my first time
No, not that! My first time at a shooting range!
Today, in preparation for this deer season, Steve and I went out to shoot some guns. Before this, I have shot only one gun, one time, and that was years ago. So since I am going hunting with him this season, I need some practice.
At first I was really nervous. I mean, it’s not like I’ve never been around guns, I’ve just never had a real reason to handle them. When we were little, we were taught to respect guns. You know their power but you know how to handle them. But it was still very intimidating, I think, because of the loud noises and how I saw the gun kick when Steve first demonstrated for me. So along with the fact that keeping my left eye closed was causing it to water profusely, I felt like I was going to cry. LOL. Stupid, I know, but that’s how it was… until I’d shot it once and started to relax.
I started shooting at 50 yards and did most of it there. I did really well and though the target shows shots all over it, I hit nearly all where I aimed. Like the shot in the top right, I was aiming at where lines 4 across and 5 down meet; the one in the top left orange part, I was aiming for that exact spot… yeah, baby.
By my fourth shot, I was shooting alone and Steve was off shooting his black powder rifle. Seemed like everyone else there had black powder, too. And it seemed to me that black powder rifles are louder than what I was shooting. Thank goodness for ear plugs, right?! However, those things tend to make my head hurt after a while so I was glad to be able to take them out when we left.
After the 50 yard targets, I did three shots at 100 yards and did really good there, though I have no photo to prove it. After that, we moved down to the 200 area where neither of us did very well. When Steve would shoot, it was so weird, I was about 10 feet from him and wearing my earplugs - I would hear the gun fire and then hear the bullet hit the target with a thud… 200 yards away. Yet neither of us hit our pie plate targets at that length.
The freakiest thing about it all was this one guy who every time I turned around was looking at me. He was with two others and one of them showed me something I’d never actually seen before in my life… the art of spitting chewing tobacco. Actually, he wasn’t very good at it and it was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen in my life… aside from eggs being carted around the back of a daddy frog. But Steve said later that he thought they were impressed that I was shooting that gun, so I’ll go with that theory, too.
So, yay me :)
Oh, and yes, we left E with grandma and grandpa while we did this! Just so you guys know… :)
