Re: TVP June Shooting Event Schedule
If anyone might think that the short course is a walk in the park,
If I am correct, only 1 person out of 20 plus shooters cleaned the course.
If I am also correct, there were shooters who had previously cleaned the course, but failed to do so that day.
Is something like the “Intimidator” harder, yes. Is the Short Course a walk in the park, I personally don’t think so!
For me, lessons learned,
Cleaned the first stage, headed off to the second stage feeling good. Get my truck stuck trying to get to the second stage, have to leave it grab my stuff and run up the hill to get to the firing point. My turn comes up, first target is 280 yards, should be an easy shot. Pull the trigger and a miss! Get a correction, adjust, pull the trigger and miss! What the hell is going on!
Mental State - my mind was on getting my truck out, not on shooting. Note to self, get your head where it needs to be and keep it there because at least 50% (probably closer to 80%-90%) of shooting is mental.
Double or Triple Check Everything and When Something Is Not Right, Figure Out Why - I had set the dope for the first target before I went to the line, somewhere in the process it got bumped/changed. I failed to double check it before the first shot, hence the miss. Had I have actually looked at my scope settings I could have easily caught the mistake, instead I just stayed on the stock, and kept trying to dial corrections. Haste makes waste!
Remain Calm - missed the first shot at only 280, blew my chance of cleaning the course, mental state just went in the toilet. Take each shot as one shot at a time, it is a marathon not a sprint, speed is fine but accuracy is final.
Fortunately for me, I got my head out of my @$$, and did what I needed to on the rest of the course.
In that situation, shooting at a 280 yard target and missing, probably taught me and reminded me of more than making all of the hits that I did on the course that day. It is not all about just having the correct dope numbers!
Thanks very much to Tom for providing all of the outstanding opportunities that he does to the shooting community. He could just as easily stick to working with big Military and LE training contracts, but he honestly puts as much time and effort into getting anyone and everyone he can into shooting. I also believe that he makes as much effort as he can to get them up to speed as he does with his top tier customers.
Tom also has an excellent staff who all go out of their way to help anyone with anything they can. The competitions they run, are not about who can win, but about how they can make everyone a better shooter. Those guys do an outstanding job, and it is not about a big pay check, the chance to brag about how good they are, or the chance to collect another win. In my opinion they do it to help better everyone else, and in turn, help better themselves.
Sorry for rambling on, but I could go on for pages because the “Newbe Day” and Short Course were both an outstanding opportunity!
Thanks again to everyone, hope to make it to TVP more often, best of luck,
M Richardson
