Peter De La Mare Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 (edited) Well, what a great introduction to FITASC Sporting ! Firstly, Hepworth Hall isn't signposted in any way shape or form. So two laps of the A131/A1124 soaked up all my 'relaxing' time to sign in and check everything out. I started on the Lakeside layout (Parcours) and started really well. Shot the first two stands straight and was beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about, until stand 3. Wholly Krapp, it's pretty amazing how moving a few yards (or 20) can change things. Let's not even talk about the 'X-Factor' bird on the 3rd stands. Surely put in for comedy effect and not really a serious proposition to be shot!! I fluked 1 'X-Factor' bird on the Lakeside layout with a stray pellet chip, and shot one really well on another layout, but couldn't repeat it. So 2 out of 11 X birds. The extra low starting gun mount was a *** to get used to as well. The Willow stand was the easiest I think, the Hilltop virtually impossible. I only got 12/25 on that one, and Ben Husthwaite 17/25! So, I came away happy with 76/125, knowing that I could shoot the first two stands straight or at least 95% but then totally krapping out on stand 3 (9 birds) where I missed virtually everything. 3 stands at 17/25 and then 12/25 and 13/25. I gotta practice on these type of birds/distances a little more. Obviously. I understand that the stands 1 and 2 were typical of the sporting birds that may be offered for the Essex Gun 200 birder, excellent targets they were and still needed a lot of thought as they were a way out. There were 3 on 109 at the end of Friday, one being Ben. I was 3rd in class D (I was unclassified of course) Edited February 27, 2009 by Peter De La Mare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tosspot Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Out of interest, how much was the entry? FITASC is a great discipline but a too expensive and drawn out affair IMO, did it take long to get round? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter De La Mare Posted February 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 £72 entry. Yes, it's expensive, but it is a trap hungry discipline. Started shooting at 1000 on the dot, was gone at 1515.... this included 30 mins downtime to fix a broken trap. I'm not sure I'm going to do that much, I'd like to get my English Sporting game sorted first but I'll try another at Southdown soon enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Glad you had a good time Pete, I'd recommend anybody to reach a reasonable level of competence at English Sporting before they branch into FITASC, and as TP says, it's expensive and time consuming. Some of those "X" birds last year, were, as you say, impossible, FITASC doesn't come any harder than that, in fact those targets wouldn't be allowed on a Registered FITASC layout, as they were more than 40 yards away. I've booked into shoot the European Championship in Amiens, France, in mid July, the entry fee is 230 Euros for the 200 target event, you shoot 50 birds over the 4 days, should be a really good do, weather permitting..!! Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter De La Mare Posted February 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Aye. Wish I'd taken a camera now, might have given some sort of idea what was what. Also, judging by the car park, I need a Range Rover with private plate to fit in there. Try and stay sober long enough to enjoy the Euro Champs, it sounds like quite the adventure, though only 50 birds a day is a bit of a waste. There were enough complaints about the World English Sporting needing 3 days and how this affected turnout, surely 50 birds over 4 days is going to be worse?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter De La Mare Posted February 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Oh, and something pretty cool happened during the shoot, two Chinooks few over at very low altitude indeed. Seemed to be almost in range of a big daddy cartridge, though I wouldn't have recommended taking the shot though. The noise was pretty intense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolhamguns Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 sounds like you need to be able to afford a range rover with private plates to be able to afford to shoot the targets aswell ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter De La Mare Posted February 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 My eyes watered as I handed over the cash at sign on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolhamguns Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 oh -water in the eyes - that ol chestnut - that's why you missed the long'uns ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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