I thought about how or if to write this for 24 hours. I consider it therapy for my wife and I and a warning to newer competition shooters.

So we were shooting a large match at a great venue with great match staff. While shooting turkeys, my wife had to get control of her breathing. She raised the rifle after the fire command, sighted for a time then took the rifle down to get her breath. Before sighting back in on the first turkey she worked the lever a bit to see that a round was in the chamber. She then put the rifle up and fired on the five critters hitting more than most. This same occurrence happened at different times over the match. She was having a touch of asthma so breath control was an issue for the day. Usually when cycling the lever she leans a bit forward and to the left so the spent casing is ejected forward of the rail and away from the shooter to the right. This point is pivotal to the story.

So a few lesser ability shooters are watching this from about 20 yards away. Saw my wife aim at the first turkey, then take the rifle down and work the slide and look in the chamber. The she shouldered the rifle and shot at the turkeys. They also observed this on the rams. Then this small squad of lesser ability shooters go the MD and report extra shots fired and or hit out of sequence. The MD goes to my wife and reports the incident and says he is in the process of adjusting her scores for the infraction. I get wind of all this and ask the MD what is happening and he explains.

At this point my wife's shot at a good score is decreased by a not so great performance (me neither by the way) and the fact that these fools are accusing her of cheating. Of note we were not told they said she added rounds after a miss to the magazine so if extra shots were fired they must have been added to the magazine at the ready command. This would indicate a clear attempt to circumvent the rules.

My wife was clear that she did not want to start a fracas so we did not go to far with our objection to the foolishness. We did not file a complaint or protest the plea bargain offered by the MD. Part of this decision was based on our lukewarm performance outside of the foolishness. Also of note was the MD handled this as best he could with the reports he received. The vote was going to be three locals to two outsiders regardless of the circumstantial and hearsay evidence.

Before going to the match I bought her a nice wooded ammo box that held 50 rounds only with no space for extra rounds. After her second animal this box was checked by match officials and there were 20 rounds left in the box. not 19 or 18 but 20. That would be what is left of a 50 round box after 10 rounds of pigs, 10 rounds turkeys and 10 rounds of rams. We were first contacted of this incident after the rams.

So after it was all done she lost a bank each of turkeys and rams, shed a few tears, flipped one of the offending fools a finger and left for a 8 hour ride home.

That is that. My therapy session is over. New shooters should become aware of the protest and appeals procedure. Make sure you have a spotter. Instruct the spotter to yell out loud that no shot was fired if the shooter checks the chamber. And be careful of foolish shooters exhibiting lesser ability.
Thornton White

Apparently there was no one on each side of her to observe and or defend. 20 yards is a long way away. Was there a JURY involved? Range officer observing? Sorry to hear of your unfortunate experience.

If this was a club match, that is some complete azzhatery. That is how you sour people. If this was a state or national match I would have fought the hell out of that protest.

You can bring the rifle up and down all you want and breaking a action open to check if it chambered a round it not against any rules.

What you may have is small appendaged men who don't like shooting against women. It happens...

tee,
Not sure about the jury as we did not protest. Also not sure who was involved in the original complaint or were everyone was standing. I saw the one fool and at least one of his friends sitting in his spot some twenty yards away watching the wife shoot subsequent banks intently. That was the only way I could figure out who started the trouble. No names were offered.
ced,
No need to name the match or venue as I put the blame squarely on the fools. I do not think the match staff could have ruled differently based on the story told by the fools. Some of the other shooters who know us suggested the same motive.
T

If the match is big enough to drive 8 hours one way we do our best not to shoot without a spotter. Your wife was probably going to win an award so competitors she was going to beat used "protest" tactics to beat her instead of shooting better than she shot. You should have stayed there and protested that to the hilt because she did not violate any rules. Silhouette teaches a lot about your inner being and what a few other competitors are really like. This unfair incident should do nothing but motivate you and your wife to keep practicing and shooting matches to the best of your ability. Do not quit. Be strong. Have determination. Learn the rules backwards and forwards so you will know how to present your case before the jury. Go back next time and beat the whiners.

I would immediately mail a formal letter to Greg Connor explaining the situation and ask for a ruling and reversal on the score and match results.

atom,
You are correct. And please understand we do not intend to quit shooting. We even plan on returning to this venue. She already took 1st Master and High Lady at a similar attended match in the same area earlier this year. We did not run in my opinion. We finished the match said goodbye to folks and left soon after match was over. No need to send letter as we did not protest at the match. Rather we folded a probable losing hand and will play next game. We do plan to sort out the spotter issue for future events.
T

Don't all protests have to be submitted in written form by the person who is protesting. what happen to the ranger officer, he is the one to make the first decision to take it further up the chain.

Really sad to hear about this! It's a terrible way to encourage folks to make the drive from another town.

It’s a shame this happened. Have only had a few similar experiences in a lot of years of shooting silhouette, remember each vividly though. Still raise my blood pressure so I won’t detail them. Here is my take.

When you are in contention for match or class wins shooters with less ability watch every move. And some will resort to bad conduct. Best defense is squeaky clean equipment and following rules, nothing questionable totally ignore comments off looks etc. Ignore is the way to go.

Silhouette being informal compared to other disciplines is not always run to the rule. Local matches may have significant variance in how they handle protest, set targets, score etc. Outsiders can have difficulty first time. Most matches this is not a problem and newcomers are welcome, not all.

Real advantage in Silhouette rules is use of a spotter. Not only to spot your shots but make sure you are on the right critter, at the firing line at the right time, score, count cartridges everything. Shooter should only think about shooting nothing else. My long time spotter will see things not right and say “ I have this one” letting me focus totally on the shot. I do the same for him. My guy would have been all over your issue, no need for me to have said a word.

Last and one we should all remember. Formal protest, not offside comments, Match Director picks a jury of shooters and the issue is decided. If the match is not run that way. Stay away from it.

First thought, go public with the match and match directors name. 2nd thought chalk it up to experience. But it's your call.

Boats

Thanks Boats. It was an experience for us. Before the match some of the shooters were talking about all the cheating scandals from that area. Its funny that it happened to the wife and not me. I am much more full of crap so you would think I could be a target. She is fairly new to high end matches and all the foolishness that goes along with. I think this wised us both up and we will be able to have a little more fun should this type of foolishness happen again. Funny thing was one of the guys we assume was in the trio of fools shot out of order on the next animal. We did not check his score to see if it was recorded as he hit so few animals it could not have mattered much in the overall standings. He also was a guy who the previous day had a squib stuck in his barrel and guess who helped him remove it? I should have hammered the barrel closed rather than remove his crappy reloaded slug. Again we cant be sure because fools like this do not make their intentions obvious to the victims but according to other folks he was in the trio.
Good stuff.
T

T, I am relatively sure of the match and I am guessing there were few of the "regulars" there, myself being one who missed it, for it to have gone down this way. It takes a LITTLE person to start crap like this without getting their facts straight. I hope this does not stop you guys from returning in the future. I sent you a PM

teal,
Please know a few fools will not stop us from going anywhere and winning for long. Thanks for your support and hope to see you soon.
T

The good news is way less of this sort of thing in silhouette than other shooting sports . So much less we don't have a lot of chance to learn to handle "gamesmanship "

Boats

Boats,
I chose the word foolishness rather than gamesmanship. There is a certain macho appeal to try and "game" your fellow shooters. An example in my mind of gamesmanship was when in a three way shoot off with the two other shooters using the same rifle, I tried to shoot fast hoping that making them swap the rifle back and forth would give me an edge. I found out I cant shoot as fast and accurate as I thought and they were left to shoot it out while I watched. This that happened to the wife was pure foolishness. They found a way to convince folks of something that probably could not be rebuffed after the fact. I even maybe believe they thought they saw something that was a bit goofy. Then they huddled like thieves and went inside a building to discuss it with folks who were not there to see it first hand. That is not to my mind gamesmanship rather it is itself cheating and lying.
So it is now 48 hours since we left the venue. I have had my say and my therapy is complete. The bad guys have been called fools over and over with not a word for their defense. We appreciate all the replies, PM's and emails of support. Now we go to our local club this Saturday and she will shoot another 38 or 39, I will shoot a 35 or 36. We will leave and drink a milkshake on the way home and talk about how we will kick ass next time.
Thanks all.
T

teetertotter wrote:Apparently there was no one on each side of her to observe and or defend. 20 yards is a long way away. Was there a JURY involved? Range officer observing? Sorry to hear of your unfortunate experience.

We would love to have you come to Wisconsin and experience our beautiful dedicated SB Silhouette Range and enjoy some great company! Our Tournaments are the 3rd Saturday of the month, through Sept.