Saturday morning I arrived at the range to find about a dozen men and women shooting a black powder competition. I strolled up and watched the shooting challenges and admired the guns. After chatting with a few of the members, I was invited to try some of the rifles and gladly accepted. After learning I was a "green" beginner to the sport I was encouraged to get my rifle and shoot with them. I did. And this weekend was one of the best shooting weekends I have had in a long time. Not because of my shooting skills....I was without a doubt the worst shooter on the line, but because of the tips I picked up, and the friends I made.
I have a new respect for this sport and admire the skill I saw there. And never once did I feel out of place. Everyone there was joking and encouraging no matter how badly I missed the shot. I will definatly attend more of these shoots in the future, and if any of you were present at this shoot in Camrose...again, my thanks for inviting me and helping me out.

Just had to share.

unlike many other of the shooting sports disciplines, Black Powder competitors do not seem to let "the shooting get in the way of the fun".

Every place has the occasional exception I am sure.

Thats for sure. I never had so much fun missing targets in my life. The comradeship was like nothing I ever experienced in any other shooting meets.

Did they have an egg shoot?

I used to travel to a number of shoots throughout Sask. They were all good week ends and I have made some 25 year old friendships from those days.

Yup. We shot eggs at 50yds, suckers on a rotating wheel at 25, poker chips at 25, toothpicks at 20, and golf balls at 60yds. There was also a tomahawk throw. I believe that was at 10 paces.

Our egg shoots were started close in then as each roun d was finished the range increased. We had a deal wre a shooter missing the egg had one opportunity to eat the egg and continue. Nothing like a raw egg that has been in the sun for a few hours. I got good enough that tossing back my head and swallowing the egg meant half would go down the neck and only half down my throat.