So I was out in my yard today, getting in some practice. My yard is really, despite what I may have said to the contrary in the past, a good place to sling. The side yard from front to back would be at least 30 metres, but the thing that makes it great is the variety. On no two days will I be faced with the same obstacles work around. I have set my target at relatively close range as I'm relatively new at this slinging stuff.
My target is fairly simple. I get a tea towel and wrap it around the apex of the kids swing frame and peg it at the back. This gives me a truncated triangular target about the size of a mans neck and top of shoulders, providing he's not too broad. At first I was going for the top 'hole' of the A. However I was finding it diffiult to tell weather I was putting the ball through this area or not, thus a nice red Tea towel.
I still shoot off to the left a bit, but I'm working on correcting that, and my wife helps too. Today I had to shoot over her car parked right in my shooting lane. It was a help too, as I managed to hit the target many times from about 8 metres, and only hit her car twice. Thankfully when she wasn't there to see. She never saw the first shot that I made either...No one ever sees when you make a perfect first shot! And she was there then, so I suppose you take the good with the bad.
The kids help to focus my eye as well, especially when they decide they want their swing set back and I'm not ready to give up for the day. They've discovered that the netting around the trampoline is not only good for preventing them falling off! It's great to cower behind as well!
My dog is a bonus. I can lay out five tennis balls and shoot the same one over and over again, without ever having to reach for a fresh one. Today, however, may have changed that, for keen as he is to help, he lit out before the shot to get a head start. And a head start is what he got! If I was hunting Jack Russell with a rock I would have come home a real man. A more perfect kill shot couldn't have been made if I tried...I missed my target by some few feet to the left and low... and sent my poor dog into a somersault with a tennis ball to the back of the head.
I'm not sure he's forgiven me yet...We'll see if he's still a keen collector tomorrow.