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I met Jack Burch in Austin during one of the Texas
Challenge Series shoots. I shared with him my desire to get out to
his Kerrville sporting clays range, Hill Country Shooting Sports, to
shoot the sporting course. I mentioned that I was really looking forward to
trying my hand at Bunker Trap too. Jack, the gentleman that he is,
invited Cindy and myself to call anytime we were out that way.
Houston to Kerrville is about five hours, not around
the corner for us. However, shooting the World English put us just
about one hour from his club.
Finishing the Browning course on Saturday at 3PM, we
left for Kerrville. Jack met us at the range and to our delight, was
willing
to open the Bunker Trap just for us.
Cindy and I had never shot Bunker Trap.
Actually we had never seen Bunker Trap or knew anything other than it
was fast and some of the top Texas shooters practiced Bunker at
Hill Country's range.
Bunker Trap, for me, was shrouded in as much mystery as Bigfoot of the
Northwest. And, as far as I knew, there were probably as few
Bunker
Trap ranges in the country as Sasquaches!
Jack started to explain the rules: 2 shot singles
from one of possibly 3 traps that service each position. Reaction,
commitment to the shot, don't think about what you are doing, just do
it. Sage advise from one who knows what's coming. Did this
intimidate me? Not on your life! Just the opposite; this
could be my game. From one who has purchased numerous, now
worthless, "dot com" stock and had two previous failed marriages, I knew
exactly what he meant by reacting without thinking. I could be a
natural.
First, a look at the "guts" of the system with a quick tour below.
As we descended into the bunker for a close-up look at the traps, Cindy
commented on the fact that it was cool inside the bunker while it was a
hot 90 degrees outside. Sitting atop a cement block wall were a
parallel set of traps. Each trap was sitting at a precise angle,
as each had its own field of fire across the canyon upon which the
bunker was built. |
Hill Country
Shooting Sports
PO Box 268
Kerrville, 78029
email
website
830/866-3772
Left Loop 534
1.5 mi Left on FM
1341
3.5 mi range gate
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If traps can be characterized as good or bad, these
were bad, very BAAAAD. No pretty boy traps. These were EYEtalian.
Not to be confused with your sleek, red Matarelli's with streamlined
carousels. No, these were born many years ago. I was thinking,
these could be called Robo Traps, the Arnold Schwarzenegger of traps.
Hell, these could have been the Mafia's interpretation of a clay target
throwing machine. Yeah, I know... we were told these traps were
bought via California... ha, maybe Alcatraz! Jack turned
on a compressor and as he turned to each machine, compressed air bleed into
the line that operated the machine. It was as if 15 locomotives
were building up a head of steam. You could see that the sole purpose of
the large motor on the trap was to retract a large chain which cocked the
catapult arm. Everything about this operation was building up a feeling
of anticipation. The cool bunker, the compressed air hissing in the
traps, the big chain, .... Finally we returned to the
outside world and sunshine. Jack was programming the voice release
mechanism as Cindy and I prepared for the shooting to begin.
Pull! Or, should I say, "Puh". Talk about voice activated.
The target released on the first breath out of my mouth. Now I know when
they talk about quick, they mean quick start AND quick speed.
My first target was a hard right to left crosser going
at 60 plus mph. The idea of a second shot must have been thought up
by the ammo manufacturers as a way to sell more ammo. Most shooters
wouldn't realistically have a prayer at hitting the target as it would be
in the next zip code by the time the 2nd shot went off.
All kidding aside, we shot a couple rounds breaking around 19 or 20 birds out
of the 25. I loved it. Sure the targets were fast, but it was fun.
Do yourself a favor. If you're out Kerrville's way, stop by Hill Country.
Shoot the course and the Bunker Trap if it's open. You'll have a great
time. And, to Jack we say, "grazie". |
