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Well, Cindy won't eat
seafood of any kind, so I wander up to the catering area to find out if
there is anything else on the menu. Keep in mind that Cindy loves
to shoot and she loves computers, but she thinks a kitchen is someplace
to drop off and accumulate mail.
We have been to thousands
of restaurants and as I query what the entree would be, I expect replies
similar to others I have received. Would it be swordfish steak?
Salmon steak or snapper? Or, possibly Mahi Mahi? No, it
would be perch. "Perch?", I ask with incredulity. "No
Chablis I bet either?"
Hey, I know about perch.
I watch the Discovery Channel. The Army Rangers and the Navy Seals
eat perch just after they can't find worms and grubs. Bass eat
perch. People don't eat perch.
As I find my way back to
my seat in the "sea" of turkey shooters waiting to dive into this
seafood buffet, I start noticing a similarity in appearance. Big
Bubbas with beards, moustaches, and bib overalls all converging toward
the buffet, stomachs growling with hunger.
Holy Mackerel. I
realize this is a scene right out of a Burt Reynolds movie. If I
see a kid with a banjo we are outta here!.
Suddenly there's a
commotion in the crowd. It's coming my way. A huge
perch-eating, tobacco-spitting, turkey shooter is looking for that
carpet bagging Yankee who's asking for Chablis. Sensing an
embarrassing moment in the making I reach down, grab a handful of mulch,
and stick it in my mouth before he could see me. As his eyes meet
mine, I look over to Cindy and say with as much southern drawl as I can
muster, "Darlin', which way did that lilly livered Yankee go?"
Fact: There are
more than 300,000 turkey hunters in the US.
Fact: There are over 5,000,000 wild turkeys in the US.
Fact: I would have enjoyed the hellouta eating turkey instead of
perch!
[Joe
Barton]
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The Turkey shoot was a great
success. The Meadows had approximately 500 shooters show up for the 200
target sporting clays competition. It's my understanding that two thirds
were NSCA members. Three
days of shooting and I don't remember seeing or hearing about a single
malfunctioning machine. The Saturday and Sunday 100 bird courses had 15
stations each. That's a lot of presentations! It made the course
harder in the sense that you couldn't "find" the targets and stay with them.
This may be why many of us were left shaking our heads as to why our scores
weren't higher. All I spoke to felt the targets weren't particularly
hard. In fact, there were quite a few "gimme" stations. When a
course is set well, and these were, even the easier stations are interesting.
From what I heard, everyone had a blast.
The only "problem" was the
weather. We had a rain delay on Saturday due to lightening, but that
only set the last rotation back an hour so everything continued as planned.
However, It made for a very muggy day. Sunday looked like it was going
to be another rainy day, but the weather changed and luckily the rain stayed
away.
The best reason to go to an
away shoot is to meet new people, and this trip was no different. We met
a wonderful couple who were serious turkey shooters. They explained the
Turkey Shooting event to us. You have to shoot sitting down, hold the
shotgun still enough to get your shot pellets within this tiny red circle some
40 yds away. AND, you better not flinch when you pull the trigger even
though you know you have maybe a 2 ounce shell in your gun.. Not easy!
Not easy at all!
All kidding aside, the buffet
on Saturday had a nice variety of foods and everyone piled their plates up
high with fish and salads. There was plenty for everyone. Yes, even I
ate. I found the one container with chicken strips! And, ummm
those hushpuppies were good.
[Cindy Barton] |
