FITASC CHAMPIONSHIP OF FRANCE...

[Catamong]

Hi Guys,

 

This is the first shoot report that I’ve done for some while, as I’ve struggled to find the time, and I also wanted to do a report on a ground I’d not shot before.

 

One of the reasons why I’m doing this report is that I’ve been genuinely touched by the very positive feedback I’ve had from people about the write ups I’ve done in the past.

 

It’s nice when you get thanks on the Forum, but not only that, several times over the past year or so complete strangers have approached me at shoots with a line like “I hear you’re that bloke on Pigeonwatch who does those shoot reports..? Well I really enjoyed reading them, so when are you going to do some more..?”

 

I’ve chosen this shoot because I particularly enjoy shooting in France, I’ve found the people to be very friendly and the shoots are well run. I can also now speak a little French, probably at a level little better than “O” level, but at least I can get get by. I’ve found that provided you can master essential vocabulary including “please”, “thank you”, and “Oh yes, a large beer would be nice”, you’ve got it made.

 

So, here it is, my report on this shoot, I do hope you enjoy it..?

 

This event was the French national championships for the discipline of Parcour De Chasse, (known to most as Fitasc Sporting)

 

It was hosted by a ground about 45 minutes drive south of Paris, called La Cerisaille. It’s a family owned and run ground, with a nice clubhouse which sold reasonably priced refreshments throughout the event.

 

 

They also run a live quarry hunting service from this ground, it really is a sportsman’s paradise, thick oak woodland set in hilly rolling countryside, crawling with all sorts of mainly 4 legged quarry together with an abundance of gamebirds. The terrain and setting is similar to West Midlands SG, (AKA Hodnet), the true Mecca of Sporting shooting here in the UK.

 

 

The event was organised by the FFBT, the French equivalent of the CPSA, and it’s fair to say that it attracted the very best shooters from all over France.

 

The event was fully subscribed, with around 500 competitors; each shooter was allocated a place in a squad of six, with a total of eight different rounds of 25 targets being shot over the 3 days, 75 on Friday and Saturday, then 50 on Sunday.

 

Each round of 25 birds was shot over 3 separate stands, comprising 5 or 6 singles and one or two doubles, which were almost all report pairs, there was only one “simmo” pair over the whole layout, a bit odd that, as they normally mix them up a bit. The singles were full use of gun, i.e. 2 shots, (good job too..!!)

 

 

The entry fee for the event was 185 euros, (about 160 quid), not cheap by UK standards, but I suppose that’s the going rate for this type of event.

 

Practice was available at the ground prior to the competition, on some of the actual layouts that were to used in the competition, not something that would be allowed here in the UK, but this is common practice in pretty much every country in Europe.

 

There were a number of trade stands there, the Zoli stand offered an on-site Gunsmith, (much to my relief as he managed to free up a stuck multichoke in my gun..!!)

 

 

There was also a local Guy selling the most awful looking, (but lovely tasting) goats cheese, which went down a treat with the free tastings of delectable Pomerol red wine being offered by the stand adjacent.

 

 

They had some very special bottles made for the event, shaped something like a muzzle loader, they held only 1.5 litres, I was very tempted, and hoped to do a deal on the 50 euros price tag if there were any left on the final day, but sadly, they all sold out the day before.

 

 

The traps were all French made Laporte traps, with Laporte clays. As is always the case abroad, every bird was orange, which is fine against a wooded background or a deep blue sky but when you get light cloud cover than can make it a bit of an eyesight test, particularly with edge on birds, which encourage you to lift your head and consequently miss the bird.

 

Here’s Fred from the Laporte stand just about to crack open another bottle of Champagne from the Laurenti Champagne stand, who also sponsored the shoot.

 

 

I was very glad not to be the only Brit shooting the event, my good friends Tony, Denise & Chris Eyre were also there, they have been living in France now for about 10 years and are very keen Fitasc shots, they all went on to shoot some very respectable scores.

 

Here’s a pic of Tony & Denise, some of you who are regulars “Oop North”will no doubt remember them from Charlesworth SG..?

 

 

I started around 9.30 on the Friday morning, a real cracker of a day, sunny & warm, with no wind, here’s our squad watching the squad in front of us shooting. There were some tricky birds here, I missed 2 on this peg, but so did many others, including Christophe Auvret, a Fitasc World Champion, so I was in good company.

 

This young lad shooting the Beretta semi auto was from Besancon in southern France, he’d driven 700 km to get there, and here he is shooting a tricky long incomer on peg 2.

 

 

I finished the first layout with a 21, then we had a break for a couple of hours before shooting the Laporte layout.

 

This was a lovely layout set in a wooded valley with a good mix of targets, here is peg 1.

 

 

And this is a great shot of peg 2

 

 

And this is peg 3, I missed one bird in the final pair to finish on a 24, quite happy with that..!

 

 

We shot the third layout mid afternoon, by that time it was pretty warm, most people sensibly keeping out of the sun.

 

 

Even the eagle-eyed refs were feeling the heat..!!

 

 

In actual fact, most pegs had two refs on them, this old boy was having his well deserved rest period.

I managed another 21 on this layout, missed a couple or real sitters, so finished the first day on 66 ex 75.

 

There is a very big social side to shooting in France, a lot of people were staying at the ground in Caravans or Camper Vans, and most had barbecues on the go, with plenty of Champagne and red wine to wash it down.

 

Here are a group of guys from the Arras area, I’ve shot with them quite a few times before, they know how to shoot and they certainly know how to enjoy themselves.

 

 

And here’s Denise and Chris striking a deal with the Goats Cheese seller, they are both fluent in French and ended up buying a huge chunk for a knock down price that would have cost a fortune in a supermarket.

 

 

I was back at the ground for a later start at around 11.30 on Saturday, transport was laid on to ferry shooters to 3 of the layouts that were some distance from the club house, it all ran very well with no problems.

 

 

The first layout was in a slightly more open area of woodland, here’s the squad in front of us looking at the targets.

 

 

One thing annoyed me about several of the pegs, we were often shooting on quite a steep incline, but no effort was made to level off the shooting position within the ring. I heard of at least one person who fell over whilst shooting, which could have had dire consequences for him or the bystanders. You can see here that the ref has carved himself out a level platform, but my friend David from Arras is trying to level himself up by placing one foot on the ring, not a good idea, but who can blame him..?

 

 

Here we are on layout 2, in mid afternoon, I struggled on this one, I was first man on and we didn’t get the benefit of seeing the birds shot by the previous squad, I ended up looking in the wrong place for the first bird, saw it too late, snapped at it and missed it clean…”Quel plonker..!!”

 

 

The next peg was also quite tricky, here’s Pascal just getting ready to shoot the going away “F” bird, once they were in the sky they were particularly hard to see against this “milky” background

 

 

Sylvie, the only lady on our squad, straighted the next peg, the look on her face says it all. She didn’t make the best of starts on day 1 but shot very consistently on days 2 & 3,

 

 

Layout 3 was a testing layout, with a couple of left to right “screamers” off a raised platform that had to be shot through a narrow gap in the trees. They were not particularly far out but were going like hell, the midi was a “one shot bird”, in that it simply wasn’t possible to get 2 decent aimed shots at it.

 

Here’s Pascal again on peg 2.

 

 

I missed far too many that day, having finished on 19, 18 & 20 and retired to my hotel after another barbecue at the ground resolved to try a bit harder on the Sunday.

 

We started at mid morning on the final day, the weather was very different, a lot cooler, overcast, showery and quite breezy.

 

There was a very tricky right to left battue, which stayed edge on until the last moment, then dropped vertically into the trees, Sylvie gave it both barrels, and I’m pleased to say that all of our squad hit that bird, an indication of the good quality shooters within the squad

 

We had to take a mini bus to the next layout, and with it being final day, there were quite a few spectators along to watch, something you don’t get too much of in the UK.

 

This young lad jumped off the bus with a “let’s get at ‘em” look on his face. Fortunately his mum told him to open the gun just after this pic was taken, better to get safe habits engrained early on, even if it is only a toy..?

 

 

Peg 1 had more targets whizzing through the trees

 

 

Peg 2 was literally on the side of a mountain, this photo doesn’t do it justice.

 

 

Peg 3 was on more level ground, and contained the only simmo pair on the whole layout, a relatively easy going away and incoming pair, (I managed to miss the going away bird, jumped it and shot over the top of it..!)

 

 

So, the competition was over, I shot two 20’s on the final day, so finished on a very mediocre 163 ex 200, a fair bit below what I know I’m capable of, but, all in all, a very enjoyable experience made even better by being with a squad of fellow shooters who knew what they were doing.

 

Denise shot very well with her new Zoli, returning a 160, young Chris did a super 153 in his very first major competition, and Tony returned a very solid 149. We celebrated with a nice bottle of fizzy Rose..!!

 

 

With so many relatively close range birds, this was always going to be a high scoring event, and the outright winner with a very good 194 was Charles Bardou from Paris. There was one guy on 193, then 3 on 192, including World Champion Christophe Auvret, who got off to such a dreadful start.

 

Here’s a shot of part of the large crowd that stayed to watch the shoot off, there were also ties in both the Junior and Veteran classes, so the shoot offs took some time to complete, during which time the weather worsened with quite heavy rain.

 

 

This is Alain Marcheron shooting off in the Vets class, he was a popular winner of the shoot off.

 

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So, finally the prize giving ceremony, a very formal affair with the refs in their Sunday best all seated in rows

 

 

A speech from FFBT President Denis Julien, praising the ground staff for their efforts, here here..Bravo..Vive La France..!

 

 

I ended up in 2^nd place in the “Overseas” class and won a lovely magnum of Champagne, a medal and a nice plaque, Denise was in 3^rd place and here we are on the podium.

 

 

Here is a pic of the overall winners of the shoot, all seriously good shooters, more than capable of holding their own against some serious opposition from the best talent in the UK, (athough I can't help thinking that Digweed would have simply murdered that layout and returned a 197 or 198)

 

 

The whole event ran like clockwork and the standard of refereeing was excellent, I never witnessed the often quoted bias against UK shooters that some people claim takes place whenever they get the chance, that may have been the case a few years back, but it doesn’t appear to happen now.

 

If I was to be hyper critical I would say that there were perhaps too many going away birds and too few long crossers, also we didn’t shoot at a single target below our feet, despite the terrain being very hilly in parts, everything was up in the air.

 

Also there was no “real time” scoring like this board below

 

 

People like to see where they stand in the overall leader board, and a couple of these widescreen TV’s would have made all the difference.

 

As far as I was concerned, none of these issues spoiled what for me was a great event, many thanks to all concerned who organised it, you did a great job, I look forward to shooting events there in the future, and thanks to all of the Pigeonwatch readers and Guests who’ve had the determination and patience to read this report to the bitter end..!!

 

Et le meilleur de la bonne fortune à tous mes amis de Belgique & de France qui ont pris part, je vous remercie beaucoup pour votre soutien et espérons vous revoir l'année prochaine….!!

 

Finally, lest we forget, I called in at the coastal port of Dieppe on the way back to Calais. I always make a point of visiting various battlefields from WW1 & WW2 to pay homage, I happened to call in at Dieppe on the 71^st anniversary of that disastrous raid made by those brave Canadians, it all looks so peaceful now, may those many brave souls from all nationalities who lost their lives on that dreadful day rest in peace.

 

 

Cat.

[Azzurri]

Hi Rob

 

Really enjoyed reading that, and great pics too...thanks for sharing

 

 

Azzurri

[100milesaway]

Hi Rob....As usual an excellent report on what to many folks is a difficult to understand type of shooting. Next time you see Denise and family they could be interested to know that a chap has reopened Charlesworth shooting ground under the name of Old Glossop shooting ground, but at this present moment in time they are only doing 50 birders. Thanks again for an informative report with lots of good piccies. from yer Auntie.

Edited August 24, 2013 by 100milesaway

[TIGHTCHOKE]

_{Interesting, all that watching the squad in front would not be tolerated in this country!}

[sethb]

Fantastic,thanks for sharing.

[Nicky T]

Fantastic write up (as always) Rob. Well written and well shot Thank you for sharing

[karpman]

Enjoyed reding that. A welcome distraction from pepa pig on the goggle box lol.

 

Thanks

Karpman

[Dunkield]

Great write-up and pictures as always Cat - keep them coming please

[shaun4860]

Nice one, I enjoyed that

 

[Churchill]

Excellent write up and good pictures.

 

Thanks.

[Gordon R]

Rob

 

Well up to your usual high standard. The quality of the pictures and description makes me feel like I have actually attended. You have a gift which I clearly don't possess.

 

Thanks.

 

PS I remember Tony and Denise very well - I shot regularly at Charlesworth Gun Club.

[Will Poon]

Fantastic write up Mr Cat

I'd like to be there just for those gun shaped red wine bottles

[leaseone]

Well done Rob.

[broken man]

Thanks Rob.... really enjoyed it

[dougall]

quality write up,and well shot.

[magman]

Great read many thanks for your time mate well worth it

[figgy]

Fantastic as usual. Probably the best one yet with all the pictures.

 

Thanks for the write up, gives a great insight to what would be intimidating to those of us who have never shot it or shot abroad.

 

Figgy