G.R.I.T.S.

Well, it is not a requirement, but having a tasty, post-shooting libation is a frequent ceremony in GRITS culture. Elizabeth brought Bird Dog bourbon to my tastebuds and I don’t know if I should thank her, happily trot down the yellow brick road to Betty Ford or make an effort to increase my tolerance to better metabolize the Bird Dog. (Wo) Man! That stuff is divine, especially the maple flavor. Mental note: buy stock in Bird Dog.

On another GRITS experience, Debbie Clay introduced me to her buttery nipples. Wait, she shared her buttery nipples. Wait, we toasted her buttery nipples. You get the point.Debbie’s buttery nipples ROCK.

Champagne is always a welcomed addition to any party. Since we like to whoop and toast each other’s greatness after a sweet day shooting, champers is perfect. Dom? Veuve? Tats? Moet? Which do you prefer? I tend to be a “buy by the case” kinda gal so I like researching value bubbles. No, I am not implying the instant headache kind. Sheesh, a GRIT has standards, ya know. I like Hillinger in the summer for a little dry, rose goodness and Willam every other day of the year.

What do you like to drink? Share with us. A recipe, a kind of bubbles, a trick or nifty hint, a hangover remedy? Do tell.

Now, fortheloveofgod…HYDRATE!!

And FYI, no we are not alcoholics, but love to celebrate the day for sure!

Where should I be looking?

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The three bullet drill that has changed many shooters view of what they are supposed to “see” when they shoot a moving object with a shotgun.  We recommend that shooters do this drill every day…vision is a brain thing and training the brain to “see” or interpret visually what you want it to do when shooting is critical.  In fact, many visual anomalies have been cleared up just by shooters doing this simple exercise.  Check out the video above and let me know what you think.

Vicki and Gil Ash

OSP Shooting School

 

Born and raised in the countryside near Charlottesville, Virginia, Brooke Martin Ireland is an outdoors woman, a mom to three boys and a former award winning athlete and collegiate coach.

A graduate of Virgina Tech, she was captain of the women’s lacrosse team and racked up numerous awards and occludes which include Outstanding Senior, The Coaches Award, the Unsung Hero as well as being on the All Academic Team and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

She has been the Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach at both William and Mary and Virginia Tech.  She even spent time in Crocodile Dundee territory as the Head Women’s Lacrosse coach for The State of Victoria in Australia.

She is a shooting student of mine and I dare say she can swing a shotgun as well as a lacrosse stick.

We feel having a fitness buff who is also a shooter is a perfect match as our get Ready…..PULL fitness “gun-ru” for the members of GRITSgoBang.org, don’t you?  She understands what it takes to use a shotgun and will focus not only on a strong upper body , but our core, stamina and overall fitness.

We are so excited to have Brooke come on board and look forward to her fitness tips and videos.

These of course, will be post in our membership area.

Before we can think about pre-shot routines, the “in-shot” routine and the ever important follow through, let’s talk about PMS.  We have all suffered from it at one time or another:  Poorly Mounted Shotguns!  (Get it, PMS?  LOL)

What is the remedy for this syndrome?  Practice mounting  your shotgun, A LOT.  You can do this at home, in front of a mirror or in any room of your house.  To use the mirror, focus on your dominate eye in the reflection.  Using both hands in unison, move the hand on the fore-end slightly forward toward the eye while the back hand is bringing the gun to the face, specifically the upper gum line, then to the shoulder last.

You can also perfect your gun mount using a flashlight or a special laser light in the barrel of the shotgun.  Practice mounting to a room corner where the ceiling meets the wall and, keeping your eye on the light, follow the the line from right to left or left to right, keeping your eye focused on the light and the light on the line.  Errors are “illuminated” and you will really see your gun mount slow down, smooth out and become more consistent.

With lots of practice, the result will be PMS we can live with – Perfectly Mounted Shotguns. 😉

There is more to great shooting and shooting fun than simply reading shotgun tips and tactics here and there and we want to share it all with you as G.R.I.T.S. members.

It is my belief that as women, we need to nurture each other in health and wellness through many venues, not just out on the shooting course.   We feel health and wellness tips and tactics for our fitness and well being are a natural and perfect balance when coupled with Marsha Petrie Sue’s Motivational Moments.  The G.R.I.T.S. are adding more than just shooting tips to our line up here!

We had a great gal onboard to do this but she had a family obligation come up so we have another fitness friend who will share great stuff with us!  Get some shell boxes and start doing some curls!  Get out your guns and practice your gun mounts and keep that upper body strength in the winter months…..maybe I should be the fitness guru??!!  NOT……

 

So for the past 3 months, my fabulous web guy John Glynn (owner of Leadmine Pond Web Design) and I have worked ourselves to death getting this GRITSgoBang site up and running.  Behind the simplistic front is a web site control room that rivals NASA I think….or at least in my non-technological brian.  So I owe John a world of thanks for his patience, support and ability to navigate and take care of this site.  It takes me an hour just to figure out where to even begin to write this blog, but I did!!  There is hope!  Yeah, whoop, whoop for me!!

So all day today I have spent coordinating women’s planning for a few trips coming up, picking up and shipping G.R.I.T.S. gun club signage and also getting the last item for our member “goodie bags”, which of course, came in wrong.  Lapel pins with the wrong backing.  Now I have debated just sending the wrong ones but I have decided to wait another week and send you the ones I want you to have.  Yes, I am picky.

So to show you can expect in your member gift bag, and so you can identify a G.R.I.T.S. approved vendor or Gun Club, here is what you will find:

 

 

I am off to bed now.  Can’t wait for this upcoming year!

“You shoot”…. “No, no, you shoot first”….. Or we say “ Quick, shoot fast, there is a group coming up behind us!”

OMG. A lot of us know that feeling of failure because someone is watching us shoot a station.

Why are we sometimes afraid of missing targets in front of others?  Well, it is certainly not because they are putting pressure on us by watching.  Most folks are there for the enjoyment of shooting as well, many times with the same anxieties of missing, and worse, missing in front of others,  that we have.

I think it is because we are afraid of not being able to preform to a level of “perceived” expectations, and those are always self imposed.  Everyone misses targets, from rank beginners, to world class shooters.  Your focus needs to be on what is happening in front of you when you are in the shooting box and not worry about what in going on in the background until you step out of the box.  More on that next time.  Always, always remember, you do this for fun first and foremost!

December has been an insane month for me and all the excitement of the GRITS web site has us hopping in every direction. We had several trips to follow through on and now, as we move forward, the GRITS organization has some very exciting growth opportunities ahead. We have several women who are about to launch chapters in states such as Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and as far north as New York. Forming Chapters is hard work but so rewarding and as you watch women become involved in this sport, it fuels your fire. I have witnessed so many women come into their own learning not only learning to shoot, but becoming active shooters and seen them fall in love completely with this sport.

Though competition is good, the GRITS organization is focused on the fun side of the sport. Recreational shooting for fellowship and fun. We say Shootin’ & Hootin’, which we are copywriting it works so well for the GRITS.

Thank you for your support and we are about to come alive here on the GRITS go Bang site. The more folks who join us, the more discounts we will be able to provide to members. GRITS merchandise will be available to all but a significant discount to GRITS members. We will also have member only items.

We will be sending emails with updates and Chapter info as it happens so please be sure to sign up to receive emails if you are not already a member of the GRITS (if you are a member of the GRITS, you will automatically receive the emails). Again, there is a membership section and a separate email only area for those who are not paid members but would like to receive email updates.

We wish all GRITS and their families a very Happy New Year!

 

 

December has been an insane month for me and all the excitement of the GRITS web site has us hoping in every direction.  We had several trips to follow through on and now, as we move forward, the GRITS organization has some very exciting growth opportunities ahead.  We have several women who are about to launch chapters in states such as Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and as far north as New York.  Forming Chapters is hard work but so rewarding and as you watch women become involved in this sport, it fuels your fire. I have witnessed so many women come into their own learning to shoot and becoming active shooters and seen them fall in love completely with this sport.  Though competition is good, the GRITS organization is focused on the fun side of the sport.  Recreational shooting for fellowship and fun.  We say Shootin’ & Hootin’, which we are copywriting it works so well for the GRITS.

Thank you for your support and we are about to come alive here on the GRITS go Bang site.  The more folks who join us, the more discounts we will be able to provide to members.  GRITS merchandise will be available to all but a significant discount to GRITS members.  We will also have member only items.

We will be sending emails with updates and Chapter info as it happens so please be sure to sign up to receive emails if you are not already a member of the GRITS (if you are a member of the GRITS, you will automatically receive the emails). Again, there is a membership section and a separate email only area for those who are not paid members but would like to receive email updates.

We wish all GRITS and their families a wonderful holiday season!

 

What is the best way to practice some shooting skills at home?  I am sure many of you have been told or have heard that practicing your mounting at home is a great thing to do.  GUN mounting that is……I know, sorry, I promise not to digress……. Anyhow, with an unloaded gun. Practice mounting your gun to your own eye in the mirror.  There are many tips about how to do this on the web, no need to go over it again here.  Just remember though, it really does help and builds consistency in your gun mount and muscle memory as well.

 

Sounds crazy, but I have been known to keep an unloaded shotgun in the corner of my bathroom to just pick up and practice my gun mounts in the morning before my day gets started and again in the evening, especially right before a shooting event or wing shooting trip.  Believe me, it helps a lot!