doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Great Fun at the Great Northeast SXS Classic

I shot Sunday, we were the first group out. I really struggled but it was a great course in my opinion. It is tailor made for a grouse hunter except for a few long right to left clays over the pond, it really tested your skills. I had fun and that's all that counts for me, beautiful country, nice folks and day pulling the trigger with good friends. I know I will never place in the top group so I just relax and have fun. The average hunter only kills 1 out of every 5 grouse they shoot at so what's the problem. The weather cleared by 11:00am and was beautiful the rest of the day. Guns dry out! It's not like the first time they have gotten wet in 105 years.

We do this for fun, not to feed our families so we have a choice as to whether or not we want to get wet or subject our fine old doubles to a drenching. Sure, they've been wet before and so have we but the choice to do so is still ours and when the forecast is for 1" - 2" inches of rain driven by strong winds and a NWB tornado warning... I guess I made the right decision for me and my guns by choosing to head home on Sunday morning.

This event is still suffering growing pains and probably will for a few more years so while we're on the subject of suggesting improvements, I would suggest at least two people signing up the shooters in the peak hours. Mrs. Hausman is a terrific lady and did a swell job; remembered names on the second day and what gauge we preferred to shoot... but she could really use a little help there.

I wouldn't want someone thinking of coming to this shoot next year to come away with the impression that they need a 3" Duck gun to shoot the course. The opposite is really true. Most of the shots on the course were actually quite close, some in the 10-15 yard range. Only a couple stations on the duck pond had long crossers that were pretty challenging. For every duck shot, there were many more grouse/woodcock shots. I shot the course with 2 1/2" 3/4 ounce RSTs in a light English 12 gauge sidelock and certainly didn't feel undergunned.

What I found makes this course special, and in many ways challenging, is the way it uses the natural mountain landscape. I've a shot a number of beautiful wooded courses (Homestead, Sandanona, others) but I can't think of another where you so seldom can see the trap house (I don't remember anywhere you could see the actual machine) or where the trees seem so eager to block the "sweet spot" where you want break the target.

Most of the targets would have been pretty easy shots if they had been out in the open. Because you couldn't follow the line all the way from the trap release, had to shoot around the trees, the target speed was deceptive because of the strobe effect of the light coming through the canvas, even the relatively "easy" shots could be challenging. It put a premium on quick, instinctive shooting, the kind of shooting you get in hunting situations.

I shot a charity shoot on a nice open course a couple weeks earlier, broke 30 more targets, but can't say I had more fun. On this course, there were cheers from your companions when you hit one of those long duck shots, and an occassional lack of consolation from friends when a tree stepped out to block your shot at 15 yards.

It's easy for target setters to make a course more difficult by speeding up the traps or making the shots longer, what impressed me here was how natural the setting was, and how much thought went into using the landscape.

I've observed that at the end of the day you often find a skeet shooter frowning about the easy one he missed, and the sporting clay shooter bragging about the hard one he hit.

There were definately some shots you could brag about on this course, even if you only hit them once. That's why I'd like another shot at them next year.

i will agree .it was a challenging course!i only went around once on sat,but i could have shot better.i also want to say how many of these old doubles are choked ic??the previous owners from the last century certainly didnt whine about close shots or long ones.they shot what they had or cut the barrels off !i have meridan that will attest to that !!
i had a great tyme ,thanks ernie!

I went around twice and shot in the low 60% and felt good about it in spite of 26" barrels and .004 and .007 choke. Not sure of the number of guns like that but they are the really useful ones for upland hunting and those are the ones whether original (like mine) or relieved people generally use for SC.

You guys make me jealous with the talk of those easy targets (and the rain, it's DRY here!). It is comparing apples and oranges, and I do not mean to even make a comparison between a fun shoot and a major sporting event, but I wish y'all could have seen the targets at the U.S. Open last weekend in Tunica, MS. The main event targets were very challenging, but all fair. The S x S event was shot on the sub-gauge course, but each station had three traps with various combinations listed on the menu for each sub-gauge and the S x S and pump gun categories. Even this course had many tough presentations.

I shot the S x S on Friday morning with my out of the box 30" BSS duck gun. Well, I do use a leather Kick Killer pad on it to increase the length by 1/2". I quit worrying about chokes when competing anymore, and am more concerned with having enough than being over choked. Needless to say, the modified and full barrels on the BSS with 1 1/8 oz. Fiocchis smoked 'em if I was on 'em. While I enjoy soft targets at charity events or most S x S only events, it is really satisfying to see the doubles crush 'em when they're out there at 60+ yds.

Thanks for the reports on the shoot. One day I hope to be able to travel up y'all's way and shoot with you at some of these big S x S events. But for now, I'm "green".

I shot the course Friday and Saturday. I had commitments at home so I had to leave Sunday morning. I thought the course was very well laid out. I'm not a competitive shooter and generally shoot 50% or less, so I'm in it for the fun. I shot a lot of different guns and had fun shooting them all. From a Baker Paragon, two Lefever C grades, a Lefever 8 ga and a number of others. Shot the 5 stand, but ran out of time to shoot the flurry, though my friends shot it with black powder. A lot of big booms and smoke and the crowd loved it. I really like this place to shoot and hope I can make it again sometime.
There were something like 9 Lefever Optimus grade guns displayed with a number of them being shot. What a display!
Chris

On August 21 & 22, Hausman's Hidden Hollow, and another nearby mountain course, Rock Mountain will host the two day Endless Mountains SXS Challenge. Shooting on Saturday is at Hausmans. Shooting on Sunday is at Rock Mountain. Both are nice mountain courses (and hopefully a bit cooler than the rest of the country at that time of year). Shot it last year and had a good time.

http://hiddenhollowsportingclays.com/index.html

http://www.rockmountainclays.com/index.html

I love shooting the Northeast Shoot at Hausmanns, and will shoot the Endless Mountains Shoot for the first time this year. I recommend shooting the sub bore course at Ernies. The birds are a little friendlier and the scores a bit higher than the 8-10-12-16 course. The best part of shooting at Ernie's is finding the secret eating places. Murphy

I saw this thread come back and thought the results had been posted. Maybe next time.