A proper game shooting school

Many of you will recall that last summer I was invited down to Pennsport Shooting School near Newbury to have my eyes opened, if you will excuse the pun, to the benefits of shooting with both eyes open, regardless of any eye-dominance issues that one may have. Back then I was pleasantly surprised by the difference that Nick Penn was able to make to my accuracy in just a couple of hours of coaching.

What I perhaps didn’t emphasise that much in my previous article was that Pennsport is a really lovely spot, set in wooded and leafy Berkshire countryside just a few minutes from the M4 - and a very well laid out shooting ground. 

So when our Glorious Leader announced that he intended for the whole GunsOnPegs team to decamp to the countryside for a day-long strategy meeting followed by an overnight stay and a morning’s ‘team building’ activity, I didn’t hesitate in recommending Pennsport as an ideal venue for the latter half. We have, believe it or not, a couple of team members who have never fired a shotgun, and one or two with itchy trigger fingers thanks to last season’s lack of shooting, so the prospect of a morning’s banging was immediately attractive.

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

Following a long and tough strategy session on the Monday at the excellent Crab and Boar - a pub in the Cirrus Inns group just a few miles from Pennsport - we then got perhaps a little too heavily stuck in on the drinks front in the evening. Consequently one or two of us, your correspondent included, were feeling slightly tender around the temples when we arrived at the shooting ground on Tuesday morning. I blame the “hedgerow gin” that the landlord gave us shortly before we retired for the night. In any case, it made the sausage sarnies and freshly brewed coffee that we were greeted with upon our arrival at Pennsport all the more welcome.

Team-building corporate clay shooting days

As I have intimated, we were a group of mixed abilities, from the novice, in the form of web developer Tom and designer Chris, through to the expert, in the form of our Chairman James Horne. Happily, the shooting ground, presided over by patriarch Nick Penn, ably assisted by his two sons Nick Jr and Charlie, has more than enough shooting to accommodate several groups, so we were accordingly divided into three groups - Novice, Expert, and Improver. 

The Novices - Chris and Tom - were sent off for a crash course in shooting with Nick Jr; the Experts were sent off to enjoy a few flushes, while the Improvers - me and Membership Manager Alex - went off with Nick Sr, myself for a refresher course, and Alex, a one-eye-shut-shot, to have his eyes opened.

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

Shooting with both eyes open

Having already experienced Nick Sr’s coaching technique I was interested to see how Alex would fare adjusting to shooting with both eyes open. Would Nick be able to repeat his success with my shooting with another guinea pig? After Nick explained the theory to Alex - his closely guarded five key points - he put a few clays over Alex’s head. Before long he was able to spot a couple of adjustments, instructing Alex to aim for the right hand edge of the clay to avoid missing to the left. Like magic, Alex started hitting the clays with far greater regularity. “Have a rest,” said Nick. “George, you’re up.”

Since attending Pennsport last summer I have been religiously sticking to Nick’s both-eyes-open formula, but what with COVID and twins, my opportunities to shoot have been few and far between, so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I took Alex’s place on the stand. Would I have forgotten some key aspect of the advice I had received on my last visit? Had some bad habit crept in? Well, dear reader, apparently not, as I broke the first 9 clays, something that would have been unimaginable to me 12 months ago. “Last one, see if you can make it a straight ten,” said Nick. 

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

One of the difficult aspects of Nick’s rejoinder to “forget about lead” is, well, forgetting about lead. When one starts thinking too much about breaking a particular clay, the brain tries to overrule the “little Irishman” in your head who Nick says calculates the line, speed and trajectory of a clay or pheasant, and suddenly you’re thinking about lead again. Predictably, I missed the tenth clay.

Having put Alex and I through our paces on some wider clays, and reminded us that when shooting birds to our left our natural biomechanics caused us to shoot in front, Nick declared himself satisfied. 

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

Alex also seemed thrilled with the results, commenting: “Not only did I see a world of difference in my shooting, but Nick explained exactly why I was missing beforehand and once I knew why, everything became effortless. You can forget the classic "you’re behind it" or "give it more lead" coaching. At Pennsport you can expect a 'scientific' coaching approach and a continual reminder to listen to the ‘little Irishman’ in your head. Without telling you all of Nick's secrets, I can tell you that I walked out a better shot than I walked in.”

A shooting school for game shots

We sauntered off in the direction of some banging and bumped into the Experts, who had warmed up their barrels on a partridge flush and were en route to have a go on the high tower. Charlie Penn appeared with a basket of soft-drinks and while we refreshed ourselves I was able to ask our Glorious Leader Chris Horne what he made of the setup. “It's great isn’t it? I can’t think quite how to describe it. It isn’t like most clay grounds - it is a proper game shooting school, not a clay ground,” he enthused, and with that, off he went to the high tower. 

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

Alex and I went to find out how the Novices were getting on. Nick Jr was applying his Dad’s tried and tested ‘both eyes open’ formula with success - both seemed to be breaking clays with apparent ease. It is always a tricky moment for an experienced game shot to see someone shooting for the first time and making it look easy. It must be testament to the efficacy of the Pennsport philosophy, and according to Chris the Designer, patience. 

Game shooting lessons for beginners

“The best way to describe Nick Jr's coaching style is ‘patient’,” he told me. “After seeing me continually missing, other coaches may have politely suggested another sport, but Nick always had a suggestion for what might be going wrong. Having been missing the clays in front, I was over the moon when Nick suggested that I “aim for the tail” and suddenly everything clicked, and I hit 9 from 10. A dramatic turn around from the start of the lesson!”

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

Tom was similarly full of praise, saying: “Nick Jr. was a fantastic coach. Professional, knowledgeable, and calm throughout, but also a great laugh at the same time. He covered all the basics, from stance to how to mount the gun correctly, as well as more technical tips, which were useful given my personal tendency to try and lead the shot too much. I really found his key teaching points - to shoot with both eyes open and trust your intuition - really helpful. He took me from never having held a gun to reliably hitting clays in under an hour.”

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

After watching Nick Sr make a few final tweaks to their technique, it was time for the Novices and Improvers to get some warm barrels with a simulated partridge flush. It is a feature of Pennsport that all of the stands can accommodate at least 4 guns, and each gun placement offers a wide variety of challenging targets - if you were there on your own you could shoot just one stand and vary the challenge just by switching position. I was placed on the far left, in a slightly dug-out position with a tree partially obscuring my view. I needed fast reactions as well as to remember all of Nick Sr’s tips, which stood me in decent stead. I may have overreached myself trying to take clays that by rights were for the chaps to my right. But what’s a team building day without a bit of poaching?

A bit of friendly competition

With the hangovers a dwindling memory we met up once more with the Experts in a leafy clearing for a refresher and a truly excellent sausage roll, before the real fun of the day began. The Novices were declared ready to join us shooting a competition over two flushes, one on the same partridge stand as before and one on the high towers.

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

Having divided into teams using the traditional school playground method, the poaching shooting could begin. After the first round - the partridge flush - the difference in scores was just four clays, but the high-tower was still to come. In fact, Pennsport boasts two high towers, one slightly higher than the other. Based on the clays we were under, I’m assuming that we were on the more vertiginous of the two. I think even the Experts found them challenging, but it is yet another testament to the Penn’s ability to get people breaking clays that even the Novices were able to dust a few of these properly high targets. 

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

Such was the adrenaline coursing through the team’s veins that none of us thought to ask who won the competition. I also have no idea how many cartridges we got through, but by the end my left arm felt distinctly heavy and the barrels of my AYA no.2 were too hot to touch without a glove. Even begloved it was, erm, touch and go - surely the sign of a great day out.

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

Pennsport is set up specifically to simulate the type of bird that you’ll encounter on the peg, from the starburst partridges of East Anglia to the towering high pheasants of Exmoor, Wales and Yorkshire, so even if you’re just looking to get some practice in ahead of the season ahead, there are few better places. Although we didn’t give them a go on the day, I understand that there are also three simulated grouse stands as well, so if you’re heading to the moors this August, you can get warmed up in preparation.

Photo credit: Tyron Mills Photography

However, the experience will be enhanced if you get a team of mates or colleagues together and throw a bit of lighthearted competition into the mix. For corporate events like ours, we’ve shown that you don’t have to be an experienced shot to have a great day out either. As Tom said of his experience: “it was a bit like a day paintballing with friends, a fun adrenaline fuelled activity that coincidentally involved guns, but was something that I would never have had on my radar before trying it.” 

And of course, if you’ve been shooting with one eye shut, Nick and Nick Jr will be only too happy to help you transition to the ‘both eyes open, no matter what’ method.

For more information on lessons or corporate days at Pennsport, visit www.pennsport.co.uk or call 07799 066347.