This past weekend my father had his Sunday school class over for a cookout and some clay/trap shooting. After battling rain and storms all day, finally it cleared off about the time everyone started showing up. So as we ate and enjoyed the fellowship with each other everyone started asking when are we going to shoot. After some full stomachs, we all headed out to shoot.

After setting up the tables and getting the clay thrower pointed in the right direction, we asked how many people had ever shot a gun before. A few scattered hands popped up, but most of them hand never held or shot a gun before. In order to keep everyone safe I quickly picked up a gun and started to explain the parts and features of each gun; as well, as how to properly hold it and most important where to keep the gun pointed at all times. I hoped my small crash course in gun safety had made an impact as the first shooter stepped up to shoot.

To my surprise, a woman was the first to step up. I knew then we had accomplished what we set out to do. We had gotten one more woman into the sport of shooting. Even though she was only shooting a balloon (since the clays were a bit to fast to start out on), I could see in her eyes the spirit of a shooter being born.

After a few rounds the first shooter sat down and little boy came running up to me and asked if he could shoot. Again I was astounded that a young child no bigger than the 410 he was shooting would be so passionate about shooting. As I cocked the hammer for him, he was breathing as hard as I do with buck fever and at the crack of the gun, the balloon popped. Even though the gun rocked him a little, he laughed and asked for another shell.   

A few men stepped up and some more kids and as we released clay target after clay target guns erupted and filled the air like fireworks. As it got to dark to see shoot we finished off the last of 200+ rounds of ammo and called it a night.

As people began to leave yet again, the skies opened up and began to pour buckets of rain down. Everyone that left all asked the same question, “When can we do this again?” I think that night we introduced about 20 people to our way of life and why we do what we do and have possibly made some 2009-2010 fall hunting buddies.