birdie | Teen Ink

birdie

January 3, 2010
By dj5635 BRONZE, Liberty Township, Ohio
dj5635 BRONZE, Liberty Township, Ohio
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

It started out as a normal campout we got all our gear out of the trailer, set up our tents, got out all our food and put it under the shelter. Which I loved because we didn’t have to put up the dining flies which take forever to put up. I was kind of bummed out that this was my second safe-shooting campout and I have to shoot rifle again because I wasn’t 14 yet, and someone said that was the requirement. That same day which was Friday, we went down to the shooters lounge where some representatives gave us a demonstration on the rifle and shotgun and gave us a lecture on safety rules and procedures. In the morning we went back to the shelter to divide us up and when they said shotgun people to follow them I asked our scout master Mr. Allen if I could and then I asked the instructor and they said yes as long as I had earned the rifle merit badge and was close to 100 pounds. Since Kyle and I qualified for this so we went to the range and I was kind of nervous. I was second to last in line in front of Kyle and I saw the older scouts fire there guns, and I saw the gun fly up at a 45 degree angle every time and they were lucky to hit it 1 out of 5 times. When it got to be my turn, he looked at me for a second and chose a gun with an appropriate barrel length and handed it to me. He said,” Alright, when I put a shell in the gun you just close the action by pushing the fore grip up and aim and say “pull” then fire at the target. When after you fire, push the fore grip up a little then pull it down and I will load another shell. Got It?” At this point I was pretty scared about how much this gun would kick back. He loaded a shell into the gun and I did as I was told and steadied the gun and put the gun on the soft spot in my shoulder. I was so scared I thought I would miss by a mile. I bravely said “pull” and saw the birdie fly up. I aimed the black ball on the end of the barrel over the birdie and pulled the trigger the kick wasn’t so bad because I had a winter coat on but I could still feel it. The birdie didn’t seem to have any damage but a closer look by the instructors revealed that a piece was flying off the birdie and the rest smashed as it hit the ground. I was so excited. He put in another shell and I took aim said” pull”. The birdie flew up and i pulled the trigger. The birdie exploded into a million pieces and I was so excited, I reloaded and pulled the trigger again and watched another one exploded into the sky. After the fourth one I got a bit too excited and I missed the fifth one and I decided to take a break. After a fired for a long time taking turns with my friends I qualified for the merit badge took one last shot and let my friends shoot. Kyle only hit two birdies and unfortunately didn’t qualify for the merit badge. The kick was too much for him. The guys said I was the best shotgun shooter in the troop next to Tucker an older scout in my troop. I honestly think I got it from shooting bb guns with my dad and air soft with my friends. That day was the best and I can’t wait to do it again with the scouts this November.


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