Hello: Over the past 46 years, I have seen some questionable things done before and during tournament shoot offs. Some shooters would say it's a form of cheating, some call it gamesmanship? I personally knew an all American who was in a shoot off at the Grand in Ohio who would let his opponent wait for him to come to the line and just before he thought he would forfeit and win, he showed up to shoot. When his name was called for the shoot off he would buy a soda and drink it and wait just before it was time to forfeit the shoot off and magically show up. He told me nothing better than to mess with the guy's head a bit. Another all American after the first shoot off round if still tied would tell his opponent "that he has never seen anyone break targets faster than him". He felt it did one of two things, either the guy or gal would say to themselves "if you think that's fast watch this, or they would say I normally don't shoot that fast as I better slow down. Either way, he felt his statement could possibly mess up his opponents timing. Another time, I saw a shooter drop to one knee during a shoot off in the heat and his opponent a fairly knew shooter came over as he thought he was very sick and magically got better and win after shaking up and destroying his opponents timing. What do you think, is this plain cheating or gamesmanship as most sports pull things some what like this to mess up their opponent? What do you think? Steve Balistreri Wauwatosa Wisconsin
Another difference between a winner and a loser is a winner doesn't continually gloat about their accomplishments and how much harder it was when they did it.
One time there were two guys in a shoot off and they were tied after the first round. Suddenly one of the shooters fired a round into the ground in front of him and literally shook up his opponent to the point that he missed the next two targets. I have seen this same guy do this another time when shooting off against a tough competitor and he acts like it's an accident or his trigger was having problems. To me, this is not only dangerous but as low as they come. When he was questioned about it he said he will have his trigger checked. It is very difficult to prove a lot this stuff. Steve
I feel it was poor sportsmanship, I saw a young shooter who was tied for a championship, have him told by his mentor wait and have them call you for the shootoff 3 times before you shootoff to screw up your opponent. He no longer shoots he was Garth Henley and was told this by Bob Colegrove whom is now deceased. Gary Bryant....................Dr.longshot
I once observed a three lady shoot-off at the Cardinal. One of the two top lady's involved let one go with the gun at her side. She too acted surprised it went off! Thing is, the gun hardly recoiled to the rear and she didn't even come close to dropping it she had such a grip on it! It worked it's magic though, the lady next to her did drop her next target taking her out of the running. HAP
So, if you can't beat them breaking targets (which is what the game is all about) beat them with mind games which is actually a lot of what the game is all about also ... I have talked myself out of a lot more targets than any of the competition has ever talked me out of, that you can be sure of ... WPT ... (YAC) ...
What is interesting to me is that some people who participate is sports feel this is part of the game??? I personally don't feel this way, but like I have always said that shooting or participating for money in sports that it sometimes makes people act differently than they would normally act. Steve
At the Virginia state shoot, the lady I was shooting off with , coughed Every time I put my gun up to call for a target, when we changed posts My husband walked out and offered her a cough drop or some water. She Declined both, and that was the end of the coughing!! Greta c
User 1: In 46 years, I have been in 3 or 4 shoot offs and only won one of them. I have been beaten by children, old men, and even a one armed shooter at the old Milwaukee gun club as he held up his gun with his remaining stump of his arm. About the only person I have not lost to is a shooter in an iron lung and I stopped shooting tournaments before that actually could have happened to me. Steve
I didn't mean to really intimidate another shoot off contestant many years ago, but when I walked back out to the field for the shoot off against another Perfect scoring shooter, I took out a flat of ammo. The other person looked at the ammo, looked at me and said: "What is the idea of bringing all of those?" I shrugged my shoulders and my instant reply off the cuff was: "Well, they told me I have to keep shooting until I beat you !" I did this with a laugh because I was joking with my friend. OMG....This person was A top rated shooter at the time.... First round Me 25...Other Person 23.........HUH ????? All I heard from my friend was: "Why the hell did you have to show up with all of those shells ?" And this was a "Lady" shooter who could trim me any day of the week She was a good friend, and in no way did I attempt to throw her off... She NEVER forgave me for that day.
Brad's friend: I once saw a guy in a 50 bird winter event shoot off, back up his car and him and his boy unloaded around 6 full cases of shells for the shoot off and this was just a 50 bird winter event? The guy who he was shooting against got very quiet and turned practically white in his face. They both broke 50 straight in the program and the guy who brought the shells broke a 25, and the other guy a 19 in the shoot off? Steve
I have been on the receiving end of several mind games and have also gotten into the minds of several people trying them on me. I believe the games only work on the weak minded and insecure competitors. I never have worked on anyone who wasn't trying to play me. One of my better stories is an open doubles title at a state shoot. I was on a late handicap squad and had to hurry to get ready. When I got to the trap my opponent was waiting and as the targets were being set he began to tell me about having taken three clinics to learn doubles and about his super expensive doubles gun with special barrel work. (I shoot a 1969 Browing my dad bought new for me). I had to lead off and when I asked to see a pair the targets were absolutely perfect. I looked to my right and asked if he thought they were ok. He said yes, kind of puzzled, and I asked for another pair and told him I guess we could shoot them if he thought they were good. He missed his first target, the only one either of us dropped. It took him a while to figure what happened, but the state delegate who knew me looked at me and said he could believe how wound up I had gotten the guy. My fondest memories are of shoot offs I did not attend. Several times I have been tied with young inexperienced shooters and some older ones too, that I would rather see have whatever the prize is than me. I've heard others say that kids are given too much, etc. but if they tied me they did as well as me they are deserving. I usually say I 've had something to drink and can't shoot (which is a lie, because I don't drink), but I feel good about it and the other shooter doesn't think they were given anything they didn't earn, which they really were not.
mah66Member Joined: Jan 17, 2015 Messages: New "If one enters battle expecting a fair fight, he should expect also to be beaten." - Sun Tzu- The Art of War So some Machiavellian tactics might be in order, hmm. I was once in a shoot off with a really good shooter and friend from Delaware in a doubles event at he Maryland State shoot. He once told me how he hated people video taping him shooting. Well being a true friend of him, I rounded up a bunch of my friends who had some cameras. Back then they were called cam corders and were large bulky things. It looked as if a Hollywood production team were about to film a movie. I really don't remember if I ever told him about this. One time I really got burned in a shoot off, and it was the most expensive shoot off I ever shot for. It was a live bird shoot in Pa. This was a time in my life when I was just a tad bit cocky. And I learned about the term"Home Towned". I had tied for high gun. The individual I tied with also just recently won the Worlds Flyer shoot in Spain. I did not know that this was his home club. When asked if I would like to split the money, which was a large amount, I selflessly refused and said were shooting off for it. It went on for a time and we were matching kills. Then I killed a bird but it fell outside the ring. If he hit the next bird, it was all over. The rules state that the bird has to be in the air when shot. These traps toss the bird out. When he called for his bird, the bird came out,but never flapped a wing, how could it, it was dead. All he had to do was to fire his gun. Later that day at the clubs bar, sitting there felling like an idiot, a local member came over to me and told me that it was his home club, and they don't like a stranger coming up here and not splitting the money. Lesson learned. Needless to say I never shot there again.
