Happy days on the clays
With summer finally here, now is the time to look at the virtues of shooting clays to keep your eye in and satisfy a need.
Fine shooting wins the day at Best In The Field
Displays of outstanding shooting took centre stage at this year’s Best In The Field Clay Shoot at Sporting Targets over the weekend.
A near perfect score saw Dave Ferriman take the High Gun title at the 2024 Best In The Field Clay Shoot this weekend, 13-14 July. Sponsored by Manor & Co, Dave shot 99/100 around the course set by former FITASC world champion Ed Solomons.
With targets set to replicate live quarry shooting, the course made the most of Sporting Targets‘ topography, including shooting from a pigeon hide, kneeling in a creek, and, new for this year, driven fox.
Dave was full of praise for the event, saying: “I enjoyed the variety, it was good fun. We went round as a team and there was a range of targets [to shoot at]. Get a team of your friends together for next year.”
The women’s competition, sponsored by Edwards Eyewear, saw back-to-back Best In The Field wins for Becky Clifton (pictured above), who matched her 2023 winning score of 88/100 this time around.
Chelsea is king in team competition
The team competition went to team Equipe de Robbie, who shot a combined score of 371/400 to take home their prizes courtesy of BASC and Tanners Wines.
Winning team member Chelsea King said: “The targets were really good, with a mixture of easy and tougher ones towards the end. It was really great to try the more challenging stands, like the standing and kneeling which replicates being out in the field. Give it a go next year and definitely book in, it’s so much fun and realistic to game shooting.”
Co-member of the Equipe de Robbie team, Scott Shuckford, added: “It’s very different to other clay shoots. It’s realistic to what you would be doing out in the field when you’re shooting geese or pigeons sitting in a hide. If you like shooting clays in a game scenario this is as close as you can get.”
Triumph for Dickens
A superb score of 90/100 rewarded Harry Dickens with a win in the young shots category, which was kindly supported by Tyson Cooper.
Harry said: “I enjoyed the variety; you’re not just standing – you’re sitting and kneeling. There was a slightly harder set of targets this year, with some bigger stuff out there. I’d recommend for anyone to come with a group of friends and enjoy it next year.”
Completing this year’s set of winners were Dominic Green, who came in top of the gamekeeper category, kindly supported by Promatic, and Rob and Sam Reynolds, who took home the award for best parent and child, sponsored by Quiller Publishing and Sporting Targets.
Speaking after the event, Ed Solomons said: “The second BASC Best in Field Clay Shoot at Sporting Targets was a great success.
It’s grown substantially from the first year’s entries and we were again fortunate with the weather. Everyone seemed to have a fantastic time thanks to the team at BASC and Sporting Targets themselves.”
“This was a great opportunity for shooters to engage with BASC about what they do, meet some likeminded people in a fun setting and allow us to introduce a cross-section of shooters to a light-hearted competition setting who may not otherwise be exposed to competitive clay shooting. I’m already looking forward to next year.”
Terry Behan, BASC regional director for the east of England said: “Huge thanks to Sporting Targets for having us this weekend, to our sponsors for their ongoing support and to Ed Solomons for his expertise and time in setting another challenging but superbly enjoyable course for this year’s competitors.
“It’s great to see the event being so well-attended and thoroughly enjoyed. We’ve witnessed some outstanding shooting across the weekend, and events like this give us the chance to interact with BASC members and answer their questions in a fun, competitive setting.”
Final scores
The final scores were:
High Gun (sponsored by Manor & Co)- 99/100 won by Dave Ferriman
Women-only (sponsored by Edwards Eyewear)- 88/100 won by Becky Clifton
Young shots (sponsored by Tyson Cooper)- 90/100 won by Harry Dickens
Gamekeeper (sponsored by Promatic)- 89/100 won by Dominic Green
Parent and child (sponsored by Quiller Publishing and Sporting Targets)- 165/200 won by Rob and Sam Reynolds
Team (sponsored by BASC and Tanners Wines)- 371/400 won by team Equipe De Robbie
New Best In The Field event in Yorkshire
New for this year is the Best In The Field Northern Clay Shoot, set to be held at Coniston Shooting Ground near Skipton on 10 August 2024. Find more details and information on how to book here.
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