Great night out here in NorCal. We had our first night shoot and it was a hoot. We kept to the Halloween theme. 13 Spooky lanes, including a forced position lane.
The laughter was contagious- everyone had a good time. Had a first time competitor, sharing Eric's redwolf- fantastic way to get intro'd into the sport.
We had one target setup where your teammate had to hold a flashlight onto, so one could shoot, just like a coyote hunt.
A bat came by and perched over the range entrance, adding to the local color.
The scores were pretty incredible. If you've no experience shooting at night, this is the way to start. No muzzle flash, no loud reports or dangerous ricochets and particularly great- airguns don't shoot a mile and half. The background can be dark and still be safe with only target illumination.
Some shooters had difficulty finding the farther targets in the scope, even when the magnification was rolled back.
Scopes without an illuminated reticle had their cross hairs swallowed up in the inky black target hole.
Other challenges included not being able to see much of the vegetation or pull strings to gauge wind. Ranging wasn't too hard. On most targets, you couldn't see the paddle, just the faceplate and hole- if you count on seeing where on the paddle you are hitting, that wasn't happening.
If you shanked a shot completely, ground strikes were unobservable.
With all of the challenges, it was one of the best shoots we ever had! Everything one is ready for round two- the night time is the right time for Field Target!
Martin O'Connor
pistoleer@outlook.com
925.405.6758
