what is wrong. When she gets a shot down, it is as automatic as can be. This girl has the makings of an outstanding trap shooter. Soon she was hitting twenty three or more each round with more than a few twenty-fives thrown in. As a sidelight, she learned to reload her own ammunition.
Chapter Twelve
The hot tub became one of the centers of their lives. Nearly every night they would relax, recap the day’s activities and discuss the plan for the next day. It was an easy give and take that they both looked forward to and enjoyed. Their developing relationship took many steps around or in the warm confines of the hot tub.
Once he was casually and gently stroking her back after a hard day when their relationship took a huge step. He paused to watch the moon rise. When he dropped his hand to resume the stroking he felt, not a sleek back, but the most delightfully warm, round, firm female breast he had ever touched. She sucked in a quick
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