Cheats

[Baltipal]

I shot Basingstoke last year (second HFT shoot, a nightmare) and saw someone watch their partner take aim at the wrong target, take the shot and drop the target, then instantly say; "that's a zero, I'm afraid". I figured that was pretty unsporting. What say you?

I'd say it was the rules.
I've taken the wrong target out altogether, the previous lane, so I effectively shot it twice.DOH! I accepted the 0 & moved on. Mea Culpa.
It has got to be the Shooter's responsibility to recognise, select, aim at & shoot the target.
Having said that, if I saw someone lining up the wrong target I think I would mention something, courtesy.

[Sam Vimes]

However, do you really begrudge a father coaching his lad round the course? What could he really do other than suggest a range or a good position to take the shot from? If it's really an issue then could there not be a case for not taking things quite so seriously? Just a thought, offered in a spirit of friendly enquiry!

I can see both points. However, if I was a junior competing against the coached lad without the benefit of my own coaching I suspect I'd be pretty annoyed. There's a time and place for coaching and encouragement. I don't believe that full blown competition is one of them.

[A16NS V]

This all puts an interesting but dissapointing slant on things. I've put my name down for the Kibworth shoot in a couple of weeks and it will be my first time doing HFT. I've been looking forward to this and I only want to go there and test myself and perhaps have a chat/laugh with like minded chaps.

This all sounds a bit serious TBH.

[kieran turner]

This all puts an interesting but dissapointing slant on things. I've put my name down for the Kibworth shoot in a couple of weeks and it will be my first time doing HFT. I've been looking forward to this and I only want to go there and test myself and perhaps have a chat/laugh with like minded chaps.

This all sounds a bit serious TBH.

Itr isn't really that serious mate, it truly is a real layed back way to spend a day. Come along and shoot some tin chickens!

[kev hughes]

I've been looking forward to this and I only want to go there and test myself and perhaps have a chat/laugh with like minded chaps.

This all sounds a bit serious TBH.

And no doubt you will go there and enjoy yourself, you have no reason not to. There are only a few cheats out there same as any sport, most of the UKAHFT rules were written to stop one or two cheats thats all. So please go out and enjoy your shooting. Oh and if that Kieran Turner shows up, watch your car doesnt have a rucksack left by it

Kev

[Sam Vimes]

This all puts an interesting but dissapointing slant on things. I've put my name down for the Kibworth shoot in a couple of weeks and it will be my first time doing HFT. I've been looking forward to this and I only want to go there and test myself and perhaps have a chat/laugh with like minded chaps.

This all sounds a bit serious TBH.

It won't be, not at Kibworth.

[kev hughes]

I don't normally agree with Kev, but he is right this time. Just go and enjoy. Not all of us are out to win, win, win. We go for the fun and the banter.

That's twice now

Kev

[Pod]

I was asked to partner with a first timer at a Bisley club shot - a one off comp just for fun - last weekend to show him the ropes and help him out giving some tips and all that.

I was careful to help him with the rules as it is important to get in the right habits, but when he tried to go prone on a peg about half way round and caught his windage turret on it which went click-click-click-click etc etc etc I really didn't have the heart to enforce the no scope twiddling rule. He may have been so disillusioned with missing every subsequent target trying to work out where the hell it was shooting that he might not have bothered again. I think I did the right thing considering the status of the comp.


I have been (in my view unfairly) accused of cheating (well not touching a peg and when I disagreed I was called a cheat) before and had a comp win taken off me I haven't shot a meaningful comp since as it made me realise that I was taking it too seriously. I should've been able to just laugh at it all but I was flaming furious I'm now trying it again to see if I can again enjoy it without worrying about what score I get.

[navybloke]

I can see both points. However, if I was a junior competing against the coached lad without the benefit of my own coaching I suspect I'd be pretty annoyed. There's a time and place for coaching and encouragement. I don't believe that full blown competition is one of them.

Yes...and no. But to explain my thinking on this I'd have to try and articulate to myself as much as anyone exactly what 'full-blown competition' is. What does it mean in HFT? What is really at stake? Not a great deal in practical terms, is there? I think father/son coaching is completely in the best spirit of what HFT seems to be about - an egalitarian, level-playing-field kind of sport...although if I was the father in the scenario you describe, I'd just as willingly 'coach' the lone junior as my own sprog. But then again (and here I go tying myself into knots), then I'd be 'coaching' two competitors in a 'full blown competition', and as dispiriting as it seems I could picture some people taking exception to that.

Maybe it's just me, but this seems a very interesting topic, more for the views that people have on the ethos and motivation for what is essentially an organised hobby, not a sport.

...Here's another one along the same lines, from Newbury on Sunday. While I was cradling my really big ego as I got a 58 (me, me, look at me!), I saw what looked like a heated - or perhaps more appropriately frank - discussion on one of the pegs where 'the-peg-was-touching-the-tree-therefore-the-tree-was-the-peg'. It seemed straightforward, but someone was adamant that that wasn't the case. I didn't catch it all, but I did wonder in passing; "does it really matter that much?" "is it really that important?"

As I said, I find this one interesting, as much to give a context to my own shooting as to explore other peoples'.

Cheers,

[Charlts]

I don't normally agree with Kev, but he is right this time. Just go and enjoy. Not all of us are out to win, win, win. We go for the fun and the banter.

I don't like to agree with two welshmen, the Kibworth shoot will be one of the most informal shoots of the year and the whole emphesis of the day will be to raise money not winning (unlessit's the raffle!)

Ryan

[Charlts]

Of course it will Ryan. Its for the best cause. I for one, will be wearing my "Hlep the Heroes" wristbands.

Looking forward to that cup of tea you promised me at Anston last year.

There'll be loads of tea flowing mate, I'm hoping to get some wristbands to sell on the day for those without, as well as raffle tickets!

Ryan

[steven]

I’m sure some try to cheat, whilst others (especially newbies) make genuine errors.
I firmly believe it is right to let someone know their foot has slipped away from the peg before they take the shot.

The role of the Marshal is not to make the rules; it is – where possible - to ensure that they are adhered to for the sake of fairness or indeed safety. This doesn’t always put you in best place to win the popularity contest however!

The ‘faulty target’ claim is always the most difficult of situations; it’s rarely a black-and-white case. Most often, the Marshal can only call it using his/her best judgement, and if needed, the support of the Chief Marshal. Such decisions are taken with best intentions: objectively, without bias, malice or favouritism. I’m sure both Sparky and Acenorth will agree with me on that one.

[Rich]

This doesn’t always put you in best place to win the popularity contest however!:

Agreed. A couple of years ago I was on marshal duty at a GP. I saw a competitor who I didn't know from Adam take up a kneeling position that was against the rules. I said out loud something like "watch your position please, shooter" at which he turned round and let me know that he was a VERY important competitor who had shot for his country and I was an insignificant unknown and he wasn't minded to take any advice from the likes of me.

Still, he took up a better position when he turned away again.

[nibbley-uk]

...Here's another one along the same lines, from Newbury on Sunday. While I was cradling my really big ego as I got a 58 (me, me, look at me!), I saw what looked like a heated - or perhaps more appropriately frank - discussion on one of the pegs where 'the-peg-was-touching-the-tree-therefore-the-tree-was-the-peg'. It seemed straightforward, but someone was adamant that that wasn't the case. I didn't catch it all, but I did wonder in passing; "does it really matter that much?" "is it really that important?"

As I said, I find this one interesting, as much to give a context to my own shooting as to explore other peoples'.

Cheers,[/QUOTE]

What made me laugh was Tony who was having the debate and arguing that the peg had to be touched went on to miss that target

[TheShootist]

What made me laugh was Tony who was having the debate and arguing that the peg had to be touched went on to miss that target

I'm fully entitled to miss as many as I like