Beer and Guns Don’t Mix
So about 15 years ago we went on vacation to a hotel/resort in the Berkshires with a few other families we knew. I think this was the second time we had been.
Mostly it was about sitting around the pool, but there were different activities, especially for the kids. Including clay pigeon shooting, a lot of fun with shotguns.
I checked in with the instructor before getting my oldest too excited. Told the instructor my kid was very responsible, at 13 was he above the minimum? Instructor looked at me closely, and told me that was the minimum. (Subtext: make sure he stays responsible).
My kid of course was very happy, he gets to go shooting with his dad!
When we get to the traps one of the other guests is already there, sitting on a case of beers already drinking inviting us to join him. It just came out of my mouth: “Beer and guns don’t mix!” The instructor and I exchanged glances – he couldn’t say that to a paying guest like that, but I think that he appreciated that I could, and in fact this yahoo did not continue drinking with the guns.
We lined up for our turns. Five shots, then the next person, instructor does the loading and calls the shots. Before me everyone is getting two or three hits out of five. I’m not sure how well I will do, I don’t remember ever shooting moving targets with a shotgun before. But it turns out that the experience I had as a teenager with rifles applies just fine. When I get to five the instructor just keeps feeding me reloads, until he calls that I have reached 20 hits out of 20.
So next up is my son. I decide to try to help him, so I give him the little speech about letting the target settle, and then (since there are no sights) just imagine a blue flame coming out of the barrel toward the target and let the trigger release itself.
“Pull!” Five times the instructor calls, and my kid shoots. Five hits out of five shots. Better than anyone but me, and much better than the yahoos who are clearly just waiting to start drinking.
Definitely a father son bonding experience.
