Target Practice

'Choooooof’ as the bullet thudded into the wooden retainer wall.

‘You see, with this silencer it doesn’t even make a noise.’ We’d been in South Africa about 45mins and Eddie (our host) was already giving us a lesson in armed self defence. Suffice to say a week later Jess and I were out in the veld (paddock to us) getting our first lesson in clay pigeon shooting. Having never even held a gun, at first I was a bit apprehensive but being a sucker for the ‘Marty McFly - Chicken’ syndrome I was not going to shirk my turn.

It took me four shots to hit my first clay, then I got my eye in. In the last round I hit 5 of 6 and reckon I can challenge for Russell Marks’ spot in the next Olympics. Warning to other first timers though, expect some muscle soreness afterwards…. my cheek copped a battering, felt like I’d taken a hit from Cassius Clay himself.

Getting my eye in

A shoot off

Jess shooting and Darryl on the sling