Tournaments: Every Thursday at 7 p.m.

Shooting at the indoor range is lots of fun, but I can see where this can get old.....and very expensive.  It is interesting watching the different types of people who come into the range to shoot, but people watching is better at the outdoor martini bar on the San Antonio River Walk. 

I didn't know what a gun tournament was so I showed up at 7 p.m. with some guns and equipment.  I wasn't too sure if I would participate, but if it was just point and shoot, I could do it.  It wasn't.  It was tons more fun. It was more like a jogging trail with bad people, IDPA targets, to shoot instead of push ups and chin ups.....Nice!

The picture at the left is from the Kalamazoo Gun Club's outdoor tournament.  This is outside, we were inside, but a good picture where you can see everything.  It is hard to get a good photo while sitting in the safety zone of an inside range. The shooting area takes up most of the room, and the timer is always behind and blocking the shooter.  At the end of this blog entry I added a video from the RGV Shooters Association that shows more action.

The tournament  was hosted by the RGV Shooters Association at the American Firing Range here in Brownsville.  It was like an obstacle course of bad guys with a hostage (do not shoot the hostage!).  Participants were timed as they ran through the course taking out the targets. The targets have indentations so you received points the closest you got to the heart area or the head.  You also had to remember how many shots you were allowed per target and the order.  The order is by danger.  The bad guy shooter who is closest is usually the most dangerous to you.

The tournament followed the rules of the International Defensive Pistol Association. Everyone had to listen to the rules before it started, even the veteran shooters.  Everyone had to walk the course, understand the course activities, and know the safety rules.  The timer also followed you to be sure you were a safe shooter.  You  lose your shooting privileges if you do something that is dangerous like put your hand on the trigger when you are not intending to shoot.  Saves a lot of toes that way.

I opted to watch because that is part of the rules, newbies must watch one time but I had fun helping as crew.  After each shooter we had to put paper bandages on the targets to cover the holes so we could tally the next shooters score.  As a mother of Bon and Jon, I think I have a talent for patching up holes with bandages.

We had two shooters who were very new to tournaments.  It was a young couple, both good shooters, but needed more experience.  The organizers were just as respectful to the new shooters as to the pros (Whew!  The veterans were impressive.)

So Divas, I would certainly recommend that you participate in some of these tournaments.  I am going to do my first one this Thursday.  Sunday I'm going to practice taking my gun out of the holster and pay particular attention to making sure my finger is where it should be.  I just had a pedicure and don't intend on messing up my red toenails with painted butterflies! 

Watch the video.  It is fun. (This is a note after I published the post.  Diva's,  YouTube chose to put the intro picture up with the caption "Women will want you.....".  Nice try guys, you still need a couple more qualification to be attractive to Divas then shooting as good as we do.)