A venue for traditional wingshooting will soon open, tailored specifically for women – and it’s about time.
Called the Ladies Shooting Syndicate, it’s the brainchild of Blixt & Co. in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Ladies Shooting Syndicate is by membership only. It organizes splendid shooting trips to luxurious destinations for like-minded women. In effect, Blixt & Co. has transported the Golden Age of Shooting into the 20th century for women with adventurous sensibilities.
My Afternoon With Olympian George Quigley
Written by Rick Robinson
Author, part-time fisherman and lousy shot
The picture which the folks at Shotgun Life have used to introduce me to you ought to tell you something. All the people profiled in this fine publication are pictured holding their favorite shotguns. My profile picture has me holding up a beautiful lake trout which I caught on the Niagara River cutting the border between New York and Canada.
What that has to do with clay shooting is what my story is all about.
Fishing (or at the least brackish lake water associated with it) is in my family’s blood. My dad had hunted when he was a young man, but by the time I was born he was afflicted with horrible arthritis. So, instead of hunting, he taught me how to shore fish at a young age. On my mom’s side, I had an uncle for which fishing was his life. Just to be able to fish on a daily basis, he spent his twilight living with a Seminole Indian tribe in the Everglades.
So, fishing is one of my sports of preference. Although, the way I fish, calling it a sport is an insult to sportsmen everywhere. I spend more time choosing my cigar for the day than I do choosing my lures. Quite honestly, it’s the quiet and solitude which I enjoy about fishing. Catching a fish is a side benefit.
One of my regular fishing companions, Lytle Thomas, mistook my love of fishing for being an all inclusive outdoor sportsman. Lytle spends his weekends hunting things with and without a pulse.
“I’m running a charity sporting clays shoot next week at Elk Creek,” Lytle said excitedly to me one day. “I signed you up to shoot in my fivesome.”
“I haven’t shot since elementary school,” I replied, hoping that would end the conversation.
“Yeah, I know,” he persisted. “You told me about it. Remember? You won a shotgun for breaking clay pigeons. It’s like riding a bike. You’ll be fine.”
Lytle was only half right. My bragging was catching up with me. My dad had taken me to a youth shooter’s safety clinic when I was a kid. After a lecture from a local 4-H volunteer on safety (don’t ever point a gun at anyone except your calculus teacher), everyone got a turn at the range. Clays were going to be thrown out for us to shoot. The prize for the most clays hit, winner take all, was the shotgun we were using. I missed the first one and then hit all that were served up. My dad was proud (although I do remember overhearing him explain to my mom that I had my eyes closed on each shot).
Dad had visions of some kid in my class with buckshot marks on his face from me trying to shoot rats along the river banks and convinced me to trade the shot gun to a neighbor for a baseball bat and glove or something. Dad was a smart man.
“Anyway, it’s a celebrity shoot,” Lytle snapped me back to reality. “Our celebrity is George Quigley.”
I gulped. I knew just enough about clays to understand that George Quigley was an Olympic shooter. But the thought of spending an afternoon with any athlete who is the best in his sport intrigued me. I accepted the invitation.
“Great,” Lytle exclaimed and told me the real reason for the invite. “My boss is also in our group and he sucks. I put you on my team so that he’ll have someone to beat.”
George Quigley is a legend around my community. He is one of the best known ambassadors of shooting in the world. He and his dad are both nationally ranked. George, Jr. was on the United States Olympic Skeet team which finished 6th in the 1996 Games in Atlanta. He won a gold medal at the 1994 World championships in Cairo.
On the day of the celebrity sporting clays event, I showed up at Elk Creek Hunt Club in Owen County, Kentucky – the home of this year’s US Open. Lytle had loaned me a 12 gauge Beretta 682 Gold E to use for the day. In the parking lot he told me that it was bored and ported to reduce recoil and declared that I was going to use 1 ounce loads of number 8 shot rather than the standard 1 and 1/8th ounce loads.
I pursed my lips and nodded a knowledgeable nod. I had no earthly idea what he was talking about. I took the gun anyway.
After a quick refresher on gun safety in the pro shop where we watched a Dick Cheney speech, I headed to the course.
I looked for Quigley, but didn’t have to really search the crowd. At 6’5″ and around 250 lbs. he stood out. And, he was the only guy at the practice range who was actually shooting. Everyone else was just standing around watching him. “Pull,” he’d shout and two clays would fly out. He’d shoot twice and both clays would explode. “Dead Pair,” he’d say as the crowd applauded.
I decided to wait to introduce myself.
I showed up at our first station. All the men in my group (including Lytle’s boss) were dressed in gear appropriate for a shooting event – ammo vest, shirts with padded shoulders, and orange hats. Suddenly my ensemble of a Bass Pro Shop baseball cap and “Fishermen do it With a Lure” tee-shirt didn’t seem like such a good choice. These guys were serious.
I retreated to what I normally do when I’m intimidated – I became a smartass.
“This clay pigeon thing sounds like fun,” I said approaching the Olympian Quigley with my hand extended. “I hear they are good eatin’ when grilled.”
Lytle shot me a WTF look.
Quigley just stared at me. “Oh God, he’s pissed,” I though to myself. “I’ve just insulted the king and his own sport. This is not a good start to the day.”
Then, Quigley smiled a rather sly grin. “They’re a lot more tender if you boil them first.”
He was as nice of a guy as everyone had said.
I stepped onto the shooting platform, took my first two shots and missed both targets.
Quigley stood behind me shaking his head. He gave a quick beginners lesson on how to balance my feet and gave me a better way to position my shotgun on my shoulder.
“And your eyes,” he said.
“Yeah?” I responded.
“Try opening them.”
What the hell? It had worked the last time.
As I proceeded to each successive station, my shots inched closer and closer to a target. Although I have to admit, I didn’t particularly care if I ever hit a clay. Learning to shoot was one thing. Learning to shoot under the tutelage of George Quigley was quite another. I was watching one of the best and from a very close range.
What was remarkable about George Quigley was the zen-like manner in which he zeroed in on his intended targets. I make jokes about me shooting with my eyes closed, but George’s approach to shooting was just that. He didn’t shoot with his eyes. He shot with feeling. He and the gun were one unit. He didn’t need his eyes. He shot by pure instinct.
George Quigley hit 99 clays out of 100 on that hot summer day. His only miss was a clay that was thrown from behind him. I swear that the shot went past my head as a warning that I better start trying harder. George said it didn’t come anywhere near me. Just to make sure, I started paying closer attention (and standing closer to Lytle).
I feared that George had visions that the president of the National Sporting Clays Association was waiting for him in the pro shop. Being an ambassador of the sport is one thing. But encouraging someone like me to enter the sport was enough for the Association to ban him from competition.
Whether a result of George’s stellar lessons or pure dumb luck, with a few stations left, I suddenly got the hang of it. He was right; you don’t shoot with your eyes. It’s all feel. Each time I hit a clay, Quigley would boldly declare “Dead Pair.”
Suddenly with one station left, I found myself tied with Lytle’s boss. I had the distinct possibility of not being the worst shooter in the match. Lytle glared at me. His whole point of inviting me was to lose to his boss. Quigley, knowing why I had been invited, winked at me. I went 5 for 5.
Dead Pair!
Rick Robinson is an attorney with the law firm of Graydon Head & Ritchey, LLP in Northern Kentucky and the author of political thrillers. His debut title, The Maximum Contribution, was named a Finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book of the Year for political fiction and earned an Honorable Mention at the Hollywood Book Festival. The sequel, Sniper Bid, was released on Election Day and opened on Amazon’s top seller list of political thrillers at #46. He is published by Publisher Page, an imprint of Headline Books. He can be reached via e-mail at: richardleerobinson@yahoo.com.
Visit Amazon.com for Rick’s novel, The Maximum Contribution.
Visit Amazon.com for Rick’s novel, Sniper Bid.
A WOMAN’S APPROACH TO SHOOTING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP
Written by Elizabeth Lanier
Getting Started
PULL – What can I say? It is my favorite four-letter word. Why, you might ask? Well, it’s the word used to release a clay target, but what it really turns loose is more fun than you can possibly imagine.
From the moment I step into a shooting box and put two shells in my gun, I cannot help but feel a huge surge of adrenaline and anticipation. As I close the shotgun and prepare to say “that word”, I have to smile and be thankful for the serendipitous journey that has led me to love saying “PULL,” and beyond.
Several years ago I gave my husband a gift certificate for shooting lessons. He was already a rifle shooter, and occasionally an upland bird hunter, so I thought a lesson aimed at the clay target disciplines would be a fun gift for him. I went along the day he was supposed to take the first lesson, ended up shooting with him, and I loved it.
Between carpooling three children around, after school activities and keeping up with home and family obligations, I managed to squeeze in (and steal) his remaining shooting lessons.
Somewhere between the love of pulling the trigger, the desire to succeed, and introducing new shooters to this sport, I realized that it was the “why” of the misses and not the “where” that really mattered.
It was the realization of the importance of good first experiences that compelled me to become an instructor. To know that when I was guiding them through their first attempts with a shotgun, that I was setting them up for success.
When I was initially approached about discussing women’s shotgunning and the pros and cons we face, I was not sure if I could bring any new and novel approaches to shooting. The more I thought back on my own progression in this sport, both as a shooter and now as an NSCA Certified Shooting Instructor of men, women and children, I realized what I could do was be a voice of advocacy and assurance for recreational women shooters through my own experiences.
I stress recreational. The women shooters who are proficient competition shooters already know the fun and fulfillment of shooting. They know the skills and intense mental focus required to compete. No doubt it was the pure pleasure of starting as recreational shooters that compelled them to hone those skills.
I believe there are many, many women who, given the proper introduction to the shotgun sports, would not only love this sport, but excel in it as well. So I say if you have thought about it, why not give it a try?
I know, I know…..what do women think of when they hear someone say “shotguns” or “shooting”? They think of a man’s sport, heavy guns, loud noises, camouflage clothing and killing Bambi or Donald Duck. It does not have to be any of that.
As a female shooter I think of the fun and excitement I experience every time I pull the trigger. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I hear the bang and see a clay break.
For women who have family members wanting them to shoot or women who just want to try it, I encourage you to seek out a qualified instructor who will guide you through the learning process, paying careful attention to your eye dominance, good form and proper gun placement in the shoulder. They will know the right gauge gun and the best shell to use for the first lessons.
Many well intended people have introduced women and children to shooting with a favorite old hunting gun and perhaps some left over shells from a duck or goose hunt. “It’s easy, just point and shoot”. Trust me, this is not the best way to get started.
If you have started shooting and are looking for fellow shooters, don’t be afraid to go to a nearby shooting range. I have met many wonderful people in the shooting world at nearby gun clubs.
I met another female shooter, now a friend, at a pheasant shoot. After a brief conversation about finding other women to shoot with occasionally, we exchanged numbers on the only paper we had, shot gun shell box tops, and agreed to meet and shoot. I told her it would be fun to try and get other women shooters to join us and try to shoot on a regular basis. We both knew of a few women who shot with their husbands or kids, or had maybe hunted with their father or grandfather in their lives, so we called them to join us. Before you knew it, we had a women’s shooting group.
We now have about 25 members. We have housewives, garden club members, doctors, lawyers, artists, as well as a pilot and teacher. It is a fun loving, diverse group of women who have gone from shooting once a month to occasional 2 day excursions planned around shooting courses, shopping and all the shenanigans that go along with it all……fun shooting, good gear and great dinners, all topped off with a whole lot of laughs. Every now and then we even let our husbands join us.
Like I said, why not give it a whole hearted try? Whether a beginner or more experienced shooter, there is always merit in good instruction and learning to shoot better and better by building your shooting inventory….to me that includes getting the gear but we will talk about that later.
Women communicate. They will convey their feelings if they are anxious or excited. They are gatherers. They like to understand and replicate instructions and often learn much more by visual demonstrations that just an explanation.
Stay with Shotgun Life….soon we will talk about how we gather information, process it and incorporate it into building that shooting inventory we are talking about. We will also discuss trying to find good “girl” gear, starting women’s shooting groups, shooting and shopping adventures and more. Whew….so much to cover, so little space……….stay tuned.
Elizabeth Lanier is an NSCA Level I instructor based in Virginia. Please send your questions to elanier@shotgunlife.com. Every week, she will update her monthly column by selecting one question and post both the question and answer to her column so that all her readers can benefit.
Question for March 2009:
Hi, Ms. Lanier,
I just recently read your article and like the way you think! Look forward to reading your future articles. I haven’t been shooting very long and would like to know what your opinion is on which choke I should use in Sporting Clays for an over-under gun? I shoot just for fun and camaraderie.
Thank you,
Debbie
Elizabeth’s Answer:
Dear Debbie,
Thanks for your interest and I’m glad to hear you have taken up shooting.
In response to your question about chokes, I will just briefly tell you how they work first. A shotgun choke is a constriction at the end of the barrel of the gun. It tightens the shot string of the pellets just before they leave the barrel. I had an instructor give the analogy that the choke worked much like the nozzle on the end of a garden hose. The more open it is, the more open the spray is as it leaves the hose; and the tighter it is, the further the stream goes before opening up.
The most open choke is a cylinder. Then you have skeet, improved cylinder, modified, improved modified and full chokes. And, to confuse you more, there are choke tubes sizes between many of those.
You stated you are a beginning shooter so I would suggest using skeet chokes in both barrels to begin with, or a skeet choke in the bottom barrel and an improved cylinder in the top as you improve. These chokes work well with light loads such as 7/8 oz. to 1 oz. with number 8 shot.
I had never thought of Mexico as a bird-hunting destination, but spending a week there has really changed my perspective. Some of the most exciting and fun hunting I’ve experienced recently can be had out of Los Moiches, Mexico where a variety of bird hunting is available along with excellent fishing and train touring as well.
The superb Austrian firearms engraver, Martin Strolz, accepts two assignments at most per year. Now Martin tells us in a phone conversation that he is available in 2010 – for only one gun.
Martin tends to work close to home in the town of Steyr. He teaches engraving at the Higher Technical School, and the few outside assignments he does accept usually originate from the prestigious gunmaker and outfitter, Lechner & Jungl, in nearby Graz.
There was a golden time in America when fresh-faced kids could routinely bring their guns to school, stash them in their locker with books and lunch boxes, and then after football practice all run out to a big field and shoot at rusty cans and elusive squirrels with their very own .22.
As a girl growing up on a ranch in Texas, those days are still a living memory for Judy Rhodes – and it’s her mission in this God-given life to share that boundless joy with other women today.
Judy has been toting a gun since the age of four and she got her start hunting rats, pigeons “anything that was a nuisance” using her first Red Ryder BB gun. At 8, she got her first real gun, which was a .410 shotgun.
Judy recalls that during those days she was “a ringleader of organizing people to go out and shoot. Maybe 30 kids would go after a game… only two girls, and the rest were guys…it was a time when girls weren’t encouraged to play sports.”
But being a rancher’s daughter, Judy said she didn’t know there were any limitations for girls. “I was used to the call of the wild.”
Little did Judy know at the time that those wonder years of her life would set the foundation for her to become one of the leading advocates for introducing women to the shooting sports and that very same call of the wild.
When she left home to attend Oklahoma University, her natural talents as a hunter and leader roped in some “Yankees” from the East Coast, where she demonstrated her early talent to get people involved in the kind of life that Judy loved.
She recalled how she had invited those East Coast guys back to her home in Texas. “It was my first time around Yankees who had never been exposed to the outdoors,” she says, laughing.
Judy remembered how she would get them on a horse and to touch a cow – often the first time her new friends got that close to livestock – or any big animal. Then, at night, Judy introduced them to hunting as they stalked coyotes.
After college, Judy returned to Texas where she landed a job as an interior decorator working on high-profile projects such as the Ritz Carlton in Dallas. Back home now, she got right back into hunting, which turned out to bring her some business because there simply weren’t that many women at the time who shared her passion for the sport.
One day, she was on the job and “a cowboy gets in the elevator. He’d just come back from hunting in Wyoming.” What neither of them realized was that they both worked for the same company. In fact, as the vice president of finance, he signed her checks.
The stars were aligned, and they got married. For their honeymoon, they went hunting in Wyoming.
In 1999, Judy was recruited to the board of the Women’s Shooting Sports Foundation — an arm of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The charter of the WSSF was to get women more involved in the shooting sports and hunting, as well as function as sort of a lobbying group to influence manufacturers and retailers on the special needs of women shooters (and Judy has some strong opinions about that).
When the WSSF ultimately dissolved, she started the Texas Divas, which is short for Texas Women’s Shooting Sports/DIVAS. It is now known as Women Outdoors Worldwide – Divas WOW – and remarkably is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
Today, DIVAS has members in 49 states and 15 foreign countries. Over the years, DIVAS has taught over 800 women how to shoot a shotgun. They don’t call them chapters, they’re called liaisons because it’s a sisterhood – women who need encouragement to enjoy the outdoors.
Her motto is “Women Helping Women…Women Teaching Women…Women Supporting Women.” Her leadership in shooting, hunting and civic organizations led to a major story with photograph (including shotgun) in the Today Section of USA Today in March 2006.
She has also been featured in stories promoting women’s positive outdoor experiences throughout the world, including broadcasts on German Television and the United Kingdom BBC Television.
Maybe that’s where she got the TV bug. She started Divas in the Outdoors Television Show for reaching women and families worldwide. The show taught simple techniques from professionals. Divas in the Outdoors was the number-two show on MOR (Men’s Outdoors and Recreational) shown on Direct TV, DishNetwork, Comcast and Turner Media.
All the while, Judy has been to South Africa 18 times, in addition to Spain, Argentina, Scotland, England, Canada and Mexico, as well as all over the U.S.A.
Her leadership, enthusiasm and commitment have made Judy the voice of outdoor women within the industry. As you can appreciate, she has a word or two for shotgun makers.
“Make guns that fit us.”
Judy believes that the Beretta 391 semi-automatic is probably the best-fitting full-size gun for women on the market. Otherwise, she recommends that smaller framed women get themselves a youth gun.
But knowing Judy, we can expect to see a lot more shotguns on the market tailored to women.
“When we conduct our clinics women are afraid and we tell them that women can’t be afraid. They know what guns can do, but don’t know how to use them. But once a woman hit her first target its amazing how they want to go out and be a marksman and buy their own guns,” she observed.
There was something else Judy discovered about women involved in the shotgun sports.
“Women enjoy the smell of gunpowder.” She went as far as to say that women considered the smell of gunpowder a turn on.
Does that mean there’s a new women’s fragrance in Judy’s future? Not really, but she is exploring the possibility of returning to TV this September.
“It will involve a lot of women and the outdoors,” she said.
Judy honestly feels that she has been chosen by a higher power to get women involved in hunting, shooting and the great outdoors. “It’s a sisterhood, a bonding, to make sure we have that next generation of women shooters. This is a mission I believe that I have in life.”
Irwin Greenstein is Publisher of Shotgun Life. Please send your comments to letters@shotgunlife.com.
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For the First Time, the Shotgun Industry Can Combine Quality Editorial With Digital Advertising Aimed at Affluent Shooters
Pikesville, Maryland, January 15, 2009 — Shotgun Life (www.shotgunlife.com) opened the door to a new, digital era in the “Best Gun” category as the first online magazine devoted to wing and clays shooting.
In addition to the digital format, Shotgun Life breaks new ground as the only publication with comprehensive, quality editorial of both wing and clays shooting, and a section devoted to the rapidly expanding audience of women who participate in the shotgun sports.
By being online, Shotgun Life lets advertisers, for the first time, adopt a complete “cradle-to-grave” strategy that begins by reaching a new generation of Internet-savvy professionals and retain their loyalty through a lifetime of upgrades to higher quality shotguns, accessories and shooting venues. At the same time, Shotgun Life appeals to the established audience of affluent shooters who use the Internet in their daily lives.
Moreover, Shotgun Life lets advertisers reach readers in places that were previously off limits, such as the workplace.
In addition to the free online magazine, Shotgun Life publishes a free weekly e-letter whose mission is to help shooters improve their skills with tips from world-class instructors. In less than four months, the Shotgun Life e-letter has garnered nearly 700 subscribers who signed up for it. As another new marketing tool, the Shotgun Life e-letter is the first online, direct-response vehicle for the shotgun industry.
“We have been beta-testing Shotgun Life since the middle of September 2008, and now it is clear that the industry recognizes that the need for a robust online venue is long overdue,” said Publisher, Irwin Greenstein.
We anticipated an extraordinary weekend of shooting and dining, since we also had dinner reservations at another great American institution, the Culinary Institute of America in nearby Hyde Park.
She’s a teacher, an artist, and a ballet aficionado originally from Brooklyn, New York–and an avid clay shooter!
If this doesn’t entirely add up, don’t be surprised. Sometimes, even Bonnie Berniger herself wonders how she ended up becoming passionate about clays shooting.
“My friends can’t understand how I can go from the arts to shooting,” she says. “People from Brooklyn don’t understand that shooting could be a sport. They associate a gun with crime. When I come into work happy after a weekend of shooting, they looked at me very strangely.”
It was in late September 2008, at Griffin & Howe’s Hudson Farm, that the idea of a “family tree” for a Boswell Shotgun first came about.
Join an elite group of readers who receive their FREE e-letter every week from Shotgun Life. These readers gain a competitive advantage from the valuable advice delivered directly to their inbox. You'll discover ways to improve your shooting, learn about the best new products and how to easily maintain your shotgun so it's always reliable. If you strive to be a better shooter, then our FREE e-letters are for you.
Shotgun Life is the first online magazine devoted to the great people who participate in the shotgun sports.
Our goal is to provide you with the best coverage in wing and clays shooting. That includes places to shoot, ways to improve your shooting and the latest new products. Everything you need to know about the shotgun sports is a mouse-click away.
Irwin Greenstein
Publisher
Shotgun Life
PO Box 6423
Thomasville, GA 31758
Phone: 229-236-1632
