Well, my 10 year old finally decided she wanted to try some trap shooting. While she has always enjoyed target shooting with her little .22, she has been very reluctant to do much with a shotgun. I think the biggest reason has been my only youth shotgun is the single shot break open my Dad got me back when I was a kid, and it kicks like a mule. So, yesterday I picked her up a basically brand new Remington youth 870 Express Magnum from a co-worker that got it for his kid that never used it. It is a beautiful shotgun for what it is and could have easily been passed for never fired. We took it out on it's maiden voyage today, and well, she took to it like a fish to water. For today being her first time ever shooting at a moving target, she did incredibly well. I had her shoot in sets of 4 targets. Her very first set she went 2 for 4, and there were many sets that she went 4 for 4 hitting blue rocks from our cheapie little tire mounted spring powered thrower. Her excitement was awesome, and I know I'm biased, but I'm amazed at how well she did right out of the gate. We are signing her up for leagues in Nebraska City. From what I understand, kids have to be in 6th grade to shoot in competitions, but she can shoot with the team at all the practices. It will be good because next year when she is old enough, she will have some experience shooting in front of others which should help with the nerves. Her only downfall is that she inherited my insane competitive spirit, so she really takes it hard when she misses. We have to work really hard at getting her over that as there will be many kids she will shoot with that have been doing it alot longer than her.
